Kairen felt a slight numbing sensation coming from the ring on his right hand and immediately realized that the Akatsuki was holding a meeting, so he closed his eyes and performed the Magic Lantern Body Technique.
Kairen opened his eyes. The surrounding light was very dim—this was a dark cave, and he could see several illusory figures.
They all turned their gaze toward the late-arriving Kairen, especially those sky-blue eyes of his.
"So this is the newcomer? Hmph! Just like Itachi—those annoying eyes."
The one speaking was a young man with blond hair tied in a single ponytail.
Even though Kairen couldn't see his face clearly, he knew it was Deidara, a terrorist obsessed with the art of explosions.
"Ah! A newcomer has joined. Oh my, oh my—so it's the most talked-about Tenseigan host lately. What an impressive presence."
The tone was jumpy and filled with heavy humor—it was a mysterious man wearing a spiral mask.
Kairen turned his gaze to the masked man and blurted out something shocking the moment he spoke:
"Isn't this Obito? Haven't seen you in a few days—how did you fall this far!"
Obito was utterly shocked inside. How does he know my name?
"Obito…"
Uchiha Itachi, whose eyes had been closed the entire time, slowly opened them, revealing three red tomoe staring straight at Obito.
"You are Uchiha Obito!"
As a veteran driver of many years, Obito immediately slammed the brakes and had White Zetsu jump out:
"Hey, hey, hey… the newcomer is really rude. My name is Tobi, not Obito."
Seeing that this meeting was about to sink into trivial nonsense again, Nagato quickly stepped forward, controlling the Deva Path of Pain, to stop it.
"Alright, that's enough. This meeting is mainly to introduce this newly joined member."
Nagato's Rinnegan swept across the surroundings. Everyone slowly closed their mouths—the Rinnegan still carried tremendous intimidation.
Nagato's Rinnegan met Kairen's Tenseigan head-on.
The two pairs of eyes were like samsara and rebirth—one representing creation, the other destruction—seemingly about to grind out a new order.
Nagato nodded. No one had ever dared to stare directly into his Rinnegan before—Kairen was the first.
This proved that he possessed eyes no weaker than his own.
Konan stepped forward and introduced Kairen to everyone:
"His name is Moku Kairen. During the Third Shinobi World War, he is a descendant left behind outside by a Hyuga branch family, who awakened the Tenseigan by chance."
"Moku Kairen?!" Obito murmured softly.
This name felt strangely familiar—he had seen it countless times in his dreams.
Itachi had the same feeling. This name often appeared in his home, harassing his mother.
Noticing the odd reactions from Obito and Itachi, Nagato asked,
"What's wrong?"
Itachi shook his head, while A-Fei inside Obito burst into laughter:
"Nothing, nothing. The newcomer's name sounds great."
Nagato then quickly arranged Kairen's team: "Kairen, you'll be a solo team for now."
Kairen nodded.
Kairen was filling in Kakuzu's position—the other guy had croaked, and Hidan was still buried in the ground, with no replacement to be found.
After the newcomer was briefly introduced, Nagato moved on to the main topic.
"Now we're only missing the Eight-Tails and the Nine-Tails. Who will be responsible for the Eight-Tails?"
The Akatsuki's tailed beast collection was nearing its end. The closer they got to the end, the tighter the defenses of the ninja villages became.
Moreover, the final two tailed beasts were no ordinary opponents—the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki was known as a perfect jinchūriki, and the Nine-Tails was the strongest of all tailed beasts.
Nagato swept his gaze around, and in the end his eyes settled on Kairen.
Everyone followed Nagato's line of sight, focusing their eyes on Kairen in unison.
It was obvious—they wanted Kairen to wade into this muddy water.
Kairen glanced around. The moment he joined the Akatsuki, they were already sending him on a mission—this was really screwing him over.
But Kumogakure was pretty nice.
Samui and Mabui were both gret—might as well take care of them along the way.
Kairen stepped forward. "In that case, I'll capture the Eight-Tails."
Nagato nodded.
He assigned this mission to Kairen for two reasons: first, to test Kairen's intentions in joining the Akatsuki; second, to evaluate the power of the Tenseigan.
Although Kairen could conquer Sunagakure in a single day, that broken village—anyone from the Akatsuki could easily take it down.
Kumogakure was different. It could even be said to be the strongest ninja village.
Nagato himself didn't have absolute confidence to invade that village lightly—at the very least, he'd have to go through the back door.
"The Eight-Tails goes to Kairen. Then what about the Nine-Tails?"
The one speaking was Deidara. He still had some impression of that rough little brat with blond hair.
At the mention of the Nine-Tails, the Akatsuki fell somewhat silent.
Two of their major pillars had fallen in Konoha, and Sasori's death was also inseparable from Konoha.
Everyone felt that Konoha was a bit… cursed.
Nagato's Rinnegan swept around once more, then sharpened with lethal intensity.
"I will personally go capture the Nine-Tails."
Everyone looked at Nagato together. They all knew that Nagato with the Rinnegan was very strong, but it was still surprising that he would personally take action against the Nine-Tails.
"Kairen, you go capture the Eight-Tails first. After the Eight-Tails is successfully captured, I will act."
Kairen nodded, then suddenly asked a question the Akatsuki had never considered before.
"So… how is the salary calculated?"
"..."
Everyone was speechless. A heavy silence filled the air.
Konan cast Kairen a cold glance. "What more do you want?"
Kairen gave an awkward laugh. "Nothing! Nothing!"
Only then did Kairen realize that the Akatsuki was no different from those scam organizations in northern Myanmar.
All the same—engaging in terrorist activities, all the same—tricking people into working themselves to death.
"Hmph!"
Kairen said no more and obediently returned to being a silent observer.
Nagato glanced back and forth between Konan and Kairen, feeling that Kairen was being completely suppressed by Konan.
Konan used to be a quiet—since when did she pick up such a temper?
"Cough, cough…"
A coughing sound came through. Nagato looked toward Itachi and asked with concern,
"Itachi, is your condition very bad?"
Itachi's poor health was well known within the Akatsuki. His occasional coughs were even more worrying than Nagato's own emaciated body.
Itachi shook his head. "It's nothing. I can hold on for another year or two."
In truth, he could feel the depletion of vitality in his body—he had no more than a week or two to live. He had to hold on until he entrusted everything to Sasuke.
Nagato still expressed some concern.
"Take better care of yourself."
"Mm."
Kairen glanced at Itachi.
This unlucky kid—he'd probably already prepared his last words, just waiting to hand them over to Sasuke.
"If there's nothing else, let's disperse. Kairen, we're looking forward to your good news!"
The Akatsuki meeting came to an end.
...
Konan withdrew from the Magic Lantern Body Technique and walked alone to the window, silently gazing at the drizzling Rain Hidden Village.
"Is it coming?"
She could feel it in her heart—Nagato's perseverance was approaching its end.
"Mysterious man, what exactly do you want?" Konan murmured.
Toward the mysterious masked man who had led them down this path from the very beginning, Konan still harbored deep wariness, always feeling that all their actions were within the other party's calculations.
Then Konan thought again of Kairen's Tenseigan.
"Will this guy really obey?"
"Who wouldn't obey!"
A pair of hands suddenly wrapped around Konan's waist.
"Who?!"
Konan panicked inside and immediately attempted to perform the Paper Clone Technique, but she couldn't mobilize any chakra at all.
"It's me! Your Needle Man!"
Kairen turned Konan around. Only then did she realize it was him.
Surprise filled her eyes. "You? How is this possible? How did you appear in the Rain Hidden Village?"
Kairen smiled and gave no explanation.
He possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique. In theory, space-time transfer required a Flying Thunder God kunai as a coordinate—but how could such a small problem trouble him?
Through the Magic Lantern Body Technique, Kairen sensed Konan's chakra and thus performed a space jump, relocating in a single step to the Rain Hidden Village.
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