Tanzaku Town.
A gambling holy land in the Land of Fire.
It was famous throughout the Shinobi World for its extremely developed gambling industry.
Various gambling and entertainment venues of all sizes ran through it, coupled with a developed tavern industry, making it a place where countless gamblers lingered and forgot to return.
Its awesomeness could be called the number one gambling city in the Shinobi World.
"..."
Seeing this location marked on the map, Kyo was momentarily speechless.
He didn't expect the Jashin Cult to have appeared here...
Was it to preach to gamblers?
Truly ridiculous.
However,
The reason Kyo knew Tanzaku Town was certainly not because it was a gambling holy land.
As the light of righteousness in the Shinobi World, he didn't engage in gambling, drugs, or pornography.
It was because,
Here, in the original work, was the location of a famous scene.
That was --
The bet between Tsunade and Naruto.
In the original work,
Due to the Chunin Exams crisis and the death of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Jiraiya was logically pushed into the position of successor to the Fifth Hokage,
But, he was unwilling to bear the name of Hokage.
So,
To find a suitable successor for Konoha, Jiraiya took Naruto and went to find his old acquaintance.
The princess of the Senju Clan,
Tsunade.
Also one of the Sannin of Konoha, inheriting the excellent bloodline of the Senju, her strength was undoubtedly at the Kage level, enough to inherit the name of the Fifth.
However,
She had left Konoha due to escaping the past.
Tsunade loved gambling.
However, her gambling luck was very poor. Losing nine out of ten bets was not enough to describe her level.
She lost almost every bet.
In fact,
She was even nicknamed by everyone as the "Legendary Sucker".
Meaning she was just waiting to be taken advantage of.
But even so,
Her love for gambling did not diminish in the slightest.
Knowing this well, Jiraiya used this clue to come to the gambling holy land Tanzaku Town, and... successfully encountered Tsunade here.
And then,
Under Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu,
Tsunade made a bet with Naruto.
...
Of course,
These are matters for later.
Right now, what truly interested Kyo about this place,
Was naturally because --
On Tsunade, there were a series of side missions that could be completed!
If he could encounter Tsunade on this trip to Tanzaku Town, it seemed he could conveniently complete all those shelved side missions.
He could also by the way look for traces of Hidan, killing two birds with one stone.
No matter how you calculated it,
This was a no-loss deal.
Thinking this,
An uncontrollable faint smile appeared on Kyo's lips.
And beside him.
Seeing this scene, Deidara was naturally a bit puzzled and said in surprise:
"Senpai, what are you thinking about...?"
As his words fell,
Kyo came back to his senses, looked over, and chuckled, shaking his head:
"Nothing."
Then,
He again raised the intelligence map in his hand, shook it, and said casually:
"As Kakuzu said,"
"Since this mission marks three places, we'll split up and search first to improve efficiency."
"I'll go to this Tanzaku Town, and you go to the nearby Totsuki City."
"...Eh?"
Deidara was momentarily stunned and frowned:
"Totsuki City?"
"Never heard of it, but judging by the name, it seems very troublesome..."
As his words fell,
Kyo rolled his eyes and said calmly:
"Uninformed."
"This Totsuki City is a gathering place for gourmet food in the Land of Fire."
"Inside, there's even a top-notch culinary academy that's world-renowned. It's said that the dishes they make might make you addicted after eating."
"Does your Iwagakure have such gourmet food?"
"...Eh?"
Kyo's long speech left Deidara momentarily stunned.
Having grown up in Iwagakure,
He truly hadn't eaten anything good from childhood to adulthood...
He was even somewhat unfamiliar with the word 'gourmet food'.
Hearing Kyo say this,
For some reason,
He seemed a bit eager to try...
After a moment,
He put on a somewhat reluctant expression and said:
"Al-alright..."
"Nothing I can do, I'll go here then!"
"..."
Kyo chuckled inwardly.
This guy might really end up eating his words...
...
Time passed.
It was dusk.
Kisame and Itachi's team, as the first wave of members, departed, heading straight for Konoha in the Land of Fire.
Kisame's heart was naturally set on doing something big. After all, being called the Tailless Tailed Beast, he had long wanted to try fighting a real Tailed Beast.
However, he didn't know,
Beside him, the calm-faced Itachi's heart was pounding nervously.
He was thinking rapidly,
How to act against Kisame.
How to convey information to Konoha without exposing himself, while also ensuring he could withdraw unscathed from this mission, and ensuring the Kyubi capture failed...
Multiple tasks combined, even for Itachi, was the biggest challenge so far.
Although he had always been good at going easy,
But,
With the Third Hokage dead now, the people in Konoha,
Seemed like going easy wasn't enough,
He would need to go extremely easy to barely exchange a few moves...
However,
What if Kisame saw through it...?
Under the setting sun,
Itachi's Sharingan flickered.
This mission,
Was one he had never been so anxious about.
...
After Itachi and Kisame left.
The second wave, the team responsible for recruiting Akatsuki's ninth member, Hidan, naturally also departed.
However,
They did not leave together.
Kakuzu really didn't want to walk with Kyo and Deidara, so he directly slipped away first.
And Deidara and Kyo went together,
Planning to split up after entering the Land of Fire.
And before they left,
Pain had naturally introduced Hidan's intelligence to them.
It was said,
He also possessed some kind of immortality power and was very dangerous.
Therefore,
Whoever found his trace first had to contact Pain first, and then he would contact the other two members to support.
Finally, the three would work together to successfully recruit Hidan and bring him back.
Although troublesome,
It was stable enough.
Therefore, the three of them naturally had no objections.
...
When night fell.
The three also completely left Amegakure, heading separately for Yugakure and the Land of Fire.
With the rise of the moon,
Dark clouds once again enveloped Amegakure.
The air humidity gradually increased.
Without Pain's power to support it, the rain clouds finally gathered over Amegakure again.
Then, the oppressive air quickly intensified.
Finally,
The rain came down.
At first, it was like fine needles, light and scattered.
And just a few minutes later, it immediately turned into a downpour, beating against the iron buildings of Amegakure.
A killing atmosphere again enveloped Amegakure.
Pain stood in the tall tower,
Gazing into the distant darkness, his expression indifferent, and said coldly:
"From now on..."
"Let the world know pain."