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"It looks like another Great Ninja War is inevitable. This will severely cripple the military strength of the hidden villages, which works perfectly for our plans, Pain."
Atop the central tower, a stunning woman with striking purplish-blue hair and a tall silhouette spoke. Wearing the iconic red-cloud cloak, she directed her words to the orange-haired man sitting at the very edge of a lone pipe protruding into the sky.
These two were the current leaders of the Akatsuki. They were the disciples of the legendary Leaf Sannin, Jiraiya—Nagato and Konan.
However, Nagato's true body was hidden deep beneath the tower. The figure sitting above the village was merely the Deva Path Pain, a puppet created from the corpse of his best friend, Yahiko.
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"Hmph. Human greed is bottomless, and hatred only fuels it," the Deva Path replied coldly. "Until humanity understands what true pain is, the wars will never stop. They will only repeat the same mistakes."
He looked down on the world with absolute detachment.
"That is why they need a god to guide them onto the right path. A Great Ninja War? It doesn't matter. The Five Great Nations cannot stop our advance."
His tone was completely hollow, looking down on the masses like a deity. It perfectly captured Nagato's current mindset. Maybe it was a deliberate front, or maybe he truly believed the dream he had woven for himself—that he was the god who would bring salvation to this world.
"Still, it saves us a lot of trouble," Konan replied softly.
While she had absolute faith in Nagato's Six Paths of Pain, the Five Great Villages had decades of history proving their might. Having them slaughter each other and drain their resources only made the Akatsuki's operations smoother. Capturing all nine Tailed Beasts meant they would inevitably clash with the major ninja villages.
"Minor details," Pain dismissed. "The key is keeping track of the Tailed Beasts. If the Six-Tails has appeared in the Hidden Waterfall, that means they now hold three of them. We might need to adjust our capture sequence. Also, keep a very close eye on him."
Pain stood up, turning his emotionless Rinnegan eyes toward Konan. She instantly understood who he meant.
Just as Pain said, the major villages were small problems compared to the man calling himself 'Madara.' Neither Nagato nor Konan trusted him for a second. Anyone with half a brain knew the masked man had his own hidden agenda.
But Nagato was supremely confident in his Rinnegan. To him, everyone—'Madara' and the rest of the Akatsuki included—were just pawns on his chessboard.
"Understood. I'll make the arrangements. Are we sticking to the original timeline for the beast captures?" Konan asked with a slight nod.
"Proceed as planned. Nothing escapes the control of a god," Pain said, staring out over the Hidden Rain Village. His eyes were cold and calculating.
---
While the Five Great Villages plotted against each other, the Akatsuki was dealing with its own internal friction. It was an organization built on convenience, shared interests, and mutual exploitation.
Loyalty? Trust? Those were useless luxuries here.
Nagato and Konan thought they were using Obito. But Obito was using the Akatsuki right back. With Zetsu's vast intelligence network, Obito had the entire ninja world under surveillance. A hundred thousand White Zetsu clones, even partially awakened, made for a spy network more terrifying than any nation's.
"The Hidden Cloud has fallen. That Menma kid is more capable than we thought. He's got the Two-Tails now. The Leaf and Mist have halted their advance, and that stubborn old man from the Stone Village seems to have made a deal with Menma—they're invading the Cloud. The whole ninja world is spiraling into chaos. What's your move, Lord Madara?"
Near the border of the Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Fire, Obito stood on a mountain peak in his usual attire. The eerie, familiar voice echoed just as he was gazing toward the Waterfall Village.
A second later, a figure emerged from the ground to his left—half pitch-black, half pale-white.
"Heh. The more chaos, the better," Obito sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. "The Eye of the Moon plan is finally entering its last stage. A year or two at most before we begin. The harder the Five Villages fight, the weaker they get, and the smoother our plan goes."
He paused, glancing sideways at Zetsu.
"As for Menma... having the Tailed Beasts gathered in one place just makes them easier to collect. Once we wipe them out in one fell swoop, no one will be able to stop us. What about Nagato? Did you pass all the intel to him?"
Obito, Nagato, and Konan all shared the same arrogant dismissal of the Five Villages, but their real paranoia was reserved for each other. It was a fragile alliance. Nagato was a crucial piece of the Eye of the Moon plan; Obito couldn't afford to lose him until the beasts were sealed into the Gedo Statue.
"Heh, Nagato didn't say much. Konan said they're sticking to the original plan," Zetsu chuckled low in his throat.
"Oh? If they're playing along, we stick to the schedule. Let these foolish humans squirm a little longer. And don't forget to keep your eyes on Itachi Uchiha. That guy's loyalties are still a wild card," Obito smirked coldly.
Vwoosh.
His single exposed Sharingan flared crimson. Space warped around him, and in less than a second, Obito vanished into the void.
'Itachi, huh? He definitely needs watching,' Zetsu thought, glancing northwest as he pictured the stoic young Uchiha.
---
Meanwhile, the target of Obito and Zetsu's paranoia was currently in a small country called the Land of Swamps in the northwest. Partnered with the human-tailed-beast, Kisame Hoshigaki, Itachi was executing a mission assigned by the Akatsuki.
For a mercenary group to function, it needed a steady stream of jobs and cash. Unlike hidden villages that took missions from nobles and civilians, the Akatsuki directly serviced the major nations.
If a major village had dirty work they couldn't risk being officially tied to, they hired the Akatsuki. Onoki—who literally had a former student in the organization—saw it as a perfectly pragmatic business transaction. Why waste his own men when he could just throw money at the problem?
Did Onoki fear the Akatsuki? Not at all. It was the pure arrogance of a Great Village. The idea that a bunch of rogue ninjas could threaten the Five Kage was treated as a joke—a blind spot caused by a lack of intel and decades of institutional inertia.
Right now, Itachi and Kisame were wiping out an anti-Stone rebel faction led by the survivors of a ruined minor village. They weren't exactly weak—the leader had Jonin-level strength, backed by a dozen decent subordinates and hired mercenaries.
The Stone could have easily wiped them out, but their involvement in the minor village's original destruction was a bit too scandalous. Onoki wanted to save face. Plus, he suspected rival villages might be backing the rebels, so he outsourced the job to the "professionals" to avoid a direct political incident.
"Fighting back with this pathetic level of strength? Almost makes me feel bad for them," Kisame scoffed.
He swung his massive, bandage-wrapped blade, Samehada, bringing it down on the rebel leader who was already on his last breath.
SQUELCH.
The man was pulverized into a bloody paste, completely extinguishing his life. Dozens of bodies littered the ground around him. To anyone else, they were capable shinobi; to Itachi and Kisame, they were a warm-up.
They only came as a pair because Akatsuki rules mandated two-man cells—a flimsy but necessary security measure.
Just as Kisame finished off the target, the sound of slow, measured footsteps echoed from a distance. Kisame looked up.
Itachi Uchiha's familiar, emotionless face came into view. Even though Kisame was older and had a longer rap sheet, he deeply respected Itachi, treating him almost like a mentor.
"Oh? You're back, Itachi-san. Find anything? Was it the Leaf? The Cloud? Don't tell me it was the Sand," Kisame grinned, resting Samehada on his shoulder.
"It was the Hidden Sand. Though they weren't heavily involved. They obviously knew this group wouldn't amount to much. They just provided some pocket change and basic cover," Itachi replied flatly.
"The Sand? Seriously?" Kisame laughed mockingly. "They actually had money to spare? Now that's uncharacteristic of them."
It wasn't an exaggeration. Anyone who had been around the ninja world knew the Hidden Sand was notoriously broke. It was the reason they only received one Tailed Beast during the original distribution while everyone else got two. Simply put, they just couldn't afford the asking price.
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