"Me?"
Aoi Ren scratched his head with a smile. "Actually, I've always been a huge admirer of the Akatsuki organization. I'm here to join up!"
"Join us?" Sasori's puppet body let out a cold, creaking laugh. "You are the first person I've ever met who actually wants to join us. What exactly are you planning?"
"Planning? Even if I had some ulterior motive, do you really think I'd tell you?" Aoi Ren smiled and pointed toward the sealing cave behind them.
"Instead of wasting time standing here talking, don't you two have something rather important you need to be doing right now?"
"Hmph, killing you first won't delay us at all!" Sasori sneered and lashed his tail. "Hiruko: Tail Strike!"
The sharp, needle-like tip of his tail was coated in a deadly purple poison. Even the slightest scratch would mean certain death unless treated immediately by a master medical-nin!
However...
It didn't matter how deadly it was if he couldn't even hit his target!
"Thunder Serpent!"
Pale white lightning coiled around the blade of the Kusanagi Sword. Aoi Ren casually deflected the tail strike, and the terrifying heat of the electricity instantly vaporized every drop of venom on contact...
"Now that is some impressive chakra power!" Deidara chuckled from the side. "Brother Sasori, it looks like you've picked a fight with quite a troublesome little guy!"
"Little guy?" Aoi Ren smiled and made the summoning sign. "Shinka, Golden-Winged, come forth!"
Standing before them, these two massive summons made Sasori and Deidara look like tiny insects in comparison. However, Aoi Ren hadn't called them out to fight.
"How does it look? My chakra reserves must be more than enough to meet the standard, right?"
The fundamental rule of Summoning Jutsu was simple: the stronger the creature you summon, the more chakra it consumes!
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the requirements to pilot the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!" Aoi Ren smirked. "Orochimaru, who held the Ring of Void, ran away, didn't he?"
"Why... how do you know so much about our affairs?" Sasori raised his tail defensively, clearly ready to attack at the slightest provocation. And yet...
"I told you before, didn't I? Because I admire Akatsuki so much, I made sure to gather all the information I could!" Aoi Ren shook his head with a smile.
"Sasori of the Red Sand, if you really don't trust me, we can always settle this fight after we get inside. There's no rush."
Hearing this, Deidara shrugged and grinned. "Come on, Brother Sasori, the Boss is already waiting. We really need to hurry this up!"
It seemed he was convinced. Sasori sneered slightly. "Don't try any tricks. Five-Seal Barrier—Release!"
Massive stone slabs slowly rose into the air, and the three of them walked inside, carrying Gaara with them.
"Why are you so late?"
The projection of Pain appeared suddenly inside the cave. His eyes narrowed sharply as he noticed Aoi Ren. "Who is this man?"
"Greetings, Boss! My name is Aoi Ren, and I've come to join your ranks!" Aoi Ren nodded politely. "I already passed the test given by Brother Sasori just now."
Seeing Sasori nod reluctantly, Pain said nothing more. To him, nothing mattered except the plan to revive the Ten-Tails. Everything else was irrelevant—a fact that was obvious from the very way Akatsuki was run...
"Begin immediately!"
Using the Rinnegan, he summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Ten figures, including Pain, leaped onto the fingers of the giant statue and began using their chakra to forcefully extract the One-Tail Shukaku from within Gaara's body.
"Two days..."
With ten people participating, it wouldn't even take the full three days mentioned in the original story. Two days at most would be enough.
However...
If Sakura Haruno didn't have to stop and treat Kankuro, she and the others would be able to track them down much faster. Aoi Ren grinned to himself; he had made sure to leave plenty of markers and clues along the way for them to find.
Now, all he had to do was wait...
Wait until the very moment everything reached its climax, and then seize the opportunity to turn the entire situation upside down!
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