Akatsuki Meeting

'Sasuke.'

Itachi, who had just come in, had a flash in his eyes.

Seeing his younger brother looking at him with hatred, he couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.

'I heard that Sasuke has awakened the Mangekyō. It seems it's time for him to know the truth.' Itachi thought.

In fact, his health had been getting worse and worse over the years.

Although he could last another three or four years, now that Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyō, there was no need to struggle any longer.

Next time, Itachi planned to ask Sasuke out alone and take this opportunity to let him know the truth about the Genocide Night.

But this so-called truth was just the truth that Itachi wanted Sasuke to know.

He wouldn't let Sasuke see anything that could harm Konoha's image.

And before that, if he finds that Sasuke harbors thoughts dangerous to Konoha, he will use the eye that Shisui had left for him to make Sasuke protect the village in his place forever.

'I believe Sasuke will understand my painstaking efforts.'

'After all, I'm doing it for his own good!'

Sasuke thought, 'Sasuke! Just wait, the day of revenge is coming soon.'

Sasuke clenched his hands into fists, silently swearing in his heart.

At this time, all members of the Akatsuki had arrived.

For the past year or two, none of them had been this consistent.

After all, everyone was very busy—handling their own affairs in their own ways.

For instance, Kakuzu usually runs around making money every day, and the others were similarly occupied.

At this moment, Pain appeared in front of the crowd together with Konan.

Pain's purple Rinnegan swept over the Akatsuki members indifferently.

He paused for a moment on Menma, before he spoke.

"Everyone, after years of development, our Akatsuki is finally entering a new stage."

Many people couldn't help getting excited.

Hidan, for instance, just giggled with a manic expression.

Sasuke curiously observed the leader of Akatsuki.

To be honest, this was his first time seeing the legendary figure.

When he noticed Pain's purple Rinnegan, although Sasuke didn't know what kind of eyes they were, he instinctively felt that they were very powerful.

Much stronger than his Mangekyō!

'What kind of eyes are these?' Sasuke thought curiously.

As for Pain's mention of the second stage of Akatsuki?

Sasuke didn't care.

After all, he hadn't been brainwashed into Akatsuki.

He was only here because of his teacher, Menma.

In his heart, Sasuke still thought of himself as a Konoha ninja.

After all, the people he cared about the most were there.

So, he had no interest in the so-called second stage Pain was talking about.

All his attention was on Pain's eyes.

"Regarding the organization's second-stage mission, Konan, please explain."

Pain turned to Konan beside him.

Konan nodded.

After scanning the room with her cold gaze, she spoke, "The second phase of Akatsuki's mission is to officially start collecting tailed beasts."

"When we gather the power of all Nine Tailed Beasts, we will use the ultimate weapon to make the world feel pain—so they understand the importance of peace.

"Next, each of you will receive different tasks. Every group will be assigned to capture a specific tailed beast."

Konan paused, glancing at those present, and finally resting her gaze on Menma.

Of everyone here, he was the calmest.

"Menma, you and Tobi will go to Sunagakure. One-Tail Shukaku is yours to capture." Konan said.

This was something she had discussed with Nagato earlier.

The sealing of the Nine Tails had to be done in order—from One Tail to Nine Tails.

Therefore, the first target was One-Tail Shukaku.

Here comes the problem.

After One Tail, the next would be Two Tails.

But the Two Tails Jinchūriki has already been captured by Ryosuke and is currently in Konoha.

It is even said that she has become a maid by Ryosuke's side.

This made Konan and Nagato uneasy.

How could they possibly retrieve the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki, Yugito Nii, from Konoha?

After all, she is with Ryosuke.

No matter how arrogant Nagato was, he didn't believe he could simply take Yugito from Ryosuke.

So, after discussing with Konan, Nagato decided that the best plan was to send Menma, the strongest member of Akatsuki after himself, to capture One-Tail Shukaku first.

Then, they could figure out how to get the Two-Tails.

If all else failed, they would gather Akatsuki's full force and launch an all-out assault.

But that would mean revealing the organization's full power just for the second tailed beast.

This would be extremely disadvantageous for Akatsuki's long-term plans.

So, unless absolutely necessary, Nagato didn't want to do that.

And even if they did, success wasn't guaranteed.

"Capture the tailed beasts?"

Sasuke, who had been observing Pain's Rinnegan, was shocked upon hearing Konan's words.

'The goal of Akatsuki is to capture the Nine Tailed Beasts?!'

This was the first time Sasuke had learned of Akatsuki's ultimate plan.

They had set their sights on the terrifying ultimate weapons—the tailed beasts.

And more than that, they planned to capture all nine of them?

That meant Naruto was in danger!

Sasuke couldn't help but feel worried for Naruto.

But then he quickly remembered that Naruto was back in Konoha and would likely remain there for a long time.

And Konoha had Ryosuke—a god-like figure, watching over it.

Even Akatsuki wouldn't dare invade so easily, right?

'No! I can't put all my hopes on Ryosuke. I must become stronger as soon as possible so that I can stop Akatsuki if they ever try to hurt Naruto.' Sasuke thought to himself.

But soon, he thought of another question.

What should he do if his teacher decides to attack Naruto?

Sasuke struggled for a while and finally chose to cross that bridge when he came to it.

There was no point in overthinking it now.

He would deal with it later.

Maybe he could convince Menma not to target Naruto?

On the other side

Faced with Konan's arrangement to capture One Tail Shukaku by himself, Menma didn't object and simply nodded in agreement.

After all, the opposition was just Sunagakure—mere ants.

He didn't care about them at all.

Capturing Shukaku would be effortless for Menma.

"Boss, what about the Two-Tails? Who will be sent for that?" Hidan raised his hand and asked loudly.

He had been looking forward to it, wondering if Pain would assign the Undead Duo to capture One Tail Shukaku.

But then, Pain handed the mission directly to Menma.

If it had been anyone else, Hidan would have immediately raised an objection.

But if it was Menma, Hidan had no choice but to accept it.

However, the task of capturing the Two-Tails Jinchūriki had to go to their Undead Duo.

"Idiot, shut up!"

Kakuzu shot Hidan a speechless look.

This fool...

Did he not realize the Two-Tails Jinchūriki was in Konoha?

Did he really think they could just waltz in there?

The mere thought of that monster in Konoha made Kakuzu's scalp tingle.

He even suspected that brat might be just as strong as, or even stronger than Senju Hashirama—the God of Shinobi!

So, when Hidan loudly volunteered for the task of capturing the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Kakuzu wanted to kick him.

Does he know nothing about the outside world?

How could he travel with one of the most notorious bounty hunters in the world and still be this clueless?

What a disgrace!

"Kakuzu, why did you hit me?!"

Hidan glared at Kakuzu furiously.

At that moment—

Pain, standing in front of the group, spoke in an indifferent tone, "Regarding the Two-Tails, we will discuss that matter after One Tail Shukaku is captured."

Hearing his response, Hidan was dissatisfied and wanted to voice his opinion.

But before he could, Kakuzu kicked him, sending him flying.

Boom!

Hidan crashed into the wall.

Crack!

A large section of the hard rock wall fractured.

"Kakuzu!!!"

Hidan was about to charge forward angrily.

But Pain's cold gaze stopped him in his tracks.

"Enough! Stop messing around, Hidan."

Pain's Rinnegan bore down on him coldly.

Hidan immediately froze.

While muttering complaints about how "it's not fair" since he was the one who got hit, he walked back to Kakuzu's side and glared at him.

Kakuzu, however, was completely unfazed. He was used to Hidan's antics.

It was nothing new.

"Next, let's discuss…"

The meeting lasted for about an hour before everyone dispersed.

Pain left with Konan, continuing to strategize on how to capture the Two-Tails, Matatabi.

Meanwhile, on the other side—

After listening to Pain's long-winded speech, Sasuke, feeling slightly dizzy, turned to his teacher as they left the cave.

He asked, "Menma-sensei, what kind of eyes does the leader have?"

He couldn't shake the feeling that those eyes had some strange pull on him.

And a faint sense of connection by blood.

He wasn't sure why.

"You mean the Rinnegan."

Menma said flatly, "Those are the legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths, also known as the Sage eyes. They are incredibly powerful. Pain's strength is 99% reliant on those eyes."

Rinnegan?

Sage eyes?

The Sage of Six Paths' eyes?

Sasuke had never heard of the Rinnegan before.

Curious, he asked Menma about its abilities and why it had earned such a title.

Menma briefly introduced Rinnegan's abilities to Sasuke.

After all, his disciple would one day possess the same eyes.

And not just any Rinnegan—

A six-tomoe Rinnegan.

It would be on par with Ryosuke's current Rinnegan.

Of course, Ryosuke's Rinnegan was red, while Sasuke's would be purple.

But to be honest, once the Rinnegan reach the six-tomoe stage, the color difference doesn't matter much.

The abilities and specialties vary slightly, but in terms of raw pupil power, they were nearly equal.

Still, Ryosuke's Rinnegan wasn't as powerful as the other six-tomoe Rinnegan.

The difference wasn't massive—just about 65 times.

After hearing Menma's explanation of the Rinnegan's abilities, Sasuke was amazed.

He hadn't expected such powerful eyes to exist in the world.

No wonder they were called the Sage eyes.

They were so powerful that if they weren't the Sage eyes, what else could they be?

In comparison, Mangekyō Sharingan suddenly didn't seem quite as impressive.

Of course, Sasuke knew that was just an illusion.

Mangekyō Sharingan was still extremely powerful.

After all, he had awakened them himself, so he knew their strength.

But there was a problem. Mangekyō was strong, but using it too much leads to blindness.

That part was annoying.

Sasuke had complained many times before.

Why was there no issue with the three-tomoe Sharingan?

But the moment it evolved into Mangekyō, it suddenly had such severe side effects?

That was total blindness!

If he loses his eyesight, wouldn't his strength plummet by 90%?

Returning to his room, Menma turned to look at Sasuke, who was still following him.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Hearing this, Sasuke hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

"Menma-sensei, if the Akatsuki targets Naruto, can I ask you not to go after him?"

Naruto?

Menma paused for a moment.

So even after all this time, Sasuke and Naruto are still close.

Even though they hadn't seen each other for over a year, Sasuke still cared this much.

What Menma didn't know was that Sasuke and Naruto had actually met just two days ago.

They had exchanged ideas about improving their respective strengths.

And in the process, they had blown up a small section of the forest.

Of course!

For high-level ninjas, that was just routine.