"Damn them! How dare they kill Kankuro?!"
Naruto gritted his teeth in fury, and the scarlet-red chakra of the Nine-Tails began to surge out of his body uncontrollably, threatening to spiral into a rampage at any moment.
It took him a while to calm down, but when he did, he spoke through clenched teeth: "We're going after them! We're going to get Gaara back!"
"But... the intelligence agents we sent to track them haven't reported back anything at all!"
The ninja from Sunagakure were proving to be as useless as ever, unable to provide any useful information. However, just at that moment, Sakura noticed something out of the ordinary...
"There are marks here! They're special markings used by Konoha!" Sakura's eyes widened in surprise.
"I've seen this symbol before with Lady Tsunade. Does that mean another Konoha ninja got here ahead of us?"
"These markings don't look like they were made by an ordinary ninja... they look more like the work of the ANBU or maybe even Root," Kakashi said, furrowing his brows.
"But why would ANBU be here? Are they spies operating within Sunagakure?"
"Who cares?! Let's just hurry up and follow them!" Naruto couldn't wait any longer. Gritting his teeth, he charged forward.
"Naruto, wait!"
The rest of the group had no choice but to follow. Charging in headfirst without a plan was so typical of him...
"Someone is approaching from outside."
Inside the cave, Zetsu suddenly opened his eyes and spoke slowly. "It's ninja from Konoha. The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki is with them."
Just as it had happened in the original timeline, Pain used the Shapeshifting Technique to send clones of Itachi and Kisame to intercept them.
One team would face the incomplete Team 7, while the other would face Might Guy's team!
But of course, these were merely copies. Without their original power and stamina, they quickly ran out of chakra and crumbled to dust...
"From this moment on, not a single mistake is allowed!"
The extraction process had reached its most critical and delicate stage, and Pain's expression was stern and unyielding.
However...
"In that case... sorry about this!"
Aoi Ren smiled and casually pulled his hands away. That tiny moment of interruption was enough to cause a massive surge of the One-Tail's red chakra to flow back into Gaara's body.
"What do you think you are doing, Aoi Ren?!" Pain's Rinnegan blazed with terrifying killing intent.
"Return to your position immediately, or I will kill you where you stand!"
"No, no, no!" Aoi Ren smiled and walked over to stand beside Gaara, holding his hand hovering over the Kazekage's body.
"It's just that... I'm a little unhappy about something."
"Unhappy?"
"We're all members of the same organization, right? So why do you guys get to have all these amazing jutsu, and I don't?" Aoi Ren pouted childishly, acting exactly like a spoiled brat.
"If you don't teach me your Phantom Transformation Technique and that Shapeshifting Technique you used just now, I'm not going to help you anymore!"
Hearing this, Pain's brow furrowed deeply. Although he desperately wanted to kill this insolent boy right now, this was simply not the right time...
If he couldn't kill Aoi Ren instantly, the entire ritual to revive the statue would be disrupted. And capturing the Kazekage again right from inside Sunagakure would be nearly impossible next time!
Most importantly, seeing such a young child acting so childish made Pain lower his guard. Perhaps... if he just gave him what he wanted, he would settle down and do his job properly.
Besides, as a member of Akatsuki, these techniques would have to be taught to him eventually anyway. There was no harm in doing it a little earlier.
And more importantly, the Phantom Transformation Technique required a specific host as a relay station—otherwise, ordinary ninja couldn't use it at all!
"Zetsu!"
Zetsu nodded with a grin. A white body suddenly sprouted out from the ground, handing over two black scrolls directly to Aoi Ren.
Snap!
Aoi Ren accepted them with a wide, satisfied smile. These two forbidden jutsu were incredibly valuable, perhaps even more so than many techniques recorded in the Sealed Scroll.
And threatening Pain was literally the only chance he would ever get to learn them!
"Now... I trust you will behave yourself and get back to work?" Pain's terrifying Rinnegan stared directly into Aoi Ren's eyes. Beneath his calm exterior, rage was burning like a volcano.
This was the first time since he had declared himself a god that anyone had dared to threaten him!
"In that case..."
Aoi Ren smiled, and suddenly his hand shot out, gripping Gaara firmly by the throat.
"...you might as well teach me the Outer Path—Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique while you're at it!"
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