Feeling the chakra fluctuation from the ring in his hand, Sigurd could only helplessly sink his consciousness into it.
In an instant, Sigurd's consciousness arrived in a dim space. A stone altar with a burning brazier stood before him.
Once Sigurd had settled into place, the apparitions of Konan and Deva Path Pain appeared at the same time.
This was the Magic Lantern Body Technique, developed by Nagato through the Rinnegan and connected via the rings he had distributed. It could be used for long-distance communication.
A few seconds later, the phantom figure of a person resembling a pitcher plant appeared. It was Black Zetsu, who was acting in tandem with a White Zetsu he had merged with.
Sigurd had exchanged greetings with Black Zetsu a few times over the past several months.
After all, White Zetsu's intelligence network was simply too authoritative in the Ninja World.
Whenever he took on a few bounty jobs on the black market to meet the Akatsuki's monthly quota, he relied on Zetsu's intel to wrap things up quickly.
Honestly, if Konoha had an intelligence network like White Zetsu's, it would have unified the Ninja World back in Senju Tobirama's day.
Once everyone had arrived, Sigurd was the first to complain. "Come on, Leader. You're making me work overtime during the New Year! Does our organization have no regard for its members?"
Hearing Sigurd's complaint, Deva Path Pain didn't respond right away. Instead, he looked over Sigurd's outfit.
Although the Magic Lantern Body Technique only showed a translucent image, it was still possible to make out everyone's general attire.
But when Deva Path Pain saw what Sigurd was wearing, a hint of displeasure flashed across his face. "Suzaku, didn't I say that we'd all wear the same uniform? Where's your Black Cloak with Red Clouds?"
That was right—Sigurd was still wearing his original clothes. They were part of his established design, and he couldn't change them anymore.
Besides, he didn't want to wear that death-trap of an outfit.
After all, most of his abilities depended on his malleable body, and wearing other clothes made it very difficult to move.
Sigurd had already come up with a counterargument.
Pointing to the red cloud emblem stuck to his chest, he said, "You're being unfair, Leader. Look, I'm already dressed in black, and now I've got a red cloud emblem on my chest. How does that not count as an alternative Black Cloak with Red Clouds?"
Nagato, standing behind Deva Path Pain, was left speechless.
He could swear this was the most exasperated and dumbfounded he'd felt since ascending to godhood.
Meanwhile, Konan, standing beside Nagato, was in a very good mood.
Ever since Yahiko's death, Nagato hadn't had much of an emotional reaction to anything.
Seeing Sigurd rile him up like this made Konan happy. It made her feel that Nagato was still the same person he'd always been.
Just as Nagato was about to control Deva Path Pain and teach Sigurd a lesson, Konan cut in. "All right, Suzaku. I called you here because I have a mission for you."
Sigurd shrugged helplessly and complained, "Hey, hey, hey! It's New Year's Eve! You're exploiting your workers. If the public found out, they'd hang you from a lamppost."
"Shut up and listen carefully to the mission you've been given!"
Before Konan, who was assigning the mission, could say anything, Nagato, controlling Deva Path Pain, had already lost his patience.
Nagato's angry shout made Sigurd feel as if the Magic Lantern Body Technique's signal had become unstable.
Seeing this, Sigurd hurriedly waved his hands. "Leader, calm down. Look, you're making the signal worse by getting angry. It'd be awful if we got disconnected. You don't want me to get lost while carrying out the mission, do you?"
After hearing Sigurd's words, Nagato immediately began performing a technique to stabilize the Magic Lantern Body Technique.
Seeing this, Konan took over the mission briefing and continued, "Suzaku, according to the intel Zetsu provided, the S-rank missing-nin Sasori of the Red Sands from the Land of Wind was spotted in the Land of Bears."
As soon as he heard this, Sigurd looked at Konan, utterly confused.
He was full of questions. Why tell me about Sasori? Are they expecting me to recruit him?
Just then, Nagato, having stabilized the Magic Lantern Body Technique, added through Deva Path Pain, "Your mission is to go to the Land of Bears, find Sasori of the Red Sands, and invite him to join the Akatsuki."
"Huh? Me?" Sigurd pointed at himself with his index finger, looking confused.
Deva Path Pain nodded. "Yes. You."
Hearing this, Sigurd immediately looked at Zetsu and asked, "Do you have his exact location?"
Zetsu nodded. "I do. He's in the Land of Bears, in a valley called Hell Valley. It looks like he's collecting poison samples there."
"At your speed, you should be able to find him before long."
Hearing this, Sigurd silently cursed Zetsu's cunning.
Zetsu was reminding him that he was being watched the whole time, telling him not to get any unnecessary ideas.
Though he was cursing inwardly, Sigurd kept smiling. "Hahaha, our Akatsuki's one and only designated potted plant really is reliable."
As he spoke, Sigurd put on a fawning expression and looked at Deva Path Pain. "Come on, Leader. You're making me work over the New Year, and that's bad enough. Don't I at least deserve some overtime pay?"
"I'm not asking for much. Once I've recruited Sasori of the Red Sands, just give me two or three months off."
At those words, the fury Nagato had just managed to suppress bubbled up again, marked by an invisible vein throbbing on his forehead.
"Get out there and do your mission!"
Nagato roared through Deva Path Pain, then cut off the Magic Lantern Body Technique himself.
Seeing that the call had ended, Sigurd shrugged helplessly and remarked, "So much for calling yourself a god. You can't take a joke at all."
Though he kept grumbling, the mission had been assigned, so he still had to do it.
"Sasori of the Red Sands?" Sigurd murmured to himself, beginning to recall the man's abilities.
The current time was not long after the Third Ninja World War had ended.
The war had broken out because Sasori of the Red Sands resented the Third Kazekage for sending his parents to die on the battlefield during the Second Shinobi World War. That turned him into the Batman of Sunagakure.
Sasori's hatred should have been directed at the person who'd killed his parents: White Fang, Hatake Sakumo of Konoha.
But Hatake Sakumo had died amid Konoha's political infighting. This left Sasori with nowhere to vent his hatred, and his mind began to grow twisted.
That was precisely why Sasori came to hate the Third Kazekage, the one who had started the war.
So, on a dark and stormy night, he simply launched a "sneak attack," killed the Third Kazekage, and defected from Sunagakure with his corpse.
Of course, when it happened, none of the shinobi in Sunagakure knew about it.
So the Sand shinobi began roaming the borders of the various great nations, frantically searching for their Kazekage.
And this reckless behavior directly set the nerves of the great nations on edge.
And so, the Third Ninja World War officially broke out just like that. A cause for celebration, indeed!
Before you continue