Two people whose whole bodies were covered by cloaks and hats were stepping on the auburn wasteland. They were heading west, leaving Land of Rain and the lush green jungle behind them.
Although the movements of these two people seemed to be unhurried and their steps were just normal, for some reason they were moving much faster than expected.
"I heard that the target this time is a famous big shot..."
Hiding the purpose of gathering information deep in his heart, one of them spoke like a casual chat... Although the two were teammates with the same mission and synchronized actions, they maintained an extreme sense of distrust towards each other.
"Big shot? This kind of thing always feels sarcastic when it comes from someone like you." Another person said.
Although his tone was very cold, he still answered the former question, which shows that he still "respects" the other party.
"A person's fame and strength are not necessarily equivalent things. For example, I had never heard of a person like you before coming to Land of Rain."
"Everyone's personality and way of doing things are different. People like you who have gone through wars and fought for the Ninja Village are the ones I can't understand the most... You are not the kind of young man who has been brainwashed, are you?"
Regarding this somewhat contemptuous accusation, the former just smiled and did not refute.
"I would like to know what an elder like you, who has survived from the war era to the ninja village era, is pursuing."
"A good question and a good answer... Put simply, it's wealth, or more simply, money."
"..."
He felt that he was too polite when asking the question. Why did he use a neutral word like "survival"? He should follow his heart and at least use the word "living".
It's really superficial. A person who has lived to be rounded off to a hundred years old actually pursues "money" and even likes to collect banknotes...
However, he wanted to get information from the other party after all, so... he endured it silently.
"Going back to the topic just now, considering that the leader has such strength, what do you think is the significance of the current so-called recruitment of other members?"
"Although the leader is very powerful, if an organization wants to achieve a certain goal, it will not only consider the possibility of achieving the goal, but also the efficiency of the action, so manpower is necessary."
One of the two knew what he was asking, and the other knew what the other wanted to know. However, the conversation between them lacked information from beginning to end.
The two people who are moving towards the west are Konoha (former) "Three Legendary Sannin" Orochimaru, and the other is "God of Shinobi's rival" Kakuzu. For some purpose, they are acting together... Well, at this time these two people are already members of "Akatsuki", and next they want to bring another person into the organization.
Orochimaru does not know the specific time when Kakuzu joined Xiao. He only knows that the other party is a "senior", so he wants to find out the information about Rinnegan from him, but in fact In this matter, what Kakuzu knows is not much different from what he knows. Kakuzu is indeed a senior, but his senior is not even "a few days ahead" of Orochimaru.
However, Kakuzu is indeed worse than Orochimaru. After Orochimaru saw Tiandao's Rinnegan, he immediately took the bait without the other party saying anything. After all, he had already changed from I heard too many things from Yuhara that I should and should not know. But what about Kakuzu? Anyway, Kakuzu was at least beaten up by Tiandao. He was invited to join Akatsuki by this special offer.
Kakuzu didn't know anything about it, but Orochimaru didn't care. He had enough patience with Rinnegan. In order to investigate Rinnegan, he would rather turn into a worker and stage a "secret investigator ****" drama.
Not only does he have to be a beater, he even has to help his boss expand his team of beaters.
On the other side, within the territory of Land of Demons.
The three-person team composed of Yuhara, Kakashi and Sunagakure ninja Saemon Matsudai is moving towards a certain town.
Chiyo of Sunagakure attaches great importance to this matter at the moment, but because of her current identity and the role she plays in the village is too heavy, she can never follow the team to act together. She can only wait for the outcome of the matter at Sunagakure with peace of mind.
"Is the direction okay?" Yuhara asked Saemon Matsudai. Due to the special nature of the mission, both he and Kakashi wore ANBU masks on their faces, so their voices sounded a little dull.
"Our information is correct," Zaemon said.
Yuhara continued chatting as he hurried on, "That's good... Speaking of which, how is Sunagakure's situation recently? Is it internally stable?"
This question is a bit redundant. How can a group of people be stable without a leader? The so-called name is not justified. Although Chiyo can barely control the situation, she is not Kazekage after all.
"No comment." Zaemon only answered these four words.
"There's no need to be so vigilant, it's just chatting." Yuhara said, shaking his head.
Zaemon just glanced at Yuhara, but didn't say another word. For other people, maybe there is no need to be so vigilant, but who makes the fate between Yuhara and Sunagakure a little too deep? He greets the whole family without any problem, who dares to answer?
Then he got back to business, "If your information is accurate, there should be no problem in bringing Sasori of the Red Sands back to Sunagakure, but the problem is that even if he is brought back to Sunagakure, it does not mean that he can become Sunagakure again. 's ninja - there must be a problem of mutual acceptance here. If Sasori of the Red Sands fully recognizes the identity of Sunagakure's ninja, then he would not have left Sunagakure many years ago, right?"
This time Saemon Matsudai was silent for a long time. Just when Yuhara thought she would not give an answer, she spoke:
"Maybe Master Chiyo has a way to persuade Sasori of the Red Sands, or maybe...
If this mission becomes a futile attempt and Sasori of the Red Sands cannot be used by Sunagakure, then his existence will be meaningless."
This answer surprised Yuhara. What is meaningless? It clearly means that if Sasori of the Red Sands cannot return to Sunagakure, then she advocates killing the other party directly... In theory, this method of handling things is very "ninja".
And just when Yuhara wanted to express his willingness to "be a good man and fight to the end," Kakashi, who had remained silent, suddenly said, "It smells of blood."
"Which way?" Yuhara wrinkled his nose and found that he didn't smell anything, but he didn't doubt Kakashi's judgment.
Then Kakashi pointed in a direction.
"Okay Kakashi, as expected of a dog lover, this has completely omitted the step of summoning a psychic dog." Yuhara praised.
Kakashi: "..."
Well, this kind of compliment is a bit special, and Kakashi himself may not be able to accept it.
Following the direction pointed by the dog's nose, the three Yuhara moved quickly in a certain direction. After a while, he also smelled the smell of blood. When they arrived at a small village in front, they understood why this smell spread far away.
This village has been completely wiped out. Yuhara took a quick look and found that the people here died in a particularly miserable way. Let's put it this way, anyone who died in seven or eight pieces must be considered lucky.
After frowning at the outside of the village for a while, Yuhara finally figured out something, so he said, "It is said that some famous generals will conduct an activity called knife testing after forging a famous sword. The situation here... maybe the same thing, but the shape of the knife being tested may be a little special."
Zaemon and Kakashi had already entered the village and conducted a little further investigation. Then he exited and said, "This is what happened in the past few days. Judging from the condition of the corpse, it is very likely that Puppet Master did it."
Saemon Matsudai nodded and said, "We have found the right place."
Regardless of the situation within the Ninja Village, the attitude of ninjas toward civilians outside the Ninja Village is completely different from person to person... Are ninjas and civilians the same species? This question can be answered both ways, so some people really don't care about killing civilians.
What happened in front of them was most likely a killing test conducted by Sasori of the Red Sands to test some new puppet mechanism. However, he did not leave any obvious traces of his actions, so it was difficult for Yuhara and others to find the other party in an accurate and final way.
Fortunately, now that we know that Sasori of the Red Sands has indeed been active here recently, we can use a large-scale search method to find him.
After about a week of searching, Yuhara finally caught a subtle reaction from Chakra, and then the three of them followed that direction.
"Are you sure it's here?"
When an abandoned town half buried in the sand dunes appeared in front of them, Kakashi asked Yuhara.
"Of course, I am a professional sensory ninja." Yuhara said.
Kakashi cannot deny this kind of identity positioning.
"What should we do next? We must formulate a foolproof action plan before entering the opponent's field of vision..."
Before Saemon Matsudai finished speaking, Yuhara waved his hand directly, and then he walked towards the building complex in front, "A foolproof action plan... If we find the wrong person, a frontal attack is a foolproof plan."
Kakashi glanced at Zaemon, then followed Yuhara silently.
After seeing this kind of self-assertion and recklessness, Saemon Matsudai could only grit her teeth. She took out a puppet and had to quickly follow it.
Sasori of the Red Sands is by no means a simple person, so when the Yuhara trio found him among the ruins, he was sitting on a half-collapsed wall. The look in his eyes that looked down showed that he had already discovered Yuhara and the others and was waiting for their appearance.
"The techniques and habits of operating puppets are still the same as before. Zaemon, do you understand what learning and progress are?"
His posture was very arrogant and his words were not polite. Sasori of the Red Sands recognized Saemon Matsudai's identity immediately. In terms of puppets, Sasori of the Red Sands is very professional.
Yuhara and Kakashi appear to be ignored by Sasori of the Red Sands, which may be unpleasant...
Fortunately, this was a misunderstanding. Sasori of the Red Sands is a polite person. He did not completely ignore Yuhara and the others. He just didn't pay much attention to such unfamiliar faces.
"As for you two..."
Before Sasori of the Red Sands finished speaking, a two-sided puppet suddenly sprang out from Yuhara's feet, and then closed towards the middle. In the middle of the puppet were metal hinges and sharp blades that shone coldly. The two sides were sandwiched between them, threatening to cut Yuhara into pieces.
But before this thing came into contact with Yuhara's body, it suddenly stopped. Although Yuhara made no movement, Sasori of the Red Sands felt that control of his puppet had been taken away.
Yuhara smiled and then said:
"Don't worry, please allow us to introduce ourselves...
Ahem... my name is Annie Atom, and the person next to me, uh... uh, the person next to me is Buzz Lightyear."
Kakashi is confused again. Is this going to be a match?