Akatsuki's first pairing meeting quickly came to an end.
Although a certain member appeared midway expressing dissatisfaction with the grouping and proposed swapping with Kyo,
In the end, he naturally had to compromise helplessly.
At this moment,
Apart from Kyo,
The other members successively left in pairs.
Because Pain demanded that everyone must begin to hone tacit understanding and coordination with their partners.
...
At this moment.
Walking on the streets of Amegakure,
Kyo leisurely strolled towards his residence.
In fact,
After leaving the system's hidden territory, Kyo's pace of life had instead slowed down a lot.
Back then,
Fearing being devoured by the Gillians in Hueco Mundo,
Kyo trained day and night almost every day,
Studying Kido and Shunpo while delving into swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat, and never stopping his Bankai Training.
But now, after leaving that place,
He could instead directly enhance his strength by completing various side missions.
It had to be said, it was quite a relief.
And in this pairing meeting,
Konan seemed to have specifically arranged a solo group for him, without the hindrance and burden of teammates, which was also nice.
As for his mission.
In short, there were two—
First, responsible for supporting the actions of other team members.
Second, responsible for annihilating Akatsuki's enemies.
That is to say, from now on, he wouldn't have to go out on money-making missions like commissions or bounties like before.
It could be said that he had basically said goodbye to his worker status.
Moreover, if other team members could handle their missions, Kyo naturally wouldn't need to support and could openly slack off.
As for annihilating Akatsuki's enemies—
This mission was relatively broad in comparison.
After all, currently in the Shinobi World, Akatsuki couldn't be said to be guilty of heinous crimes, but it was basically constantly stirring up trouble.
Therefore, there would definitely be many enemies coveting them.
Taking a step back, those who coveted Amegakure could also be basically considered among Akatsuki's enemies.
"Hmm, wait—"
"If I directly enhance Akatsuki's reputation during this time, making those people dare not to attack..."
"Wouldn't even this second mission be directly skipped?"
A flash of inspiration struck Kyo.
He was instantly amused by his own idea.
'Good grief,'
'If I actually managed to do this, it seemed I could openly slack off at work from now on… Not bad at all.'
Kyo contemplated his plan with a light smile,
As he walked to his residence.
Just as he was about to enter, he suddenly saw two figures slowly approaching from another direction.
The person walking in front was Juzo, carrying the Kubikiribocho on his back.
Following behind was the newly joined Itachi, still wearing his Konoha's Anbu uniform.
Seeing this pair, Kyo immediately understood.
It seemed that, as partners, Juzo was responsible for showing the newly joined Itachi around to choose a residence in Amegakure.
And just as Kyo noticed them, the two naturally noticed Kyo here.
But their expressions were completely different.
Although Itachi's expression remained unchanged, a flicker of surprise glinted in his eyes.
Juzo in front directly changed expression slightly, and without another word, just like before, immediately turned and took a detour.
The alert Itachi naturally immediately noticed something strange,
Yet he still pretended to be surprised and asked:
"Juzo-san,"
"Why are we detouring? Walking that way would be closer, right?"
"Or is it... that there's something over there that we shouldn't approach?"
"..."
Juzo immediately frowned, displeased, and said:
"Tch,"
"Is there any need to ask? Of course, it's because of that golden-eyed kid!"
'Huh?'
'Golden-eyed kid?'
Itachi was momentarily stunned, then his gaze flickered slightly.
'It seemed... he was talking about that person named "Kyo"?'
'Speaking of which,'
'From the moment we entered the base earlier,'
'Uchiha Madara had shown unusual attention towards that Kyo.''
'Moreover, he even seemed to try deliberately steering the conversation, attempting to provoke a fight between Konoha's fox-like ogre and Kyo...'
Of course, Itachi had seen all of this.
And,
What surprised Itachi even more was,
If this Kyo was truly this powerful, why did it seem he had never heard this name before...
"Juzo-san,"
"Where did this Kyo come from, and why did he join Akatsuki?"
"Huh?"
Biwa Juzo didn't expect Itachi to suddenly ask, and just curled his lip, saying flatly:
"Tch, who knows?"
"It's said that Leader and the others have investigated, but they couldn't find anything about this guy's background either."
"However,"
"According to Kakuzu, he seems..."
"To also be someone whose home was destroyed by war."
"It's said that when Konan found him, he was in the desert of the Land of Wind, having defeated the Sunagakure's Missing-nin puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Because he was very strong and had nowhere to go, he joined."
Juzo said casually.
These things had nothing to do with him, so he naturally didn't care at all.
However,
After hearing this, Itachi's gaze flickered.
'Huh...?'
'A victim of war?'
'Having nowhere to go, so he joined Akatsuki...?'
Itachi fell silent.
He hadn't expected such an answer.
But just as he was thinking, Juzo suddenly spoke impatiently again:
"Let's go."
"Stop dawdling, Itachi."
"Anyway, just remember, don't go provoking him."
"After all, this guy's True Eye of the King is elusive and mysterious, maybe its power even surpasses your Uchiha's Sharingan."
"Hmm... huh?"
As soon as these words were uttered, Itachi, who had been gravely pondering just a moment ago, was instantly dumbfounded.
'What?'
'...True Eye of the King?'
'What the hell is that again?'