When the entire Akatsuki's member battle formation was determined, Uehara Naraku really didn't know how this mission could possibly fail.
This formation could even potentially wipe out Konoha.
Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Sasori of the Red Sand, Deidara, Kakuzu, Hidan, Momochi Zabuza, Hozuki Mangetsu, Haku, Kaguya Kimimaro, Zetsu.
And including Uehara Naraku and Nagato.
Oh, and there's an addition called Uchiha Sasuke.
After all, Uchiha Itachi wouldn't feel at ease leaving his little brother alone in the Akatsuki.
This also brought numerous troubles.
Members of the Akatsuki are essentially rivals, those from the Hidden Mist Village knew Uehara Naraku's strength, and mostly followed his lead, especially the strongest Hoshigaki Kisame and Hozuki Mangetsu who were his staunch supporters.
Deidara, Sasori of the Red Sand and Kakuzu, Hidan, these two teams would argue when placed together, often wanting to show each other up.
Just as Deidara and Hidan were about to start fighting, Uehara Naraku suddenly raised his voice: "Hey hey hey, seniors, take a look, the volcano is erupting!"
"What?"
Everyone looked at Uehara Naraku in surprise, then followed his direction to look over, but where was there any volcanic eruption?
Deidara glared at Uehara Naraku in dissatisfaction: "Where is it! Hey, Uehara, you bastard, don't lie randomly!"
"I'm not, look closely! Transform!"
Uehara Naraku suddenly snapped his fingers, releasing his Pillar of Flame skill.
As everyone was a bit confused, a powerful flame suddenly erupted from a kilometers-wide area in the distance!
The flame shot nearly thousands of meters into the sky, even dyeing the blue sky with a hint of red, the scorching fire waves almost felt like they were rushing towards everyone!
Even though the Akatsuki members were still some distance from the center of the flames, they could still feel the burning sensation in the air.
"..."
Everyone's jaws were almost dropping from fright!
No one present underestimated Uehara Naraku's strength, yet to casually unleash such a destructive Fire Release Ninjutsu still struck fear.
Regardless of the release distance, scope, and the extreme speed of execution, all made everyone's hearts shiver with cold.
Such level of ninjutsu, can it be dodged?
Of course, it can't be avoided.
No wonder Uehara Naraku could easily destroy the Hidden Grass Village.
Even the most reckless Deidara and Hidan, seeing Uehara Naraku's ninjutsu, both became much more compliant.
Uehara Naraku slowly turned around, looking at everyone present as he suddenly clasped his hands together, a faint smile on his lips: "I trust everyone will cooperate sincerely for this mission, right?"
Everyone glanced at Uehara Naraku, then at the flames slowly falling from thousands of meters high behind him, involuntarily furrowing their brows.
Uchiha Itachi lowered his head, suppressing the shock in his heart; this level of Fire Release Ninjutsu was clearly beyond his comprehension.
No generation of the Uchiha Clan ever had such a powerful Fire Release ninja!
Uchiha Sasuke's eyes subtly glittered as he glanced at his brother, unable to hold back a light laugh; was his brother scared?
Hmph, after all, the Uchiha have the Sharingan.
As long as he finds an opportunity, Uchiha Sasuke is confident he can use the Sharingan to copy Uehara Naraku's ninjutsu—this is a formidable technique capable of destruction beyond measure, a power even Uchiha Itachi fears!
"Got even stronger!"
Hoshigaki Kisame grinned.
Regarding Uehara Naraku's power, he was long used to it.
Uehara Naraku even mastered the most mysterious Space-Time Skills, what does the simplest Fire Release skill count for?
Nagato pressed his forehead with his hat, curling his lips: "Uehara, this little guy, has really grown much stronger than before!"
"Hmph, Konan truly taught a good disciple!"
Sasori of the Red Sand snorted coldly; he actually detested such large-range ninjutsu because they greatly restrained puppet masters like him.
"As a disciple of the teacher, obviously I shouldn't let her lose face!"
Uehara Naraku flew down, landing beside Nagato, softly asking: "How was my performance? Were they frightened?"
"..."
Nagato nodded speechlessly.
Clearly, the effect of Uehara Naraku showing off was significant, and the crowd began to take his words seriously, making the road to the Land of Grass much smoother.
Intelligence personnel Zetsu delivered a piece of information.
A squad of Konoha's Anbu were active near the border of the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass, along with approximately five ordinary Konoha ninja squads stationed, obviously guarding against the Hidden Rain Village.
"Surround them, leave one alive, kill the rest."
Uehara Naraku's strategy was straightforward and brutal.
Almost the entire Akatsuki was dispatched—how could it not be a guaranteed win?
Akatsuki's members were quite satisfied with Uehara Naraku's strategy.
After all, most members of Akatsuki liked relying on their strength to charge directly, without worrying about the enemies they would encounter; as it turned out, they simply couldn't defeat them.
The canyon on the border of the Land of Grass.
Members of the Konoha Anbu squad gathered, exchanging intelligence with each other, confirming no concentration of Hidden Rain Village ninjas in the Land of Grass.
"Hello, friends from Konoha, how are you?"
A voice suddenly reached the ears of this Anbu squad, as the four ninjas swiftly reacted, each grasping their weapons cautiously scanning the surroundings.
A ninja wearing a cloud black robe appeared on a rock.
Since Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame had invaded Konoha, these Anbu also received orders from the Hokage Tower to immediately retreat after gathering information about Akatsuki members.
After all, a mercenary organization composed of S-Class traitors, each team member is beyond what a single Anbu ninja can handle.
According to Tsunade's assessment of the traitors' combat strength.
Konoha needs at least three Anbu squads to contend.
"Akatsuki members?"
The leading Anbu Captain's expression changed, immediately assigning tasks: "Tonokawa, who is the fastest among us, will take the information back, and the rest will cover him with me. Everyone, focus and temporarily retreat!"
However, the next moment, the Anbu Captain's expression became extraordinarily grim because ninjas wearing cloud black robes appeared around them one by one.
At least ten members of Akatsuki.
Including Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, who had invaded Konoha before.
At this point, it's not even about escaping anymore; being able to leave behind a full corpse would be lucky, and there might not even be enough heads to go around.
"Was my command good?"
Uehara Naraku turned to Nagato beside him with a smile, having calculated the Konoha Anbu's movement direction using destiny skills and successfully surrounded the squad.
Nagato nodded helplessly.
The Konoha Anbu squad charged bravely towards the weakest direction, thinking that Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku, the two small ones, would be the easiest to handle!
Kaguya Kimimaro slowly advanced against the charging Anbu squad, white bones protruding from his body: "Dead Bone Pulse: Dance of Larch!"
The other members watched Kimimaro's performance as if watching a monkey show.
Five minutes later.
Kaguya Kimimaro dragged a half-dead Anbu in front of Uehara Naraku and said softly, "Uehara, this guy is the strongest, should be their captain."
"Then I'll have to trouble you to uncover the information in his brain."
Uehara Naraku shrugged, looking at Nagato beside him.
Nagato nodded, stretched out his hand, and placed it on the Konoha Anbu Captain's head, whispering, "Human Path: Heart Layer Stealth Jutsu!"
After extracting the information, Nagato violently drew out the Anbu Captain's soul, whispering, "Konoha sent a total of thirteen Anbu squads to the Land of Grass, scattered across various locations, in addition to roughly three hundred ordinary ninja troops."
"Our mission is only to eliminate the Anbu, right?"
"That's right."
Nagato nodded, "Perhaps Both Scales Onoki doesn't think we can handle the large number of ninja troops, so he only commissioned us to eliminate Konoha's Anbu, possibly because these Anbu have been attacking The Hidden Rock Village's scouting ninjas!"
Uehara Naraku couldn't help but click his tongue, "Tsk, finding the remaining twelve Anbu squads in such a large area of the Land of Grass won't be easy!"
Hidan came over, licking his lips, "Wouldn't killing all the Konoha ninjas complete the mission?"
"I still think we should only do as much as we're paid for."
Kakuzu sneered at Hidan, "If we also help them kill all the Konoha ninjas stationed in the Land of Grass for free, how will we do business in the future?"
Kakuzu snorted and continued, "Hmph, if we were to kill all the Konoha ninjas in the Land of Grass, Onoki would have to pay more!"
Those words about adding money were quite appropriate.
It's clear, Kakuzu is indeed a businessman.
Say what you will, at least his calculations are precise.
"I also agree with Senior Kakuzu's opinion."
Uehara Naraku slowly nodded, then whispered, "I thought the Fifth Hokage of Konoha only sent a bunch of Anbu to scout; I didn't expect her to send so many ninja troops..."
Sasori of the Red Sand tapped his ring, speaking in a muffled voice, "Should we ask Konan over there to see if Onoki is willing to add money, otherwise just searching for some Konoha Anbu alone would be very boring!"
"Yeah!"
Deidara raised his head, glancing at the bodies on the ground, "This mission isn't worth all our members taking action; Senior Sasori and I can handle it!"
What seemed like an epic-level difficulty turned out to be an ordinary task. If careful, it probably wouldn't take long to complete.
"It may not be that easy."
Coughing lightly into his palm, Nagato added, "According to the information I received, the operation in the Land of Grass is directed by Konoha's Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, with a big figure able to support him at any time."
Uchiha Sasuke instinctively frowned, hearing the name of his mentor, "Hatake Kakashi?"
"A big figure?"
Uehara Naraku shook his head, "Probably one of the Konoha Sannin, Jiraiya! I'll go ask Teacher Konan first to see if The Hidden Rock Village is willing to add money."
Soon, news came from Konan.
Both Scales Onoki is willing to add some money to expel or kill all Konoha ninjas within the Land of Grass.
If The Hidden Rock Village were to clash directly with Konoha, the losses for the Rock ninjas would definitely not be small, and it could even trigger a Ninja World war. Using Akatsuki is relatively cheaper.
"What a pity..."
Kakuzu frowned, sighing, "If we had a cooperation channel with the Land of Lightning, we could earn another payout for cleaning up these Konoha ninjas."
Uehara Naraku: "..."
The members of Akatsuki: "..."
Kakuzu really has an eye for money!
A task taking money from the ninja villages of two great nations, look at him boasting!
"Let's go! Let's meet this Copy Ninja of Konoha!"
Uehara Naraku turned to gaze at Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi, smiling gently, "Mr. Kakashi is an old friend of several of us here!"