Obsession

"I cannot be by your side at all times, so it would be best for you to bring a medical ninja along. Besides, Nonō is an elite ninja from Root with extensive experience; she can make up for your own lack thereof."

Shadow pursed her lips and remained silent, which served as her tacit agreement.

Naruto smiled and continued to explain, "As for Kabuto... that guy is a genius. You want to rebuild Inazuma, right? Kabuto can serve as your capable assistant, helping you achieve twice the result with half the effort. It's just that his loyalty..."

He paused; the Kabuto from the original story was a classic example of fickleness and had absolutely nothing to do with loyalty.

But now...

"Keep a firm grip on Nonō, and for the rest, just treat him with genuine sincerity."

He had done all he could; if the guy still wouldn't listen, then he would just have to be eliminated.

Having finished the topic of Nonō and Kabuto.

The two chatted for a while before Naruto proposed his departure.

"I cannot stay away from Konoha for too long; I'm worried something might happen... By the way, what are your plans next? Continue traveling the Ninja World?"

Shadow pondered for a long moment before shaking her head. "No, I will travel the Ninja World for now, but I need to find someone."

"Who?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

Hearing this name, Naruto frowned and scrutinized Shadow for a long time before finally saying, "Is it because of this body?"

Shadow nodded, confirming Naruto's guess.

"This body has always harbored an obsession—she wants to ask Itachi Uchiha in person why he killed her."

"You don't need revenge?"

A life-taking grudge—could she really endure that?

"No, she just wants an answer."

Fine, she could endure it.

One could only say, as expected of the Clan of Love; they really are paranoid.

"Can you ignore it?"

Although Itachi had some issues in his head, his strength was no joke, and he had one cheat ability after another.

If Shadow went to find Itachi... Naruto was worried she wouldn't make it back.

"I can ignore it, and I can suppress her obsession, but that would prevent me from fully mastering this body."

Her purple eyes shifted into crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan.

Shadow said, "You gave me a lot of soul energy, but the Three Tomoe still cannot evolve into Mangekyo because I haven't fully mastered the body... And I can feel that as long as her obsession is resolved, the Mangekyo will awaken."

Since she had put it that way, what else could Naruto say? He could only tell her to be careful and to summon him if she couldn't win.

"Do you know where to find Itachi Uchiha?"

At these words, Shadow froze. This... she hadn't thought that far ahead.

"Naruto, do you know?"

"You can try wandering around the Land of Fields. If you run into Orochimaru, he will likely help you find Itachi Uchiha."

Amegakure.

The secret base of the Akatsuki organization.

Inside a dim cave, on a circular platform five or six meters in diameter, a single pillar of lamplight glowed in the center.

Hum, hum, hum...

Accompanied by several sounds, translucent human-shaped projections appeared around the circular platform.

At the head were a man and a woman.

The man had a pair of purple Rinnegan; it was Deva Path Pain.

The woman had a flower pinned to her hair; she was Konan, the only female member of the Akatsuki.

Konan swept her gaze over the Akatsuki members and said indifferently, "Everyone, Akatsuki has missions to distribute to you..."

At this stage, the core mission of Akatsuki was to lie low and develop—recruiting members to build up their strength and inciting conflicts in the Ninja World to weaken the power of their enemies.

To achieve this goal, Akatsuki disguised itself as a mysterious and powerful mercenary organization.

They accepted commissions, did the work for money, and maintained a hundred-percent satisfaction rating.

"Orochimaru, Kakuzu, you two go to the Land of Lightning. Your mission is to hunt Cloud Ninja. The more Cloud Ninja that die, the more generous the reward..."

This mission was issued by Akatsuki's old client, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, with the goal of weakening the increasingly bloated military power of the Cloud Ninja.

Coincidentally, Akatsuki also had the idea of weakening the strength of the Five Great Ninja Villages, so they readily accepted the mission and assigned it to Orochimaru and Kakuzu.

Kakuzu happily accepted the task; as long as there was money to be made, he would do anything.

"Doing missions again..."

A flash of annoyance crossed Orochimaru's slit pupils.

If he was doing missions in Konoha and still doing missions after leaving Konoha, then hadn't he defected for nothing?

No way!

He had to find an opportunity to break away from the Akatsuki.

But before leaving the Akatsuki...

Orochimaru looked at Itachi with greedy eyes.

This genius body... he could hardly wait any longer.

Sensing Orochimaru's gaze filled with greed, Itachi's expression remained unchanged, though he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Even one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, coveted the power of the Uchiha? How truly disappointing...

"Itachi Uchiha, Biwa Juzo, you two are to go to Kirigakure and assassinate someone..."

Upon receiving the mission, Biwa Juzo looked troubled; as a rogue ninja of Kirigakure, being discovered while appearing in Kirigakure meant death.

"Oh, are the two seniors going to Kirigakure? Can you take me with you? I promise to be obedient."

The intern Tobi wore a mask, dancing around and making goofy noises.

Itachi glanced at him and ignored him.

Biwa Juzo waved his hand and said listlessly, "Ask the leader. Asking us is useless."

As expected, Pain rejected Tobi's nonsense.

Tobi was extremely disappointed and squatted on the ground drawing circles.

The meeting continued.

A few minutes later, the meeting ended, and just as they were about to disperse.

Orochimaru chuckled, "I have a piece of intelligence I'd like to share with you all. I wonder if you have any interest?"

Sasori, who had always been at odds with Orochimaru, said impatiently, "Stinking snake, say what you have to say and don't waste my time."

Stinking snake?

This nickname reminded Orochimaru of unpleasant memories.

His expression darkened for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal and smiled, "Speaking of which... Sasori, this intelligence has something to do with you as well... Do you still remember Kabuto?"

Orochimaru, who intended to take Kabuto as a subordinate, had long since investigated Kabuto's background and knew that Kabuto was a spy Sasori had planted in Konoha.

Sasori was stunned, recalled who Kabuto was, and said coldly, "Stinking snake, don't meddle in other people's business."

Orochimaru stopped smiling, "I have no interest in your business, I am just telling you a piece of intelligence: Kabuto defected from Konoha a while ago."

Kakuzu said unhappily, "Hey, Orochimaru, the intelligence you want to tell us... it wouldn't just be that Konoha has one more rogue ninja, would it?"

The others also looked at Orochimaru with vaguely unfriendly expressions. Wasting their time with such a trivial matter...

Was he tired of living?

"Of course not, that was just a side note. What I really want to say is..."

He paused, looked at Pain, his eyes meaningful: "I have discovered a new pair of Rinnegan."

Kirigakure.

Mizukage Building.

Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura was focused on processing documents.

Several hours passed.

Yagura looked up, twisted his stiff neck, and saw a ninja dressed as a Kirigakure Anbu sitting on his desk, lost in thought.

Instead of scolding him, he asked with a smile, "Tobi, what are you thinking about? Do you need any help?"