Starting as the Hidden Mastermind from Naruto

Chapter 179: I Don't Even Know How to Lose This War!

When the lineup for the Akatsuki members' mission was confirmed, Naraku Uehara really didn't know how this mission could possibly fail.

With this lineup, it was possible to annihilate Konoha.

Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Sasori of the Red Sand, Deidara, Kakuzu, Hidan, Zabuza Momochi, Mangetsu Hozuki, Haku, Kimimaro Kaguya, Zetsu.

And Naraku Uehara and Nagato.

Oh, and a bonus named Sasuke Uchiha.

After all, Itachi Uchiha didn't feel at ease leaving his younger brother alone in the Akatsuki organization.

With this came countless troubles.

The members of Akatsuki basically didn't submit to one another. The few from Kirigakure knew Naraku Uehara's strength and basically followed his lead, especially the strongest, Kisame Hoshigaki and Mangetsu Hozuki, who were his die-hard confidants.

Deidara, Sasori of the Red Sand, and Kakuzu, Hidan, these two teams would argue whenever they were together, threatening to teach each other a lesson at a moment's notice.

Just as Deidara and Hidan were about to make a move, Naraku Uehara suddenly shouted loudly, "Hey, hey, hey, seniors, come and look, a volcano is erupting!"

"What?"

Everyone looked at Naraku Uehara in surprise, then followed his gaze. Where was any volcano erupting?

Deidara glared at Naraku Uehara unhappily, "Where is it! Hey, Uehara, you bastard, don't just lie to people!"

"I'm not. Look clearly! Change!"

Naraku Uehara suddenly snapped his fingers and released his Pillar of Flame skill.

Just as everyone was feeling confused, a powerful flame suddenly erupted from an area several kilometers in radius in the distance!

That flame shot up almost thousands of meters into the sky, even dyeing the blue sky a shade of red. The scorching heatwave was almost upon them!

Even though everyone in Akatsuki was still some distance from the center of the flame, they could still feel the burning sensation in the air.

"..."

Everyone's jaws almost dropped in shock!

No one present underestimated Naraku Uehara's strength, but to so casually release a Fire Release ninjutsu powerful enough to destroy the world still instilled a trace of fear.

Whether it was the distance and range of the ninjutsu's release, or its extremely fast casting speed, it sent a shiver down everyone's spine.

This level of ninjutsu, could it be dodged?

Of course not.

No wonder this Naraku Uehara fellow could easily destroy Kusagakure.

Even the most boisterous Deidara and Hidan became much more honest after seeing Naraku Uehara's ninjutsu.

Naraku Uehara slowly turned around, looked at everyone present, brought his palms together, and said with a slight smile, "I believe everyone will cooperate sincerely for this mission, right?"

Everyone glanced at Naraku Uehara, then at the flames slowly falling from thousands of meters high behind him, and subconsciously furrowed their brows.

Itachi Uchiha lowered his head, suppressing the shock in his heart. This level of Fire Release ninjutsu clearly exceeded his understanding.

In the history of the Uchiha clan, there had never been such a powerful Fire Release user!

A light shone in Sasuke Uchiha's eyes. He glanced at his older brother and couldn't help but chuckle softly. Was this brother of his scared?

Hmph, their Uchiha clan had the Sharingan.

As long as he found an opportunity, Sasuke Uchiha was confident he could copy Naraku Uehara's ninjutsu with his Sharingan. This was a powerful ninjutsu capable of destroying the world, a power even Itachi Uchiha feared!

"He's gotten stronger again!"

Kisame Hoshigaki grinned.

He had long since gotten used to Naraku Uehara's power.

This Naraku Uehara fellow was even skilled in the most mysterious space-time techniques. What did a simple Fire Release skill count for?

Nagato adjusted the kasa hat on his head and curled his lips, "That little fellow Uehara is really much stronger than in the past!"

"Hmph, Konan has really taught a good disciple!"

Sasori of the Red Sand snorted coldly. He actually hated this kind of super-large-range ninjutsu the most, because this kind of powerful ninjutsu was too much of a counter to a puppet master like him.

"As my teacher's disciple, of course I can't let her lose face!"

Naraku Uehara flew down beside Nagato and asked in a small voice, "How was my performance just now? Were they scared?"

"..."

Nagato nodded speechlessly.

Clearly, the effect of Naraku Uehara showing off his skills was very significant. The people present also took his words more seriously, and the journey to the Land of Grass was much smoother.

The intelligence personnel, Zetsu, also delivered a piece of intelligence.

An Anbu ninja team from Konoha was active on the border between the Land of Rain and the Land of Grass, and about five ordinary Konoha ninja teams were stationed there, clearly to guard against Amegakure.

"Surround them, leave one alive, kill the rest."

The strategy Naraku Uehara formulated was very simple and crude.

With almost the entire Akatsuki organization mobilized, how could they not win no matter how they fought?

The members of Akatsuki were also very satisfied with Naraku Uehara's strategy.

After all, most Akatsuki members liked to rely on their own strength and charge straight in, not worrying about the enemies they encountered. Anyway, it was impossible for them to be defeated.

A canyon on the border of the Land of Grass.

The members of the Konoha Anbu team gathered, exchanging their intelligence, confirming that the Amegakure ninjas were not concentrated in the Land of Grass.

"Hello, friends from Konoha, how are you?"

A voice suddenly entered the ears of this Anbu team. The four ninjas reacted quickly, each grabbing their weapons and vigilantly sizing up their surroundings.

On a rock, a ninja wearing an auspicious cloud black robe appeared.

Because Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki had once invaded Konoha, these Anbu had also received orders from the Hokage's office to retreat immediately after gathering intelligence on Akatsuki members.

After all, a mercenary organization composed of a group of S-rank rogue ninjas, each of its teams was not something a single Anbu team could handle.

According to Tsunade's combat power assessment of the rogue ninjas.

Konoha needed at least three or more Anbu teams to contend with them.

"An Akatsuki member?"

The leading Anbu captain's face changed. He immediately assigned tasks, "The fastest among us, Toyokawa, will take the intelligence back. The rest of you, cover him with me. Everyone, concentrate your strength and retreat for now!"

However, the next moment, this Anbu captain's face became incredibly ugly, because one after another, ninjas wearing auspicious cloud black robes appeared around them.

At least ten Akatsuki members.

Among them were Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, who had once invaded Konoha.

Now, let alone this Konoha team wanting to escape, it would be good enough to leave a complete corpse. There weren't even enough heads to go around.

"My command was pretty good, right?"

Naraku Uehara turned his head and smiled at Nagato beside him. He had relied on his Destiny skill to calculate the movement direction of this Konoha Anbu team and successfully surrounded them.

Nagato nodded helplessly.

The Konoha Anbu team somewhat tragically charged towards the weakest direction. In their view, Kimimaro Kaguya and Haku, these two small ones, should be the easiest to deal with!

Kimimaro Kaguya slowly charged towards the charging Anbu team, white bones drilling out of his body, "Dance of the Larch!"

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The other members watched Kimimaro's performance as if they were watching monkeys.

Five minutes later.

Kimimaro Kaguya carried a half-dead Anbu, threw him in front of Naraku Uehara, and said softly, "Uehara, this guy is the strongest. He should be their captain."

"Then I'll have to trouble you to find out the intelligence in his head."

Naraku Uehara spread his hands and looked at Nagato beside him.

Nagato nodded, extended his hand, and placed it on the Konoha Anbu captain's head, shouting in a low voice, "Human Path: Mind Reading!"

After finding out the intelligence, Nagato fiercely pulled out this Anbu captain's soul and said softly, "Konoha has sent a total of thirteen Anbu teams to the Land of Grass, scattered in various places. In addition, there are about three hundred ordinary ninja troops."

"Our mission is only to eliminate the Anbu, right?"

"That's right."

Nagato nodded, "Perhaps Onoki of Two Scales also doesn't think we can handle a large number of ninja troops, so he only commissioned us to eliminate the Konoha Anbu. It might be because these Anbu have been assassinating Iwagakure's reconnaissance ninjas!"

Naraku Uehara couldn't help but tut in admiration, "Tsk, it's not easy to find the remaining twelve Anbu teams in a place as large as the Land of Grass!"

Hidan walked over with his scythe on his shoulder and licked his lips, "Wouldn't killing all the Konoha ninjas complete the mission?"

"I still think we should do as much work as we're paid for."

Kakuzu glanced at Hidan with contempt and said in a deep voice, "If we also kill all the Konoha ninjas stationed in the Land of Grass for free, how can we do business in the future?"

Kakuzu snorted coldly and continued, "Hmph, if we are to also kill the Konoha ninjas entrenched in the Land of Grass, we must make Onoki add more money!"

The words "add more money" were used extremely well.

It could be seen that Kakuzu was indeed a businessman.

Putting other things aside, he was quite accurate in keeping things separate.

"I also agree with Senior Kakuzu's opinion."

After Naraku Uehara slowly nodded, he said softly, "I thought Konoha's Fifth Hokage only sent a bunch of Anbu for reconnaissance. I didn't expect her to send so many ninja troops…"

Sasori of the Red Sand tapped his ring and said in a muffled voice, "Should we ask Konan's side to see if Onoki is willing to add more money? Otherwise, just looking for some Konoha Anbu would be very boring on this journey!"

"That's right!"

Deidara raised his head and glanced at the corpse on the ground, "This small mission is not worthy of all of our members being dispatched. Let me and Sasori my man go and solve it!"

He thought it would be a mission of epic difficulty, but it turned out to be just an ordinary level mission. If they were careful, it probably wouldn't take long to complete.

"It might not be that easy."

After Nagato covered his mouth and coughed lightly, he added, "According to the intelligence I obtained, the person responsible for commanding the operation in the Land of Grass is Konoha's Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. And there is a big shot who can support him at any time."

Sasuke Uchiha subconsciously furrowed his brow when he heard the name of his former teacher, "Kakashi Hatake?"

"A big shot?"

Naraku Uehara shook his head, "It's probably one of Konoha's Sannin, Jiraiya! I'll go ask Teacher Konan first and see if Iwagakure is willing to add more money."

Soon, news came from Konan's side.

Onoki of Two Scales was willing to add a sum of money to drive out or kill all the Konoha ninjas within the borders of the Land of Grass.

If Iwagakure and Konoha clashed head-on, the losses of the Iwa ninjas would definitely not be low, and it might even trigger a ninja world war. Using the Akatsuki organization was much cheaper.

"A pity…"

Kakuzu frowned and sighed, "If we had a cooperation channel with the Land of Lightning, we could have charged another fee for clearing out this group of Konoha ninjas."

Naraku Uehara: "..."

The rest of Akatsuki: "..."

This Kakuzu fellow was really obsessed with money!

Charging two great ninja villages for one mission, you're really something!

"Let's go! Let's go meet that Copy Ninja of Konoha!"

Naraku Uehara turned his head to look at Sasuke Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, and chuckled lightly, "Mr. Kakashi is an old friend of several of us here!"

(End of Chapter)

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