"Hahaha, sure thing, yeah!" Deidara swaggered up to Naruto and patted him on the shoulder, wearing an expression that clearly said 'I'm the senpai here, listen to me'. "Stick with me from now on, I'll take care of you."
At this moment, Deidara still didn't know that Naruto was the 'Ultimate Artist' he had wanted to meet.
Sasori looked at his partner and muttered irritably, "Stupid brat."
Pain nodded. "Alright, it seems everyone has no objections to the new members, then-"
"Hold on, did you all just agree?" Pain was cut off again before he could finish. Hidan spoke up loudly, "This is too weird."
"What gives these brats the right to stand with us?" He pointed his scythe directly at Naruto and the others. "I don't care if you really killed Itachi, or if you're the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. First, you'll have to fight me."
He appear as evil and sinister as possible. "If you're weak, I'll offer you all to Lord Jashin. Hahaha!"
'Idiot.' Everyone, including Deidara, thought this of Hidan.
These were people directly recruited by the Leader. They definitely weren't weaklings.
Hidan had hardly dealt with Itachi and didn't know Orochimaru at all. What he knew about those two came entirely from Deidara. Deidara had been crushed by Itachi before, how could one expect to hear anything complimentary about Itachi from his mouth?
In Deidara's words, Itachi was no better than a roadside rogue ninja, and Orochimaru being defeated with a single glance from Itachi made the Snake Sannin even more pathetic.
Therefore, in Hidan's mind, whether it was Itachi or Orochimaru, both were weaklings. So naturally, Naruto's group couldn't be strong either.
S-rank Missing-nin had to maintain the pride of S-rank Missing-nin, they weren't just random nobodies.
"Don't mention that name in front of me." Sasuke's cold voice rang out from directly behind Hidan.
'So fast!' All the Akatsuki members were shocked, many hadn't even tracked Sasuke's movement.
Hidan spun around at extreme speed and swung his scythe down forcefully, but Sasuke's sword blocked it with steady precision. Hidan knew no ninjutsu or genjutsu, and while his taijutsu was decent, it was 'only' decent.
Sasuke's taijutsu was several levels above Hidan's. Without time to prepare his ritual circles, Hidan was completely outmatched. After only two exchanges of blows, Hidan was bleeding and screaming.
Hidan's scythe was blocked by Sasuke once again, and this time, he met Sasuke's eyes directly.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan!"
Hidan's eyes gradually went vacant.
The blade flashed, and a perfectly good head flew into the air.
"Don't forget in the Pure Land that it was Sasuke Uchiha who killed you!" Sasuke scoffed, coolly sheathing his sword without a backward glance.
Real men never look back at the corpse.
"Wait, I wasn't ready. That didn't count! That didn't count!?" Hidan's voice shouted from behind Sasuke.
"What?!"
Sasuke thought he had failed to kill him, but when he turned, he saw a headless body sitting on the ground and a severed head on the floor making a racket.
'You can live without a head?' Sasuke felt his worldview shake slightly.
Kakuzu walked over to Hidan's head, grabbed it by the hair, and lifted it up. "This saves me the trouble. I can just cash it in directly."
"Damn it, Kakuzu, don't grab my hair! It hurts my scalp!"
"You're pulling out hairs."
"Put my head back on my body already! Use your nimble needlework to sew me back together!"
"Alright, shut up." Kakuzu found Hidan too noisy, pulled out a piece of cloth, and stuffed it into Hidan's mouth.
"First, let's get the bounty."
With his mouth blocked, Hidan made muffled noises, but Kakuzu had no intention of paying attention, and nobody else was going to help either. Sasuke's skills were acknowledged by the Akatsuki members, and Hidan's ability to bounce around without a head taught Sasuke a lesson as well: in this vast world, nothing is too strange, anything can happen.
"Now," Pain spoke again, looking around very seriously. "Does anyone have any objections?"
With Hidan serving as the test case, they had all witnessed the brief battle and understood Sasuke's strength, so naturally, no one raised further complaints.
"From today onward, Neji Hyuga and Sasuke Uchiha are the new official members." Pain continued, "Naruto Uzumaki will be an Akatsuki Intern."
This time there were no more questions, and Pain finally breathed a sigh of relief. So exhausting.
"Senpais, be careful. If any Senpai shows signs of betraying the organization," Naruto said with narrowed eyes, his gaze sweeping over the Akatsuki members before landing on one particular person, "be careful that I don't replace you."
"Why do I feel like this Nine-Tails brat is looking at us?" White Zetsu's main body muttered quietly to Black Zetsu. "What should we do? Black Zetsu, think of something quick. Does he know something?"
"Shut up, idiot," Black Zetsu said irritably. Whether it was the main White Zetsu body or the mass-produced clones, they were all incredibly stupid.
'Things aren't going as imagined, they're increasingly slipping out of control,' Black Zetsu thought. 'Given the current situation, Nagato isn't just deviating from the Eye of the Moon Plan, he's practically abandoning it entirely. I must have a proper talk with Obito.'
They had just spoken before coming here, and now they had to talk again.
"Then let's reassign partners," Pain said. "Since Neji and Sasuke are new, you two will join Kisame's team. As for Naruto... you'll pair up with Zetsu."
Pain gestured to the plant-man. "He serves as Akatsuki's eyes and generally doesn't participate in frontal combat. As an Intern, Naruto, you can learn from him. The rest of the personnel remain unchanged."
'Something's wrong,' Black Zetsu thought. 'This assignment is definitely wrong. I absolutely cannot agree to this. My instincts are screaming at me, something horrible is going to happen if I stick with him!'
"Leader!" Black Zetsu, who normally kept as low a profile as possible and never casually drew attention to his presence, refused Pain's arrangement for the first time. "I can handle reconnaissance work alone. Bringing another person would be very inconvenient."
"Zetsu-senpai."
Naruto instantly appeared beside Black Zetsu. Before the creature could react, Naruto poked at the pitcher plant-like extensions on either side of his shoulders.
"Don't worry, I won't hold you back," Naruto said, his tone dripping with false cheer. "I'm quite confident in my reconnaissance abilities. Let me tell you a secret: I'm a precious sensor-type ninja. Reconnaissance is what I'm best at."
'Bullshit!' Black Zetsu mentally cursed. 'Others might not know, but I know it was you who destroyed Konoha. Sensor ninja my ass.'
'It's rare to tell the truth once, but unfortunately, no one believes it,' Naruto thought.
Instead, White Zetsu's asked foolishly, "Really?"
"Of course it's true," Naruto nodded enthusiastically. "Just like how many spore clones you've sprinkled on each Akatsuki member, I know it all clearly."
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