Time rewinds a little.
Land of Rain, Akatsuki headquarters.
In this land of ceaseless drizzle, a visitor stepped across the border, and Nagato—who sensed the entire country through the Rain Tiger at Will Technique—opened his eyes.
"Nagato, what's wrong?"
Konan, ever at his side, noticed the change in his expression.
"He's here."
Nagato's voice was low; he clearly wasn't welcoming the visitor.
"Uchiha Madara? He hasn't meddled in our affairs for quite a while. What's he here for this time?"
Konan frowned as well. Back when the original Akatsuki was wiped out by Danzō and Hanzo of the Salamander, they soon met a man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara and offered them a new path.
Konan had always found that so-called Uchiha Madara deeply suspicious—not a good partner.
"Not sure. He's already outside."
Nagato turned toward the door, and a knock sounded at that exact moment.
The "Uchiha Madara" space-time ninjutsu was inscrutable even to Nagato—a technique hard to counter. Over the years he'd wanted to tear off that mask more than once, but never found a good chance.
"Nagato, you're looking well."
The masked Obito stepped into the room. Taking in the black chakra receivers protruding from Nagato's back, he smiled.
Nagato frowned slightly. His body had only been worsening; he couldn't tell if that was a taunt or a considerate greeting. "What are you here for? I've followed the plan—we've already had Zetsu collecting intel. We're about to begin hunting the Tailed Beasts."
"I'm not here to change the plan, merely to alter the order. There's been an unexpected development."
Ignoring Konan's openly hostile gaze, Obito casually found a place to sit.
"What do you mean?"
Nagato disliked changing established plans. Back then, Akatsuki's destruction and Yahiko's death had both stemmed from a last-minute plan.
"Something happened in Kirigakure. The Fourth Mizukage has slipped out of our control. We need to deal with him first."
Obito had just learned this and had a raging headache.
Originally, the Fourth Mizukage was to be Akatsuki's dark piece, coordinating with them to stir up the ninja world. Now that the piece had slipped his grasp, it felt awful.
After taking over the Mizukage's control from the real Uchiha Madara, he'd driven Yagura to ruin Kirigakure even worse than before, all because he believed Kiri had killed the girl he loved most—Rin—and he wanted Kiri to suffer.
In truth, Obito had wondered: since the Mizukage had previously been under Madara's control, could Rin's death have been connected to Madara?
But after a moment's thought, he cast the idea aside. In the end, he didn't really care who the mastermind behind Rin's death was—he just needed somewhere to vent.
And even if the Rinnegan could bring Rin back, he didn't want to do it. Deep down, though he wouldn't admit it, he knew that even if Rin were revived, the person she loved wouldn't be him.
So he would create a world where Rin existed!
Things had been going smoothly for years—Nagato wasn't easy to manage, but overall he'd been following the plan.
But before they'd even begun the crucial phase, the Mizukage broke free of genjutsu. A real headache.
With his own genjutsu skill, re-ensnaring a perfect jinchūriki like Yagura was out of the question. To prevent the Fourth Mizukage from rallying Kirigakure to retaliate against Akatsuki, he felt they had to strike first—before Yagura could consolidate hearts and forces.
"The Fourth Mizukage? Wasn't he under your genjutsu? Even if it's been dispelled, can't you just put him back under?"
Nagato eyed the "Uchiha Madara" dubiously. This wasn't the sort of thing Madara should be flustered about.
Obito fell silent. He couldn't exactly admit that he'd been a bottom-of-the-class genjutsu user, could he?
After a few seconds, he said, "Kirigakure is already on alert. Even if I genjutsu him again, it won't help. To keep the plan on track, we should eliminate him first."
"Eliminate? Not capture him alive?"
Konan asked.
"The Tailed Beasts must be sealed in order. Otherwise, the Gedo Statue won't tolerate it. We haven't captured the first two yet, so we can't seal the Three-Tails."
"And imprisoning a perfect jinchūriki like Yagura is too risky."
"But when a jinchūriki dies, it takes two or three years for the Tailed Beast to re-manifest. That will delay our timetable."
Nagato frowned. The masked man's words were full of holes. If they could capture the Fourth Mizukage, why not simply keep him under genjutsu in confinement?
Obito seemed to realize his argument was off. He amended, "You can send someone to take him alive—if you're confident you can keep a tight enough lid on him until the other Beasts are in place."
"And what will you be doing during that time?"
Konan asked. Since "Madara" knew about it already, coming over to tell them was odd. Why not grab the Mizukage himself?
"I have other matters—a trip to Konoha."
Obito improvised a reason, though he did plan to go. He had recently learned that the Uchiha clan's situation had deteriorated and they were about to revolt. He had his eye on a promising seed he wanted to draw into Akatsuki.
To that end, he would personally wipe out his own clan.
Nagato wanted to ask more, but the masked man vanished into a vortex of space-time, deepening Nagato's frown.
"Nagato, do we do as he says?"
Konan asked.
"Even if it feels suspicious, we can't sit by and watch the Mizukage regain power—especially on the eve of our move. We have to nip the risk in the bud."
Nagato concluded. "Summon the members."
…
After the Magic Lantern Body Technique was activated, Gusion and Orochimaru's consciousnesses entered the space where the Gedo Statue stood.
Attendance was excellent this time: Sasori within Hiruko; Kakuzu; Zetsu; Jūzō Biwa and his teammate; Konan; the Deva Path; Orochimaru; and Gusion—nine in all.
"You're calling us now—are we starting to collect Tailed Beasts?"
Sasori spoke from inside Hiruko. "If it's Sunagakure, it's best to leave it to me."
The Deva Path glanced at Sasori. "Then Suna is yours. According to intel, One-Tail is still a child, but it's prone to going berserk. Be prepared to face a Tailed Beast head-on."
Konan shot Pain a surprised look but said nothing.
Nagato's thinking was simple: he didn't want to delay his plan because of the unstable factor that was the Mizukage. His body was still holding up; the Gedo Statue was ready. Who knew what things would look like after three more years?
So he decided to have the organization start collecting Tailed Beasts at once, and to capture the Fourth Mizukage too. Then they could directly extract One through Three.
"Going on a business trip to that barren dump Suna, huh? Really cuts into my profits."
Kakuzu grumbled, but seeing Pain's resolve, let it drop.
"Jūzō, your cell knows Kirigakure best, and you're close. Head over and recon the situation."
Pain said, "Don't act rashly."
Hearing the first half, Jūzō Biwa's heart clenched—"Me, fight the Mizukage?"—but he relaxed at "don't act rashly."
So it was only intelligence gathering. Not too dangerous.
"Orochimaru, Gusion—your pair will capture the Two-Tails, then head south by ship to support the Kiri operation."
Pain issued new orders. For the first few Tailed Beasts, he didn't need to go in person.
The Fourth Mizukage was very strong; he didn't think Jūzō's team could take him down, hence the instruction to infiltrate only.
He rated Gusion and Orochimaru's combined strength highly. Gusion had once rampaged through Kumogakure and fought his way out; paired with Orochimaru, grabbing a target in Kumo should be feasible.
"The Two-Tails, hm. But Kumo has two jinchūriki. If we bump into the Eight-Tails, should we snag him too?"
Orochimaru licked his lips as he spoke, though he hadn't actually decided to help Akatsuki capture Beasts.
With Gusion funding his research lavishly, Akatsuki was no longer a necessary backer. Going to Kumo—this warlike great village—to seize a Tailed Beast was far too risky.
"If it's not doable, you can withdraw. Priority is reclaiming Kiri's jinchūriki."
The Deva Path thought for a moment. "If you don't succeed, I'll go to Kumo myself."
Gusion had stayed quiet, pondering why Nagato was so eager to handle Kiri's issue.
Akatsuki members were allowed to retreat when outmatched; otherwise, if people died and you had to recruit replacements, it would be bad for the organization.
In that sense, Akatsuki was more enlightened than the Great Villages. Konoha wasn't short on people nailed to the pillar of shame—or punished—for running when they couldn't win. As for Kiri, say no more: Jūzō Biwa had defected over that very thing.
Back during the war, Jūzō encountered Might Guy's father, Might Duy, and was beaten to pieces by the Gate of Death from the Eight Gates, fleeing in disarray. He was sentenced for it and eventually became a rogue-nin.
Even if it had been because the Mizukage was being manipulated that such punishments were handed down, it was still baffling that others accepted it.
Was Jūzō's behavior desertion? It was clearly a strategic retreat. The other guy had opened the Gate of Death—did you really want to go up there and trade lives?
Since Nagato had spoken, Gusion had of course already worked out how to slack off.
With his current strength, if he brought Orochimaru, could he capture Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails?
He definitely could, and he was confident he could get out intact. But why should he bust his back for Akatsuki?
He hadn't received any side or hidden mission this time. Picking a fight in Kumo to grab Yugito would be thankless—at best, it would just feed the Soul Devourer ring.
And once he tore his face with Kumo, they'd stop providing him any production value, and an enraged Raikage would expose his role as a mole.
Even if by then he'd already captured the Two-Tails and Nagato might not believe Kumo's claims, it would still cause him plenty of trouble.
In short, it cut too much into his interests. So Gusion decided to sell a big chunk of intel first—squeeze Kumo dry before anything else.
"Any objections? If not, we're adjourned."
The Deva Path's gaze swept the room.
Silence.
He dispelled the Magic Lantern Body Technique, and the long-distance teleconference ended.
…
Back at the base, Gusion and Orochimaru returned to their bodies. They exchanged a glance and saw the same ulterior motives in each other's eyes.
"Gusion-kun, do you feel any sense of belonging to Akatsuki?"
Orochimaru asked. He wanted to pull Gusion to quit together. Large-scale Tailed Beast hunts offended too many; he just wanted to be a quiet researcher.
Charge Kumo with Gusion? Pain, why aren't you going yourself?
"A sense of belonging? Not really. But I'm a bit interested in the Tailed Beasts, so I'm planning to head north to take a look."
Gusion could guess Orochimaru's thoughts, and added, "If you don't want to go, Orichimaru, focus on your research. I can handle it alone."