Madara Uchiha was not unskilled in strategy. In fact, he was very good at using schemes and tricks himself.
With the recent revival of the Three-Tails, all nine of the world's Tailed Beasts had reappeared. The Akatsuki's plan could now truly begin.
Although the Akatsuki didn't have the Gedo Statue, this didn't stop them from starting with controlling the Tailed Beasts.
After all, with Emiya Shirou and Madara Uchiha at their base, no Tailed Beast could possibly cause any trouble.
In fact, the Akatsuki had already been secretly collecting Tailed Beasts. For example, jinchuriki who had lost contact with their villages, like Roshi of the Four-Tails and Utakata of the Six-Tails, had been under Akatsuki's control for some time.
These two, who lived in isolation, were captured early on to avoid making the great ninja villages nervous and causing unexpected problems for the plan.
As for the other Tailed Beasts, they held off for two reasons.
First, they wanted to avoid alarming the great ninja villages.
Second, they hoped to lure out Obito Uchiha and his group. Ever since Kabuto Yakushi reanimated Madara a few years ago, Obito and his allies seemed to have vanished completely, their whereabouts unknown.
However, they couldn't hide forever.
Obito's Kamui made hiding easy, so Madara could only try to lure him out.
After all, that fool Obito had taken the Gedo Statue and one of Madara's Rinnegan. He wasn't trying to stop Project Tsuki no Me, he just wanted to revive the Ten-Tails himself and take control of the plan.
Speaking of which, the situation in the ninja world was indeed a bit strange.
Four years ago, during the Konoha Chunin Exams, the Akatsuki had almost openly revealed their intention to capture the Tailed Beasts to create war weapons. Yet, the major ninja villages had taken no action.
They didn't even consider killing the jinchuriki to delay the plan. It was as if the knife hanging over their heads hadn't fallen yet, so they didn't realize how serious the crisis had become.
Now, that Sword of Damocles was finally about to drop.
Madara gathered everyone in the Akatsuki, even inviting Emiya Shirou, to discuss their plan to capture the Tailed Beasts. Since they lacked the Gedo Statue, they would have to bring the jinchuriki back to their base alive or unseal the Tailed Beasts from them there.
One-Tail Jinchuriki: Deidara, Sasori.
Two-Tails & Eight-Tails Jinchuriki: Madara Uchiha, Sasuke Uchiha.
Three-Tails: Nagato, Konan.
Five-Tails Jinchuriki: Kabuto Yakushi, Emiya Shirou.
Seven-Tails Jinchuriki: Kakuzu, Hidan.
In a way, the arrangement was quite logical.
The One-Tail jinchuriki, Gaara, had recently become the Fifth Kazekage of the Sand Village—Sasori's hometown.
The Two-Tails and Eight-Tails jinchuriki were in the Cloud Village, currently seen as having the strongest combat power. Madara was confident he could capture both Tailed Beasts on his own, but he was bringing Sasuke along to give the boy more combat experience.
The Three-Tails was the easiest target. It had just revived and wasn't sealed in a person yet. The strength of Nagato and Konan was more than enough.
The Five-Tails jinchuriki was in the Rock Village. Kabuto had been a spy there and knew the village's intelligence. Emiya Shirou was accompanying him mainly to keep an eye on Kabuto and prevent him from getting any ideas.
The Seven-Tails jinchuriki was in the Waterfall Village, Kakuzu's hometown. No one knew that village better than him.
With the Four-Tails and Six-Tails already under their control, all eight Tailed Beasts would soon fall into the Akatsuki's hands.
Only the strongest, the Nine-Tails, was left.
Madara intended to use it as bait—a grand gift. He planned to use the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, to lure out Obito.
It would also serve as a training exercise for Sasuke. Just as Shirou had once entrusted matters to him, Madara considered the possibility that Obito might ruin things. If Project Tsuki no Me took too long, he would entrust its completion to the still-young Sasuke.
"Well then," Madara declared. "Let's set off."
A complete blue Susanoo erupted from Madara's body, enveloping him and Sasuke. Since they were tasked with capturing the most Tailed Beasts, Madara had no intention of wasting time traveling. The massive blue war god leaped into the air and flew off into the distance.
"That guy is as domineering as ever…" Kakuzu shook his head with a sigh before heading off with Hidan toward the Waterfall Village. Their mission was also relatively simple. The Waterfall Village was small, and according to Black Zetsu's intelligence, the Seven-Tails jinchuriki wasn't particularly strong.
"We shouldn't waste time either," Sasori said as he and Deidara climbed onto a large clay bird.
"Let's go, let's go!" Deidara waved to the others, excitedly steering his creation toward the Sand Village.
"Lord Emiya, we're off as well," Nagato said, and he and Konan nodded to Shirou before departing.
Soon, only Emiya Shirou and Kabuto Yakushi remained at the Akatsuki base.
Once everyone had gone, Kabuto adjusted his glasses. Since joining the Akatsuki, he had always been ambitious, showing only superficial respect even to Madara. But the Kabuto of today had clearly changed.
With no one else around, the man humbly bowed his head to Emiya Shirou and moved to push his wheelchair.
"Let's go too."
Emiya Shirou slowly stretched out his hand. A pitch-black, grid-like portal opened in the air before him.
Yomotsu Hirasaka.
This was an incredibly powerful space-time jutsu Shirou had developed based on the principles of the Flying Thunder God Technique, created to allow his own body to move through space.
The terror of Yomotsu Hirasaka was that its range covered almost the entire ninja world. Shirou could open a portal to appear anywhere, at any time, without needing any space-time markings.
The portal was also completely silent. He could use it for instant long-distance travel even in the middle of a battle and could even attack through the gate.
"It seems we will be the first to complete our mission," Kabuto said, hiding the surprise in his eyes with a smile.
He praised Shirou's jutsu while offering a mock prayer for the Rock Village where he once worked as a spy. "I hope the ninjas of the Rock Village won't be too scared when they see Lord Emiya."
"They won't be afraid if they don't understand what it is." Emiya Shirou recalled the look of shock on Black Zetsu's face the first time he saw the technique.
"Only those who understand Yomotsu Hirasaka," he sighed softly, "can truly appreciate how terrifying this ability is."