Chapter 177: I Want to Join the Akatsuki
"Me?"
Li Jiexuan scratched his head with a smile. "Actually, I really admire the Akatsuki and want to join!"
"Join?"
The puppet of Sasori let out a rattling, cold laugh. "You're the first person who's ever wanted to join the Akatsuki voluntarily. What exactly are you plotting?"
"Plotting? Even if I were, I wouldn't tell you, would I?"
Li Jiexuan smiled and pointed toward the sealing cave behind Sasori. "Instead of wasting time here, don't you have something more important to do?"
"Hmph. Killing you first won't take long!" Sasori sneered as his tail swung forward. "Hiruko—Back Tail Stinger!"
The sharp tail needle was coated with deadly purple poison. Even the slightest scratch would mean certain death without the help of a top-tier medical ninja!
However…
If it didn't hit, it was completely useless.
"Dragon Chidori!"
Pale lightning wrapped around the Kusanagi Sword. With a casual block, Li Jiexuan deflected Sasori's tail stinger. The terrifying lightning instantly evaporated all the poison.
"That kind of chakra power!"
Deidara, standing nearby, let out a strange laugh. "Sasori-danna, it looks like you've provoked a troublesome little brat."
"Little brat?"
Li Jiexuan chuckled lightly and formed a summoning seal.
"Manda, Golden-Winged Roc—come out!"
In front of the two enormous summoned beasts, Sasori and Deidara looked as tiny as insects.
However, Li Jiexuan hadn't summoned them to fight.
"Well? My chakra level meets the requirement now, doesn't it?"
The basis of summoning techniques was simple—the stronger the summoned creature, the more chakra it consumed!
"What?"
"The requirement to activate the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
Li Jiexuan smiled slightly.
"Orochimaru, who had the Sky Ring, ran away, didn't he?"
"Why do you know so much about us?"
Sasori raised his tail stinger warily, ready to strike at any moment if Li Jiexuan made the slightest suspicious move.
However…
"I told you before. Because I admire the Akatsuki, I gathered a lot of information about it."
Li Jiexuan shook his head with a smile.
"Red Sand Sasori, if you absolutely refuse to believe me, you can still fight me after we go inside. It won't be too late then."
Hearing this, Deidara shrugged with a grin.
"Sasori-danna, the boss is already getting impatient. We'd better hurry."
Seemingly persuaded, Sasori snorted coldly.
"Just don't try anything funny."
"Five-Seal Barrier—Release!"
The massive stone slowly rose, and Li Jiexuan followed Sasori and Deidara inside, carrying Gaara with them.
"Why are you so late?"
The holographic figure of the Deva Path of Pain suddenly appeared inside the cave. When he noticed Li Jiexuan, he frowned slightly.
"Who is this?"
"Boss, hello. I'm Li Jiexuan, here to join after hearing of your reputation!"
Li Jiexuan smiled and nodded.
"I just passed Sasori-danna's test."
Seeing Sasori nod helplessly, Pain didn't say anything further.
For him, the only thing that truly mattered was the plan to revive the Ten-Tails. Everything else was secondary. That much was obvious from the way the Akatsuki had been formed…
"Begin immediately!"
Using the Rinnegan, Pain summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Including the Deva Path of Pain, ten figures jumped onto the statue's fingers and began extracting the One-Tail from Gaara using their chakra.
"Two days."
With ten people present, it wouldn't even take three days—two days at most would be enough.
However…
If Haruno Sakura didn't have to treat Kankuro, it would also be easier for them to track their way here.
Li Jiexuan grinned.
Along the way, he had left plenty of markers for them.
Now all he had to do was wait…
Wait until everything reached its critical moment—then overturn the entire situation in one decisive move!