During this period, too many changes had occurred in the ninja world.
The crushing of the Hidden Cloud Village, the collapse of Ryūchi Cave, four months of chaos in the Land of Water, then not long ago the fall of Gorin City, followed by the sudden rise and rapid fall of the Sky Ninja Army.
The entire ninja world was as lively as if celebrating New Year's, some were cheering, some were anxious, and others were wary of the ever-expanding wave of "Awakening" ideology.
People were almost about to forget one particular group.
Akatsuki.
In just a few months, this band of rogue ninjas and powerful figures all looked like they hadn't slept enough, especially Uchiha Itachi, whose tear troughs rivaled nasolabial folds.
Those who knew him saw a 16-year-old handsome boy. Those who didn't might mistake him for a young-looking old man.
Exhaustion was inevitable.
Taking advantage of the chaos stirred up in the ninja world by Ryosuke, the Akatsuki members had been working nonstop, fourteen hours straight, around the clock.
In the past, everyone had joined Akatsuki because their villages had too many rules, no killing allowed, spending restricted… all sorts of reasons.
Now, under Pain's management, aside from the rule of not killing comrades, there were no other restrictions. Kill as you like, spend as you like.
If trouble came, send out a carrier pigeon, and hundreds or thousands of corporate staff would rush in to clean things up, tying up every loose end neatly.
And what they needed to do was the thing they were best at, clear away every unpleasant obstacle in front of them and capture the tailed beasts.
Deidara let out a long yawn. As he reached up to cover his mouth, the mouth on his hand also yawned. Two tongues bumped together, making him gag and cough several times.
Sasori handed him a bottle of water.
"Thanks, Boss Sasori." Deidara spoke weakly.
"Mm." Sasori responded just as listlessly.
After drinking a sip of water, Deidara felt a bit less exhausted. To be honest, when he first heard he could freely unleash his art and battle powerful foes, he had been excited for quite a while.
But when a hobby turned into work, and work turned into a repetitive assembly line task, Deidara felt increasingly drained, body and mind.
Not only Deidara, every Akatsuki member, more or less, felt the same way. Perhaps the only upside was…
Their relationships had become more harmonious than before.
They used to just form teams of two randomly, each relying on their own abilities.
Now, they had truly shared the hardship of working overtime together, they were old comrades-in-arms.
Of course, their months of overtime had naturally brought results.
The Three-Tails, Isobu.
The Four-Tails, Son Gokū.
The Five-Tails, Kokuō.
The Six-Tails, Saiken.
These four tailed beasts had already been captured.
The remaining five were One, Two, Seven, Eight, and Nine Tails. Today, Pain gathered everyone at the base to discuss the next stage of the capture plan.
Pain scanned the room, saw everyone present, and nodded slightly.
"Today I have two things to announce."
"First, let us welcome our new member."
Pain's gaze shifted to the side, where a not-so-tall figure stepped out from the shadows.
It was a man with delicate features, Byakugan eyes, long white hair simply tied back reaching to his waist. The Akatsuki uniform of black with red clouds hung loose on his frame, its high collar covering half his face, leaving only his nose and eyes exposed.
"Hiruko."
[T/N: 'Hiruko' is most likely a character that the author created]
Pain introduced, "He will replace Kakuzu's position and hold the 'North' ring."
"Another newcomer…"
Deidara scratched his head, thinking of Hidan, who had joined not long ago only to kick the bucket, and Kakuzu, an old member who had just died.
In this situation, for Pain to still recruit new blood could only mean this cold-faced boss was very skilled at hiring.
Everyone's gaze fell on Hiruko. They couldn't tell his level, nor had they really heard of him in the ninja world. But considering Pain's criteria for selection,
Not character, only strength.
This newcomer must be capable.
Kisame crossed his arms. "Why not replace Hidan instead?"
"Because Hidan isn't dead yet," Konan explained.
"Not dead?"
Everyone was slightly surprised.
Lately, they had been busy capturing tailed beasts and paid less attention to world news.
Only after Konan explained did they learn Hidan was still alive, as well as the commotion yesterday at Ryosuke's research institute, with the financial conglomerate's resources, planting a few low-level spies in the institute was easy.
"New member welcome ends here," Pain said.
Hiruko's mouth twitched. He didn't feel any sense of welcome at all.
But he hadn't joined Akatsuki to make friends anyway.
Hiruko looked around, greed flashing in his eyes.
He had once been a Leaf Village ninja, a close friend of Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. Unfortunately, his talent lagged far behind theirs.
To make up for his natural shortcomings, Hiruko developed the Chimera Technique, a forbidden ninjutsu that allowed him to fuse other ninjas or summoned beasts into his own body, even merging bloodline limits.
Of course, just as Hiruko had succeeded in developing it, the Third Hokage discovered him and sent people to hunt him down. Since then, as a rogue ninja, he had been wandering outside the village.
According to the Chimera Technique, once he fused five bloodline limits, Hiruko could achieve immortality and absolute strength.
As of now, Hiruko had already fused four bloodline limits. He was one step away. In his original plan, he had set his sights on Kakashi's Sharingan.
But then…
Ryosuke appeared, far too tempting.
Compared to the abilities Ryosuke possessed, Kakashi's Sharingan wasn't even worthy of comparison.
So when Pain reached out to him, however the contact was made, Hiruko hesitated only briefly before joining.
That said, when Hiruko saw Akatsuki's members in person, he couldn't suppress the greed that welled up inside him.
The Rinnegan, Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, explosive clay…
'Every one of them, I want to devour!'
The members present were all battle-hardened ninjas, extremely sensitive to killing intent. Hiruko was clearly looking at them as if they were "food."
But… no one cared.
Thinking was fine.
Orochimaru wanted to use teammates as lab experiments.
Sasori wanted to turn teammates into puppets.
Deidara wanted to blow the base sky-high.
Uchiha Itachi, that lunatic, might be considering slaughtering all the Akatsuki members at any given moment.
As long as no one made a move, they were still one big loving family.
Pain continued, "The Two-Tails, Matatabi, will soon revive. This time, our plan is to capture the One-Tail, the Two-Tails, and the Seven-Tails simultaneously. So, we will split into three squads for action."
Hearing this, Akatsuki members' expressions shifted.
Capturing the Two-Tails and Seven-Tails was fine, just follow the usual process.
The key was the One-Tail, Shukaku.
The whole ninja world knew Ryosuke and his group were slowly heading toward the Land of Wind's Warsaw City.
Every day, gossip magazines published what Ryosuke ate, what he drank, what local woman he flirted with, and how it ended with rolling in bed, the last part always cost money to read, and was obviously fake advertising, but people still eagerly paid.
In the black market, betting pools had even opened on whether Ryosuke would chop off the Land of Wind's Daimyō's head upon reaching Warsaw City.
And the One-Tail's jinchūriki, Gaara, was right there in the convoy.
"I don't understand."
Sasori's hoarse voice spoke, "Why choose to act now?"
Think about who was in that convoy?
Ryosuke.
The Kazekage, Rasa.
The Kazekage's advisor, Elder Chiyo.
The Copy Ninja, Kakashi.
The Lion of Death, Takeshi.
And the One-Tail jinchūriki, Gaara.
There also seemed to be someone else… but they couldn't recall the name, probably just some unimportant rat.
Those few alone were terrifying enough.
It wasn't that they feared Ryosuke. After all, anyone who joined Akatsuki was arrogant enough, not just Ryosuke, even if the Heavenly King himself came down, they would dare fight him.
The key issue was "efficiency."
Why strike now?
"I'll explain."
Uchiha Itachi said, "Ever since learning Ryosuke was heading to Warsaw City, my crows have been following them, eavesdropping… or rather, Ryosuke hasn't even tried to hide it."
"After visiting the Land of Wind's Daimyō in Warsaw City, Ryosuke will bring Gaara back to the Hidden Mist Village for protection."
But this didn't resolve their doubts.
What if he went back to the Mist?
Could Ryosuke stay holed up in the village forever?
There would always be times he wasn't home.
Why not wait until then to raid the village and take Gaara?
Itachi didn't keep them guessing and gave the answer directly, "After returning to the Mist, Ryosuke will discuss with the research institute to completely separate Gaara's chakra from Shukaku's chakra, and then attempt to make Shukaku, the One-Tail…"
"Into a disc."
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