"Alright! No infighting!"
Pain shouted in a low voice, looking around the group. "The reason I've gathered you all here today is simple: to get to know each other, and because Akatsuki's plan is about to commence!"
"Get to know each other?"
Orochimaru chuckled softly, "How do we do that? Just meet and greet?"
"Of course not!"
Pain replied coldly, "One-on-one sparring. No holding back. In the Akatsuki, we don't need weaklings!"
"That sounds good!"
Itsuki scanned the group, taking mental note of these well-known rogue ninjas.
Pain: Zero!
Konan stood behind him, without her ring at this moment. It was clear that Pain didn't intend for her to fight on the front lines.
For now, the Akatsuki had enough manpower.
Not like later, when almost everyone was dead.
Sealing one tailed beast left Kisame exhausted and panting.
Kisame: White!
Zetsu: Black!
Jūzō Biwa: South!
Orochimaru: Sky!
Sasori: Jade!
Deidara: Blue!
Kakuzu: North!
Hidan: Three!
And then...
Itsuki Uchiha: Vermilion!
Total: Ten members!
"A full house!"
Itsuki rubbed his eyes, "I'm so moved."
In the original story, Jūzō Biwa was Itachi Uchiha's partner, and when they fought the Three-Tails jinchūriki, he charged head-on at the Tailed Beast Bomb, making a mess of everything.
And then...
He was taken out directly.
As of now, they had not yet faced the Three-Tails jinchūriki.
Therefore, when Kisame arrived, he took Konan's 'South' ring.
Orochimaru had not betrayed them either.
And no one else had died.
The ten original Akatsuki members, who had never gathered in full in the story, were now all present.
"This kind of unprecedented event is too exciting," Itsuki clenched his fist, tears welling up as he looked at everyone.
Akatsuki: "..."
Although not many people in the Akatsuki were normal, please don't be so exceptional even among the abnormal ones.
Especially Kisame, who felt particularly moved.
Or perhaps, seeing Itsuki in this state gave him a strange feeling.
"Hey, hey, this guy is way too weird, right?"
Hidan tilted his head, looking at Itsuki, "I have a feeling the Jashin is displeased with you. I need to find time to sacrifice you to him."
"Shut up!"
Kakuzu snapped coldly at him, "Or I'll kill you!"
Sasori stared coldly at Itsuki, "I want to make you into a puppet, part of my collection."
Orochimaru chuckled wickedly, "Hehe, interesting!"
Deidara: "Explosion is the most beautiful form of art. Uchiha, blowing you up should be interesting."
Sasori immediately turned to glare at Deidara, "Eternity is true art."
"Brother Sasori, I won't tolerate that!"
Zetsu muttered to himself, though it was actually a dialogue between his black and white halves.
Itsuki clenched his fists, tears streaming down his face.
Jūzō Biwa was quietly taken aback.
He had always considered himself not normal, but now he finally knew what chaos truly was.
Goodness!
As an S-rank rogue ninja, even he felt his scalp tingle.
This place, it's way too deep!
"Enough. The sparring in three days will be more than enough for you all to vent your frustrations."
Pain threw out those words and disappeared on the Ten-Tails shell's finger.
As the wielder of the Rinnegan, he had the power to back it up, and he was confident that he could control these maniacs.
Except for Uchiha Itsuki.
This guy was... a bit creepy!
The others saw this and began leaving.
Three days wasn't much time, and they spread out to different locations, with some needing to travel through the night.
Itsuki severed the ring's connection, lost in thought.
Indeed, there had been internal sparring within the Akatsuki. After all, they were a bunch of lunatics—without showing some strength, how could they understand each other?
Not to mention Kakuzu, who even killed his own comrades.
His previous partner had already been taken out.
So...
Itsuki's partner had to be Hidan, who was unkillable.
Itsuki had a clone there, and sustaining a battle wouldn't be an issue.
However, after this fight, it was uncertain how much power that clone would still have.
Moreover...
His relationship with Konan was steadily progressing.
The two had even gone for a walk together yesterday.
This was merely for show, as if they were gradually getting closer.
In reality, a single Kotoamatsukami had already captured Konan's heart.
Too abrupt of a change would definitely attract attention.
Could Kotoamatsukami, a dojutsu, be nullified by the Rinnegan? Who could say for sure?
"The Akatsuki's plan has begun, so I need to speed up my own plans. At the same time, Hiruzen, I'll give you something else to worry about. Why are you always keeping tabs on me? It's not like you have a daughter-in-law named Mikoto."
Itsuki closed his eyes and formed a hand seal.
Crack!
Outside of Konoha...
A group of people were chatting casually.
Suddenly!
Someone raised his head and said, "Everyone, the leader has given the order. We need to begin our mission."
"Heh, I've been waiting for this!"
Everyone was startled, then one of them burst into laughter.
"Yeah, I've been itching for a big fight!"
"What are we waiting for, then?"
The group closed their eyes, and when they opened them again, different dojutsu were visible.
Sharingan!
And... Byakugan!
...
Outside of Sunagakure.
Pakura looked at the place where she had grown up from a distance, her eyes full of coldness.
"Lady Pakura!"
A shinobi approached her from behind, kneeling on one knee, and said solemnly, "The leader has given an order."
With that...
He handed her a scroll.
"An order from him?"
Pakura's face softened for a moment as she took the scroll and glanced at it. Even she couldn't help but be surprised.
"Impressive! He sure is bold."
She sighed, then looked at the shinobi in front of her and said, "Lead the way!"
"Yes!"
The shinobi responded and suddenly looked up, forming a hand seal: "Byakugan!"
"Please, follow me!"
It turned out he was also a Byakugan user.
Pakura followed him.
"Truly surprising—Itsuki has a Hyūga shinobi with the Byakugan under his command. I remember Konoha tightly controls the Byakugan."
To the extent that the Byakugan was considered above the Sharingan.
Actually, it wasn't that surprising.
In a one-on-one situation, the Sharingan was superior to the Byakugan.
However, in war, the Byakugan was a strategic-level advantage.
It was like having a series of radars.
The Hyūga shinobi remained calm and said, "We are all just dead men."
"Dead men?"
"Yes!" The Hyūga shinobi smiled and said, "Just like this time, when the Third Hokage's order caused conflict with Sunagakure, all the Hyūga shinobi were declared dead."
"And your Byakugan...?"
"The Caged Bird, right?" The Hyūga shinobi smiled faintly. "Destroying the Byakugan breaks the Caged Bird Seal."
Pakura looked at those Byakugan eyes in surprise.
"Lord Itsuki has been collecting Byakugan from the Hyūga main family."
"Additionally!"
"Just like the Uchiha clan preserves some of their Sharingan, the Hyūga main family also keeps Byakugan from those who die of old age or in battle."
"I see!"
Pakura thought for a moment and understood.
"First, make it seem like you're in a state of false death, activate the Caged Bird, destroy the Byakugan, and then transplant preserved Byakugan from the main family into you."
"Correct!"
"I've never heard of a missing Byakugan from the Hyūga clan."
"They don't dare to say!"
The Hyūga shinobi sneered. "The Hyūga clan would never publicly admit that they lost a Byakugan. Wouldn't you agree?"
"That's true."
Pakura chuckled.
The Hyūga clan's system of dividing the main and branch families clearly demonstrated their greatest fear: losing the Byakugan.
When they lost a Byakugan, their first instinct was likely to suppress the news at all costs, making sure no one else found out.
Even if they knew it was just self-deception.
(End of this chapter)