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Pein raised an eyebrow at Black Zetsu's request. It was unlike him to object to something that he said, the being was extremely loyal to whomever he served. "Why is that Zetsu? Itachi and Hiruko are the ones who are currently assigned to the Kyuubi jinchūriki, why should they not be the ones to test its strength? This would probably be the most important task since the Kyuubi is the strongest of the Bijū and we need to see the jinchūriki's capabilities after having the Kyuubi whole once again."
Itachi's and Hiruko's projections turned towards Zetsu and Pein, their attention had been successfully caught at the mention of their target. It was unusual for Zetsu to request such a front-line mission, he usually operated as a spy and gathered information on the jinchūriki, this was how the Akatsuki had gotten the locations of where each Bijū resided. He must have had some ulterior motive behind his actions. Though, neither of them seemed fazed or spoke out against the fact that someone was trying to steal their target and mission.
"Itachi and Hiruko are both infamous nuke-nin formerly of Konoha, they're bound to attract far more attention than the mission would allow. And with shinobi such as Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina, Jiraiya, Uchiha Obito, and shinobi on par with them currently residing within Konoha, the chance of capture is far greater than we would prefer...Someone like me on the other hand would be able to easily escape if I were to find myself driven into a corner...and I have some personal business with someone close to the jinchūriki. It would be beneficial to our plans if he is dealt with sooner rather than later." Zetsu reasoned with Pein.
White Zetsu had a confused look on his face, he hadn't known that they had anything to settle with any of the Konoha shinobi. In fact, the last Konoha shinobi that they had dealt with, other than the ones in the Akatsuki, was Obito when Madara was trying to manipulate him into creating the Akatsuki and become the leader behind the scenes.
Pein was silent for a moment as he thought about Zetsu's words. Konoha did indeed have the highest number of S-Rank shinobi residing in it, though Jiraiya was frequently outside the village walls, Obito and Kushina were usually on missions, Tsunade had her hands full as a medical-nin at the village hospital, and Minato was now crippled. It was certainly more of a risk than he was willing to take, sending two of his shinobi within those walls. Then again, Zetsu was extremely trustworthy, having never failing a mission and being one of the Akatsuiki's very first members. Perhaps he did have a point.
"Itachi, Hiruko. What do you think of Zetsu's request?" Pein turned to the team that assigned to capturing the Kyuubi jinchūriki.
"Let him have the mission if he's so insistent on it. It will give me more time to track down the shinobi who I plan to fuse with." Hiruko possessed a kinjutsu known as Chimera which allowed him to absorb the bodies of at most four people, gaining their Kekkei Genkai and attributes they possessed when alive. Currently, he had already absorbed three people and he had already found the fourth, but he had yet to put his plan into action.
"It does not matter to me." Itachi responded in his usual calm, stoic voice. However, inwardly he was quite worried. It was Itachi's duty to protect Konoha as much as he could from inside the Akatsuki and relay that information back to Jiraiya or the Hokage, if he wasn't the one responsible for capturing the Kyuubi then far more casualties were likely to occur. The Akatsuki was far more dangerous than they had believed it to be. Originally Jiriaya and the Yondaime Hokage had believed there to only be nine members, but now their numbers had grown to almost twenty. If Zetsu was going to get involved the death of Konoha-nin was unavoidable, but Itachi couldn't voice his disapproval and needed to maintain his cover.
"Very well then, you may be the one to approach the Kyuubi jinchūriki...However, you are one of the Akatsuki members who frequently works on their own. You will need a partner for this." Zetsu may not have been a usual fron-line fighter for the Akatsuki, but he was still one of the strongest among them. Even so, the mission would have a higher chance of success if he brought a partner along with him. That is why it was encouraged for Akatsuki members to work in pairs, though a handful of them still preferred to work solo.
"...Enel..." Zetsu's deep voice rang out, gaining the attention of said man. "You'll be coming with me."
"God does not take orders, God is the one who gives them." Enel's spoke out arrogantly, soon after though, he began to scratch his chin and a thoughtful look made its way onto his face. "...Though I will be joining you anyway. It has been far too long since I've had any fun. Perhaps the Kyuubi jinchūriki will provide me with some entertainment."
An irritated expression mede its way onto Pein's normally stoic face. He was the only God here. Enel may have been strong and been granted with divine power, but he was no God. Only the bearer of the Rinnegan had the right to call themselves as such, as they were the ones who were freely able to bend the boundaries of life and death.
"Then, if you all know you current assignments, you're dismissed."
The other sixteen members uttered a "Hai Leader-sama" in unison before flickering out of existence, until only Pein's figure spectral figure was left alone in the room.