About ten years ago.
The three of them—Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan—who had long suffered through war, united together.
They founded the Akatsuki organization.
Their original goal was simply to bring peace to their homeland and village.
Unfortunately, during the Third Great Ninja War eight years ago,
Danzo conspired with Hanzo of Amegakure to force Yahiko's death.
After experiencing unbearable grief and heartbreak, Nagato underwent a drastic change in personality.
He still yearned for peace.
Moreover, he now believed that true peace could only be achieved after the world endured unimaginable pain—
A pain unlike anything ever experienced. A heart-wrenching agony!
Only then would humanity truly recognize peace's value.
That's why he agreed to cooperate with "Obito," gathering Tailed Beasts and developing the ultimate forbidden technique.
In his view,
only by mastering the Ten-Tails—a power surpassing all Tailed Beasts and dominating the entire Ninja World—
could he easily inflict global suffering!
With this ultimate force at his command, he could forge a world where pain and fear ruled supreme.
This utopia wouldn't be flawless, but it would certainly surpass the Ninja World as it was today.
At the very least, wars would no longer erupt randomly,
and there would be far fewer separations and tragic deaths...
Regrettably, despite his noble ideals,
he lacked the strength and ruthless determination required to fulfill such grand ambitions.
To put it bluntly, he just wasn't ruthless enough!
Compared to schemers like Black Zetsu, the calculating Lord Madara, or the utterly unscrupulous Obito...
Nagato was indeed as pure as a white lotus blossom—easily deceived and manipulated.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have fallen so easily to Naruto's [Frog Mouth] in the end.
If it had been Black Zetsu or Madara instead, Naruto likely wouldn't have even gotten the chance to speak, let alone use his [Frog Mouth].
...
Right now,
within the stone meeting chamber of one of Akatsuki's underground facilities,
Nagato, controlling the Deva Path body known as Pain,
was using the Projection Technique to summon illusions of various Akatsuki members scattered across distant lands,
preparing to hold a meeting.
In reality, since its founding ten years ago, many ninja had joined Akatsuki.
Back when Yahiko originally established the organization, there were already several followers by his side—though their abilities varied greatly, numbering around ten to twenty individuals.
Jiuzhu and Daibutsu... were among their representatives.
Later, after Yahiko died, Nagato and Konan took control of the Akatsuki.
They began gradually purging and reorganizing the group.
No longer deliberately recruiting only Rain Village shinobi,
they instead favored accepting rogue ninjas from other villages.
Of course, Akatsuki hadn't yet gained fame in those early days.
The defectors they recruited came from a wide variety of backgrounds—
ranging from genin to chunin, even jonin.
Figures like Kakuzu and Biwa Juzo changed partners multiple times over the years.
Nowadays, however, due to the high fatality rate of increasingly dangerous missions, the weaker members had gradually been weeded out.
Only nine members remained: Pain, Konan, Obito, Zetsu, Sasori, Kakuzu, Biwa Juzo, Orochimaru, and Unnamed Rough Man.
...
"Leader, why have we suddenly been called for a meeting?"
"Isn't it still over a month until the scheduled regular meeting?"
"Is there a new recruit joining? Are they pairing me up with a teammate?"
"Doing missions alone has gotten pretty boring!"
Juzo Biwa was the first to complain loudly, his personality naturally outspoken.
As one of Mist's original "Seven Swords of the Bloody Mist," he had been the very first wielder of Kubikiribocho.
Even after defecting, he remained feared across nations as a blood-soaked warrior wielding the Cleaver Sword.
In truth though, this rough-looking guy valued loyalty and righteousness deeply.
Precisely because of his strength, Obito had earlier manipulated Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, relentlessly forcing him to defect from the Hidden Mist Village,
thus compelling him to join the Akatsuki organization.
Pain ignored Biwa Juzo's complaint, continuing coldly and imposingly:
"There is only one reason I've gathered you all here today."
"We're going to discuss whether or not to accept an important mission."
"What kind of mission?"
Sasori asked hoarsely, playing along perfectly.
The other members also perked up slightly.
After all, any mission important enough to gather everyone like this must be something big!
Pain didn't beat around the bush, speaking directly:
"Assassinate Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage!"
At such shocking words, every single Akatsuki member present couldn't help but feel shocked.
This wasn't just an important mission—it was basically suicide!
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage—head of Konoha, the number one among the Five Great Hidden Villages, known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, was a sly old fox full of tricks!
Assassinating a Kage!
This wasn't even an S-rank mission anymore.
An SSS-rank mission still wouldn't be enough to capture its true difficulty!
Such a crazy assignment—none of the other five great hidden villages would dare to accept it.
Let alone our tiny band of renegade ninjas?
Was this really meant to spark another Great Ninja War?
"It must be a request from Iwagakure Village!"
Orochimaru's illusionary figure cackled from the right side, immediately figuring it out.
"That's right."
"You all probably already know about it."
"Just over two weeks ago, Iwagakure Village and Konoha went into another major battle."
"Iwa suffered serious losses, including Akatsuchi, the disciple of the Third Tsuchikage, and many other Iwa ninjas died in battle..."
"No doubt Iwagakure must hate Konoha deeply now—that's likely the reason..."
Pain didn't hide anything, openly admitting what had happened.
For Akatsuki, this underground organization consisting of missing-nins,
the more chaos in the ninja world, the better.
The fiercer the battles, the better.
This would intensify conflicts among factions, leading to more missions.
Bringing greater rewards, earning more money for the organization.
"Assassinating a Kage is extremely dangerous. It violates our organization's principles and could potentially expose the entire Akatsuki."
"From a profit perspective, this isn't worth it..."
Kakuzu spoke from the side.
Back then, he had gone alone to assassinate the First Hokage.
Now *that* was one brutal loss!
If not for the First Hokage showing mercy, he'd have died long ago.
Therefore, he inevitably carried some psychological trauma,
and had no desire to intercept a Hokage again.
Pain paused, glancing at Kakuzu.
He simply replied,
"Iwagakure is willing to pay generously..."
Hearing this, Kakuzu immediately closed his mouth, no longer objecting.
No wonder even our normally careful leader found this tempting. It seemed Iwagakure had truly gone all-in this time!
What?
Afraid of danger when targeting a Hokage?
As long as the payment is right, any danger can be overcome!
They might even get the chance to wipe out Asuma and collect another few tens of millions!
...
However, besides Pain and others who inclined toward accepting this mission,
there were still a few who opposed.
"Come on now! Didn't we just hear that Iwagakure was crushed by Konoha recently?"
"Do they even have money anymore?"
"Let's not end up working for free just because they can't pay!"
Black Zetsu squeaked in a falsetto voice, sarcastically questioning.
After all, he didn't truly regard Pain as the real leader.
Moreover, for him, revealing too early the true strength of Akatsuki was definitely not a good thing.
It would only interfere with his 'plan to save Mom'!
"This won't be an issue."
"No one escapes debts in my eyes!"
Pain replied with unwavering confidence.
If Iwagakure really dared to get a free ride from him,
he wouldn't mind paying them another visit to unleash an [Ultimate Shinra Tensei], letting Iwagakure experience a bit of pain ahead of schedule!
Seeing this, Black Zetsu found it difficult to continue opposing, so he signaled Obito beside him with a gesture.
Indicating him to speak out in opposition as well.
Obito himself, at this moment, didn't particularly care about whether to accept this mission or not.
Though he also disliked that old man Third quite a lot, secretly hoping for a chance to make that inactive Third pay for Rin's tragic death back then.
But currently, his top priority was clear — how to rally everyone to strike Homura Hidden Village *first*! To go choke that annoying little Uchiha brat to death!
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