The Trail of Sasori of the Red Sands

Feeling the chakra fluctuations coming 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, where a stone shrine with a lit bonfire stood before him.

Once Sigurd stood steady, the phantom projections of Konan and Deva Path Pain appeared simultaneously.

This was the "Magic Lantern Body Technique," developed by Nagato through the Rinnegan and connected via the rings he distributed, allowing for long-distance communication.

After a few more seconds, a phantom figure resembling a Venus flytrap appeared; it was Black Zetsu, who operated by merging with a White Zetsu.

Sigurd had exchanged greetings with Black Zetsu a few times over the past few months.

After all, the intelligence-gathering capabilities of the White Zetsu were the most authoritative in this Ninja World.

Whenever he picked up a few bounties on the black market each month to complete the Akatsuki's monthly quota, he relied entirely on the intelligence provided by Zetsu to get the job done quickly.

Honestly, if Konoha had an intelligence system like the White Zetsu, they would have unified the Ninja World back in the generation of Senju Tobirama.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Sigurd was the first to complain: "I say, Leader, calling me in for overtime on a holiday like this—does our organization have any shred of human decency?"

Hearing Sigurd's complaint, Deva Path Pain did not respond immediately, instead eyeing Sigurd's attire.

Although the Magic Lantern Body Technique only allowed one to see a translucent phantom, the general clothing of each member was still visible.

But when Deva Path Pain saw Sigurd's outfit, a flash of displeasure immediately crossed his face, and he said: "Suzaku, I have said that we in Akatsuki must have a unified dress code! Where is your Black Cloak with Red Clouds?"

That's right, Sigurd was still wearing his original clothes; after all, this outfit was hard-coded and could not be changed.

Besides, he didn't want to wear that "death-flag" cloak.

Most of his abilities relied on his shapeshifting body, and wearing other clothes made it very difficult to move.

Regarding this, Sigurd had long since prepared a countermeasure.

He pointed to the red cloud pattern stuck to his chest and said: "Leader, you're wronging me here. Look, I'm already wearing all black, and now I've got a red cloud pattern printed on my chest—how can you say this doesn't count as an alternative Black Cloak with Red Clouds?"

Nagato, standing behind Deva Path Pain, felt speechless upon hearing this.

He could swear that since he ascended to godhood, this was the moment his mood had fluctuated the most, and the most speechless he had ever been.

Seeing this scene, Konan, who was standing next to Nagato, was in a very good mood.

Ever since Yahiko died, Nagato hadn't experienced such significant emotional fluctuations in a long time.

Now, being teased like this by Sigurd, Konan felt quite happy, feeling that Nagato was still the same Nagato as before.

Just as Nagato was about to manipulate Deva Path Pain to teach Sigurd a lesson, Konan took the initiative to interject: "Alright, Suzaku, the reason we called you here is that there is a mission for you."

Sigurd shrugged helplessly upon hearing this and complained: "Hey, hey, hey! It's New Year's Eve, you know. This is labor exploitation. If the public found out about this, you'd be strung up on a lamppost."

"Shut up and listen carefully to the mission you're being given!"

Regarding Sigurd's complaints, before Konan could even say anything, Nagato, who was controlling Deva Path Pain, could no longer hold back.

Nagato's angry shout made Sigurd feel as though the signal of the Magic Lantern Body Technique had become unstable.

Seeing this, Sigurd quickly waved his hands and said: "Leader, calm down. Look, the signal gets worse every time you get angry. It would be bad if the connection suddenly dropped—you wouldn't want me to lose my way while doing the mission later, would you?"

Hearing Sigurd's words, Nagato immediately began to channel chakra to stabilize the Magic Lantern Body Technique.

Seeing this, Konan took over the mission briefing and continued to say to Sigurd: "Suzaku, according to intelligence provided by Zetsu, the S-rank missing-nin from the Land of Wind, 'Sasori of the Red Sands,' has been spotted in the territory of the Land of Bears."

Upon hearing this, Sigurd immediately looked at Konan, his face full of confusion.

He was completely baffled—why tell him about Sasori? Surely they didn't want him to go and recruit him?

Just then, Nagato, having stabilized the Magic Lantern Body Technique, spoke through Deva Path Pain: "And the mission I am giving you is to go to the Land of Bears, find Sasori of the Red Sands, and invite him to join our Akatsuki organization."

"Ah! Me?" Sigurd pointed his index finger at himself, looking bewildered.

Deva Path Pain nodded and replied: "Yes, you."

Hearing this, Sigurd immediately looked at Zetsu and asked: "Do you have his exact location?"

Zetsu nodded and said: "I do. He is currently within the Land of Bears, inside a valley called Hell Valley. It seems he is there collecting toxin samples."

"At your speed, it shouldn't take long to find him."

Hearing this, Sigurd secretly cursed him for being cunning.

Zetsu's words were clearly a reminder that his location was always under surveillance, warning him not to harbor any unnecessary thoughts.

Although he was cursing internally, Sigurd put on a cheerful face and said: "Hahaha, as expected of our Akatsuki's only designated potted plant—truly reliable."

As he spoke, Sigurd switched to a sycophantic expression and looked at Deva Path Pain: "I say, Leader, it's New Year's Eve, so making me work overtime is one thing, but shouldn't you at least give me some overtime pay?"

"I'm not asking for much. After I recruit Sasori of the Red Sands, just give me two or three months off."

Hearing Sigurd's words, the composure Nagato had just regained was once again replaced by a vein of pure rage.

"Get out and execute the mission!"

Nagato shouted through Deva Path Pain and then proactively cut off the connection to the Magic Lantern Body Technique.

Seeing that the call had ended, Sigurd shrugged helplessly and sighed: "And he calls himself a god? He can't take a joke at all."

Although he kept grumbling, since the mission had been issued, he obviously had to do it.

"Sasori of the Red Sands, huh?" Sigurd muttered to himself, his mind beginning to recall the information regarding the other's abilities.

The current time is shortly after the conclusion of the Third Ninja World War.

The reason for the outbreak of this Third Ninja War was that Sasori of the Red Sands, dissatisfied with the Third Kazekage for sending his parents to their deaths on the battlefield during the Second Ninja World War, evolved into the Batman of Sunagakure.

Originally, the hatred in Sasori's heart should have been vented upon the culprit who killed his parents, the White Fang of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo.

However, because Hatake Sakumo died amidst the political infighting of Konoha, Sasori's hatred had nowhere to be vented, which caused his psyche to begin a twisted development.

It was precisely for this reason that Sasori came to loathe the instigator of the war, the Third Kazekage.

Consequently, on a dark and windy night, he pulled a "Sneak Attack!" to kill the Third Kazekage and defected from Sunagakure, taking the corpse with him.

Of course, when this incident occurred, none of the ninjas in Sunagakure were aware of it.

Thus, these Sand ninjas began to stretch their legs back and forth across the borders of the major nations, frantically searching for the figure of their Kazekage.

It was precisely because of these reckless actions that the nerves of the major nations were directly provoked.

And so, the Third Ninja World War officially broke out just like that—truly a joyous and celebratory occasion!