The Akatsuki Organization

After Ryoma Aburame left,

one of Hanzo's subordinates came over and asked quietly, "Lord Hanzo, are we really going to accept this mission?"

A few years ago, for the sake of the village's development, Amegakure had indeed made money through assassinations. But ever since Hanzo had made a name for himself in the Second Shinobi World War, Amegakure had enjoyed much more peace. Gradually, the assassination business had been put aside.

Now, after all these years, they were picking up the assassination business again—and the target was someone from the Land of Fire. The subordinate worried that this hard-won peace would be broken.

Hanzo stared at the bank card on the table, which held a full twenty million ryo, and fell into thought.

This was twenty million ryo—and a hot potato.

But...

He drew the curtains and stood before the floor-to-ceiling window. From here, he could look down over almost all of Amegakure. He could see the people coming and going in the streets, and feel their exhaustion.

"Right now... Amegakure's development has hit a bottleneck. We need this thirty million."

"But..."

"There are no buts," Hanzo said calmly.

Silence fell.

Rain pattered against the window, as if it might shatter the glass at any moment.

The rain... fell harder and harder.

After a long while, Hanzo said quietly, "The Akatsuki Organization just reached an agreement with us. They must be short on money, too. Go tell them. Give them half the reward."

The subordinate's eyes lit up. He knew the Akatsuki Organization was the only group in Amegakure capable of standing against Lord Hanzo, and its strength was unfathomable.

Lord Hanzo's arrangement was a clever move. They wouldn't have to risk their lives, and they would still receive a reward.

"Yes!"

Not long afterward,

on the other side of Amegakure,

a ninja dressed in a black robe hurried past his similarly robed peers and entered a tower.

Knock, knock, knock—

"Come in," a young man's voice called from inside the office.

The ninja pushed open the door and immediately saw three people inside.

The one at the head had a striking head of spiky orange hair and a resolute gaze.

Beside him stood a young man with long red hair and a woman with long blue-purple hair.

All three wore black robes. They were Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan, all in their youth.

"Leader Yahiko, Hanzo's people have a mission for us. The reward is fifteen million ryo."

This office was the base of another organization in Amegakure—the Akatsuki Organization. The robes worn by its members were still plain black, without the red clouds that would appear on them in the future.

"Oh? A mission worth fifteen million? We may have just reached an agreement with Hanzo, but would he really be so generous?" Yahiko muttered, pressing his thumb against his chin. Then, seeming to realize the gesture didn't suit a leader, he straightened up at once and looked at his subordinate.

"What's the mission?"

"To assassinate Sora Uchiha in Konoha."

At those words, the subordinate immediately sensed the change in the room. The mood had been lighthearted before; now it was unusually grave.

After a long pause,

"Mm. I understand," Yahiko said, his expression dark.

The subordinate knew the rest wasn't his business. He nodded, set down the file containing information about Sora Uchiha, and withdrew.

Once they were alone,

the leader of the Akatsuki Organization immediately dropped his serious act. He glanced at the file on the table, scratched his head, and looked at the other two.

"Konoha... That's Jiraiya-sensei's village, right?" Yahiko scratched his head. Though he phrased it as a question, he sounded certain.

Konan stepped forward, picked up the file on Sora Uchiha, and began reading.

Nagato said nothing, lost in thought.

"Hey, are we taking this mission or not?" Yahiko asked.

Usually, the three of them followed his lead. But since this concerned their personal affairs, he needed to ask the other two what they thought.

After reading the file, Konan turned to Yahiko.

"Yahiko, what was the purpose of founding the Akatsuki Organization?"

"Of course, to bring peace to the Shinobi World," Yahiko answered without hesitation.

"That's right. Peace in the Shinobi World." Konan nodded. She swept her blue-purple hair back behind her head, revealing her smooth forehead and bright, snow-white eyes.

"I get it!" Yahiko slapped his hands together. "You mean we shouldn't take the mission, so the war in the Land of Fire won't spread to Amegakure."

"No." Konan shook her head. A few loose strands of hair drifted down and turned into white scraps of paper. "Do you know about the Uchiha?"

"Uh, a little. I've heard their Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, is a Kekkei Genkai born for battle."

"Mm. According to the information in this file, the Uchiha Clan believes in ending war through war. They have great ambitions and want to use force to rule the world.

"People like that... Their ideals conflict with ours."

"So we're supposed to kill him?" Nagato suddenly asked.

"It depends. We all survived the war, so we understand what war means. Jiraiya-sensei saved us. If we kill innocent people indiscriminately, wouldn't that be letting him down?"

"You mean..."

"We'll go to Konoha and observe Sora Uchiha. If he supports war, we can't let him live. If he opposes war, we won't take the mission—and we can even try to recruit him."

Yahiko and Nagato exchanged a glance and nodded.

"That makes sense. So who's going? Konoha's security force is no pushover," Yahiko asked.

"Of course I'll go. My abilities are suited to this mission," Konan said.

"You're the leader of the organization, Yahiko. You need to stay in the village. Nagato's power can keep the others in check. I'm the best choice for this mission."

Yahiko thought it over, then nodded. "All right. Be careful. Oh, right—if you run into Jiraiya-sensei, give him our regards."

Konan nodded, then pushed open the window. In the next moment, her whole body dispersed into countless white scraps of paper and vanished...

Yahiko smacked his lips, swung a leg up onto the desk, and picked up the file about Sora Uchiha.

"Let's take a look."

The information about Sora Uchiha in the file was incredibly detailed. It covered everything from his age to his hobbies—probably more than he knew about himself.

"Tsk, he's a genius, too." He glanced at Nagato. "Heh, but no matter how talented he is, he's still no match for our Nagato. After all... you have the power to rule the Shinobi World."

"It's not as exaggerated as Yahiko makes it sound," Nagato murmured in reply, instinctively raising a hand to cover his Rinnegan.

"Tsk, Nagato, you've got to be confident." Yahiko smiled and shook his head, then continued reading.

Besides information about Sora Uchiha, the file also contained details about the Uchiha Clan. A large part of it was devoted to denigrating the Uchiha.

It said things like the Uchiha were born evil, cold-blooded, and terrorists.

"By the way, was whoever wrote this file an enemy of the Uchiha? Are they really that evil?"