Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five months had passed.
During these four months, Aozora never left his house, staying secluded and cultivating quietly within the village.
One day, Aozora suddenly sensed a spiritual message coming from the ring on his chest.
"Pain is calling a meeting?"
No one from Akatsuki had contacted him during this past four months, to the point where Aozora almost forgot that he was now Suzaku of Akatsuki.
The moment he received Pain's summons, Aozora took immediate action without delay. He immediately summoned his Keshin Taiyi to guard his body, then began circulating his chakra.
[Projection Technique!]
His chakra surged in a unique pattern, unlike any normal circulation method. In the next moment, the scattered spiritual energy within his Spiritual Sea condensed, attaching itself onto the ring.
In an instant, Aozora traversed vast distances and emerged inside a massive cavern.
Looking at the humanoid statue beneath the dim light, a flash of deep blue light flickered across Aozora's eyes.
The next instant, he took in every detail of the statue.
A colossal, humanoid beast with nine eyes sat in lotus position, its arms outstretched toward the heavens.
He also noticed ten stumps along its back—like severed tree limbs, each cleanly cut with a smooth surface.
"So it's truly the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the Ten-Tails' shell. Even after extracting nine tailed beasts, it still contains immense vitality and Natural Energy—it's truly terrifying!"
Although his strength hadn't significantly improved over the past two months, he had learned many new skills. The technique he had just used—Tongyou—was newly revealed through the Heavenly Book.
This was originally a fundamental technique practiced by ancient mystics to exorcise spirits and communicate with the otherworldly. It could pierce illusions and peer into the abyss of the dead, enabling communication with divine and ghostly beings.
In short, "Tongyou" possessed two abilities: first, the ability to see ghosts and spirits; second, the ability to communicate with them.
Both of these powers were closely related to spiritual energy, and Aozora had already integrated the first one into his eyes.
After obtaining the inheritance of Tongyou, Aozora instantly grasped the underlying principle of the [Projection Technique].
They weren't directly conversing face-to-face, but rather each member communicated individually with the Demonic Statue, which would then rapidly relay the received information back out, creating the illusion of everyone speaking together online.
As Aozora examined the stone statue of the Outer Path, other members of Akatsuki began appearing one by one.
"Aozora-kun, did you find anything unusual?" Orochimaru's raspy voice sounded beside him.
Aozora turned to look at Orochimaru and replied indifferently, "Nothing much. Just feeling rather stunned."
Now he understood why Pain always showed up last.
Because Pain wanted to eavesdrop on whatever small talk the others might have. Though seemingly absent, Pain was able to eavesdrop on every word they exchanged.
Upon hearing this, Orochimaru licked his lips and said nothing further. He hadn't expected Aozora to uncover the statue's secrets even after two tries.
After a while, nobody spoke anymore, and Pain finally appeared.
Scanning the room with his gaze, Pain asked Kakuzu, "Where is Guitou Ryuji?"
"Dead," Kakuzu answered coldly. "He was too weak—he got killed during a mission."
From beneath the pitcher plant, Zetsu added ominously, "Yes, he was killed—but by his own teammate."
Kakuzu sneered, "Serves him right for dragging his feet."
"Please, make the judgment yourselves!" Zetsu declared, scanning the assembled members.
As he spoke, a scene appeared before them. In the image, Ryuji Guitou was locked in combat with an enemy wielding his large blade when Kakuzu activated Earth-based Hatred Spears from behind him, unleashing a powerful Fire Release Ninjutsu that instantly engulfed both Ryuji Guitou and his opponent in intense flames.
After viewing the projection shown by Zetsu, the group began to speak.
"Sabotage," Sasori stated flatly.
"Deliberate," Orochimaru agreed.
Kakuzu defended himself, "Couldn't he have just dodged? Besides, the mission was completed."
He looked at Orochimaru and added, "Didn't you get Biwa Juzo killed last time as well?"
Orochimaru countered, "Biwa Juzo was killed by Aozora, not me."
Aozora responded coolly, "That happened before I joined Akatsuki. Besides, isn't infighting allowed within the organization?"
Pain asked, "Aozora, what exactly are you implying?"
Aozora's eyes shifted toward Kisame as he said, "Not long after I left the canyon following our last meeting, I was ambushed and nearly killed by Kisame!"
Kisame gritted his teeth and replied, "I only wanted to ask how Aozora defeated Biwa Juzo, since he was my senior."
Aozora replied evenly, "Then you'd better prepare yourself for my questions too!"
Grasping Samehada behind him, Kisame coldly replied, "I'll be waiting."
"That's enough!" Pain barked sharply, ending the argument.
Ryuji Guitou had barely average strength, so Pain didn't feel regret about eliminating him. But both Aozora and Kisame possessed sufficient power and were indispensable for future missions; he preferred not having these two fight to the death.
Pain announced, "I don't care about past events, but from now on no one is allowed to secretly kill fellow Akatsuki members."
The gathered members paid little attention and simply gave slight nods.
Seeing their reactions, Pain didn't press further and directly stated the purpose for which he had summoned everyone.
"I'm issuing a long-term mission: capture large Summoning Beasts or unusual wild animals."
Aozora almost couldn't suppress a laugh.
Not long after Deva Path Pain and Animal Path Pain entered the Summoning Realm, they encountered an attack from Mount Myoboku. Both sides were caught off guard during the battle. The toads Gamahiro and Gamatatsu sustained serious injuries, while the Animal Path Pain was destroyed into fragments by Fukasaku and Shima.
Deva Path Pain sensed the threat coming from Mount Myoboku and decisively withdrew from the Summoning Realm.
A new Animal Path Pain was quickly reconstructed, but without powerful summoning beasts, the Animal Path was like a man who had lost his arms—greatly weakened.
To enhance the Animal Path's capabilities, he had no choice but to issue this mission to the Akatsuki members.
"Large Summoning Beasts, huh?"
"Understood."
"Got it."
"..."
The members nodded their agreement. This task wouldn't be particularly difficult for them.
Once everyone had nodded, Pain asked for the latest intel. Aozora shared part of Konoha's defensive information with Pain to gain his trust.
Pain nodded and then added, "I heard that Hidden Cloud's delegation has already entered the Land of Fire and will reach Konoha soon."
Aozora thought briefly and replied, "That's right, though I haven't paid much attention to it."
"Peace between Konoha and Hidden Cloud doesn't serve our interests. Find a way to sabotage the negotiations."
After speaking, Pain turned his gaze toward Aozora.
Staring into layer upon layer of purple Rinnegan, Aozora nodded slightly. "Alright."
Aozora knew Pain might still suspect his connection with Konoha.
Compared to other ninja who had defected from their villages, he hadn't cut ties cleanly enough with his old Ninja Village.
Orochimaru turned to Aozora. "Aozora-san, want me to lend a hand? I still have one or two good men left in Konoha."
Shaking his head, Aozora replied, "Considering your defection along with Danzo's, do you really think any of your subordinates are still undiscovered? Even if there are, they'd just be assets preserved by the higher-ups waiting for you to take the bait."
This was merely the surface reason. The real reason was that he simply didn't trust Orochimaru.
Orochimaru fell silent. Previously when Danzo was around, he indeed had many spies within the village. But ever since Danzo defected, nearly all of his espionage network inside the village had been dismantled.
Seeing this, Pain stopped wasting time and immediately disbanded the group chat.
In his bedroom, Aozora woke up slowly.
After sending his Keshin back to the Summoning Realm, he sighed lightly, "The control authority over [Ten-Tails] granted by the Rinnegan is simply too high!"
He longed for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, but he feared Nagato's Rinnegan. He didn't dare use the second ability of [Tongyou] to contact it.
Aozora still possessed considerable self-discipline. Knowing overthinking brought no benefit, he quickly reined in his thoughts and began considering how to sabotage the peace talks between Hidden Cloud and Konoha.
Years of war had bled Konoha dry — too many lives, too many resources lost. It was more than they could bear.
In Aozora's view, Fugaku would eventually become the Fifth Hokage, and Konoha would ultimately belong to the Uchiha clan, so he actually didn't want to disrupt the peace negotiations between Hidden Cloud and Konoha.
But to keep his cover safe, Aozora had to make sure his sabotage looked convincing enough.
He must destroy without truly destroying.
Being a spy really sucked.
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