As the situation developed to this point, the higher-ups of the village actually had long anticipated that the two Akatsuki organizations, completely different in style, attire, and so on, were not the same group.
It was only with the arrival of Itachi's intelligence that they finally confirmed it.
However, realizing that the two Akatsuki organizations had a consensus on the Tailed Beasts issue, thoughts of alienation, winning over, division, etc., were extinguished before they even fully arose.
Seeing everyone's solemn faces, Tsunade said: "Isn't this something that has been determined long ago? Is there still anyone harboring wishful thinking?"
Jiraiya said: "That's right. No matter what the relationship between the two Akatsuki organizations is, they won't cooperate with us, so the fact that they are enemies has never changed."
The Third Hokage said in a deep voice: "Continue!"
Tsunade continued to open the scroll.
Soon, a new page of the scroll came into everyone's view. Following was another paragraph of text, recording the intelligence Itachi collected about the organization members.
However, since Akatsuki members often operated in pairs and the intersection between different teams was limited, much of the intelligence Itachi provided was just his own speculation and analysis.
When the scroll was opened to the end, everyone looked at the text on it, their expressions instantly becoming solemn one by one.
At the end, Itachi mentioned that due to the severe damage to Nagato's 'Six Paths of Pain' in the Battle of the Land of Grass, Nagato replaced the 'Six Paths of Pain'. The replacements were none other than those Jinchuriki captured by the Akatsuki organization in successive attacks.
According to Itachi's analysis, Nagato did this out of fear of 'A's group. Therefore, Nagato's thoughts during this period were almost entirely focused on transforming and adapting to these brand-new 'Six Paths of Pain', attempting to further enhance his own strength.
So Itachi speculated that once Nagato completed his control over the new 'Six Paths of Pain', he would launch the decisive battle immediately!
Utatane Koharu said angrily: "Using Jinchuriki as puppets, he is simply crazy!"
However, her eyes were filled with worry, making the anger on her face seem fierce in appearance but weak in reality, lacking confidence!
Mitokado Homura said: "The Hidden Cloud's Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Hidden Rock's Four-Tails and Five-Tails Jinchuriki, Hidden Mist's Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Hidden Waterfall's Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, exactly five people! Oh my god, this is trouble!"
Counting the Yang Nine-Tails obtained in the Battle of the Land of Rice Fields, although the Akatsuki organization obtained a total of seven Tailed Beasts, they only captured five Jinchuriki. Coupled with the 'Deva Path', whom Nagato always regarded as his spokesperson, the number was exactly as mentioned in Itachi's intelligence, enough to form a brand-new 'Six Paths of Pain'.
All the high-level officials present changed color simultaneously.
If Nagato, as the leader of the Akatsuki organization, was already a Super Kage level powerhouse before, then no one present could accurately estimate to what extent Nagato's strength had grown now that he controlled five Jinchuriki and mastered seven Tailed Beasts.
Kakashi said: "If we let Nagato prepare everything, I'm afraid we won't have a chance of winning."
Utatane Koharu frowned: "How can you be sure this isn't a trap by the Akatsuki organization, luring us to attack blindly? Wasn't the lesson last time enough?"
Last time, the elite ninja army led by the Five Kage raided the Akatsuki organization, but fell into the Akatsuki organization's trap. The Fourth Kazekage died on the spot, the Fourth Mizukage was severely injured, and the Two-Tails Jinchuriki was captured. This battle directly caused the Ninja Village Alliance to suffer heavy losses.
Tsunade was incredibly conflicted.
Kakashi and Utatane Koharu both had their points. If the intelligence sent by Itachi was true, then launching a preemptive strike by the Ninja Village Alliance, which now grasped the exact locations of most of the Akatsuki organization's strongholds, was undoubtedly the correct choice.
But now, it was also impossible to rule out whether the intelligence sent by Itachi was a carefully arranged trap by the Akatsuki organization.
If all this was just a carefully laid trap by the Akatsuki organization, once the Ninja Village Alliance fell for it, they would likely repeat the same mistake.
After all, both sides had now laid their cards on the table.
The Akatsuki organization had powerful individual personnel but limited numbers. While the Ninja Village Alliance was slightly disadvantaged in high-end combat power, they were far ahead in the scale of the ninja army. Therefore, fighting a fully mobilized positional warfare was the advantage of the Ninja Village Alliance.
The Third Hokage spoke at the right time: "Let's leave this issue for discussion at the Five Kage Summit!"
Thinking about it, Tsunade agreed. It concerned the final decisive battle, and the Hidden Leaf alone couldn't decide. So she nodded: "Mhm, let's discuss it after the other Kage arrive in the village. But before that, we must do our utmost to verify the authenticity of this intelligence!"
Jiraiya said: "This is simple. We can randomly pick a few from the Akatsuki organization strongholds marked on the scroll to see if they are real!"
The Akatsuki organization's strongholds were scattered all over the Ninja World. Even if one or two were raided by the Five Great Ninja Villages, it shouldn't attract excessive attention from the Akatsuki organization. And the village could use this point to verify the authenticity of this intelligence transmitted back by Itachi.
Of course, everyone present also knew clearly that even if all the Akatsuki organization strongholds marked on the scroll were real, it couldn't completely prove the authenticity of the intelligence, because the possibility still existed that the Akatsuki organization used all its strongholds as bait to induce the Ninja Village Alliance to attack actively.
Land of Demons.
Kakuzu and Hidan, dressed in conspicuous red cloud robes, were advancing on the rugged and steep mountain path.
The reason they appeared in the Land of Demons was that the Akatsuki organization received intelligence that the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss', the Hidden Grass Village's war weapon that held back the Ninja Village Alliance for a long time in the Battle of the Land of Grass before, appeared in the Land of Demons.
To accumulate enough strength before the decisive battle, Nagato sent Kakuzu and Hidan to the Land of Demons to seize the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss'.
At that time, the Hidden Grass Village Elder Council, secretly controlled by the 'Upper Rank Demons', demonized Muku. Utilizing the demon's ability to plunder chakra by devouring ninja flesh and blood, they let Muku accumulate enough chakra to open the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss' by devouring flesh and blood, then sacrificed Muku to the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss'.
Thus, the demonized Muku became the current controller of the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss'.
But at the same time, due to long-term corrosion of the soul by the boundless malice inside the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss', Muku was no longer the cheerful and optimistic Hidden Grass Village genius Ryuzetsu knew. Now he had become a puppet of the 'Box of Ultimate Bliss'. Coupled with the desire for flesh and blood after demonization, he finally degenerated into an demon. This was also the reason why his tracks were exposed in the Land of Demons.
Rumble...
Just then, a huge explosion suddenly occurred on the mountain path. The massive explosion caused the mountain path to collapse. Kakuzu and Hidan couldn't dodge in time and fell into the abyss along with falling rocks.
A long time later, the two climbed up from the rubble at the dimly lit bottom of the abyss.
Before the two could open their mouths to complain, a pale-faced boy with disheveled hair appeared in front of them. The other party seemed to have been waiting here for a long time.
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