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In the Hidden Rain Village of the Land of Rain.
On this day, the leader of the Akatsuki, Pain, gathered all the members to assign tasks for the coming period.
Deidara had been in a good mood recently.
As a former genius of the Hidden Rock Village, his journey as a ninja had been smooth sailing.
His only setback was being relegated to the outskirts of the village due to his obsession with experimenting with explosive art.
It was Itachi Uchiha who gave him his first taste of utter defeat.
Since then, he had been secretly preparing to defeat Itachi Uchiha.
So, when he heard a few days ago that Itachi had been completely defeated by someone else, he was quite excited.
And he looked forward to today's meeting.
He planned to thoroughly mock Itachi.
As soon as all the Akatsuki members had gathered, and before Pain, the leader, could speak, Deidara couldn't help but provoke first.
"Itachi! I've heard all about it. You were utterly defeated by another pair of Sharingan eyes, how pathetic!" Deidara proudly raised his head, "With my art as it is now, I would never fail."
"What an idiot."
Beside Deidara, a strange man with his face covered and crawling on the ground mercilessly criticized his behavior.
"Sasori! Whose side are you on!" Deidara didn't expect to be backstabbed by his own partner before Itachi could respond, and he angrily rebuked him.
"Your tricks can hardly be called art," Sasori's muffled voice rose, "Only eternity can define the true essence of art."
"What?"
Deidara rolled up his sleeves, ready to argue with Sasori about the definition of art.
But just as he was about to retort, he was interrupted by someone else.
"Another pair of Mangekyo Sharingan has appeared? Must be worth a lot."
A man whose body was tightly wrapped, revealing only his eyes, shone with keen interest.
"No matter the ability, you heretics are powerless before Lord Jashin, hahaha..."
Another man with a large pompadour wielding a bizarre scythe laughed loudly.
"Hidan! Kakuzu! Do you want to die?" Deidara gritted his teeth at the two who interrupted him.
"Hahaha, blessed by Lord Jashin, I will not die!"
"Shut up!"
Akatsuki's leader, Pain, silenced them all with a look from his Rinnegan, cutting off their quarrels.
Then, he turned to the always silent Itachi, asking, "How is your recovery going, Itachi?"
"I can't use the Mangekyo Sharingan yet, but there are no issues with other aspects," Itachi honestly replied.
Pain nodded, then requested, "Tell us about Kaito Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan abilities."
Itachi's face was partly concealed by his collar, and his detached voice said, "In that battle, he only used genjutsu abilities that surpass Tsukuyomi. As for other abilities, it's unknown."
"Genjutsu surpassing Tsukuyomi is indeed troublesome," Kisame beside Itachi revealed a ferocious grin.
"Yes, hehe," the other side's Kisame also laughed.
"No matter the genjutsu, as long as you avoid eye contact, it won't affect you. I've made thorough preparations," Deidara proudly said, touching the special device over his left eye, "With this, I will never be threatened by the Sharingan again."
"Hahaha, no enemy can kill me; they will all be offered to the great Lord Jashin!" Hidan spoke up, not wanting to be outdone.
"Alright, now let's assign the tasks for the coming period," Pain brought the conversation back on track, "Konan, start."
Konan, who had been standing quietly to the side, stepped forward to distribute tasks to the eccentric and individualistic members.
After the tasks were distributed, everyone dispersed.
Itachi Uchiha walked slowly, passing by Kisame without looking at him, only the fingers hidden in his sleeve subtly moved.
They quickly passed by each other.
"I'm going to rest now. The mission starts tomorrow."
After leaving the room, Itachi greeted Kisame and then headed in another direction.
Regarding the task given by Kaito Uchiha, he had already successfully accomplished one target.
As for the other target, the mysterious man claiming to be Madara Uchiha usually did not appear within the organization. If there was any matter, it was the other party who would initiate contact, so Itachi had no way to find him.
However, this did not mean he had no way to complete the task.
According to his observation, that person would come to the Hidden Rain Village every so often to meet with the leader and Konan.
He just needed to sprinkle the powder given by Kaito Uchiha in a few places where they might meet.
As for the problem of other people getting contaminated with the powder, that was not within Itachi's concern.
Tobi, who was secretly collaborating with the Akatsuki's leader, appeared before Pain and Konan at this moment.
The three stood atop the tallest building in the Hidden Rain Village, overlooking the entire village.
"You've made good progress during this time, Nagato," Tobi, with his only exposed eye sinister and cold, commented, "But we need to accelerate our preparations to achieve our goal sooner. We must collect all the Tailed Beasts as soon as possible."
"This is Yahiko's dream, and I will realize it. You don't need to remind me," Pain, with his inorganic gaze, glanced at Tobi and turned to walk into the depths of the building, "You just need to do your part."
Konan said nothing, silently following Pain's steps.
"That man named Kaito Uchiha, with a complete pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, could become an unstable factor that might affect our plan," Tobi said ominously, "Even though his current whereabouts are unknown, if he reappears, you are to eliminate him."
"Have you and Kisame not found any trace of that person?" Pain stopped and turned to ask.
"No. But no matter his intentions, as long as he poses a hindrance to us, he will reveal his whereabouts to us," Tobi stated confidently.
"I understand. I will handle it," Pain continued walking, disappearing into the darkness.
Tobi, left alone, quietly observed the lifeless village below.
After a while, a spiral of spatial distortion centered around his right eye began to swirl, and his figure gradually vanished from the spot.
"No one will stop me from creating a perfect world. Wait for me, Rin," he murmured softly, his voice carried away by the wind.