"Hidan and Kakuzu are dead."
Pain's voice echoed through the dim cave. He watched the glowing holographic flickers of the remaining Akatsuki members, gauging their reactions. His eyes shifted toward Madara. Surprisingly, the man hadn't spoken up yet with his usual goofy 'Tobi' persona. Instead, he remained unnervingly quiet, his silhouette completely still in the dark.
"Oh, and how did our two immortal members die?"
Kisame asked, his usual grin widening slightly. He didn't even remember where the duo had been sent; truth be told, he simply didn't care all that much. Hidan was too noisy, and Kakuzu had the gall to ask him if he could sell Samehada.
"I have been… reluctant to send any Zetsu into the Land of Fire lately," White Zetsu spoke up, explaining the gap in their information.
"Recently, the clones have been disappearing," Black Zetsu finished the latter half, his tone harsh. "Not a single one has escaped once targeted. We don't know if these disappearances are linked to Hidan and Kakuzu's deaths, but we can only assume the new Hokage is behind it in some way. The timeline aligns perfectly with when he took office."
"Hatake Kakashi."
Deidara spoke in a bored tone, entirely unimpressed.
"Why can't I just fly over and drop my C3 on that village? Surely the Hokage wouldn't have the time to mess with us if he has to worry about his destroyed village, hmm."
"I recall you having to be saved by Tobi; what makes you think you can not only attack the strongest nation? Your best-case scenario would be dying."
Kisame chuckled, his grin stretching further as he could see Deidara getting pissed.
While the two bickered, the silent Tobi was deep in his own thoughts. His mind was trying to process what he had been witnessing. It wasn't just the sudden attack that had forced him to use Izanagi, but the gathering of the tailed beasts.
The one-, two-, and three-tailed beasts were already captured.
Here, he thought that Yagura was dead, but imagine his surprise when he had confronted Pain about it not long ago, and the answer he got was:
"The three tails? You were the one assigned to that one; you personally requested it… Are you trying to say that someone poached your target?"
That response had forced Obito to remain silent and leave the Hidden Rain with the use of Kamui, but the shocks didn't stop there. The four- and five-tailed beasts were also swiftly captured. Supposedly, the ones responsible did so through orders conveyed through Zetsu, making it look like it came from Pain on the surface. But those orders should have come from him.
With the capture of the 7-Tails long before the others, that left only the 6, 8, and 9 tails remaining.
Someone was playing the middleman very well, and they were close to Zetsu. But who was closer to Zetsu than himself? Madara, but the man was dead. So who? Did Madara leave behind orders for Black Zetsu? He was Madara's will, after all…
'And there was that flying raijin user… It can't be him; he's dead.'
Obito's thoughts drifted back to the sudden ambush that had forced him to use Izanagi. The sheer speed of the attack, the way the figure had materialized right behind his blind spot before he could even register the threat, felt identical to the night of the Nine-Tails attack. But Minato was long dead.
Obito knew the mechanics of the Flying Raijin well. Madara had forced him to learn about it with a rage-filled obsession that spoke volumes about what the technique had taken from him in the past. Yet, buried deep beneath that old man's fury, Obito had also felt a strange, smug satisfaction mixed in, something he could never understand.
"Isn't that right, Tobi?" Kisame asked, turning toward his hologram and unknowingly snapping the man out of his deep thoughts.
"Yup, I agree!" Obito chirped instantly, speaking without having the slightest clue what he had actually just agreed to.
Deidara immediately glared at him through his projection.
"See, Deidara? Even our intern—"
"Ahh, ahh, ahh! I'm a full-time member now that senior Sasori has kicked the bucket," Tobi chimed in, wagging his finger back and forth.
Interrupting Kisame mid-sentence was entirely out of character for his persona, but the shark man had broken his train of thought. It was his own small, silent form of payback.
Kisame could feel he had annoyed the man; the high collar of his Akatsuki robe hid his smirk as he leaned forward. He loved messing with the man, but he knew not to take it too far.
"Yes, apologies; you're a new member now."
Kisame corrected himself, then looked back at Pain.
"So, have you already found replacements for Sasori, Hidan, and Kakuzu?"
"I haven't yet found a suitable replacement for Sasori, but replacements have been found for Hidan and Kakuzu. Tobi will now be paired with Deidera, and the new members are here now."
The two new silhouettes solidified in the cave's dim light. Deidara crossed his arms, leaning forward to inspect the newcomers.
"Allow me to introduce you to the newest pair to join the Akatsuki," Pain announced. "This is Mui, and beside him, Hiruko."
The new members stood silently, their holographic images flickering slightly against the dark stone walls. Mui's projection remained perfectly straight, his face stoic. Beside him, Hiruko was wrapped tightly in bandages, his eyes scanning the room.
His gaze lingered entirely too long on Itachi Uchiha, staring directly into the crimson irises of the Sharingan. It was a hungry, calculated look, a familiar, Orochimaru-esque greed that Itachi picked up on instantly. Itachi didn't break eye contact, his expression remaining completely deadpan, completely unbothered by the silent threat.
"Mui was the master of Kusagakure's Hōzuki Castle," Pain continued, explaining their backgrounds to the group. "He brings absolute mastery over the Fire Release: Heavenly Prison, a sealing jutsu capable of completely suppressing a target's chakra network. Hiruko is a rogue ninja who has successfully integrated multiple stolen bloodline limits into his own body. Their combined abilities make them uniquely suited for extraction missions."
From her position beside Pain, Konan watched the interaction closely. She immediately recognized that exact expression; it was the same obsession that had once made Orochimaru a liability to the organization. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she made a silent note to discuss Hiruko with Nagato once the meeting concluded.
"They have been assigned to immediately secure the Six-Tails," Pain concluded, his Rinnegan shifting across the assembled holograms. "Our window of opportunity is closing. Dismissed."
One by one, the holographic projections snapped out of existence, leaving the cave falling back into complete darkness.
- Chapter End -