Madara (Tobi), Sasori, and Deidara had vanished without a trace. No word had come from the Land of Wind or the Land of Earth. Clearly, their mission had failed.
There was no longer any doubt—the masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara was a fraud.
Nagato and Konan had suspected "Madara" for a while now. Just donning a black cloak and a mask was enough to claim to be Uchiha Madara?
That hunched, skulking aura, like a rat lurking in a sewer—how could anyone believe that was the Shura of the shinobi world?
Kakuzu and Hidan had successfully captured the Two-Tails jinchūriki. Konan and Karin had returned from Takigakure with the Seven-Tails jinchūriki. Pain had personally gone to the Land of Water and captured both the Three-Tails and the Six-Tails. The missions hadn't encountered much resistance—though Hidan did get bitten by a bug in the Land of Lightning.
Still, Nagato's mindset had shifted significantly. He'd witnessed firsthand the devastation in the Land of Water—ten rooms out of nine were empty, corpses lined the roads, mangled and gnawed on, twisted bodies covered in blood-red crystalline growths lay scattered everywhere.
Nagato had originally planned to gather the tailed beasts in order to use overwhelming force to bring an end to war. But given the state the shinobi world was already in, even if peace came, it might not be enough to stop the tragedies.
The Akatsuki convened a full meeting.
Pain stood at the head, with Konan by his side. Hidan, Kakuzu, Karin, and Zetsu stood arranged in two lines.
Pain spoke gravely. "The original targets—One-Tail, Four-Tails, and Five-Tails—have all been lost. The Akatsuki has shifted from the shadows into the light, and our current situation is dire."
"We've suffered heavy losses," Kakuzu followed up. "The news of the captured tailed beasts won't stay hidden for long. Once it's out, the great nations will likely go after us with everything they've got."
"Indeed. We underestimated our opponents," Black Zetsu said calmly. "Tobi, Deidara, and Sasori are all gone."
That remark made Hidan twitch slightly. He looked like he wanted to mock someone—but his hands were constantly scratching at himself, and he forgot what he'd been about to say.
"Everyone here is strong in a one-on-one or small-scale fight. We'd have a good chance of winning," Kakuzu said again, giving a more serious analysis. "But the fact is, our numbers are too few. If we get overwhelmed by sheer manpower, we'll be dragged down and killed."
"Obviously," Hidan muttered, scratching his silver-gray hair roughly. "Even the Third Raikage, strong as he was, got taken down by ten thousand Iwagakure shinobi. But hey, that's your problem to worry about. I'm immortal, remember?"
Among the remaining Akatsuki, Zetsu handled intelligence. Karin and Hidan were assassins, skilled in precision strikes. Kakuzu could, in a pinch, take on a whole army—provided he didn't run into any true powerhouses. His ninjutsu bombardment was great for mowing down small fry.
The Six Paths of Pain were powerful, and the Rinnegan offered devastating large-scale techniques. But Nagato's body was a wreck. After every major burst of power, he was left drained.
All things considered, Konan might be the most dangerous hidden ace in the organization. She possessed a secret jutsu so expensive it would make Kakuzu weep—countless paper bombs, blanketing the sky and ground, capable of wiping out individuals or groups with terrifying ease.
"Actually, we don't need to worry that much," Karin cut straight to the point. "The Five Great Nations are all a mess right now. They don't have the resources to mobilize against us. Besides... if we can't win, can't we just run?"
The Akatsuki was never a tightly run operation. The tailed beast plan was Pain's ideal. He wanted to gather the Ten-Tails and make the Akatsuki the ultimate arbiter of force in the shinobi world. But most of the others didn't care whether the plan succeeded or failed. If it worked—great, they'd benefit. If it didn't and the whole shinobi world came crashing down on them? Then it was every man for himself. They'd ditch the Akatsuki and go back to living freely.
On the surface, only Pain and Konan seemed fully committed to the plan. In truth, Black Zetsu was also impatient. He finally spoke up, "If we can revive the Ten-Tails quickly, then even if all the shinobi in the world unite, they won't be able to stop us."
A reasonable point—one that sounded true but was ultimately empty.
"Speaking of which," Kakuzu suddenly said, "that Tobi guy—the intern—he has space-time ninjutsu. So why couldn't he even capture the One-Tail?"
"..." Behind Pain, Nagato and Konan fell silent. That masked man had such a convincing act, always playing the part of Uchiha Madara... only to fall flat when it really mattered.
"Hmph! I knew there was something fishy about that guy," Hidan growled, still bitter that Tobi refused to join his cult.
Kakuzu glanced over at Hidan and saw the deep bloody scratches on his face. He almost burst out laughing.
The conversation devolved into more bickering after that. In the end, the entire meeting was more or less a waste of time.
After the others left, Pain kept Zetsu behind to ask about Itachi and Kisame, and for intel on the Konoha remnants and the City of Peace.
"They're dead," Black Zetsu replied, his tone grim. "Uchiha Sasuke's strength is terrifying."
...
At that time, Sasuke had already killed Itachi, and then used Kisame as a sacrifice to perform Edo Tensei and bring Itachi back.
Itachi, in his reanimated state, had no obvious weaknesses. Under Sasuke's control, he was a perfect killing machine.
The Konoha remnants, mostly composed of the Sarutobi clan, were wiped out in a mass slaughter by Amaterasu.
Who said Amaterasu couldn't kill people?
Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu—together, they formed a true silent assassination combo. Watching the Konoha shinobi fall one after another, Itachi's reanimated body experienced a strange sensation. It was as if someone had ripped out his heart and was rubbing it against a block of ice.
Sasuke ordered him not to speak. He even used Transformation Jutsu to cover up the signs of Edo Tensei on Itachi's face, making him look like a normal living person. For a long while, no one even noticed the ambush.
Itachi couldn't understand—some of these people clearly saw him, so why did they pretend not to? Why did they let their comrades die?
Suddenly, a kunai embedded itself in the ground at Itachi's feet. Several shinobi rushed in and surrounded him. The elderly Sarutobi Hiruzen, veins bulging on his forehead, gritted his teeth and roared, "Uchiha Itachi!"
Itachi looked up and swept his gaze lazily across them. "Why are you in such a rush to die...?"
Clearly, those words weren't his own.
He tilted his body slightly, dodging a kunai from who-knows-where. His Mangekyō spun rapidly, and black flames exploded to life.
The next second, the shinobi around him began to scream. The unending black fire used their bodies as fuel, burning brightly, like black flowers blooming in the night sky...
Far away, the unaffected ninjas, upon seeing the scene, immediately launched Water Style techniques, but to their shock, the water was also set ablaze. Fear and horror flooded their faces.
Swish!!
At that moment, a pitch-black figure descended from the sky. As it got closer, it became clear that it was a man wearing a green bodysuit, exuding a wild, beast-like aura.
"No matter how many times I've seen him, it always feels like my eyes are being burned!" 'Itachi' muttered coldly, complaining.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+60 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo