Sasori of the Red Sand shifted his gaze to Tendo Pain.
"What do you think?"
"He might just be trying to obtain Akatsuki's intelligence."
Orochimaru argued, "I wouldn't do that. I'm simply interested in Akatsuki, that's all."
Tendo Pain pondered briefly, then ultimately agreed to Orochimaru's request.
Sasori still had reservations.
"Is this really okay?"
Pain said flatly, "Rather than letting him roam free out there, it's better to keep him under our control."
"As long as I'm here, he won't be able to act recklessly!"
Orochimaru nodded.
"That's right. You really are stronger than me."
Tendo Pain snorted.
"Good that you know fear."
"Let's go back."
Orochimaru stared at Tendo Pain's back and murmured to himself,
"Strange… I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."
"Fate is truly a wondrous thing…"
...
After this round of expansion, Akatsuki gradually became active across the shinobi world.
Amassing wealth, assassinating daimyō, inciting conflicts between small nations—
Akatsuki quickly drew the attention of the major hidden villages, and Konoha was no exception.
Hokage's office.
A masked ANBU pushed the door open and entered.
"Hokage-sama, we have the latest information."
The Third Hokage, smoking his dry pipe, unrolled the scroll and glanced at it. His brows immediately knit slightly.
Orochimaru had joined Akatsuki?
What exactly was he trying to do?
The Third Hokage knew his former disciple's nature very well.
Orochimaru wasn't as unreliable as Jiraiya. Everything he did had a strong purpose behind it.
Konoha hadn't been very peaceful lately either—there was a mysterious masked man lurking in the shadows, stirring restlessly.
Thinking of that, the Third Hokage let out a helpless sigh.
Another troubled time.
With Danzō utterly defeated, the only person he could still rely on was Tsunade.
As for the two advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu—
They might have been useful when they were younger, but now, the fact that they weren't causing trouble was already something to thank the gods for.
Because of Tsunade's reforms, the two advisors had recently been coming to pester the Third Hokage incessantly.
But the Third Hokage needed someone to balance Uchiha Yusuke. Naturally, he wasn't about to offend Tsunade on their behalf.
Regarding Akatsuki and Orochimaru, after careful consideration, the Third Hokage decided to convene a meeting.
Conference room, Hokage Tower.
Konoha's key figures gathered in one place.
Uchiha Yusuke and Tsunade were naturally among them.
The Third Hokage revealed some newly collected intelligence and asked everyone to offer their opinions.
Because Orochimaru was the Third Hokage's beloved disciple, many chose to remain silent.
Toward Orochimaru, the Third Hokage felt both love and hate.
Back then, he clearly had the chance to execute that rebellious disciple on the spot—yet in the end, he chose to let the dangerous man go.
Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, had tried to bring Orochimaru back, but had never succeeded.
Now, even though the Third Hokage raised the issue, not a single person suggested sending ANBU to hunt Orochimaru down.
Everyone knew the Third Hokage's methods were soft.
Even Tsunade didn't believe the old man would actually arrange for Orochimaru to be pursued.
Uchiha Yusuke was equally uninterested in Orochimaru.
But the matter of Akatsuki—he cared about that deeply.
It was a force capable of shaking the entire shinobi world.
Nagato with the Rinnegan, Obito who excelled in space-time ninjutsu, and Black Zetsu, who had lain in wait for a thousand years seeking to resurrect Ōtsutsuki Kaguya—
All of them were dangerous figures to Uchiha Yusuke.
That world-destroying Fourth Shinobi World War had been caused by people like them.
Uchiha Yusuke took a deep breath, then stepped forward.
"This Akatsuki is dangerous."
"I want to personally take people and investigate."
Yusuke volunteering on his own surprised the Third Hokage.
By all logic, this kind of difficult, thankless work wouldn't be something anyone would rush to take responsibility for.
But Uchiha Yusuke had his own considerations.
After a long period of training, his strength had improved by a significant margin.
Now—
Uchiha Yusuke was only one step away from the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
He had no intention of directly wiping out Akatsuki, but probing their depth wasn't a bad choice either.
The newly formed ANBU also needed an opportunity to be tempered.
Kakashi, Might Guy, and Kurenai Yuhi were all decent in strength right now—
But compared to true Kage-level powerhouses, there was still a gap.
They still had room to grow, and Yusuke felt this was a good chance to hone them.
Just as the Third Hokage was about to agree to Yusuke's proposal, Tsunade suddenly stood up to stir things up.
"Investigate Orochimaru and Akatsuki?"
"Interesting. Leave this mission to me!"
Tsunade didn't actually have any desire to take missions.
She simply wanted an opportunity to compete with Uchiha Yusuke.
Yusuke stubbornly refused to confront her head-on, and Tsunade had never let that go.
Now that Yusuke wanted to do something, how could she possibly miss this chance?
With Tsunade cutting in, a difficult expression appeared on the Third Hokage's face.
Tsunade's strength was unquestionable, but her hemophobia was truly worrying.
The Third Hokage tried to persuade her.
"Tsunade, leave the mission to Yusuke."
"The village still needs you to hold the overall situation together."
Tsunade waved her hand carelessly.
"That kind of thing can be left to Shizune."
"I want to go stretch my muscles."
Uchiha Yusuke clicked his tongue.
This woman really did love making trouble for him.
Tsunade's attitude was firm, and the Third Hokage hesitated.
This young lady had always been willful—once she decided something, it was hard for others to change it.
The Third Hokage took a puff of smoke and fell into thought.
Tsunade's hemophobia was classified information, and not many people knew.
Besides, this was only an intelligence investigation—there likely wouldn't be intense combat.
Against ordinary ninja, Tsunade could handle things just fine.
If he selected a few elite ANBU to accompany her, there shouldn't be any major problems.
With that, the Third Hokage made up his mind.
"Yusuke."
"Let Tsunade go with you on this mission."
"Do you think there will be any problems?"
Uchiha Yusuke nodded lightly.
"I have no objections."
Hearing that, the Third Hokage smiled.
"In that case, it's decided."
With this arrangement, Tsunade had no objections either.
She only wanted to measure herself against Uchiha Yusuke. Now that she had the chance, she was naturally satisfied.
With two heavyweight figures of Konoha moving out together, the Third Hokage gave a final summary of the mission.
Mission Rank: Ultra S
Mission Objective: Investigate Akatsuki
The next day.
Uchiha Yusuke woke early.
After checking his ninja tools and confirming everything was in order, he went to the rendezvous point to meet the squad members he had chosen.
At Konoha's main gate—
Might Guy and Kurenai Yuhi were already waiting. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen, most likely falling into his old habit of being late again.
Back then, because of his father's death, Kakashi had maintained a cold demeanor.
However—
After the battle at Kannabi Bridge, he inherited Obito's habit of being late.
Uchiha Yusuke walked up with a smile and greeted the two.
Kurenai showed no impatience at all, but Might Guy was already scurrying about like an ant on a hot pan.
"Why isn't Kakashi here yet?"
"This is betraying our burning youth!"
Guy flailed about, brimming with explosive energy.
He had already decided—
During this mission, he would definitely have a youthful showdown with Kakashi.
Kurenai secretly studied Uchiha Yusuke.
Confident. Aloof. Good-looking.
A faint blush flashed across her face.
As expected of the man I've chosen!
Among the three members Yusuke selected, Kurenai's strength was comparatively weaker.
However, she possessed exceptional talent in genjutsu.
Even Uchiha jōnin who had activated the Sharingan could still be caught off guard by Kurenai.
Kakashi, Might Guy, and Kurenai—these three were all talents Yusuke considered worth shaping.
If he trained them early, they should become powerful support for him.
After waiting nearly twenty minutes, Kakashi finally arrived at a leisurely pace.
"Sorry, everyone."
"On the way here, I saw an old granny who needed help…"
Uchiha Yusuke clicked his tongue.
At this hour, the morning market wasn't even open yet.
Where would there be an old granny needing help?
This guy really had learned from Tobi.
Even his excuse was the same kind of clumsy nonsense!
With the squad assembled, Uchiha Yusuke was about to depart—
When Tsunade's voice suddenly came from behind.
"Oh? You guys are pretty early."
Yusuke turned around and saw Tsunade leading the way, followed by Shiranui Genma, Aoba Yamashiro, and Iwashi Tatami.
These three had once served as the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato's guards, and together they could use the Flying Thunder God Technique.
The Third Hokage sending them to protect Tsunade showed he'd put real thought into it.
With a team like that, as long as Tsunade didn't go too far, nothing should happen to her.
With the Strength of a Hundred Seal combined with space-time teleportation, even if you ran into a cheater like Uchiha Madara—if you were determined to flee, he probably wouldn't have much he could do about it.
Uchiha Yusuke didn't reply. He only smiled and gave Tsunade a small nod.
This was a young lady who loved stirring up trouble.
Better not to provoke her.
Seeing Yusuke refuse to take the bait, Tsunade's expression turned a little sour.
So what if you're an Uchiha?
I'll make sure you know how formidable I am!
After the brief meeting at the gate, Konoha's two search squads set out at the same time.
Tsunade set her sights on the newly rising Otogakure, while Uchiha Yusuke planned to lead his squad on a trip into the Land of Water.
Otogakure had countless ties to Orochimaru, and reliable intelligence indicated Orochimaru had already joined Akatsuki.
And by this point, Obito should be about to make his move against Kirigakure.
The dark era of the "Bloody Mist" was about to arrive.
Kirigakure had long been considered the birthplace of Akatsuki.
In Yusuke's estimation, in the near future, Akatsuki members were very likely to appear within the Land of Water.
Both of their exploration directions were correct.
But how much Akatsuki intelligence they could obtain would depend on their luck this time.
Akatsuki's people were always hiding their heads and tails, their movements elusive.
Otherwise, by the time of the Konoha Crush plan, the Five Great Ninja Countries wouldn't still have known so little about them.
The Third Hokage sent Uchiha Itachi to infiltrate them, got a verbal agreement, and then believed Konoha could rest easy.
Sunagakure had no Akatsuki intelligence at all—only after the Fourth Kazekage was assassinated by Orochimaru did they gradually begin to take it seriously.
The Tsuchikage Ōnoki played dumb while fully understanding, and even used Akatsuki to start some small-scale wars.
The Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi did notice Akatsuki's existence early on, but his strength wasn't enough—he was directly controlled by Obito's Sharingan and became a puppet leader who committed atrocities.
As for the Fourth Raikage A—he was a complete brute.
He'd heard some rumors, but he never took Akatsuki seriously.
The Five Great Nations each had their own agenda.
That was also a major reason Akatsuki was able to rise.
Because the nations distrusted one another, Akatsuki's recruitment of new members, accumulation of wealth, and collection of tailed beasts all proceeded with exceptional smoothness.
If Konoha and Sunagakure hadn't reacted in time, Akatsuki could very well have developed without any losses all the way to the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Thinking carefully—
Most Akatsuki members ultimately fell into the hands of Konoha ninja.
...
Within the Land of Fire.
Uchiha Yusuke led his squad forward while gathering information on Akatsuki.
The mysterious masked man—Tobi—had recently appeared near Konoha, and might have left some traces behind.
Unfortunately—
They traveled a long distance without finding any information related to the mysterious masked man.
This outcome was something Yusuke had already anticipated.
After all, Tobi's Kamui dōjutsu came and went without a trace. Even if he strolled into the village itself, it would still be difficult for anyone to notice him.
Konoha's upper echelons had full confidence in the sensory barrier surrounding the village—but in truth, for someone like Obito, that kind of thing was practically meaningless.
Years ago, he had silently crossed the barrier and triggered the horrifying Nine-Tails Incident within the village.
On the Night of the Clan's Destruction in the story, Tobi would also play a crucial role.
Aside from the mysterious mask, Yusuke also added other key features to the search scope: the black cloak with red clouds, and the forehead protectors of missing-nin.
Yusuke's squad continued through the Land of Fire until they reached a black-market exchange near the Fire Temple.
Only then did they finally uncover information related to an Akatsuki member.
According to an informant, a mysterious man wearing a black face covering had once visited the exchange, dressed in a red-cloud cloak.
The moment he heard that, Uchiha Yusuke immediately thought of someone—
That black-masked, penny-pinching demon: Kakuzu.
Most Akatsuki members had their own beliefs.
And Kakuzu's belief was absolutely the most down-to-earth of them all.
He wasn't interested in war or peace—he was obsessed with accumulating wealth.
Kakuzu was an old fox who'd lived a long time.
It was said that when he was young, he had even attempted to assassinate the First Hokage.
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