"Brother Kirito, I heard that you turned Konoha upside down this time. Hmm. It was really artistic. Hmm."
As soon as he returned to Akatsuki's base, Deidara rushed forward with bright eyes, acting like an excited fan.
However, Kirito simply raised a hand, pressing Deidara's forehead to keep him at a distance. "Don't pounce on me," he muttered. "You're a grown man, for god's sake."
"If you like making a mess so much, why don't you go do the same to Iwagakure next time?" Kirito brushed his sleeve, taking out a scroll from his system storage before casually tossing it to Sasori. "Here, this is the corpse of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa. His skin's gone, but the rest is perfectly preserved—like he just died yesterday. Now, what about the puppet toy I asked you to make for my daughter?"
The puppet-controlled husk of Sasori in the Hiruko shell took the scroll, then casually tossed another scroll back at Kirito. His voice was emotionless and hoarse as he said, "I followed your specifications exactly." After a brief pause, he added, "I've never seen someone dote on a child so much. You even collect corpses of powerful ninjas just so I can make toys for her."
"It's just recycling, really," Kirito said nonchalantly, though he had caught the faint trace of envy in Sasori's tone. He smirked, then unrolled the scroll to check its contents.
The "toy" Kirito had commissioned from Sasori was none other than Bumblebee from the Transformers movies he had seen in his previous life.
A fully functional, chakra-controlled puppet Transformer.
Not only could it shift between forms, but it was a near-perfect replica in both color and design.
Two months ago, before heading to the Land of Water, Kirito had left Sasori a rough blueprint, based purely on his memory of Bumblebee.
It had taken Sasori an immense amount of effort. The complexity of the transformations alone had nearly driven him insane.
Even Sasori himself couldn't understand how Kirito had come up with such a bizarre concept.
But at the same time, he was intrigued.
The ideas Kirito brought to him opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for puppet-making.
Now, Sasori was obsessed with improving his transformation puppets.
Soon, the rest of the Akatsuki members arrived, including Itachi and Kisame.
"This is a rare sight. The last time we were all together like this was… what, half a year ago?"
Kirito's gaze swept over the group before locking onto Pain.
"Leader, you called us together for a reason. What's the update?"
Pain's Rinnegan eyes scanned the room. "There are two things to discuss."
"The first—Danzo Shimura has defected."
A brief silence followed before the room exploded with reactions.
"That old fossil actually ran away?" Kisame scoffed.
"That cockroach had the nerve to defect?" Kakuzu grumbled, clearly displeased.
Even Hidan, the most brain-dead member, was taken aback.
"Danzo? That dark ops bastard? I thought he'd rather die in Konoha than flee like a coward."
Only Kirito and Pakura remained unfazed.
Pain continued, "It happened three days ago, during the Konoha Crush orchestrated by Orochimaru. Because Kirito exposed Danzo's secrets—his experiments with Hashirama's cells and stolen Sharingan—the people of Konoha turned against him."
"The biggest push came from the new Fifth Hokage, Tsunade—the granddaughter of the First Hokage. Naturally, she would never tolerate someone experimenting on her grandfather's DNA."
"Knowing he had no way out, Danzo fled Konoha before she could take action."
"And now, as of Tsunade's first official day as Hokage, she has declared Danzo a traitor and issued a bounty on his head."
Pain's voice remained calm, but there was an unmistakable satisfaction hidden in it.
For years, he had two major enemies—Hanzo the Salamander and Danzo Shimura.
Hanzo had already fallen by his hands.
Now, Danzo was finally within reach.
Kirito could practically hear the vengeance in Pain's voice.
"So… are we gonna recruit this Danzo guy?" Hidan suddenly asked, clearly not reading the room.
Kirito almost choked.
Recruit Danzo?
Recruit Danzo?
This was the same rat bastard who caused Yahiko's death!
Even with Akatsuki's twisted sense of morality, nobody would want Danzo in their ranks.
Pain's Rinnegan gaze darkened. "The only thing Danzo will be joining is the afterlife."
"Our next priority is to track him down and eliminate him."
He then turned toward Kirito and Itachi.
"You two were in Konoha recently. Do you have any leads?"
Itachi, as expected, remained cold and indifferent.
"No."
Just two words. Classic Itachi.
Even if he did know, he wouldn't sell out Danzo. Despite everything, Itachi still saw Danzo as someone who "served Konoha."
Kirito, however, had already decided to reserve Danzo for Sasuke's revenge arc, so he shrugged and lied effortlessly.
"That old geezer knows how to hide. He had underground barriers and sealing techniques everywhere. If I had found him, he'd already be dead."
Pain studied them for a moment before nodding.
"Understood. Keep an eye out. If you discover his whereabouts, report it immediately."
Kirito mentally scoffed. Yeah, sure, whatever you say, boss.
After a brief pause, Pain's voice resonated once more.
"Now, onto the second matter."
Everyone fell silent.
Pain swiftly formed hand seals before slamming his palm into the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu—Gedo Mazo."
A deep rumble shook the entire underground cave.
Then, from the depths of the earth, a massive humanoid figure emerged.
The Gedo Statue.
Standing towering and imposing, it resembled a wooden giant, with nine sealed eyes and an eerie scroll clasped between its jaws. Its spiked back gave it a sinister, unnatural aura.
Even for Akatsuki, seeing it in person was terrifying.
"This…" Deidara whispered.
Pain's gaze swept over the group.
"This is the true base of Akatsuki."
His voice carried an unmistakable gravity.
"And it is also the container where we will seal the Tailed Beasts."
"The Gedo Mazo (The Outer Path Demon Statue)."
(End of this chapter)
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