Valley of the Gods.
A faint ripple of chakra spread through the air.
Shhk—
At the edge of the ruined battlefield, a figure in a black cloak patterned with red clouds appeared without warning. A conical hat hung low, a small wind chime swaying beneath its brim.
He lifted his head.
Purple ripples filled his eyes—cold, merciless.
The Rinnegan.
Pain—Deva Path.
His gaze swept over the land.
No… not just land.
This place looked like it had been rewritten by force—cracked, splintered, and scarred to the horizon.
So this was the battlefield where the First Hokage and the Fifth Hokage had fought.
Pain stood in silence for a long moment.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"Fifth Hokage…"
His voice was calm, but the killing intent beneath it was sharp.
"Before the power of a god… you have no chance of winning."
He raised one hand.
"Rinnegan: Projection Link."
Humm—!
Rinnegan power pulsed outward. In the distance, the chakra signatures of the Akatsuki resonated—linked in an instant.
Then—
one by one—
shadowy figures materialized around him like apparitions pulled from another world.
A remote gathering.
The Akatsuki assembled.
The moment one of them appeared, he started complaining like he always did.
"Leader, what is it this time?" Hidan snapped irritably. "Lord Jashin is waiting for me to go recruit believers!"
Another voice cut in, startled.
"This… is the battlefield?"
Several projections turned their heads, scanning the devastation.
"What kind of destruction is this…?"
"Ridiculous."
"So Uchiha Ren really defeated a reanimated Hashirama…"
The projections fell into uneasy silence as the scale of it sank in.
This wasn't the aftermath of a normal fight.
This was the aftermath of a clash between legends—between gods.
Pain's voice sliced through the noise.
"Enough."
Everyone shut up.
Pain stared forward, tone icy.
"Uchiha Ren's strength… you all have some understanding of it now, don't you?"
A figure carrying a massive cleaver-like blade spoke, frowning.
"Leader… are you saying we're going after Konoha?"
The instant he said it, the atmosphere changed.
Several projections visibly stiffened.
Even Itachi's shadow—usually steady as stone—tightened almost imperceptibly.
Pain didn't deny it.
"We must move against Konoha."
He paused, then continued, slow and heavy.
"Ren's growth rate is too fast. If we wait any longer…"
His Rinnegan turned colder.
"…I'm not confident I'll still be able to suppress him."
That was the truth.
Pain was getting impatient.
Especially now that Konoha had taken the Three-Tails, Five-Tails, and Eight-Tails—on top of already holding the Nine-Tails.
Konoha wasn't just powerful anymore.
It was becoming an unstoppable snowball.
If Ren kept growing with no pressure, then the Akatsuki's plan would become a joke.
At that point, they wouldn't need to "bring peace."
They'd need to disband.
So even if the timing wasn't perfect—
it had to become perfect.
Silence.
Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, Kisame, Konan, Itachi…
Deidara, and the rest—
no one spoke for a moment.
Because everyone understood the same thing:
Attacking Konoha now meant walking into the den of the so-called God of Shinobi.
High risk.
Maybe the highest risk they'd ever taken.
Pain's gaze swept across them.
"The mission will be difficult."
"But if we succeed…"
His voice dropped colder.
"We will take the Three-Tails, Five-Tails, Eight-Tails—and the Nine-Tails."
That single sentence flipped the atmosphere.
A projection's voice turned rough, greedy.
"The Three-Tails is in Konoha."
"That's my target."
One after another, the Akatsuki responded.
"Agreed."
"I'm in."
"A mission like this… finally sounds interesting."
Hidan's grin widened, feral.
"Lord Jashin is going to love Konoha's shinobi as offerings…"
Kakuzu crossed his arms, voice flat as ever.
"As long as the payoff is worth it."
Kisame's smile was sharklike.
"Taking multiple tailed beasts from Konoha… heh. That would shake the entire shinobi world."
Only Konan opened her mouth as if she wanted to object—
but in the end, she said nothing.
Pain nodded.
"Good."
Then Hidan suddenly looked around, annoyed.
"Hey—where's Orochimaru? That snake isn't here?"
The moment Orochimaru was mentioned, Pain's expression turned colder.
"He has already betrayed the Akatsuki."
He paused deliberately.
"And as for why…"
Pain's Rinnegan shifted—settling on Itachi's projection.
Instantly, several members looked toward Itachi.
Itachi didn't react.
His voice was calm, sharp, and merciless.
"Orochimaru's goals don't align with ours."
"And he attempted to take my body as a vessel."
Itachi's eyes lifted slightly—cold enough to freeze blood.
"I suppressed him with a single Sharingan genjutsu."
"And he left."
Sasori let out a hoarse laugh.
"That snake really is something."
"Gets crushed once and runs away."
A few projections chuckled—brief, humorless.
Kakuzu shook his head, bored.
"Meaningless."
Pain ended it.
"We'll deal with Orochimaru later."
His tone sharpened into command.
"Once we move against Konoha… we don't stop until we've taken what we came for."
The wind chime beneath Pain's hat rang softly.
Ding.
And in the ruins of the Valley of the Gods—
the Akatsuki's decision was sealed.
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