"So I've grown weak?"
"No—I'd say it's not that I've grown weak, it's that ever since you took control of Root, you've started losing track of who you are!"
"To be honest, I'm starting to regret not dissolving Root the moment Danzō died!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Koharu Utatane and finally dropped all politeness from his tone.
I've grown weak?
If anything, you've become way too bold, Koharu!
The tide had already turned so far that even he, the Hokage, was about to be forced out of office—and yet here she was, a mere Hokage advisor, arranging an assassination attempt on Uchiha Chizumi, then turning around and accusing him of becoming weak!
Root…
You turned my old friends from people into ghosts.
"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"
Koharu stared at him deeply. For the first time, she felt like she understood how Shimura Danzō must have felt.
Your Hokage seat is about to be taken away, and fine, you can choose to do nothing—but I've been the one doing the dirty work for you, and now you're telling me I'm the one who's lost sight of myself?
"Whether I regret it or not, I don't know. But right now, you need to go back to prison."
Hiruzen couldn't be bothered to argue with her any further. He was retiring anyway, and if Koharu was going back to prison, then Root might as well just be disbanded outright.
Koharu said nothing more. She simply turned and walked out of the Hokage office building on her own.
For all her talk about Hiruzen becoming weak, the truth was that she herself was afraid too.
Because Uchiha Chizumi truly didn't care about rank or status. If he found out she had hired the Akatsuki to kill him, he really would act against her.
As for Hiruzen, he sat in his office, smoking his pipe in silence, weighed down with melancholy.
And it wasn't just Hiruzen who was miserable—the Akatsuki were too.
When the Akatsuki returned to the Land of Rain and saw how battered and filthy everyone looked, the whole group sank into dead silence.
That lasted until one unwelcome latecomer finally arrived in a fury.
"Why did you suddenly retreat?"
"I was just about to capture Uchiha Izumi and that ninja cat! If I'd gotten them, we could've forced Uchiha Chizumi to surrender!"
Uchiha Obito glared fiercely at the Deva Path of Pain, who still carried himself with that same lofty attitude.
He didn't understand. He truly didn't understand. They had been fighting just fine, and then Pain just ran without even giving him a warning!
And only because he, Obito, had some means of saving his own life. If he hadn't, then wouldn't Pain's move have been the textbook definition of abandoning a teammate?
"Hidan is dead."
Pain looked at the late-arriving Obito and gave a patient explanation.
Whether this man was truly Obito or truly Madara, at least he hadn't spent the entire battle slacking off. At the very least, he had tried to capture Uchiha Izumi and that ninja cat called Kitsujiro.
Never mind whether he had actually succeeded—just the fact that he had intended to help counted for something, didn't it?
"Hidan? Who's that?"
Obito looked confused. When he came back, he had counted heads. Wasn't the Akatsuki still missing no one?
"A man who joined the organization not long ago. Like Kakuzu, he had an immortal body. The plan was to pair him up with Kakuzu as the 'immortal duo.'"
The Deva Path was unusually patient today. Of course, it might simply have been because everyone had just suffered a defeat, and he felt he ought to reassure them a little.
"An immortal body… can still die?"
"Then what kind of immortality is that?"
"Not just any random trash should be allowed into the Akatsuki."
Obito let out a scornful laugh. An "immortal" who died on the Akatsuki's very first mission? That was honestly hilarious.
"It wasn't just Hidan. Four of the Six Paths were destroyed as well."
Pain continued explaining. It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to keep fighting—Uchiha Chizumi's combat power was simply too monstrous. This wasn't a matter of poor fighting spirit. The situation had just been beyond control.
"We all know Uchiha Chizumi is strong. But what about you?"
"Aren't you supposed to be Uchiha Madara?"
"The so-called former Demon of the Shinobi World couldn't even deal with a ninja cat and one little Uchiha brat?"
Pain was patient today. Konan, however, was not.
You fake bastard—everyone already knew the truth. Sure, you meant to help, but in the end you didn't actually accomplish anything.
And with that performance, you still dared call yourself Uchiha Madara, the man who once swept through the shinobi world?
If the real Madara had known he couldn't even take down a ninja beast—let alone a cat—after all that time, he'd have been so ashamed he might have killed himself on the spot. There was no way he'd have come storming in here to question everyone else.
"I…"
Konan's words left Obito choking a little.
He wanted to snap back, but at the same time, he couldn't deny that if someone truly were Uchiha Madara, failing to deal with a ninja cat really did sound pretty ridiculous.
Off to the side, Sasori and Kakuzu exchanged a glance, each seeing the same shock in the other's eyes.
They had thought they were already Akatsuki veterans, that they understood the organization deeply by now. Yet this was the first time either of them had learned that besides their mysterious "god," the Akatsuki supposedly also had an Uchiha Madara in their ranks.
Whatever everyone else thought, Kakuzu was deeply skeptical of this masked man being called Uchiha Madara.
Not for any abstract reason. Kakuzu had at least exchanged blows with Senju Hashirama himself. If Uchiha Madara was truly Hashirama's equal, then how could he possibly fail to take down a single ninja beast?
"He's probably just some brat pretending to be Uchiha Madara. And likely an Uchiha too."
Kakuzu casually added that on top of Konan's criticism.
Against Uchiha Chizumi, Kakuzu had done little more than stand there and watch. And they had still lost. To be honest, he was in a very bad mood right now.
And this masked idiot just happened to be calling himself Uchiha Madara, which made Kakuzu really want to beat the hell out of him to vent some of that frustration.
"Enough. There's no point dwelling on his identity. Don't forget what actually matters."
"But since you call yourself Uchiha Madara, I assume that means you have some connections in Konoha?"
"This battle exposed a lot of Konan's weaknesses. If I remember correctly, Konoha's Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, developed a forbidden technique called Tandem Paper Bombs. Konan needs that jutsu to strengthen herself."
Nagato truly didn't care about Obito's identity anymore.
He had absolute confidence that if he ever truly needed to, this masked man would not be able to escape his pursuit.
"Tandem Paper Bombs…"
"I'll get it for you."
Obito nodded. He had no interest in lingering here and continuing to pick apart the battle.
No deep reason. This Akatsuki was Pain's dictatorship. Whatever he said, everyone opposed him. At that point, wasn't it just blatant exclusion?
Still, another thought occurred to Obito.
Maybe it was time to plant one of his own people inside the Akatsuki.
While the Akatsuki were reviewing the battle, Uchiha Chizumi was also noticing a new change in himself.
Hidan's death had noticeably increased the power of Yang Release within his body.
In fact, Uchiha Chizumi now had the faint feeling that even if someone pierced his heart right now—
he could keep living.