"I didn't expect something like this would happen in Iwagakure either. Fine! I'll help you." Ye Liang agreed to Kurotsuchi's request.
Days later.
After collecting the bounty on Hanzo of Sanshouo, Ye Liang reunited with Kurotsuchi. However, they didn't head straight for Iwagakure but took a detour instead.
"You said you were rescued by your senior student. Is he strong?"
"Of course! My senior is Deidara!"
"Oh? Now I really want to meet him." Ye Liang smiled.
At this moment.
Beside a cliff in the Land of Earth.
Several strange men wearing red cloud cloaks arrived at the location.
"This should be the place," muttered the shark-faced leader as he approached a small wooden hut.
Peng!
As soon as the door opened, a burst of colorful sparks shot straight into the shark-man's face.
"Damn! What the hell was that!"
Before he could even finish speaking, a massive explosion echoed through the valley.
The wooden hut's door exploded!
"What the hell! This is how you greet guests!?" The shark-faced man shook off dust from his body. He had instinctively stepped back earlier and avoided injury.
Inside the wooden house sat a blond-haired youth. He was calm, sitting peacefully on the corridor of the house as if completely detached from the world.
The shark-faced man immediately walked up.
"Hey! Kid, where did the master of this place go?" He tapped the surrounding furniture—it was spotless, clearly indicating the master hadn't been gone long.
"Master? Why are you looking for him?"
"Nothing serious. Just wanted to invite him to join us, Akatsuki. Your master shouldn't have left too long ago, right?"
"Haha, true enough." The youth nodded.
Suddenly!
He mysteriously shoved a soft clay doll into the shark-man's hand—it was entirely white.
"By the way, my master told me to give this to you."
"Give me this?"
The shark-faced man was stunned.
Before he could process what was happening, the clay in his hands suddenly exploded.
Blood splattered everywhere.
His palm had been blown to pieces!
"Bloody bastard!"
He immediately raised his massive sword with his other hand, but before the blade could reach the boy, the figure vanished once again.
Leaving behind another similarly soft clay doll at the spot.
"Oh shit!"
Boom!
The wooden house was completely destroyed!
Far outside the valley, Kurotsuchi grew anxious.
They could clearly hear strange noises echoing from a distance, but the mountain paths were treacherous and difficult to navigate.
Though Ye Liang could've moved ahead easily, he didn't know the way and had to wait for Kurotsuchi to move forward together.
At this time.
A large white bird suddenly appeared in the sky above the distant cliffs. It carried a young man while speeding swiftly through the valley.
"Senior Brother!"
Kurotsuchi shouted when she saw this, but the moment she spoke, she noticed that following the giant bird was also an enormous Puppet.
It looked just like a scorpion and was clinging tightly to the cliffside, keeping pace without falling behind the flying bird in the sky!
"So that's Deidara!"
Ye Liang naturally saw the young man in the sky too, but his eyes were drawn to the Puppet on the ground as well.
"This is Sasori of the Red Sand. What's he doing here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his attention was drawn again to the people on top of the mechanical puppet—one looked like someone stitched together with threads, while the other had a shark-like face.
Those were Kakuzu and Kisame!
How did they end up here too?
Ye Liang was surprised.
Kakuzu and Kisame were both members of Akatsuki, but the Akatsuki organization shouldn't even exist in this era anymore!
Looking back at Nagato and Konan who were struggling along behind him, Ye Liang suddenly felt confused.
Could it be that the Nagato behind me is fake?
Nagato was the founder of Akatsuki.
In the original story, under Obito's provocation, he established the Akatsuki with the goal of resurrecting Madara Uchiha and then using the Infinite Tsukuyomi to brainwash the entire world into blind obedience!
But now without Obito, Nagato shouldn't exist either. Yet the Akatsuki had still formed—this puzzled him greatly.
Ye Liang put down Kurotsuchi and decided to go investigate.
[ Flying Thunder God Technique! ]
Ye Liang threw out a shuriken forward and vanished from sight instantly.
Far away, Sasori of the Red Sand once again resisted Deidara's explosive clay attack.
"Damn it! Is this brat even joining us or not? If he doesn't decide soon, I'm gonna take matters into my own hands!" Kisame Hoshigaki glared furiously at Deidara flying high above.
His previously wounded areas had already healed. As the inheritor of shark cells, Kisame possessed an incredibly strong regeneration ability.
Just then, his eyes seemed to flicker—it looked like a shuriken flew past his head, yet there wasn't anyone nearby at all?
"Did I imagine that?"
He rubbed his eyes and suddenly found a handsome young man crouching right before him.
"Brother, howdy."
"What the hell is this!"
Kisame was instantly shocked. He quickly tried to draw the massive Samehada from his back, only to find it wouldn't budge at all!
"What's going on?"
He pulled harder, but instead of obeying, Samehada trembled slightly, as if sensing its own natural predator, too afraid to move at all.
Samehada was trembling in fear!
A cold sweat broke out across Kisame's forehead. This was the first time ever he'd encountered a man capable of causing Samehada to act this way!
Kisame didn't dare move recklessly anymore.
Kakuzu beside him also froze.
After looking at Ye Liang, he immediately became even more obedient than Kisame, lowering his head deeply as if seeing his own ancestor!
He knew Ye Liang—from mission reports—as the one who had just slain Sanshouo Hanzo!
That was Hanzo!
If even the Ninja God had been killed by Ye Liang, how could Kakuzu possibly defeat him!
He dared not move either.
"Hey! What are you two doing?! Drive this punk away already; I don't want to keep carrying a mere little kid," Sasori shouted loudly.
He didn't recognize Ye Liang—after all, bearing the Yin Seal, Ye Liang had maintained the appearance of a twenty-year-old continuously.
He didn't understand what was happening!
Worth mentioning was the fact that Ye Liang, bearing the Yin Seal, indeed maintained the appearance of a twenty-year-old continuously.
"F*** that, you do it then; I sure as hell won't!" Kisame panicked.
Right when Sasori uttered those words, Samehada clearly trembled again behind him—obviously displeased by Sasori's speech, showing clear fear that Sasori would offend Ye Liang.
Kakuzu felt exactly the same way.
Back in the day, even throwing a Shuriken at the First Hokage from eight hundred meters away wasn't as thrilling as this!
"You want to go? Then you go! Everybody knows I, Kakuzu, was born to avoid battle—I'm all about peaceful resolutions!"
"Piss off!"
Sasori snapped, then suddenly puffed out his gut—he flipped them off. "I let all of you ride me? Get the hell off—now!"
In a flash, all of them were flung off Sasori's back.
Ye Liang let out a helpless sigh and summoned [Flying Thunder God] again, leaping onto the cliffside.
But what caught his attention was that, unlike Sasori, the other two had deliberately jumped into the bottomless chasm!
Have they lost their minds?
From their expressions, though, it looked like they were actually enjoying it!
"What's going on?"
Ye Liang turned his gaze toward Sasori, who had just reached shore in time: "They both jumped—whoever jumped, why didn't you?"
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