The Akatsuki was growing.
Slowly. Carefully. Quietly.
But the truth was… we were still small.
I leaned back in the chair inside the command room, staring at the large screen displaying the status of my organization.
The system panel hovered nearby, glowing faintly.
Our numbers were… limited.
Unless I counted my Six Paths of Pain, we barely had any real members.
Just four.
Me.
Zetsu.
Orochimaru.
Kakuzu.
And the more I thought about it, the clearer the structure of the organization became.
Zetsu wasn't a fighter.
Not really.
Yes, he could fight if he absolutely had to, but that wasn't his purpose. Zetsu was the Akatsuki's eyes and ears. His White Zetsu clones were spreading across the world, silently observing cities, governments, hero movements, and criminal organizations.
He also ran our front operations.
The mercenary network.
The contact points.
The information brokering.
If someone wanted to hire the Akatsuki, Zetsu was the one they dealt with. The invisible middleman behind everything.
He was the shadow behind the curtain.
And he was perfect at it.
Orochimaru was different.
He was powerful—easily Kage level if he chose to fight seriously—but that wasn't where his real value lay.
His genius was what mattered.
His laboratory deep inside the base was already filled with research projects.
Metahuman biology.
Genetic mutation.
Human evolution.
He was studying everything this world had to offer, from animals to enhanced humans to experimental technologies.
I didn't interfere.
Orochimaru thrived when left alone with a problem to solve.
And the DC Universe was filled with problems.
Then there was Kakuzu.
Unlike the others, Kakuzu was exactly what this organization needed right now.
A mercenary.
Cold.
Efficient.
And completely obsessed with money.
He had already taken several contracts from the network Zetsu built.
Criminal eliminations.
Bounty retrievals.
Private assassinations.
Every mission he completed brought back two things:
Money.
And reputation.
Which meant system points.
The system chimed almost every time Kakuzu finished a job.
[Mission Completed — Target Eliminated][Reputation Gained: +120 RP]
[Mercenary Network Activity Increased][Reputation Gained: +80 RP]
It was steady growth.
Nothing flashy.
Nothing that would attract the attention of the Justice League yet.
But it was working.
And every mission brought the Akatsuki closer to full strength.
Soon I'd have enough points to recruit the rest.
Itachi.
Kisame.
Deidara.
Sasori.
Hidan.
Konan.
The entire organization.
Still… something important was missing.
Communication.
The original Akatsuki solved that problem with their rings.
So I recreated them.
Four small rings rested on the metal table in front of me.
Each one carried a small chakra seal tied directly to my Rinnegan.
They were simple—but incredibly effective.
Through them, the members of the Akatsuki could connect to my projection jutsu, allowing us to appear as holographic chakra projections no matter where we were in the world.
Just like the old days.
Meetings without needing to travel.
Planning without revealing locations.
A perfect system for a secret organization.
I slid one ring onto my own finger.
Then handed the others out.
One to Kakuzu.
One to Orochimaru.
One to Zetsu.
The moment each ring was worn, the connection formed instantly.
Our chakra signatures linked through the seal network.
Good.
The Akatsuki finally had a proper communication system again.
I activated the projection technique.
The room darkened slightly as three glowing figures appeared around the circular table.
Zetsu.
Orochimaru.
Kakuzu.
Even though two of them were physically elsewhere in the base, the illusion worked perfectly.
Just like the original organization.
Kakuzu crossed his arms.
"So," he said bluntly, "what's the next job?"
I smiled faintly.
"There will be many."
The Akatsuki wasn't strong enough to challenge the world yet.
But we didn't need to.
Not right now.
Right now, we were doing exactly what the Akatsuki had always done best.
Working in the shadows.
Growing stronger.
And waiting.
Because eventually…
The world would notice.
And when it did—
It would already be too late.