A moment later,
Kyo arrived at that all-too-familiar base.
The gloomy atmosphere immediately spread around him.
However,
Contrary to Kyo's expectations,
The only people inside now were Pain and Konan; everyone else seemed not to have arrived yet.
Just as Kyo was wondering about this, a calm voice came through.
"You're here, Kyo."
Konan, dressed in the red cloud black robe, stood before the Outer Path Statue, looking at Kyo who had just walked in, and spoke softly:
"You arrived unusually early today."
Hearing this, Kyo raised his eyes slightly, then immediately chuckled lightly and said:
"Strange."
"My departure time and speed were the same as always."
"Logically, I should still be the last to arrive, right?"
"Unless..."
"You didn't notify the others, did you?"
Kyo stared at Konan, speaking with a faint smile.
As his words faded, Konan's expression shifted slightly, then she lowered her eyes slightly and said calmly:
"As expected, I couldn't fool you."
"...That's right."
"This time, Pain did contact you alone first."
As her words faded,
Pain walked out from behind a stone wall nearby. His expression also remained calm and undisturbed as he spoke:
"Kyo."
"There's something we need to discuss with you in advance."
"To avoid bringing it up during the meeting later, we called you over first separately."
"Hope you don't mind."
Hearing this, Kyo slightly raised an eyebrow and said calmly:
"Oh? Let's hear it then."
Having stayed in Amegakure for so long,
The relationship between him and the two of them was no longer as distant as before.
Naturally, things were a bit more harmonious in various aspects.
"..."
At this moment, Pain slightly raised his eyes, looking at Kyo, and said blandly:
"Have you heard of the 'Joint Chunin Exams'?"
"...Huh?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Kyo was momentarily stunned.
'Hmm?'
'Wait,'
'What's going on? The Joint Chunin Exams are coming...?'
'This... finally here!'
Kyo's heart rejoiced, and he raised his eyes directly to look at the system's virtual screen.
There, a mission interface that had been present for a while was displayed-
[Current Main Mission:]
[Participate in the Major Incident - Konoha Crush Plan (0/1), Incomplete, Reward Unknown!]
[Main Mission Branch Tasks: Not yet unlocked.]
...
A faint smile appeared in Kyo's heart.
This mission had been unlocked over a month ago, but there had been no further mission prompts.
Therefore, Kyo simply threw it into storage and ignored it.
Unexpectedly,
He would suddenly hear about it from Pain!
For a moment,
Kyo fell into silent contemplation.
However,
Before he could think deeply,
Pain, perhaps thinking he was unfamiliar with the topic, started explaining again on his own:
"The Joint Chunin Exams are exams held in cooperation between the major Shinobi Villages, for Genin to advance to Chunin."
"Generally speaking, they are important occasions for major countries to observe each other's national strength."
"This time, it is jointly hosted by Konoha and Sunagakure."
"Just yesterday,"
"We in Amegakure also received an invitation."
"It invited us, along with various smaller countries' Shinobi Villages like Takigakure, Kusagakure, and Otogakure, to participate in this Chunin Exam as accompaniment."
"However, the recipient written on the invitation letter was the former leader of Amegakure - Hanzo of the Salamander."
"To protect the Akatsuki's intelligence security, we decided not to expose this for now."
"Furthermore, we will pretend that Hanzo is still alive and normally dispatch Amegakure's Shinobi to attend."
"Therefore, we wanted to ask you."
"After all, you currently hold the position of instructor at Amegakure's Shinobi Academy. You should have some understanding of those students, right."
"...?"
At this point, Kyo was stunned.
Then, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
After hearing this, everything was naturally clear in his mind.
And after listening, his heart not only remained calm, but he even felt a bit speechless.
'Huh? That's it...?'
'You called me over early, I thought there was some major matter to discuss, and it turns out to be this?'
'And,'
'Why ask me about this kind of thing in the first place?'
'Although I hold a position as a swordsmanship instructor at the Academy, I've been slacking off the whole time.'
'Surely they don't actually think I've been doing a good job, right?'
'If you don't slack off at work, is it even called work?'
Thinking this,
Kyo couldn't help but smile helplessly and shook his head, saying:
"I'm not really clear on that."
"But anyway, you're just sending them over as a formality, right? It shouldn't matter who you send, should it?"
"Surely you don't actually intend to win this exam?"
"..."
As his words faded, Pain and Konan exchanged glances, their expressions shifting slightly.
'Uh, that's true, I suppose...'
However,
What they didn't know was that Kyo's mind was actually thinking about a more distant plan...
And just at this moment,
Suddenly, several different footsteps sounded in succession, interrupting their thoughts.
Tap, tap.
A young man's figure slowly walked in from outside.
He also wore the Akatsuki's red cloud black robe uniform, and on his forehead was a Konoha's forehead protector with a scratch mark through it.
It was Itachi, who had come to attend the meeting.
Following him, the immortal Shinobi, Kakuzu also stepped in.
And the pitcher plant-like Zetsu emerged directly from the ground.
At this moment,
All the formal members of the Akatsuki had officially assembled.
Kyo immediately snapped back from his contemplation.
Although the main mission was important, now was naturally not the time to think about that.
Clearly, the formal meeting was about to start.
And at this moment,
It was evident that Itachi's demeanor seemed somewhat low.
He kept his eyes lowered, silent, seemingly lost in thought.
Just then, Pain spoke blandly:
"Everyone, wait a moment."
"If nothing unexpected happens, the new member should be arriving soon."
In fact,
Regarding this new member,
Pain himself knew nothing about him.
However, this person was personally brought out from the Kirigakure in the Land of Water by the so-called Uchiha Madara himself.
His strength was said to be considerable.
Furthermore, the masked man had mentioned,
Due to certain uncertainties regarding Itachi, a dedicated member was needed to monitor him.
This person was the newly joining member.
Since the masked man trusted him and entrusted him with such an important task, Pain naturally had no objection.
A moment later,
Suddenly, two more footsteps sounded.
Then, a familiar and noisy voice rang out at the cave entrance.
"Ara ara... Senpai, you all sure arrived quickly!"
"Are you waiting for the new member I brought? I'm honored, haha!!"
This voice,
Was naturally the trainee, Tobi.
Hearing this,
Everyone present remained indifferent, almost completely unmoved.
They had long grown accustomed to this goofy style and didn't intend to acknowledge him.
And at this moment,
The masked man walked into the cave along with a new, unfamiliar man.
This man was tall,
On his back, he carried a giant sword wrapped in white bandages, and on his forehead, he wore a Kirigakure's forehead protector.
His dark blue hair spiked up, looking very sharp.
And his face... resembled a shark's.
The moment they saw him,
Everyone present was momentarily stunned.
'Hmm?'
'What's with this appearance...?'
Without a doubt, judging by these distinctive features, he was indeed a completely unfamiliar face.
None of those present, including Kakuzu, who was nearly a hundred years old, had ever seen him before.
However,
Kyo alone had a glint in his eyes.
Of course, he couldn't not recognize him-
This man was the true man who would later be known as the "Tailless Tailed Beast"...
Hoshigaki Kisame!
In the original plot,
He was widely known as Itachi's partner in the Akatsuki.
His mastery of Water Release was exceptional, coupled with his fighting style which, even in the later stages, involved flashy and various hand seals.
He could be called... the number one honest man in the Shinobi World!
In fact, he possessed an extremely vast amount of Chakra, and coupled with his sword, Samehada, which could absorb Chakra to replenish him, his strength was undoubtedly at the Kage-level.
The name "Tailless Tailed Beast" came precisely from this.
It's a testament to his ferocity.
He once served under the former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Suikazan Fuguki, performing intelligence work.
And Fuguki was also the first user of the Samehada.
After discovering that Fuguki was selling out Kirigakure's intelligence, Kisame killed him and seized Samehada.
As it turned out,
Samehada seemed almost like a custom-made, exclusive weapon for Kisame.
In his hands, it unleashed its true power.
And just as Kyo was looking at Kisame,
Suddenly, the system's prompt tone unexpectedly rang out in his mind.
[Ding! Congratulations Host! Triggered Side Mission!]
[Collect one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist, the "Great Sword - Samehada" (0/1), Incomplete, Reward Unknown!]
'...Huh?'
Kyo was momentarily taken aback.
'Good grief!'
'We just meet, and you want me to rob him?'
'This...'
'Bullying an honest man?!'