Amegakure.
Under the central steel tower.
Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Taki are facing each other, and the atmosphere is a bit tense.
"Orochimaru, you can't escape anymore. Come back to the village with me!"
Jiraiya stared at Orochimaru intently, his fists clenched, struggling to restrain his complicated emotions.
Since Orochimaru defected from the village to the present, six or seven years have passed. Jiraiya had traveled far and wide, overcome countless hardships, and explored all corners of the world, finally finding Orochimaru here!
Today, no matter what, he would bring Orochimaru back to Konoha!
"Jiraiya, after all these years, you're still as arrogant as ever."
Orochimaru sneered, "Do you think you can keep me here?"
Jiraiya's heart sank.
Orochimaru's weird methods and numerous trump cards are extremely difficult to deal with, and now, the one here is just his shadow clone!
As for his main body, well, at this moment, he was either soaking in a hot spring pool somewhere or squatting by a hot spring collecting materials. Even if he were to disperse the clone now, Jiraiya wouldn't be able to reach here in a short time.
In that case, the shadow clone had to take matters into his own hands!
Jiraiya was a man of action. After a moment of contemplation, he immediately charged towards Orochimaru.
"Humph."
Orochimaru snorted, twisted his graceful body and rushing towards Jiraiya. The two then engaged in a fierce battle.
Having known each other for decades, they were familiar with each other's techniques, but after many years apart, they subconsciously chose Taijutsu to test each other's skills.
Pak pak pak!
Pak pak pak!
Although the two are tentative, their fists and feet collide very fiercely, and the sound of clashing is endless!
Taki, wearing large sunglasses, stood on the side, watching casually, and asked: "Jiraiya-dono, why are you here? Where are our Akatsuki's leaders, Pain and Konan?"
Jiraiya took the time to squint at Taki, remembering the information about the Akatsuki members that Minato mentioned to him, and frowned slightly: "You are Taki? Why did you betray Konoha and Hyuga Clan?"
"Mind your own business!" Taki said with a sneer.
"Hyuga Taki, I'll hold him. You go up and check the situation." Orochimaru suddenly attacked with Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, pushing Jiraiya to the right.
Taking the opportunity, Taki rushed into the central steel tower from the left.
Rushing all the way to the twenty-second floor, Taki did not see Deva Path Pain, the leader of Akatsuki, who was supposed to be in Amegakure, and then he continued upwards and reached the top floor, but unfortunately, it was still empty.
Taki frowned at this.
'Considering Nagato and Konan's speed, if they get the information about Obito from the main body and head for Amegakure, they will definitely come back here earlier than me and Orochimaru!'
'But it seemed that they hadn't.'
Although it had been predicted since Jiraiya appeared, Taki was still shocked at this time: 'Nagato and Konan, they actually gave up on Amegakure!'
'Where are they now?'
'The original work didn't mention them having a second base.'
'Would Zetsu know?
Taki pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head.
Before, at the large crater, White Zetsu's clone didn't reveal anything when asked, and then he suddenly asked him and Orochimaru to return to Amegakure. From this, it was evident that Nagato and Konan had concealed their actions from White Zetsu!
'That is to say, they were already suspicious of White Zetsu's connection with Obito.'
'In this case, how can Nagato and Konan make sure Zetsu doesn't know about their secret stronghold?'
'Interesting.'
Taki was eager to disperse himself and tell this news to his main body.
Then, Taki activated Byakugan and scanned the top floor to confirm that there were no abnormalities before coming to the edge. He then quickly ran down the tower wall, and quickly saw Orochimaru and Jiraiya still fighting at the bottom of the tower.
At this time, Orochimaru's body had turned into a snake-like composition, and his whole body was entangled in Jiraiya's waist and abdomen like a boneless snake.
The picture was a bit jarring and Taki couldn't bear to look straight at it. He jumped to the ground hurriedly, stomped his feet and shouted: "White Zetsu, get out!!"
After Taki shouted for a while, White Zetsu's clone slowly emerged from the ground.
"Tell me, why Pain disappeared and why Jiraiya is here? You better explain it clearly!" Taki glared at White Zetsu's clone, deliberately picking a fight.
"Taki, don't make it difficult for me." White Zetsu's clone shrugged innocently, "I've been following you guys all the way. I don't know anything!"
"Don't know?"
Taki sneered and threatened, "If you don't know, then there's nothing I can do. I'm leaving Akatsuki, and in addition, I'll make sure Hyōketsu also quit Akatsuki. After all, with Pain missing, what's the point of staying here?"
"Count me in." Orochimaru, who was fighting with Jiraiya, also said.
The face of White Zetsu's clone twitched when he heard this, 'This wouldn't do!'
'First, Nagato and Konan disappeared, and then Taki, Yuki Hyōketsu, Orochimaru wanted to leave Akatsuki. If this continued, who would be left in Akatsuki?'
White Zetsu's clone then counted them one by one: 'Kakuzu, Hidan, Hoshigaki Kisame, Sasori of the Red Sand, and Deidara, who just joined Akatsuki.'
'Moreover, Deidara was brought in by Yuki Hyōketsu.'
'Without them, the plan to catch Biju would be just a stupid joke.'
Thinking of this, White Zetsu's clone hurriedly shouted: "Don't be impulsive, in fact, there is still some information."
"Then say it!" Taki said with a snort.
White Zetsu's clone sweats anxiously, but after racking his brain, he couldn't come up with any useful information.
Fortunately, at this moment, there was a strange fluctuation coming from the ring in Taki's hand.
"It's Pain." Taki said and looked towards Orochimaru, and found that he was also looking towards himself. Obviously he also sensed this fluctuation.
As a result, Orochimaru was distracted, and Jiraiya managed to land a punch on his eyelid.
Taki almost couldn't hold back a laugh, but fortunately, he is professional!
"Taki, help me deal with Jiraiya…" Orochimaru started to talk, his eyes swollen from the punch, but before he could finish talking, the professional Taki interrupted him, "Orochimaru, free yourself from Jiraiya quickly. I'll go ahead."
Saying that, Taki flickered and left quickly.
White Zetsu's clone was relieved, and quickly retreat underground.
Orochimaru looked Taki's silhouette disappearing, and his eyes twitched, a boiling murderous intent building up inside of him!
'The people from Abyss really deserve to die!!'
...
In the empty underground space, two rows of torch burned brightly, casting a red glow on the gloomy surroundings. At the center of the flickering firelight stood a massive withered tree. The withered tree plunged deep into the ground, and only the exposed part seemed to have a face, but because of the huge white cloth tied to its eyes, it was unclear.
Deva Path Pain and Konan each stood on top of one of the tree's fingers.
After a while, dark projection began to slowly appear.
Kakuzu, Kisame, Sasori, Zetsu, Hidan, Hyōketsu.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Hidan subconscious muttered when he saw the huge withered tree in front of him.
Hyōketsu is also carefully observing the dead tree: 'Is this the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?'
Deva Path Pain did not seem to have any thought of explaining, and just said: "Why didn't Taki and Orochimaru come? Zetsu, go and check."
"Yes."
Zetsu glanced deeply at Deva Path Pain, then closed his eyes. After a while, he opened them and said, "They ran into some trouble, but they'll be here soon."
Deva Path Pain nodded:" Then, let's wait."
"Before that, there's something I need to tell you."
Hyōketsu started to speak with a smile, "I've contributed to the organization."
"Contributed? What did you do?" Deva Path Pain asked expressionlessly.
"I know the organization is short of people, so I recruited a powerful Shinobi with Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai!"
Hyōketsu mysteriously said, "Although he's young, he's an S-Rank Missing-nin from Iwagakure, and he's also the direct disciple of Sandaime Tsuchikage, Onoki!"
At this point, Konan's cold face showed a slight fluctuation: 'Why Why does it sound so much like… Deidara?'
'No, shouldn't he be recruited into Abyss by Hyōketsu?'
'How did he end up in Akatsuki?'
Konan turned her head and looked towards Deva Path Pain. Although the expression in her eyes did not change, it had conveyed what she wanted to convey.
Deva Path Pain was also puzzled at this moment, and then he felt sullen for a while.
He thought that Deidara could be arranged to enter Abyss as their double agent. But he didn't expect him to go around and go back to the original point.
He could already imagine the awkward scene when Konan and Deidara met again.
"Deidara… the disciple of Sandaime Tsuchikage… Could he be an undercover agent too?" The nearby Kisame said with a sneer.
Konan's eyes shone slightly, and she immediately took advantage of the situation to worsen the situation: "Deidara's identity is indeed suspicious. Let's wait until it is clear before deciding whether to let him join."
Hyōketsu shrugged and said deliberately "If Akatsuki doesn't want Deidara, can I recommend him to go into Abyss?"
Deva Path Pain glanced at him and said, "Whatever."
'Oh, you must be feeling good to have your double agent to come to my side!'
Hyōketsu inwardly scoffed.
At this moment, Taki's mental projection appears.
"Pain, what's going on? You suddenly ordered me and Orochimaru to return to Amegakure, but we encountered Jiraiya there. You are not intending to kill someone with a borrowed knife, do you?" Taki questioned as soon as he came out.
"What?"
Kakuzu suddenly looked towards Konan, "Why is Jiraiya in Amegakure?"
He has made that much money these years, so if something happens to Akatsuki, he is definitely one of the most worried…!
Konan looked towards Zetsu, and said indifferently: "Konoha has already discovered that Amegakure is Akatsuki's headquarters, so after discussing with Pain, we decided to give up that place. Zetsu, why did you fake Pain's order and let Taki and Orochimaru go back to Amegakure?"
Zetsu just shrugged, and Black Zetsu's gloomy voice came out: "The clone I left in Amegakure is dead. I was worried that something might happen to you, so I ask Taki and Orochimaru go back to check, there is no other meaning."
"Your clone should have been killed by Jiraiya."
Hidan weirdly looked at him, "How come you didn't receive their memories after your clone died?"
"Because my clones are all independent entities, so even if they die, their memories won't be transmitted back to me." White Zetsu said with a laugh.
"So where is our headquarters now?" Black Zetsu asked calmly.
Taki, Hyōketsu, Hidan, Kakuzu, Kisame, Sasori and the others all looked at Pain. The spacious underground became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
"From now on, Akatsuki won't have a headquarters."
Pain said coldly, "Or, you can understand it as wherever I am is Akatsuki's headquarters!"
Taki frowned slightly when he heard this: 'Is this going to be a guerrilla warfare?'
Hyōketsu thought: 'Guerrilla warfare or whatever, it's the most headache-inducing thing!'