Black Zetsu handed over a scroll, "This is your last mission this quarter. Once you complete this, you can relax for a while."
Kirito was stunned for a moment after taking the scroll. An interested smile appeared on his face, and he murmured, "Short Book Street. That's interesting."
He clearly remembered that in the original novel, Tsunade was a gambler on Tansho Street every day, and eventually, she was in debt and earned the title of "the legendary big fat sheep."
"If I'm not careful, I might bump into someone, and I don't know if the other person will recognize me. I don't think so."
Although he wiped out the Sarutobi and Shimura clans and became a household name in Konoha, ever since Tsunade suffered from hemophobia, she had never paid any attention to Konoha's affairs. Even such a major event as the death of the Third Hokage was only known after being informed by Naruto and Jiraiya. At most, her assistant Shizune would know something.
At this moment, a pulling force suddenly came from the ring on Kirito's hand.
Black Zetsu said at the side, "Looks like another meeting is about to begin."
"Let's go and find a safe place." After leaving these words, Kirito took out the wind chime hat from the system warehouse, put it on, and disappeared on the spot. Black Zetsu controlled the giant pitcher plant to merge into the ground and followed closely behind.
Soon, the two arrived at the top of a misty valley. Kirito formed a symbolic seal with his right hand, and with a bang, four shadow clones immediately appeared around him. Only then did he feel at ease to let his consciousness enter the dark space.
"He's quite a cautious guy."
Black Zetsu, who followed closely, looked at the four shadow clones protecting Kirito with murderous intent, and secretly complained in his heart. Then, relying on the guidance of the ring, he let his consciousness enter the dark space.
The spacious cave was pitch black except for a Zen lamp in the center, emitting a faint light. Dark shadows appeared one after another around the Zen lamp.
"How's it going Itachi, have you adapted to the Akatsuki organization? How about changing partners? Form a two-man team with me."
As soon as he arrived, Orochimaru couldn't wait to poach Itachi and invited him to form a partner.
Uchiha Itachi was not moved at all by this. He just glanced at Orochimaru calmly without replying. But Itachi's partner, Jūzō Biwa, who was about to complete the feat of splitting the Tailed Beast Ball with a sword, was dissatisfied and spoke out to refute Orochimaru.
Soon after, Sasori, who had always been at odds with Orochimaru, also joined the fight.
The quarrel did not stop until Kirito arrived. "What are you guys arguing about?"
Black Zetsu said at the side, "What else could it be? It's nothing more than a matter of replacing team members. Orochimaru and Sasori don't like each other. Orochimaru wants to steal Biwa Jūzō's talent and form a two-man team with Itachi."
Kirito suddenly realized, "Since Orochimaru doesn't want to be in the same team with Sasori, then switch with me. I will be in the same team with Sasori, and you will be in the same team with Jūzō."
"Hehe. It seems that Kirito holds a great grudge against Jūzō." A sinister smile appeared on Orochimaru's face, but he did not agree directly.
The reason why he wanted to form a team with Uchiha Itachi was not because he really wanted to cooperate with him, but because he was greedy for the latter's body. How could he possibly agree to Kirito's exchange?
"Of course, this old man is incompetent at everything he does and always likes to tell tales. I'm really worried that one day I won't be able to resist and chop him off with a knife." Kirito shrugged slightly, glanced at Jūzō with disdain, and said in a deep voice, "Compared to Jūzō, I still think it's easier to team up with Sasori, a hardworking model. At least, he really goes there when there's something going on."
"Black Zetsu, it looks like we're being disliked." White Zetsu said heartlessly upon hearing that.
"Shut up." Black Zetsu retorted.
At this moment, the consciousness projections of Pain, Konan, and Kakuzu appeared one after another. Pain said, "It seems that everyone is not very satisfied with their partners."
"Of course. Except for Dousan and Kakuzu, the other groups are not very harmonious. It's time to make some adjustments. Otherwise, something bad will happen sooner or later. I'm afraid it has already happened."
Kirito looked at Kakuzu with interest. Until this moment, his teammate Dousan had not appeared. It was not surprising because it was because of him that he was killed by Kakuzu earlier than in the original story and his heart was replaced.
Facing Kirito's gaze, Kakuzu clicked his tongue lightly and turned his head away. If it were anyone else, even if it was Orochimaru, he would have fought back long ago, but facing Kirito, who had once taken away four of his hearts, he didn't have any temper at all.
Pain narrowed his eyes slightly, "Yes, Dousan was killed."
Black Zetsu sneered, "Rather than saying he was killed, it would be better to say he was killed by his own people."
"Who told him to be so fussy?" Kakuzu glared at Black Zetsu. In the Akatsuki organization, he would not pamper anyone except the leader and Kirito.
"As for the details, let everyone decide for themselves."
Black Zetsu didn't argue and played the image of Dousan before his death. The way he died was similar to the original novel, he was killed by the enemy without distinguishing friend or foe.
Unlike the original work, Kakuzu did not use Fire Style to kill directly, but instead used an earth spear to pierce both himself and the enemy's abdomen from behind, and then took away the enemy's heart and killed him.
It can be said to be naked murder. Seeing this scene, even Sasori and Orochimaru, who had killed countless people, couldn't help but sigh.
Sasori said, "He did it on purpose."
Orochimaru spread his hands and agreed, "It was intentional."
Hearing this, Kakuzu hardened up again, staring at Orochimaru with a pair of green eyes, and said confidently, "Just get out of the way."
Orochimaru crossed his arms, not showing any weakness, "You and your partner don't have a good relationship, do you?"
"So what?" Kakuzu's tone gradually turned cold.
Orochimaru ignored him and continued to talk to himself, "You have wanted to kill him for a long time, right?"
"So what?" Kakuzu finally lost his patience, murderous intent flashing in his eyes.
Seeing that the two sides were about to quarrel, Pain spoke up to stop them, "Alright, let's stop here. Everyone should clear the tasks at hand first, and Kakuzu will act alone for the time being. I will make personnel adjustments in a month."
"Then I'll tell you the second thing."
"Thanks to your performance, Akatsuki's name has spread throughout the underground world. We have received more and more commissions, and they are becoming more and more important. The rewards we can get are also increasing accordingly. But this is just a means of raising funds. Akatsuki will enter the next stage."
Hearing this, everyone's faces turned serious, and the situation became tense.
Kirito thought to himself, has this time finally come?
"The next stage is to collect all the tailed beasts. Currently, most of the known tailed beasts are distributed in the five major countries, and a few of them are missing. In the future, when you are not on a mission, go and inquire about the information of the tailed beasts."
At this point, Pain looked at Zetsu, who nodded in understanding and said, "The One-Tail is in the Sand Village."
"The Two-Tails and the Eight-Tails are in the Hidden Cloud Village."
"The Three-Tails is in the Hidden Mist Village."
"Four, Six, and Seven cannot be confirmed yet."
"The Five-Tails is in Iwagakure Village."
"The Nine-Tails is in Konoha."
"This is the information we know so far, but where exactly it is hidden and who the Jinchūriki is still needs to be investigated."
(End of the chapter).
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