The light drizzle seemed to cast a filter over the entire sky, enveloping the Hidden Rain Village with a sense of oppression and gloom.
On the central tower, a twisted vortex suddenly appeared.
Then, Obito, wearing a one-eyed mask, stepped out from the vortex and, under Konan's watchful eyes, slowly made his way deeper into the tower.
After a while, Obito stopped in front of a secret room.
At this point, Konan opened the door to the secret room and said to the inside, "Nagato, he's here."
A voice came from within the room, "Let him in."
Obito smirked and walked into the room.
He scanned the room, his eyes finally resting on Nagato, who sat on a specially crafted wooden chair, frail and emaciated, with the Rinnegan in his eye sockets. "You've already received the news from the Hidden Leaf, haven't you?"
"Yes," Nagato responded lightly.
Obito emphasized, "The small disagreements between us are already affecting our joint plans. If this continues, it won't benefit either of us!"
Konan, standing next to Nagato, added, "You've been playing tricks behind Nagato's back! How do you explain what happened in the Land of Demons? I don't recall the organization recruiting that demon!"
Obito shrugged. "I was just trying to recruit some backup in case of emergencies! Haven't you also recruited people behind my back?"
He was undoubtedly referring to Shinji, Haku, and Karin, who had repeatedly disrupted his plans.
However, Konan misunderstood Obito's implication, thinking he was referring to her secret recruitment of Hiruko and Raiga Kurosuki. She frowned and said, "If you hadn't broken the rules first, we wouldn't have done that! Besides, you've been too over-the-top and too high-profile!"
Hearing Konan's admission, Obito thought to himself, "So those three are indeed Nagato's people!"
His face darkened as he said, "It's you who've gone too far! Recruiting such strong members in secret and not giving me any information about them! Don't forget, our enemies are the Five Great Shinobi Villages. If we fight each other, they'll be the only ones to benefit!"
Konan's expression also grew cold. "Hmph, the people you've recruited in secret aren't weak either!"
Without a doubt, Konan had mistaken Shinji, Haku, and Karin, who had frequently appeared as members of the Akatsuki, as Obito's recruits.
As for the subsequent battle between Shinji's group and Mōryō and Shinnō, she naturally assumed it was Obito testing Mōryō and Shinnō.
After all, each time Obito appeared, he didn't clash with Shinji's group, and both sides would retreat as soon as they met.
Of course.
Konan was unaware that this wasn't due to any understanding between Obito and Shinji, but simply because both of them were highly wary of each other and didn't dare to make a move.
Listening to Konan's words, Obito's face darkened further, feeling as though he was being mocked.
He had to admit that the people he recruited, Mōryō and Shinnō, had been beaten by the individuals secretly recruited by the other side. So when Konan made such remarks, he naturally felt mocked.
Thus, he remained silent, his face grim.
"They were indeed recruited by him!" Konan thought, seeing Obito's silence and assuming he was guilty. She became convinced that Shinji, Haku, Karin, Mōryō, and Shinnō were all secretly recruited by Obito.
Having confirmed this, Konan's wariness of Obito reached its peak.
In the current Akatsuki organization, excluding the defector Orochimaru, there were a total of seventeen members, including Nagato, Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, Hiruko, Raiga Kurosuki, Uchiha Itachi, Jūzō Biwa, Obito, Zetsu, Mōryō, Shinnō, and the three individuals Konan believed to be on Obito's side—Shinji, Haku, and Karin.
Counting them all, there were seventeen people in total.
In Konan's mind, among these seventeen, the ones clearly on Obito's side were Obito, Zetsu, Uchiha Itachi, Mōryō, Shinnō, and the three Shinji, Haku, and Karin, making a total of eight.
Among them, four possessed Mangekyō Sharingan, while others like Mōryō and Haku, who had Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, were also formidable in battle.
If an internal conflict were to break out, it would be hard to predict the outcome.
Sensing Konan's hostility, Obito's expression under the mask also became serious.
Having confirmed that Shinji, Haku, and Karin were Nagato's people, he began calculating the combat strength on both sides.
At this point, he was still unaware that Konan had secretly recruited Hiruko and Raiga Kurosuki, so in his calculations, the Akatsuki organization had a total of fifteen members.
Among them, Nagato's side included Nagato, Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, and, in his view, Shinji, Haku, and Karin—nine people in total!
On his side, even counting Itachi's partner Jūzō Biwa, there were only six people.
If a direct internal conflict were to break out, his chances of victory were very low.
Considering this, he decided to temporarily concede and maintain the cooperative relationship with Nagato until Nagato was no longer useful, at which point he would find a way to eliminate him.
After all, the Five Great Shinobi Villages were not to be underestimated, and there was no guarantee that they would be able to successfully collect the tailed beasts.
"Nagato, the Five Kage have already reached a consensus in the Hidden Leaf. If we let a small disagreement between us lead to internal conflict now, our plan to collect the tailed beasts and revive the Ten-Tails will be stillborn. I hope you understand that," Obito said, using a more conciliatory tone to express his views.
Nagato clearly didn't want internal conflict before the plan had even begun, so he nodded lightly. "Our cooperation can continue, but your private actions must stop immediately! It's your high-profile behavior that has caused the Five Great Shinobi Villages to notice us prematurely."
Obito didn't argue on this point and immediately agreed. "Alright, all our private actions end here!"
Nagato stared at Obito. "Very well."
Konan added, "To deal with the Five Great Shinobi Villages, we've decided to move up the timeline for our plan!"
Obito wasn't surprised, as he had already anticipated this. He simply asked, "Is the Gedo Statue ready? It still shouldn't be capable of absorbing the tailed beasts, right?"
Nagato responded calmly, "I'll handle the Gedo Statue; you don't need to worry about it."
Konan supplemented, "Even if the Gedo Statue isn't fully prepared, it won't stop us from capturing the Jinchūriki."
In the original timeline, the Akatsuki didn't start collecting the tailed beasts until years later, when Naruto was sixteen, primarily due to preparations for the Gedo Statue.
As the shell of the Ten-Tails, the Gedo Statue, having been stripped of all the tailed beasts, remained in an extremely weakened state.
This was why, when Nagato first used his Rinnegan to summon the Gedo Statue, it drained his chakra, leaving him emaciated.
Currently, the Gedo Statue was still in its weakened state and could not absorb tailed beasts.
But faced with the Five Great Shinobi Villages' encirclement, the Akatsuki couldn't just sit idly by. So after discussing with Konan, Nagato decided to fight fire with fire. Since the Five Great Shinobi Villages intended to capture members of the Akatsuki to obtain their core information, they would, in turn, capture the Jinchūriki of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
As the wielder of the Rinnegan, Nagato had more than enough means to control the Jinchūriki, so he could collect the Jinchūriki while simultaneously preparing the Gedo Statue.
Once the Gedo Statue recovered, they could extract the tailed beasts from the Jinchūriki one by one, reviving the Ten-Tails in an instant!
After considering this, Obito found Nagato's plan feasible. "Alright, I support your plan!"
Among the current nine Jinchūriki, Gaara of the Hidden Sand, Fū of the Hidden Waterfall, and Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf were still just seven or eight-year-old children, with their combat power at a low point, making them easy targets.
If they waited a few more years, and these Jinchūriki matured, especially Naruto Uzumaki with the Nine-Tails, capturing them would become exponentially more difficult.
Konan then said, "The real challenge right now is the Jinchūriki of the Hidden Cloud, with their Two-Tails and Eight-Tails, as well as the Jinchūriki of the Hidden Mist with their Three-Tails and Six-Tails, and the Jinchūriki of the Hidden Stone with their Four-Tails and Five-Tails! The Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Mist are especially troublesome!"
Obito nodded slightly, agreeing with Konan's assessment.
In addition to the strength of the tailed beasts themselves, the other major factor determining a Jinchūriki's combat power was their compatibility with their tailed beast.
The Jinchūriki of the Hidden Cloud—Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki, and Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki—as well as the Hidden Mist's Fourth Mizukage Yagura, the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki, were all known as "perfect Jinchūriki."
These three not only did not suffer from interference by the tailed beasts within them during battle but could also gain support from their tailed beasts, allowing them to fully utilize the power of the tailed beasts, making them among the top-tier Jinchūriki!
Especially Killer Bee, who was the Hidden Cloud's trump card.
The Eight-Tails, Gyūki, was the second strongest of the tailed beasts, second only to the Nine-Tails, and Killer Bee was an unusual Jinchūriki.
During the Third Great Shinobi War, it was the "AB Combo" of the Fourth Raikage and Killer Bee that stopped Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, who was famous throughout the shinobi world, allowing the Hidden Cloud to come out of the war with some dignity.
After weighing things for a moment, Obito said, "Among these villages, I believe the Jinchūriki of the Hidden Cloud pose the greatest threat. So if we're going to act, it's best to target the Hidden Cloud first. Otherwise, if they get wind of our plan, it'll be much more difficult to capture them later."
Konan asked, "What's your plan?"
Obito smirked. "The Hidden Cloud will definitely deploy both the Eight-Tails' and Two-Tails' Jinchūriki for this. We just need to set a trap and lure them in. Capturing the two Jinchūriki should not be difficult."
Konan glanced at Nagato.
Nagato nodded.
If they could deal with the Hidden Cloud's Eight-Tails and Two-Tails Jinchūriki first, the rest would be much easier to handle.
Konan then looked back at Obito. "But if we do this, it will expose our intention to collect the tailed beasts!"
Obito replied, "So, after dealing with the Hidden Cloud, we must immediately target the Hidden Mist. We need to take care of the Fourth Mizukage before they have a chance to react. Once he's dealt with, we can slowly take our time to capture the remaining Jinchūriki."
Nagato asked, "How do you plan to set the trap to lure the Hidden Cloud in?"
Obito smiled. "They want to capture our members, right? Let's give them the opportunity! We'll have Kakuzu and Hidan deliberately show up in the Land of the Moon near the border of the Land of Lightning. This will prompt the Hidden Cloud to act. They'll likely send an elite squad to ambush Kakuzu and Hidan without alerting them. We can use that opportunity to ambush them. If we're lucky, we might capture both of their Jinchūriki in one go!"
Konan was well aware of Kakuzu and Hidan's abilities. Using them as bait was indeed an excellent choice, but she quickly thought about Obito's forces and said, "If the plan works, we'll deal with the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki, and you can handle the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki!"
Nagato remained silent, quietly observing Obito, awaiting his response.
In their minds, Obito had several Mangekyō Sharingan users under his command, so handling the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki should be more than enough. And, of course, if the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki worked together, and one or two Mangekyō Uchiha were killed, that would be even better.
Obito thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, it's settled."
The bait would be Nagato's people, and the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki was a perfect Jinchūriki, so dealing with her wouldn't be easy. This division of labor wasn't too unfair.
After refining the details of the plan, Obito immediately left the tower.
Once Obito had left, Konan turned to Nagato and said, "He didn't deny it just now. It seems those Akatsuki members we don't know about were indeed recruited by him!"
Nagato's demeanor shifted from calm to serious. "Have the others assist Hiruko in completing his ritual as soon as possible. We need his strength!"
Konan nodded. "I'll make the arrangements now."
Outside the Hidden Rain Village.
Obito emerged from a twisted vortex and then turned to glance back at the village, perpetually shrouded in rain.
At that moment, Zetsu emerged from the ground. "How did the talks go?"
Obito replied moodily, "Fairly smoothly. Nagato confirmed that those people wearing hooded red cloud robes are his recruits!"
"As expected," Zetsu sighed.
Even though the situation was obvious, hearing it confirmed still felt troublesome.
In their plan, Nagato was merely a tool to collect the tailed beasts and revive the Ten-Tails. Ultimately, he was meant to be discarded.
But now, with Nagato recruiting so many powerful people, his strength far exceeded their expectations, making it a troublesome matter to figure out how to make Nagato, the tool, "exit the stage" when the time came.
Obito said, "Have Mōryō assist Shinnō in completing his artificial tailed beast project as soon as possible. We'll need their strength!"
Zetsu asked, "Should we continue recruiting more people?"
"Nagato has already warned me not to provoke him any further for now. For the moment, everything should prioritize the revival of the Ten-Tails!" Obito paused and then smirked. "Besides, the Five Great Shinobi Villages are still out there. Collecting the tailed beasts will inevitably result in casualties, won't it?"