"Hey, hey, hey—are we really going to fight that guy called Uchiha Keizumi?"
"After everything we've heard along the way, you all know it too, right?"
"That guy overturned the entire Kirigakure all by himself, and he's killed tens of thousands in the Land of Water."
"Are we, the Akatsuki, some kind of benevolent organization?"
"Instead of trying to recruit someone like that, why are we going to kill him?"
"And more importantly… are we actually a match for that monster?"
Hidan, who had only recently joined the Akatsuki, kept rambling nonstop. He had joined the organization to spread the glory of the great Jashin, even to offer sacrifices to Jashin.
But how had it turned into this—barely joining the group, and now he had to fight someone that dangerous?
"Shut up!"
If he could, Kakuzu would've liked nothing more than to sew Hidan's mouth shut.
Even though he had already accepted forming the "immortal duo" with Hidan, he clearly hadn't gotten used to Hidan's incessant chatter.
For Kakuzu, he had been looking forward to this job for a long time—not just because the Land of Earth was paying generously, but because the bounty on Uchiha Keizumi in the underground bounty exchange had been skyrocketing with no apparent limit.
Especially after the news from the Land of Water spread widely, almost all the nobles had started pouring money into the bounty system. In a very short time, the bounty on Uchiha Keizumi had shot up to 1.7 billion!
That was 1.7 billion!
Kakuzu swore he had never seen that much money in his entire life. Not to mention, if he killed Uchiha Keizumi, he could collect three payouts—one from the Land of Earth, one from the underground bounty exchange, and one from Utatane Koharu's life savings.
Just the Land of Earth and the bounty exchange together amounted to a full 2 billion. Right now, if anyone dared to stand in Kakuzu's way, he really would get angry.
"If we turned him into a puppet… that would be quite interesting, wouldn't it?"
Sasori spoke softly. His puppet technique could preserve the Kekkei Genkai a human puppet had in life. It was precisely because of experimenting with human puppets that he had killed the Third Kazekage of Sunagakure.
But even the Third Kazekage was nothing compared to Uchiha Keizumi.
If he could obtain Keizumi's corpse, Sasori felt he could push puppet techniques to an unimaginable level.
Whether it was Keizumi who was strong or the puppet technique—who cares? If Sasori really turned him into a human puppet, then wouldn't it still be Sasori controlling him?
"Don't underestimate him. This could very well be a tough battle."
Konan softly warned this group of troublemakers from across the shinobi world. Personally, she didn't think there was any need for the Akatsuki to fight Uchiha Keizumi to the death. After all, weren't they all striving for peace in the ninja world?
But since Nagato had already made his decision, Konan wouldn't oppose it.
She was just worried about Nagato's body. Even controlling the Deva Path of Pain was a significant burden on him. If he fought again, that burden would only grow worse.
Nagato was already half-paralyzed. If the battle became too intense and something went wrong… if he died, Konan wouldn't even have anywhere to cry.
"I will act."
"No matter how strong he is, before God, he amounts to nothing."
Nagato, controlling Pain, spoke with confidence. To deal with Uchiha Keizumi, he had even assembled all Six Paths.
"God?"
"The only true god is Jashin-sama!"
Hidan, who had just joined the Akatsuki, argued firmly. He didn't think Pain was a god—just somewhat stronger than others.
"A message just came from Tobi."
"The road we chose for the ambush is correct. Uchiha Keizumi should arrive here in about half an hour."
"However, an ambush probably won't work. Based on our intelligence, his perception is extremely strong. He'll most likely detect us, so prepare for a direct battle."
Konan spoke again. As for this battle, she still had some confidence.
According to their plan within the organization, the ambush would begin with Kakuzu, Sasori, and herself attacking first. Their goal was to obtain Uchiha Keizumi's blood and hand it over to Hidan.
As long as Hidan got Keizumi's blood, Konan was certain he would die.
People die when they are killed—Hidan is an exception. Kakuzu is also an exception. But Uchiha Keizumi shouldn't be an exception too, right?
"All the explosive tags have already been planted."
"When he passes through here, all one billion explosive tags will detonate at once."
"But I still have a question. If the Akatsuki has so many explosive tags, why do we still bother making money?"
"Wouldn't it be better to just sell explosive tags?"
Kakuzu looked at Konan. Before, he had thought she was just a decorative vase—maybe a pretty one, maybe somewhat strong. But her casually bringing out one billion explosive tags had completely opened his eyes.
To put it bluntly, a full-scale ninja war would use roughly that many explosive tags. Yet Konan casually produced enough to sustain an entire war. What kind of absurdly rich woman was this?
"No. My explosive tags only have one-third the power of normal ones. So even though it's called one billion explosive tags, the actual explosive yield is only about three hundred million."
"And precisely because they're weaker, they don't sell well on the market."
Konan had clearly tried selling them before. Judging from how familiar she sounded, it was likely just as she said—no one really bought them.
Besides, she had the habit of making explosive tags whenever she had time. Ten billion tags was just a fraction of what she had on hand.
"Even three hundred million is more than enough. It might just blow him to death outright."
Kakuzu's mindset was extremely optimistic. He had never fought such a well-funded battle in his life—he had no idea how he could possibly lose.
And this was one billion explosive tags. Even discounted, it still equaled three hundred million. If Kakuzu had possessed that many back in the day, he felt he might have been able to blow Senju Hashirama to death.
"He's here!"
Just as Pain and the others were speaking, a White Zetsu emerged from the ground, delivering the information.
In truth, the warning was unnecessary. The moment Pain set up the ambush, a light drizzle had already begun falling from the sky. This entire area was under the coverage of his Rain Tiger at Will Technique.
...
"There's chakra in the rain…"
"Nagato—or rather, Pain—has stepped out of the Land of Rain?"
"And judging by this setup… he intends to kill me."