In the original story, the Akatsuki members were already max-level powerhouses from the moment they appeared, all in their prime. Every time they went to capture a Tailed Beast, it felt like grown-ups picking on children.
With Taiwan Novel Network's super-useful site, reading was a breeze.
People often said that every Akatsuki member had Kage-level strength, but that was a bit of an exaggeration.
Aside from Pain, Itachi Uchiha, and Sasori, who had Kage-level combat strength, the rest—Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Kisame, and the others—were more like one-trick specialists who excelled at obscure characters.
They exploited what others didn't know about them to gain an information advantage. They'd unleash their three-move combo, and if they couldn't win, they'd turn and leave. Combined with the Akatsuki's secrecy, this let them operate almost without a hitch in the original story—and made every member extremely confident.
With that confidence, working in pairs was the most they were willing to accept.
Any more people, and they worried their information might leak. They also felt it would be an insult to their strength.
But now...
The Akatsuki had gotten their priorities straight.
There was only one reason: they'd seen the photograph of the "Demon Palm."
An enormous attack that affected a hundred kilometers and reached thousands of meters underground...
Wait, was Lin Qing the one who wiped out the dinosaurs?
If they weren't short-handed, they'd want to deploy the entire organization for every operation, all of them tied together and moving as one. They were afraid that one day a Purple Vine would find them, or the Blade of Ruin would come crashing down from the sky.
They'd become humble and cautious.
And as the Land of Water fell and the Land of Wind became Lin Qing's personal cash machine, the Conglomerates of the remaining three