Tatsuma Aburame took on a mission at random and left Konoha.
Since Root often engaged in shady activities, Danzo sometimes entrusted tasks to the underground exchange network.
After all, ninja who accepted commissions through the exchange network would do anything for money, making them perfectly convenient.
Danzo was a regular at the underground exchange network. It was precisely through these channels that he discovered the Akatsuki organization—once dedicated to peace but now transformed into a band of mercenaries willing to take any job for the right price.
In an underground exchange located within the Land of Fire, Tatsuma successfully handed Danzo's scroll to a peripheral member of Akatsuki, instructing him to deliver it to their leader while paying part of the upfront payment.
Three days later,
Danzo's scroll finally reached Deva Path's hands.
At this time, the Akatsuki was still an amateurish group.
Official members of Akatsuki included Pain (led by Nagato), Konan, Black Zetsu, Kakuzu, Sasori, and the masked figure calling himself Madara Uchiha before Nagato—also known as Tobi but actually Setsuna Uchiha.
Under the influence of Black Zetsu and Setsuna Uchiha after Yahiko's death—caused by Hanzo and Danzo Shimura's conspiracy—Nagato became consumed by hatred. He came to accept Setsuna's ideology, transforming Akatsuki into a mercenary organization that gathered vast amounts of wealth in preparation for capturing the Tailed Beasts.
Since Kakuzu and Sasori were currently executing missions outside, only Black Zetsu and Setsuna Uchiha remained inside the Akatsuki hideout.
After finishing reading the scroll, Deva Path gathered Black Zetsu and Setsuna, who were both present at the base.
Deva tossed the scroll into Black Zetsu's hands. "Both of you read it. Someone—we don't know which village he belongs to—clearly targeted one of our peripheral members screening missions at the exchange and hired us to execute a task."
After reading the scroll, both Black Zetsu and Setsuna narrowed their eyes slightly. "The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from Konoha is about to give birth, and they want us to assassinate The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze?"
"That's exactly right," Deva confirmed. "They've already paid half the deposit—a total of thirty million ryō. The remaining thirty million will be paid upon completion. Although this person concealed his identity, I believe he must be from Konoha; otherwise, he wouldn't have such detailed intelligence."
Black Zetsu asked cautiously, "Can we verify whether this intelligence is accurate?"
"It can't be fully verified," Deva answered. "But personally, I think the information seems legitimate. There's no need for deception here—thirty million ryō isn't a small sum. For just a deposit, even ten million would have been enough.
"Still, to be safe, if we accept this mission, we should definitely confirm it first. According to the scroll, the Jinchuriki's delivery room will be set up outside Konoha Village. By monitoring movements beyond Konoha's borders, we can verify the truth behind the information."
"So, what do you all think? Should we accept this mission to assassinate the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze?"
Black Zetsu and Setsuna Uchiha exchanged glances.
Black Zetsu then turned to Deva Path. "What's your opinion, Pain? Are you ready to capture the Tailed Beasts now?"
Deva Path shook his head. "No. Akatsuki isn't prepared yet. Capturing the Nine-Tails from Konoha, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, right now would immediately make Akatsuki the target of universal outrage. It's not yet the time to start capturing the Tailed Beasts.
However, I believe we should accept this mission. The payment is 60 million ryo altogether, which is quite a considerable sum for us right now. Plus, if we truly manage to kill Minato Namikaze, it will be a severe blow to Konoha.
Tobi, your Mangekyo Sharingan can control the Tailed Beasts, right?"
Setsuna Uchiha nodded. "My Genjutsu via the Mangekyo Sharingan can control the Tailed Beasts, though not for very long."
Deva Path continued solemnly. "Right now, Konoha is developing too well. If we allow them to continue progressing unchecked, in the future, capturing their Jinchuriki might become extremely difficult—especially with Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique being particularly hard to counter.
Therefore, if the intelligence is true, we'll take the mission—assassinate Minato Namikaze, release the Nine-Tails, and have Tobi control it to attack Konoha."
Black Zetsu and Setsuna Uchiha both agreed. "We also believe this mission is worth accepting."
Deva Path turned his gaze toward Black Zetsu. "Then, Zetsu, you'll infiltrate the Land of Fire next to verify whether the mission intelligence is true or false."
Black Zetsu agreed. "Fine."
Then Deva Path looked at Setsuna Uchiha. "If we confirm that the intelligence is genuine, then Tobi, you and I will carry out the operation together."
Setsuna Uchiha responded. "Understood!"
Setsuna Uchiha was more than happy to agree. He deeply hated Konoha and had longed for revenge against the village.
After all, he held intense resentment against Tobirama Senju, who had once been the Second Hokage.
This mission provided him the perfect opportunity to exact his vengeance on Konoha.
...
Time passed quickly.
There were only about two months left until Kushina Uzumaki's due date; the countdown had already begun.
Meanwhile, Shindai's puppets had recently sold quite well, but Shindai hadn't actually been making any new ones—the orders just kept piling up.
Moreover, Shindai's Dream Workshop had temporarily closed down to prevent even more orders from coming in, and refunds were being issued for those who had already paid an upfront payment.
The reason for Shindai doing all this was precisely because Kushina Uzumaki's childbirth was drawing near.
Although Shindai wasn't certain whether anything unexpected would happen on that day, he couldn't shake off a terrible premonition—an instinctive feeling that something was going to go wrong.
At present, Shindai's research had hit a dead end. He sat there scratching his head, clearly overwhelmed with frustration.
"Not enough Chakra to fuse the positive and negative magnetic fields. What should I do now? I don't have any spare Chakra, you know! This is seriously frustrating!"
Shindai kept trying to completely merge the positive and negative magnetic fields while maintaining their original characteristics, hoping he could later trigger a powerful release by letting the positive and negative poles interact.
However, the moment the positive and negative magnetic fields touched, they violently reacted, unleashing explosive energy that sent Shindai flying and left him completely unable to maintain control.
The root cause was his insufficient Chakra. Trying to fuse them while maintaining their distinct characteristics consumed an enormous amount of Chakra, which ran out in just a few seconds.
Meanwhile, Hikaku Uchiha, who had nothing much to do lately, had been hanging around the research base watching Shindai mess around with his experiments—even though he didn't understand any of it, he found it amusing to watch.
Hikaku Uchiha tried to reason with him, "Stop pulling your hair. I'm afraid you're going to pull it all out."
Shindai let go of his hair and started rubbing his face instead.
He asked with a frustrated sigh, "Asu Natsuka, tell me—is there any way for me to suddenly get a massive amount of Chakra?"
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