Amegakure.
At the entrance of the village by the inland lake,
Two members wearing Akatsuki's robes were slowly walking towards the interior of the village.
These two were,
Kakuzu and Hidan, returning after completing their mission.
As the team with the highest attendance rate in the current Akatsuki, they had been frequently out on missions over the past few years and rarely returned to Amegakure.
The reason for their top attendance rate was, of course, not because they were passionate about doing missions.
It was simply because Kakuzu loved making money, and Hidan loved preaching.
Previously,
They had participated in gatherings through Pain's Astral Magic Lantern Body Technique.
This technique could gather all members of the Akatsuki together in the form of illusions by receiving chakra thought waves.
Not only did it greatly facilitate communication among Akatsuki's members, ignoring the obstacles posed by distance.
But most importantly, it ensured the safety and confidentiality of Akatsuki gatherings.
And this time,
The reason they had personally rushed back,
Was naturally due to the sudden message from their leader, Pain.
Judging from the content of the message,
Currently, all of Akatsuki's preparations seemed to be complete.
Next,
They would formally begin Akatsuki's final plan --
Tailed Beasts Capture Plan.
For such an important matter, they naturally had to come back.
"Tsk tsk..."
"Come to think of it, we haven't been back to Amegakure for almost a year or two, right...?"
"If it weren't for this Tailed Beast Capture Plan starting..."
While walking forward,
Hidan muttered to himself.
Kakuzu beside him completely ignored him and didn't reply.
After several years of partnership,
He had long known that Hidan was a chatterbox with low intelligence, and had long gotten used to it.
And just then,
They noticed something was off.
In the distance,
On the streets of Amegakure,
Figures of Shinobi carrying black long swords were constantly moving back and forth on the streets, seemingly very busy.
And on their foreheads, they all wore Amegakure's forehead protectors.
However,
No one carried an umbrella, instead they all carried swords.
Moreover, everyone's swords were very similar, looking like they should be a mass-produced type from some place.
"...?"
Seeing this scene, Kakuzu was momentarily stunned.
Huh?
Wait...
What's going on?
When did Amegakure become like this???
Kakuzu was instantly dumbfounded.
Shinobi who fought with swords weren't actually rare,
It could even be said, in Kakuzu's long bounty hunting career, they were a very common setup.
But the problem was,
Looking at the Shinobi of an entire village... they were all carrying swords???
That was just a bit ridiculous, right?
The Land of Rain,
Had it turned into the damn Land of Iron???
And just as Kakuzu was puzzled,
Hidan beside him hadn't noticed anything at all, just looking at Kakuzu's frozen expression and saying strangely:
"What's wrong, Kakuzu?"
"Why the sudden face? Is something different?"
As his words fell,
Kakuzu slowly recovered, glanced at him, and said indifferently:
"Haven't you noticed..."
"The Shinobi of Amegakure have all started carrying swords...?"
"...?"
Hearing this, Hidan was momentarily stunned, then looked into the distance.
When he saw one person carrying a sword, he didn't react much, but when he looked further and saw every figure carrying a sword, he was immediately shocked.
"Huh?"
"Th-this... what's going on?!"
"Did it become like this while we were away???"
Hidan said loudly with a strange expression.
And as his words fell,
Before Kakuzu beside him could react,
Suddenly, behind the two, a strange chuckling voice suddenly came.
"Hehe, very peculiar, right?"
"No wonder, after all, you two haven't been back for a long time..."
"!"
As the words fell,
Kakuzu and Hidan both stirred and immediately looked back.
Behind them, two men also wearing black robes with red clouds were walking slowly towards them.
The one on the left carried a huge bandaged blade, his face resembling a shark;
The one on the right had an indifferent expression, his eyes showing a strange bright red.
"Kisame... and... Itachi?"
Seeing the two, Hidan immediately recognized them.
Although he had joined Akatsuki for the shortest time, it had already been several years, so it was impossible not to know these two.
After all, they were also official members of Akatsuki, and his seniors, the older Missing-nin brothers, so to speak.
And at this moment, realizing it was them,
Kakuzu breathed an imperceptible sigh of relief, then squinted slightly, looking at Kisame, and said deeply:
"What's the story?"
"Do you know the reason?"
"Hehe... naturally."
Kisame crossed his arms, grinned, and explained with a light laugh.
"Starting about two years ago,"
"This strange trend of swordsmanship began to spread among the Shinobi of Amegakure."
"At first, it was just the students at the Amegakure's Shinobi Academy who liked to use them,"
"But as time went on, in the end, even those Amegakure Shinobi who had long graduated started joining in one after another."
"This seems to have become a fashion in Amegakure."
"..."
"Who caused this...?"
At the end,
Kisame gazed at Kakuzu, showing an ambiguous expression.
His gaze was full of implication.
And after hearing this,
Kakuzu was suddenly taken aback.
Huh?
Wait?!
Could it be... that man?!!
At this moment,
Kakuzu lightly gasped.
He had naturally guessed who Kisame was implying.
After all, in the entire Akatsuki,
Or even in the entire Amegakure, only that one man always carried a sword with him.
Over the years,
Although he rarely drew his sword,
He had never put it down.
And as far as Kakuzu knew,
Every time he drew his sword, the battle... would end in an extremely short instant.
The Shinobi of Amegakure suddenly all starting to carry swords...
Was it... because of him...?
Kisame's gaze flickered slightly, pondering something.
However,
While he was very shocked, Hidan beside him was completely bewildered,
He just showed a slightly surprised expression, then raised his hand with a strange look, rubbing his chin, and said:
"Huh?"
"There's such a person in Amegakure?"
"It seems this guy has captured the faith of these Shinobi?"
"Then I'd like to learn from him... how exactly did he preach to these people?"
Hidan muttered to himself thoughtfully.
In his view,
This scale of influence was basically comparable to his own preaching.
But hearing this,
Kakuzu beside him was speechless.
Preaching?
With that guy's level of awesomeness,
Does he need to go around preaching like your crappy cult?