"Konan, go gather intel on this so-called Black Death God from Konoha. Report back the moment you find anything."
"…Understood."
Konan replied coldly. Her body dispersed into countless sheets of paper that fluttered into the air and vanished.
"Konoha… Black Death God…"
In a dim chamber deep underground, a masked man muttered to himself. His voice was low, thoughtful. He tilted his head slightly, as though weighing a possibility.
"You…"
On the surface-level base of the Akatsuki, Yahiko—using Pain's Deva Path—looked at Hidan, whose body had been reduced to only a still-living head. For a moment, he was speechless.
He sighed.
"Can you regenerate by yourself?"
Kakuzu was dead. No one present possessed the ability to stitch Hidan's body back together.
"This…"
"Impossible."
Hidan's decapitated head replied irritably, frustration etched into every syllable.
The surface-level hideout fell into an oppressive silence.
Even Yahiko, wielding the Rinnegan as Pain, couldn't help but feel troubled. The Rinnegan wasn't omnipotent.
Sure, the Rinnegan had access to an incredible forbidden jutsu:
The Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
A technique capable of reviving those who had died, even turning their remains to ash. But it came with a price—the life force of the user.
And for someone like Hidan?
No way. Uzumaki Nagato would never sacrifice himself to bring back a single Akatsuki member—especially one who was technically still alive, albeit in pieces.
It was awkward, to say the least.
The reincarnation technique revived the dead. Hidan, despite being just a head now, was still very much alive. The technique wouldn't work on him. It wasn't designed for immortals.
"Let me try."
A voice echoed from the shadows. A masked man stepped forward—Uchiha Obito, still going by his alias "Tobi."
"I have a way to fix him."
Hidan's head turned in surprise toward the voice.
"You… jerk?!"
Yahiko was silent for a moment before calmly speaking to Hidan.
"That's just a pseudonym. His real name… is Uchiha Madara."
"Hidan, only I know his true identity. And now, you know too."
Yahiko paused meaningfully.
"Don't let me hear you breathing a word about Uchiha Madara to anyone else."
Despite being only a severed head, Hidan managed a vivid expression of shock.
His mouth hung open in disbelief, completely stunned.
"Madara? The Madara?"
Uchiha Madara?!
Yahiko, or rather, Nagato through Yahiko's body, had brought Hidan into Akatsuki. Hidan had never imagined that the masked fool known as "Tobi" was actually that Uchiha Madara.
"Relax, I won't say a word!"
Hidan responded immediately, recalling Yahiko's subtle threat.
He might be immortal…
But he was still terrified of Pain.
The Rinnegan… the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths. Ancient myths told of the Sage raising the moon itself with a single hand-seal. Hidan shivered. He didn't want to end up as a moon.
Obito, still playing the part of Madara, circled around Hidan's head, inspecting it.
Then, without hesitation, he picked it up.
"I'll take Hidan with me."
"Go."
Pain, through Yahiko's reanimated body, gave a brief nod.
Just as Obito turned to leave, he paused as though recalling something.
"Right… I overheard something interesting."
He looked back.
"You said… 'Black Death God'… and Konoha."
"We can't afford exposure at this stage of our plan. So let me take care of that too."
Pain narrowed his eyes.
Even Madara Uchiha—if that was who he really was—was starting to act on his own initiative?
Still, Uzumaki Nagato—believing Obito to be the real Madara—trusted him. And he understood.
Nagato had lost too many comrades. He couldn't bear seeing more of his people fall in vain.
Obito seemed to sense this.
"You don't need to take action," he said calmly.
"Remember… we have a partner in Konoha. Someone we collaborated with years ago."
"I'll send him to investigate."
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