Hiruzen persuaded me to die

"Humph!"

Sasori of the Red Sand snorted coldly.

"We've captured four ninjas with Kekkei Genkai. Just one more left."

Hoshigaki Kisame grinned.

"Tobi's in charge of the last one."

Tobi was supposed to capture Pakura, the Scorch Release kunoichi.

But he failed.

Not only did he fail to capture her, but his identity was also exposed!

When Kisame heard this, he wasn't particularly surprised.

He had long been wondering whether the masked man was really Uchiha Madara.

How could the once-dreaded Ninja Shura be this weak?

If he was just an imposter, it all made sense.

"Huh~"

In the laboratory, Hiruko walked out with a pleased expression.

"That guy named Tobi—why hasn't he delivered the Scorch Release ninja yet?"

Scorch Release was a combination of fire and wind.

At present, Hiruko had already collected over 900 samples, including Steel Release, Swift Release, Dark Release, and Storm Release.

He needed the fire attribute from Scorch Release to balance out the five chakra natures as much as possible.

"You haven't heard yet?"

The mocking voice of Jūzō Biwa rang out:

"That guy who calls himself Tobi and wears a mask? He's just a regular Konoha Chūnin—and even used to be a war hero of Konoha."

"He had studied a bit of this and that. In the beginning, he defected because he couldn't tolerate the Blood Mist policies of Kirigakure."

"Now that it's known the Fourth Mizukage was under Uchiha Obito's control, he naturally became interested in Obito's identity."

"According to Konoha's announcement, he was a disciple of the Fourth Hokage and teammate of the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi."

"A few years ago, during the Nine-Tails incident in Konoha, he and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi allegedly orchestrated the chaos together."

"Talk about being twistedly devoted."

Jūzō Biwa still remembered how brutal Obito was. Kirigakure had never seen such a maniac.

"My spy in Konoha said that one of Obito's female teammates died during the war. He blamed the Fourth Hokage for not protecting her and released the Nine-Tails while the Hokage's wife was giving birth."

Sasori finally spoke.

"So naive. Drowning in such meaningless emotions."

"Your spy… that silver-haired, silver-eyed little guy?" Kisame asked with interest.

He remembered seeing Yakushi Kabuto trailing Sasori once.

"He was a Konoha ninja, but also one of Danzo's subordinates," Sasori replied.

Yakushi Kabuto was quite a competent underling.

He could even assist with certain experiments.

What a pity he had to be sent back to Konoha.

"The leader instructed me to return him to Konoha—to act as a spy for the Akatsuki."

After all, they had invested quite a bit in the organization.

Couldn't refuse the request.

Besides, Sasori was still eyeing Hanzō's corpse hanging outside!

To Sasori, the corpse of a demigod was a supreme collectible!

Orochimaru and Hyuga Naraku remained expressionless.

From the start, after joining Akatsuki, Orochimaru had deliberately placed Yakushi Kabuto at Sasori's side.

He was meant to be a spy for Orochimaru, embedded within Akatsuki.

That way, even if he ever left the organization, Orochimaru could still monitor Akatsuki's movements through Kabuto.

But—

What Orochimaru hadn't expected—

Was that Pain would actually send Yakushi Kabuto back to Konoha.

Orochimaru nearly tore his hair out.

What kind of plan was this?

Fortunately, he hadn't lost out completely.

On one hand, he could use Kabuto to keep tabs on Akatsuki's actions.

On the other, he could also gather intel from within Konoha.

Though Orochimaru had no idea how Hyuga Naraku discovered that Yakushi Kabuto was his planted spy…

The fact that Kabuto hadn't been ousted meant he could still be used.

Hyuga Naraku, meanwhile, struggled to hold back laughter.

To Orochimaru, Yakushi Kabuto was his own spy.

However, with Orochimaru's nature, he likely wouldn't trust any intel Kabuto sent once he learned that Kabuto's identity had been compromised.

Especially if there was even a hint that Kabuto had been turned.

Only Sasori of the Red Sand still naively believed that Yakushi Kabuto was under his sole control.

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Note: I did my best to translate everything accurately, but due to the presence of many confusing terms, there may be some errors. If you notice any mistakes, please let me know so I can correct them.