Chapter 287: Akatsuki
In the pitch-black cave, several faint, fluorescent phantom images suddenly appeared.
This was Zetsu's ultimate technique—the Magic Lantern Body Jutsu.
The members maintained a stationary posture, projecting their own spiritual power in the form of chakra to Pain. Pain, possessing the Rinnegan, acted as a signal tower, receiving this information and projecting it at a specific location. The resulting phantoms could even use their own ninjutsu.
This ninjutsu was extremely secretive, greatly facilitating the practice among Akatsuki's members and the leader's mission announcements, and further ensuring the secrecy and safety of their gatherings.
It was no wonder that no matter how hard Konoha searched, they could only find the Akatsuki's peripheral organizations and never their core members.
After all, according to common sense, if nearly ten Kage-level powerhouses gathered together, the commotion would not be small...
The phantoms lit up one by one. One, two... until the eighth phantom stabilized its form.
"Very good, everyone is here," the leader said faintly after waiting for the phantoms to stop appearing.
His appearance, as could be vaguely seen from the phantom, was that of a short-haired youth. His features were almost unrecognizable in the phantom, with only the pair of eyes with a ripple pattern clearly visible.
This was Pain, who possessed the Rinnegan.
"Huh? We're missing one person, leader..." a burly figure carrying a large sword said. His gaze swept over the figures beside him. "Only eight of us are here this time. Why isn't that guy Deidara here?"
"That's the first thing I'm going to tell you," Pain said, glancing at him. "Kisame, Deidara has been taken out."
The tall man called Kisame was stunned for a moment.
"He was killed?" He grinned. "As expected, the first one to be taken out is this noisy idiot. Hehe... who did it?"
"It was someone from Konoha. Kakuzu even ran into her last time," the figure, who was completely enveloped in a giant Venus flytrap, said, and even glanced at the man beside him.
"It was that woman named Haruno Sakura," Kakuzu said coldly. Although his expression could not be seen, from his turbid eyes, one could tell that when that 'Sakura' was mentioned, the man's mood was extremely gloomy. "Thanks to her, I lost a few precious hearts, and I'm still missing one that hasn't been replaced!"
"Zetsu," he turned to look at the strange Venus flytrap-man beside him, his eyes cold and gloomy, his killing intent hidden. "You're always the one who handles the corpses. Did you bring back Deidara's body? I need his heart...!"
"Playing with a comrade's remains?" Kisame sneered. "As expected of the kind of act that only a person like you could do."
"Deidara is not my comrade," Kakuzu said bluntly, his words filled with killing intent. "And Hidan, the only reason he's still by my side is because I can't kill him... Only money is my comrade!"
Even for an organization composed of rogue-nin, they could still be considered temporary comrades... Kakuzu's words immediately made many of the people present frown secretly, but they didn't react.
Kisame's gaze, however, turned cold.
"A fool obsessed with money..."
"Alright!" Pain's voice cut in, interrupting the argument. "Stop arguing. Kakuzu, Deidara's body has already been dealt with."
Kakuzu frowned fiercely. "Was it eaten by Zetsu? What a waste!"
"No, I made him into a puppet," Sasori of the Red Sand's clear and cold voice, like a gurgling stream, sounded. He lifted his left hand, and his fingers moved slightly. Another phantom appeared in the field, and a chakra thread clearly connected the phantom and Sasori's left hand.
Everyone looked over. That new phantom was indeed Deidara's appearance, no different from when he was alive. The only difference was that the current Deidara was just standing there quietly, silent, and was no longer as talkative as he used to be, chattering non-stop...
"Looking at it this way, it's as if Deidara isn't dead, he just suddenly went mute!" Kisame said, grinning, revealing his sharp, sinister teeth. "Sasori, your craftsmanship is really amazing. Deidara looks exactly the same as when he was alive..."
"No... Deidara was killed by Haruno Sakura, who cut off his head in an instant. He wasn't injured otherwise. So it was very simple to process him into a perfect human puppet!" Sasori explained. "My puppets suffered a lot of losses in the battle with her. Turning this guy Deidara into a puppet can more or less make up for some of the losses..."
"You don't have a single bit of comradeship for Deidara, do you, Sasori..."
"You have no understanding of art, Kisame. If Deidara knew that he had been made into an eternal puppet art by me, he would definitely be very happy," Sasori retorted faintly. "Deidara is someone who knows how to appreciate eternity..."
The art-duo's bizarre understanding of life made the rest of the Akatsuki feel a little cold.
Even a guy like Kakuzu, who was neither human nor ghost, couldn't understand what was so happy about being made into a puppet.
Sasori's words, for a moment, made the Akatsuki's meeting fall into a cold silence.
"Hey! It's a good thing I can't die, so I don't have to try the taste of being turned into a puppet," Hidan's carefree voice broke the strange atmosphere.
Sasori's gaze was like a knife as he looked at Hidan coldly. "If you'd like, I can let you try the feeling of a living person being directly made into a puppet!"
"That must be fun, heehee!" Zetsu, who was shrouded in the grass, interjected with sarcasm. "And you're not truly immortal, Hidan. You were almost smashed into meat paste by Haruno Sakura's punch last time... The next time you face her, you might not be so lucky!"
"Let's get back to the main topic," Pain's icy voice suddenly sounded. "Since we're on the subject of this woman, Haruno Sakura, Zetsu, Sasori, you can take the opportunity to introduce her information. We've had a lot of dealings with her recently. In the foreseeable future, I think we will continue to have dealings with her..."
"Yes, Leader."
Zetsu raised his voice and said, "To be precise, she is still a girl, not a woman... According to intelligence, Haruno Sakura is only thirteen years old, a genius similar to Itachi. Konoha really is rich in geniuses!"
As Zetsu spoke, he glanced at Itachi on the other side.
The man with the staring crimson eyes just looked at him quietly, his eyes indifferent, silent.
"She possesses the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai, can use ice as a medium for high-speed Body Flicker, is very strong, and has fast reactions. In other aspects, her Water Style, movement speed, and chakra amount are also very formidable..." Sasori continued Zetsu's words.
"She sounds very strong!" Kisame said, a smile of interest on his face. "Itachi-san, I wonder, when you were the same age, who was stronger?"
"A comparison without the Sharingan is meaningless..." Itachi said, glancing at Kisame coldly.
"Isn't that a bit too arrogant of you? After all, the other party is also a genius."
"No, it's a fact..."
Genius? In front of the Sharingan, there is no genius.
"Even someone like Orochimaru was defeated by Itachi-san's Sharingan in one move," Zetsu interjected. "But you all must be careful when you face her. She has a ninjutsu that is similar to the Water Severing Wave, but its casting speed is faster, and its power is stronger. Deidara died to this move. Speaking of which, he only lasted two moves under Haruno Sakura's hand before he died!"
"Deidara was a very conceited person. If you're not strong enough but are still conceited, sometimes it's easy to become arrogant... He was too careless. He didn't die unjustly," Pain concluded. "In short, when you face her in the future, you must be careful. If we lose too many members before the plan begins, it will be very troublesome."
"This is the second matter for today. The third matter is to introduce a new member. Hn, he's a preparatory member for now, to take Deidara's place."
"Come out, Tobi."
He formed a hand seal and summoned a new phantom into the cave.
The figure of a short-haired man appeared in front of everyone. On his face, it could be vaguely seen that he was wearing a swirl mask.
"Hello, senpais!" As soon as the person appeared, he greeted everyone in a frivolous tone. "I'm Tobi, please take good care of me!"
However, no one paid him any attention.
Pain continued, "Tobi will take Deidara's place, use the 'Blue' ring, and will be temporarily paired with 'Jewel,' that is, Sasori. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Very good... Then next is the new action plan," the leader of the Akatsuki said, looking around at the members. No one had any intention of speaking, so he said slowly, "In the countries and ninja villages where the Jinchuriki's identity and location have already been confirmed, all intelligence activities will be temporarily suspended. Lie low and wait until we finally begin to capture the Tailed Beasts, then we will restart."
"In addition, in other regions, our actions must be more concealed. Have those peripheral organizations be more careful and not expose themselves..."
He looked at Kakuzu. "Kakuzu... the peripheral organizations in the Land of Fire and its surroundings, which are used for raising funds, have they been cleaned up?"
"The people who know the real secrets have all been dealt with," Kakuzu said coldly.
Pain didn't ask how he had "dealt with" them, but just quietly watched him continue.
"I just received intelligence that the organization I left in the Land of Grass has been cleaned out... But these remaining peripheral members do not know the Akatsuki's intelligence. Just let the Konoha people go on a wild goose chase. They won't find any more of our traces!"
"However, without these sources of income, the speed at which the organization can raise funds will be much slower..."
"It doesn't matter if the speed is a little slower," Pain said faintly. "We still have a lot of time. In the next one or two years, we will have gathered all the intelligence on the Tailed Beasts, and then we will capture all of them in one go! We can't give the five great nations time to react..."
"Before that, whether it's raising funds, your personal training, or other hobbies, be careful not to expose yourselves. I don't want to lose any more members before the operation officially begins."
"Got it, Leader!" Tobi replied with a grin.
The other members of the Akatsuki, however, just listened silently, not saying a word.
On the contrary, Kakuzu said in a sinister voice, "If anyone dies, Zetsu, remember to give me his body!"
He turned his head to stare at Sasori and added, "Sasori, you've already taken one. Don't fight me for it again...!"
Sasori glanced at Kakuzu faintly but said nothing.
On the contrary, Kisame sneered, "Kakuzu, the weakest people here are you Immortal Duo! Instead of coveting other people's hearts, I think you'd better pay more attention to your own little life. You're being targeted by Konoha..."
"Kisame, are you looking for death?" Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. He turned his head to look at him and said with a gloomy face, "I've been wanting to take that heart of yours for a long time..."
"Ridiculous! Even at your peak, you were no match for me," Kisame said, pulling out the giant sword from his back and planting it firmly on the ground. "With just the you of now..."
"Enough! Although I don't expect you to be friendly with each other, you are, after all, comrades. You should not attack each other..." Pain said with a wave of his hand.
"The last thing. Last time, Sasori ran into Orochimaru in the Land of Rivers. This shows that Orochimaru may be hiding in that area recently. Those of you who are active in that vicinity, pay a little attention... Once you find Orochimaru, kill him on sight!"
"That's all for this meeting. If there's anything in the future, you can contact me alone with your rings. Our plan is already approaching its final moments. You must be careful. The next time we all gather will be in about a year, before we take our final step!"
He stopped and looked around. Everyone was silent, just quietly looking back at their leader.
"The last time everyone was together was eight years ago when Orochimaru defected. I hope that next time we meet, all of you will be present..."
"Dismissed!"
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