The Decision Made by Konan and Nagato

The twenty-second floor of the Central Steel Tower.

A White Zetsu Clone was reporting information about Orochimaru and Deidara to Deva Path Pain.

Deva Path Pain listened expressionlessly. When the clone finished, he asked, "Have you confirmed the situation in the Land of Wind?"

The White Zetsu Clone nodded with a grin. "It's confirmed. It really is Wood Release, and it belongs to the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju..."

"There is only one god in the Shinobi World!"

Deva Path Pain interrupted him coldly. "Tell me Deidara's exact location."

"He's creating terror in the border region between the Land of Earth and the Land of Grass."

The White Zetsu Clone asked with a smile, "Pain, who are you planning to send to recruit Deidara?"

"I'll go myself," Deva Path Pain replied.

The Akatsuki was now divided into six teams: Pain and Konan; Takigawa Hyuga and Orochimaru; Yuki Kanpyo and Hidan; Kakuzu and Kisame Hoshigaki; Zetsu on his own, responsible for investigating the Jinchuriki of the Tailed Beasts in the Major Ninja Villages; and finally Sasori of the Red Sands, abandoned by Shisui, on his own.

If they were simply recruiting Deidara into the Akatsuki, any team could do it. But just as Black Zetsu had suspected, Deva Path Pain—or rather, Nagato behind him—had grown increasingly wary of the Abyss.

Yuki Kanpyo and Takigawa Hyuga, both members of the Abyss, were already in the Akatsuki. If the organization also joined forces with Orochimaru, who possessed Hashirama Senju, the balance would shift. The Abyss was already becoming a threat to the Akatsuki!

So Nagato had to send a Kekkei Genkai user into the Abyss to find out what this organization was really about!

But within the Akatsuki, only he, Yuki Kanpyo, and Takigawa Hyuga possessed Kekkei Genkai. The latter two were out