In a dark cave stood a giant statue with a fierce appearance.
This statue had ten eyes on its head, exposed teeth, and two massive hands bound by chains. At this moment, several phantom figures were standing on the statue's fingers.
This was the Akatsuki organization's internal meeting.
Uchiha Itachi and his partner Kisame Hoshigaki stood there in their true forms, carefully listening as the organization's leader Pain issued the next phase of instructions through the "Magic Lantern Body Jutsu."
"The One-Tail jinchūriki's been confirmed sealed outside Sand Village. Sasori, you and Deidara take this opportunity to capture him."
Pain issued orders to two figures—one tall, one short—in another direction.
"Hmm? Didn't we say the previous actions had already alarmed the Five Great Nations, and we should lie low for a while?"
Sasori of the Red Sand said nothing, while his partner, Deidara, young and hot-headed, directly questioned this decision.
Pain glanced at him. Considering this guy had served the organization for several years and was relatively useful, he patiently explained:
"The Nine-Tails jinchūriki appeared again. After he disappeared without warning before, no matter how we searched, we couldn't find him."
"To avoid similar situations, we need to change our strategy and seize every opportunity to capture all the tailed beasts we can first."
This was actually the more reasonable approach. Following the original timeline where they'd dragged things out for two years before starting the tailed beast capture plan—didn't they still alarm the Five Great Nations anyway?
"Hmm..." Deidara said nothing more.
If we're talking about who'd worry after Naruto left the ninja world, besides the tailed beasts, it'd be Nagato who received the news.
However, behind him, the more deeply hidden Obito and the super mastermind Black Zetsu were equally concerned.
Obito worried about the plan failing, while Black Zetsu was truly shocked.
Even with his abilities, searching heaven and earth, he couldn't find a trace of Uzumaki Naruto. It was as if he'd vanished directly on that island.
Later, he'd sent a group of Cloud ninja to attack Nanmiso, but those guys ended up fighting with Mist ninja from who knows where, directly flooding that island.
When Black Zetsu arrived at the battlefield and searched over ten times carefully, he couldn't even find a scrap of clothing.
He'd even been considering finding Orochimaru to perform the Reaper Death Seal to release the Fourth Hokage's soul and obtain the Yin Nine-Tails' power.
Black Zetsu vaguely remembered there seemed to be someone in the Land of Fire whose body also contained Nine-Tails chakra.
But when he found that kid, he discovered it was just Nine-Tails chakra fragments, completely insufficient for merging with the Ten-Tails.
Just when Black Zetsu was unsure whether to seek out Orochimaru, Naruto appeared again.
This led to today's meeting.
After finishing the One-Tail topic, Pain turned to look at Itachi and Kisame.
"Kakuzu was killed, and now we're somewhat short-handed. We need you to recruit some new members."
Then he mentioned the rogue ninja data Zetsu had collected from various villages, finding two promising candidates.
"Hiruko, a former Konoha ninja from the Sannin's era, possesses a forbidden jutsu called the 'Chimera Jutsu.'"
"Itachi, you and Kisame handle recruiting him. As long as he agrees, we can help him find ninjas with special kekkei genkai."
"If he's unwilling to join, then eliminate him while you're at it."
With that, the two learned more about this "Hiruko."
"Itachi-san, speaking of which, might this guy have common ground with Orochimaru?" Kisame looked at Hiruko's information and joked with interest.
After all, both were Konoha rogue ninja.
Uchiha Itachi just glanced at him wordlessly.
Kisame immediately realized his mistake and shut his mouth. He'd almost forgotten that Uchiha Itachi was also a Konoha rogue ninja.
"There's Shinnō, a medical ninja who fled the Land of the Sky after stealing forbidden jutsu from Konoha. Konan, I'm assigning him to you."
Pain looked toward his longtime friend and partner.
The fact that Nagato was now sending Konan on solo recruitment missions spoke volumes about their current personnel shortage. Fortunately, dealing with one rogue medical ninja should be well within her capabilities.
Generally, the Akatsuki organization only recruited rogue ninja from various villages.
In Nagato's original "recruitment targets," there'd actually been several good candidates. Unfortunately, most had died before the Akatsuki's recruitment drive.
For example, Mangetsu Hōzuki, who was killed in the recent rebellion against the Mizukage.
Such a pity.
After finishing business, the Magic Lantern Body Jutsu dissolved, and even the statue connecting everyone turned to smoke and disappeared in the cave.
"Itachi-san, shall we depart now?"
They'd already left the Land of Fire, and the target location Pain gave was called "Mount Sumeru," located at the border junction of the Lands of Grass, Earth, and Fire—quite far from here.
Hearing this, Uchiha Itachi paused slightly, then answered as if just realizing:
"Let's go. Depart now."
Actually, Uchiha Itachi's mind was entirely occupied with thoughts of his brother Sasuke.
Since the Third Hokage hadn't died in that conspiracy, Itachi's "undercover" identity remained valid.
Shortly after Naruto left Konoha Village with Sasuke, information about Sasuke reached Itachi.
Seeing reports of his brother mastering new abilities and seemingly awakening a higher-level Sharingan, Uchiha Itachi had mixed feelings.
He'd originally intended to use hatred to drive Sasuke, making him awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan through intense stimulation.
But according to the Third Hokage's intelligence, it seemed Uzumaki Naruto had granted him some transformation power, after which Sasuke evolved.
So now, do I still need to die at Sasuke's hands?
Without hesitating long, he reaffirmed his resolve.
First, Sasuke now possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan—if used frequently, blindness was inevitable. If he wanted the "Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan" that wouldn't cause blindness, taking Itachi's eyes would be his only option.
Second, he clearly understood that having personally slaughtered the entire clan, he'd become Sasuke's mortal enemy.
If they truly fought, he believed Sasuke wouldn't hold back.
It's just that Uzumaki Naruto... really was such a variable, always disrupting his plans.
Why exactly did you choose to help Sasuke like this? Just because you're classmates?
Itachi didn't understand Naruto's motivations.
But he knew clearly that Sasuke left the village this time to find him. However, with the leader's orders issued, Itachi had no choice but to leave.
In that case, the final outcome would likely be Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto together facing that self-proclaimed "god" leader.
Don't die, Sasuke.
Itachi's figure walked alongside Kisame, slowly leaving this hidden cave.