In the Shinobi World, at one of Akatsuki's bases in the Land of Rain, the organization's remaining members had gathered. Over the past few years, the power of the Three Sacred Treasures had spread throughout the Shinobi World, making breakthroughs that had once been difficult much easier.
Akatsuki's members were already among the finest in the Shinobi World, and their progress over the past two years had been even more astounding. Nagato had already entered the true god realm, and even Yahiko, who had returned from the dead after years without training, had reached the mid-god realm. The others had reached the middle or late stages, and some had even reached the peak god realm, just one step away from the true god realm.
If the people of the Shinobi World learned that so many peerless experts had gathered in one organization, they would have been shocked. But Akatsuki had always kept a low profile. Even when capturing tailed beasts, they had tried to act discreetly and avoid discovery whenever possible.
Really, Akatsuki could hardly be blamed for the exposure of their efforts to capture the tailed beasts. Jiraiya had simply been too persistent. Naruto's departure to train on the Azure Continent had finally freed Jiraiya, who had long been hampered by his responsibilities. After Naruto left, Jiraiya had kept investigating Akatsuki's movements until a chance discovery finally gave him a few clues.
Following those clues, Jiraiya soon tracked down Deidara and Sasori. He tailed them all the way to Akatsuki's new base, where he discovered that the organization had recruited two new members at some point to replace Kakuzu and Hidan.
From their conversation, Jiraiya learned that one of them was named Manlong, a samurai from the Land of Iron who carried an enormous sword. The other was a