Three Choices

Her aura was overwhelming. Aside from Nagato, Tsunade was the only one who radiated the presence of a leader, naturally drawing everyone's gaze toward her.

The members of Taka watched Tsunade with great interest, thinking to themselves, "Who is this person? She seems incredibly arrogant."

They glanced at the mask on Tsunade's face, then at the mask on Obito's, their expressions turning peculiar. Suigetsu even broke into a grin. Although the patterns on their masks were different, both had only a single hole cut out for the right eye, which looked rather comical. It couldn't be that both of them just happened to be missing their left eyes, could it? Was this just a mask-wearing habit within the Akatsuki?

"Ahem, this is a new member who has joined our organization." Seeing that everyone was staring at Tsunade and that she had no intention of introducing herself, Nagato had to clear his throat and introduce her with a grand tone, "Her codename is the One-Eyed King! You can get to know each other when there's an opportunity later."

So this was the real One-Eyed King? The four members of Taka looked at Tsunade, then back at Obito, their eyes conveying the same message: "So you were just a regular one-eyed guy after all."

Obito immediately experienced the same feeling Zetsu had just gone through; was he being targeted too? What kind of nonsense was "One-Eyed King"?

The atmosphere at the scene turned awkward for a moment. Tsunade and Obito both glared at Nagato with dissatisfied eyes; both one-eyed individuals felt that Nagato was stirring up trouble.

"Ahem." Nagato cleared his throat again, looking at the four members of Taka, preparing to change the subject, "Are you the Taka squad? I requested you to come here this time because I wanted to confirm your stance."

"Stance?" Sasuke spoke up immediately, "We have already left the Akatsuki. Whatever we do from now on has nothing to do with you."

The moment this brat opened his mouth, he gave Nagato a sense of immaturity and alienation. He seemed like an introverted minor. Well, not "seemed"—he was indeed a minor, and one with only an elementary school level of education at that.

"You are already aware of the situation in the outside world, aren't you?" Nagato maintained his patience, speaking in a tone one might use with a mentally challenged person, "You are now an internationally wanted criminal. All your intelligence has been released by the Hidden Leaf Village to ninjas across the world and recorded on their wanted lists."

"That is my business," Sasuke retorted bluntly, "It has nothing to do with you."

"Then, what about the matter of the Eight Tails?" Nagato said calmly, "You did not capture the Eight Tails as per our agreement."

Sasuke glanced at Obito, who was sitting in his seat in silence, then looked back at Nagato: "Then what do you intend to do?"

"I can give you three choices." Nagato held up three fingers, "First, you go and fulfill your promise to the Akatsuki right now and capture the Eight Tails. Once you successfully hand the Eight Tails over to us, I will announce that you have no further ties to the Akatsuki, and the Five Great Shinobi Countries hunting you will have nothing to do with us. Second, you officially join the Akatsuki now; past grievances will be forgiven, but you must obey the organization's orders from here on out. Third, you can refuse the first two options, but I will kill you right here and now."

As Nagato finished speaking, a faint killing intent permeated the room. Sasuke stared at Nagato's Rinnegan with a blank expression, his inner rage surging.

The Uchiha clan's style of conduct was naturally prone to emotional volatility, and after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan, their personalities tended to become even more extreme. Just by looking at Sasuke's eyes, Nagato knew the kid must be harboring all sorts of crazy thoughts.

But it didn't matter; in Nagato's eyes, Sasuke was completely insignificant. He possessed no outstanding talent, nor did he have the conviction to support peace like Naruto. If it weren't for the certainty that this kid was a pawn of the Sage of Six Paths, and the fear that killing him outright might trigger unpredictable results, Nagato wouldn't have bothered wasting his breath. He didn't believe Sasuke had the qualifications to bargain with him based on strength.

The Mangekyō Sharingan was inherently a powerful eye, and if used well, it wasn't impossible to contend with the Rinnegan. The abilities of Obito, Shisui, and Itachi were exceptionally potent. But Sasuke was different; his only talent was making others think he had talent. After all, he was the only remaining Uchiha; if they didn't hype him up, there would be no one left in the Uchiha clan to brag about.

His performance when learning ordinary ninjutsu was not even worth mentioning; after all, once an Uchiha reached the Mangekyō level, they were expected to rely on the power of their eyes.

Looking at all known Mangekyō abilities, Obito's eyes were the dual Kamui, a top-tier space-time ability that excelled in both offense and defense; as long as he didn't court death, it was very difficult for others to kill him. Shisui's ocular power was the strongest genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami; when both eyes were present, even the Rinnegan might not be able to withstand a genjutsu of that level. After all, according to Itachi's calculations, even a single-eyed Kotoamatsukami from Shisui was something the Eternal Mangekyō-wielding Sasuke couldn't resist, which showed just how powerful that genjutsu was.

As for Itachi's own eyes, while they weren't as exaggerated in individual abilities as the previous two, he was the only one who truly possessed both Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu, and his Susanoo came equipped with two divine artifacts: the Totsuka Blade and the Yata Mirror. It could be said that the ocular power of these three, especially when they had just awakened their Mangekyō and their eyes were still healthy, was exceptionally formidable. Anyone wanting to deal with them had to be extremely cautious, or they would easily capsize in the gutter.

But Sasuke was different. Compared to the Mangekyō abilities of those three, his were like a cheap gift thrown in with a phone plan—the trashiest of all known Mangekyō abilities, bar none.

Both eyes had the ability to use Amaterasu—one to release it, one to control it. Not to mention the inherent flaws of the Amaterasu technique itself, the time it took for the current Sasuke to gather enough ocular power to release it was enough for someone else to kill him several times over.

When encountering someone who liked to wear armor, his Amaterasu's only use was to strip their clothes off. Like a little thug of the ninja world, whoever he glared at would end up undressed—truly a worthy brother to Naruto.

Moreover, unlike the kind-hearted Naruto, Sasuke, despite being a weakling, was a troublemaker, self-centered, and an ego-driven avenger. It could be said that he was not someone who could carry the peace Nagato envisioned.

Should he kill him? Forget it, better to suppress him and make the kid behave.

Just by looking at Sasuke's eyes, Nagato knew the kid posed no threat to him at all. He could kill him easily, whether now or in the future.

Sasuke stared fixedly at Nagato's Rinnegan, his gaze wavering as his pitch-black pupils turned red, with three black tomoe slowly rotating within them.

In his field of vision, Nagato's body transformed into a constantly expanding black shadow, gradually enveloping him and covering every space his eyes could see.

Sasuke's mental world turned into a void of darkness. He tilted his head back, seeing only Nagato's increasingly massive shadow, and the Rinnegan rising higher and higher as the shadow expanded, hanging in the sky like two full moons in a pitch-black night. They radiated a cold, heartless ocular power that chilled him to the bone, instantly extinguishing the sliver of fighting spirit he had just mustered.

Just to withstand the ocular power constantly encroaching from the Rinnegan, Sasuke had unconsciously activated his Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Not long ago, he had been trembling in front of Itachi's Susanoo. Now, facing Nagato's Rinnegan, that sense of horror, fear, and invincibility returned to his heart. If not for a surge of chakra within his body propping up his pride, Sasuke would have bowed his head long ago.

As the option to bow his head and admit defeat surfaced in Sasuke's mind, the sense of frustration in his heart grew stronger. At the same time, a burst of wild arrogance erupted from within his chakra, rising like a burning flame. It flowed through his limbs and bones, carrying a fierce, uncontrollable aura as if his royal authority had been offended. It forced Sasuke to stand his ground stubbornly, refusing to allow even the slightest retreat.

Intense fear and unyielding arrogance—two diametrically opposed emotions intertwined within Sasuke's body, causing his face to twist more and more, his expression becoming increasingly ferocious.