After spending a few days in the Land of Water, Orochimaru and Guren headed straight for the Amegakure.
The original plan was to go to the Land of Wind first, but a message came from the clone in Konoha, forcing the main body, who was far away in the Land of Water, to change his itinerary.
"I never expected Danzo to cooperate with Hanzō. We can't miss this opportunity."
Orochimaru pulled Guren along and flew rapidly toward the Amegakure. It's no wonder Orochimaru was in such a hurry; this opportunity was truly rare.
The flight was tough on the little girl Guren, but the situation was urgent, so there was no time to be gentle with her. The two of them quickly streaked across the air.
Two days later, Orochimaru and Guren quickly arrived in the Land of Amegakure.
Upon arriving in the Amegakure, Orochimaru immediately dispatched numerous Energy Clones to gather intelligence.
"The weather was fine just now, and now it's pouring rain!"
Having found a small cave, Orochimaru and Guren decided to rest there for the time being.
Guren was still covering her head; the wind had been blowing all the way, making her head ache, and she could still hear the whooshing sound of the wind in her ears.
"This is what the Amegakure is like. Are you hungry? Let's eat something first."
As he spoke, Orochimaru gathered some firewood in the nearby woods and returned shortly afterward, one of his clones carrying two wild rabbits.
After traveling for two days and two nights, the two were indeed starving. They hadn't had a proper rest along the way, let alone a proper meal.
After eating and drinking her fill, Guren's upper and lower eyelids started to droop, and soon they closed up.
Orochimaru draped a coat over her shoulders, and just then, his clone who had been gathering intelligence returned.
"I didn't expect Hanzō to act so quickly, sweeping away many of Akatsuki in just a few days."
Half a day later, more clones returned one after another, and Orochimaru received more and more comprehensive information.
Based on intelligence analysis, Hanzō has been taking action against the Akatsuki for several days now, and Pain's death is estimated to be imminent.
As for which day, we just need to keep a close eye on Hanzō's movements. The Akatsuki also needs to send some people.
Hanzō and Orochimaru of Akatsuki are not really a threat now, judging from the timeline Orochimaru knows.
The Akatsuki currently only has three members with decent combat strength; the majority are peripheral members.
And this moment didn't last long; four days later, Hanzō took action.
Although Hanzō is now in his twilight years, others may look down on the Amegakure, but they should not look down on Hanzō easily. To be old and not die is to be a thief.
Unlike the previous small-scale skirmishes, this time they were joined by a group of elite ninjas from Amegakure.
Dealing with Konan, who was not yet fully grown, was no problem; they simply set up an ambush and captured Konan.
"Is that Hanzō? He certainly looks imposing."
Guren curiously observed the two groups of people and asked Orochimaru beside her.
The two were hiding in a forest some distance away. Orochimaru had calculated the distance carefully so as not to alert either side and to allow him to see the situation clearly.
Although the rain blurred the view, Orochimaru's eyesight was far superior to that of ordinary people, so seeing the other party's every move was no problem.
"That old dog Hanzō is desperate. He attacked the Akatsuki in just a few days. He probably didn't even do any investigation before listening to Danzo's rumors."
Orochimaru shook his head with a sigh. Hanzō no longer had the same fighting spirit he had in his youth. Peace seemed to be just a nice phrase in his mouth. It was truly a case of a hero growing old.
"The real show is about to begin!"
Guren looked at Orochimaru's face with some confusion, and saw a smile appear on his lips. Then she looked at the two sides on the battlefield.
At this moment, Hanzō stood on the cliff with Konan in his arms, forcing Nagato and Yahiko to kill one of them before he could release Konan.
Hanzō spared the Konoha Sannin many years ago, and the three Akatsuki were Jiraiya's disciples, so he thought it was a good deed from many years ago.
But after being Danzo, they came to regard them as ambitious schemers posing as peace makers, and now they will naturally not hold back.
"I want this leader to die here, or this woman will die!"
Hanzō grabbed Konan, holding Kunai to her neck, threatening to end her life at any moment.
"Kill me... Nagato"
Yahiko turned around without hesitation and said to Nagato, "As the leader, you have to stand up at crucial moments."
"Yahiko...!"
Nagato looked at Yahiko with a mixture of fear and disbelief, somewhat bewildered.
"Hurry up and do it. If you resist, she'll be dead. Don't you care about her life?"
"Stop!"
Hanzō's voice rang out again, clearly impatient.
At the same time, there was Konan's scream, her face wet with either rain or tears.
"Mi...!"
Nagato's hand holding the Kunai trembled, and just as he made a move, Yahiko lunged forward and crashed into the Kunai in his hand.
Feeling Yahiko in his arms, Nagato was stunned by the sudden scene, and warm blood flowed down his Kunai onto his hands.
"Yahiko!"
Konan's heart-wrenching cries brought Nagato back to his senses. Looking at Yahiko's body gradually losing its warmth, Nagato's mind went blank.
Yahiko's body slid to the side, Nagato looked at his blood-stained right hand, a surge of grief and anger welling up in his heart.
"Ah...!"
The next moment, Nagato jumped up the cliff and came to Konan's side, a scene that Hanzō had completely anticipated.
He didn't linger and quickly stepped back. As he Hand Seals, the Explosive Flame Formation beneath Nagato's feet was activated.
To save Konan, Nagato neither dodged nor avoided the attack. With a deafening roar, Nagato's legs were blasted into a cripple.
In that instant, Hanzō also confirmed that Nagato's eyes were the legendary Sage Eye, and believed that Nagato was the true mastermind behind Akatsuki.
If Hanzō had been younger, he probably would have submitted to Nagato, with his Sage Eye, was undoubtedly a powerful leader.
But by this Hanzō had lost all ambition and only believed in the supremacy of strength; Nagato was still too inexperienced.
After rescuing Konan, Nagato had no intention of letting Hanzō, and in a fit of rage, he Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Demonic Statue of the Outer Path appeared, black rods pierced into Nagato's body.
Ignoring the pain in his body, streams of Chakra surged into the massive body of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, instantly bringing it to life.
The next moment, a giant purple energy dragon surged out of the mouth of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
"Aaaaaah...!"
The purple dragon unleashed its power, sweeping away all enemies and annihilating the Amegakure and Root ninjas on the battlefield with overwhelming force.
This scene was witnessed by Zetsu and Obito, who were Danzo had just arrived in the Amegakure when the two of them followed.
With Danzo, that cunning old fox, interfering, Uchiha Madara didn't get involved; he simply sent two people over to check on the situation.
Guren was also observing the situation, was stunned. When she turned around to ask Orochimaru what the monster was, she found that there was no one around her.