Showdown

"Please speak. As long as it is within my power to help."

"I want you and Yamato to help Naruto master the Nine-Tails!"

After obtaining Danzo's intelligence network, many things that had previously been unclear to Jiraiya suddenly became transparent. However, some matters had to be buried in his heart; Danzo's death could not be made public. Once it became known that the second-in-command of Konoha had died within the village, Konoha's prestige would be swept away, and it would be hard to prevent ambitious opportunists from setting their sights on the village.

After sending warnings to the various major ninja villages, Jiraiya planned to visit the Land of Rain. Regardless of the reason, he felt that this so-called Hanzo was acting strangely, and he even delayed Naruto's training for this purpose.

Akatsuki, Tailed Beasts—he had a feeling the Ninja World was about to descend into chaos. What should he do next? It was chaotic, far too chaotic, yet he felt these pieces of intelligence were inextricably linked.

Nagato, controlling Pain, suddenly said to Konan, "The teacher has come again. This time, he seems to be probing toward our central location."

Konan's pupils dilated slightly before narrowing again, her voice cold. "Should I kill him?"

"...Wait a little longer." Pain watched Jiraiya's active presence in the Land of Rain, lost in thought. But one thing was certain: the moment Jiraiya intended to reach his actual location, Pain would kill him.

Then, he suddenly received a message from Kakuzu... "Adamantine Sealing Chains, the Uzumaki Clan?" Pain pondered, and the next moment, he received another message from Zetsu: "Another Uzumaki?" Just as the organization was beginning to reveal its strength, the successive appearances of the Uzumaki Clan seemed to portend something.

Or perhaps, were these two people actually the same person?

Black Zetsu also felt that something was wrong. However, as the mastermind pulling the strings of the Ninja World, he had absolute confidence in twisting any unfavorable outcome back in his favor. The worst-case scenario would simply be waiting a little longer to resurrect his mother.

Still, the recent appearances—whether it was the Uzumaki or this so-called Uchiha Gen—were excessively strong, and they had all appeared suddenly, as if out of thin air. This made Zetsu feel a trace of unease. In any case, the power had been accumulated enough; perhaps they should start collecting the Tailed Beasts ahead of schedule?

Pain suddenly noticed a message that Kakuzu had hastily passed on. This Uzumaki clansman wore the same mask as Uchiha Gen, the new intern in the Akatsuki organization. While it was inevitable that there would be duplicates, it was simply too much of a coincidence.

Could it be that Uchiha "Madara" was behind all of this? But what would be the purpose of doing so?

In the Land of Rock, Ōnoki of Iwagakure hammered his desk in anger. Although he had hired the Akatsuki organization before, it was purely because he found them useful and did not believe they possessed the strength to threaten him.

But when combined with the information Jiraiya had provided and the investigation of the scene, the disappearance of the Five-Tails Jinchuriki had to be related to the Akatsuki.

However, Ōnoki remained dismissive of the alliance Jiraiya had proposed. How strong could a mere Akatsuki be?

As for Kirigakure, the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, who was being controlled by Obito, merely replied with a faint "Understood" to the news from Jiraiya and the dissuasion of his council of elders.

As for the remaining Kumogakure and Sunagakure, one believed only in brute force, while the other had already lost their Kazekage and could only focus on guarding their own One-Tail, being otherwise powerless to act.

In the Konoha office, Uzumaki Reikawa frowned. "Isn't that a bit too rushed? For something like this, it is best to wait until Naruto is older and has mastered enough power to establish an equal relationship with the Nine-Tails."

Tsunade's eyes flickered, surprised by Uzumaki Reikawa's words, but soon her expression grew weary.

Tsunade knew that she was indeed being a bit impatient.

But dealing with those stubborn old men alone had already exhausted her mentally, and she still had to divert manpower to take over the mess left by Danzo. Now, an Akatsuki had appeared out of nowhere, gathering S-rank missing-nin from various villages with the intent to collect Tailed Beasts. The Five-Tails had already been captured; who would be next?

Seeing this, Tsunade decided not to beat around the bush. From the probing of these past few days, it was clear that Uzumaki Reikawa was wary of Konoha, but at least he was not hostile, and Konoha currently needed his strength...

"Uzumaki Reikawa, there were indeed hidden circumstances regarding what happened back then, and we cannot say that the resulting outcome was entirely unrelated to us. We will give you an explanation for that.

But since you chose to join Konoha, I hope you can trust us. Your abilities might be our trump card against the Akatsuki in the future. You know what the Akatsuki is, don't you?"

Uzumaki Reikawa nodded in silence, seemingly dropping his facade as his entire demeanor suddenly grew heavy. "Yes."

Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief, taking the opportunity to resolve these matters. "I will not pursue your previous concealment or anything else. I hope you can reintroduce yourself now. Konoha will always be your home."

Uzumaki Reikawa seemed to think for a moment before saying, "Uzumaki Reikawa, a descendant of the Uzumaki Clan. I possess the Adamantine Sealing Chains. As for my goal: to survive..."

On the side of "Uchiha Gen," faced with the questioning of the holographic Pain, he pulled a large bag of masks from his pack—all of them white-faced masks—and piled them on the ground, making it look like a wholesale market, before pointing at Itachi.

Itachi looked helpless and took out the mask that Uchiha Gen had previously given him.

Pain: "...How many people have you given this mask to?"

"Uchiha Gen" scratched his head. "Not many, just two or three? I don't remember their names, but I have a deep impression of one who had red hair. He seemed to be hiding from a debt of love at the time, and I lent it to him out of a sense of justice, though he still hasn't returned it to me."

...Fine, everything matched up again. However, Black Zetsu remained skeptical. His mother would be unsealed in just a few years; he could not let these inexplicable people ruin his plans.

As for Uchiha Gen being recruited by Obito? That was perfect. Black Zetsu did not want Obito's influence to grow; it was enough for him to be a simple tool to complete the Eye of the Moon Plan. On a deeper level, he simply felt an inexplicable sense of unease. In his view, both Uchiha Gen and the so-called Uzumaki Clan had to die!!

To achieve this, he only needed to leak a little information to make Nagato suspicious of Uchiha Gen and convince him that Uchiha Gen's existence threatened his plans.

However, this would require careful planning, especially since Uchiha Gen had just helped the organization capture the Five-Tails not long ago.

Pain was also weighing the pros and cons. According to the intelligence previously transmitted by White Zetsu, Uchiha Gen's strength was immense, potentially stronger than any two-man team in the organization.

Especially during this critical period of collecting Tailed Beasts, it was undoubtedly irrational to forcibly make an enemy of him at this time. Furthermore, Uchiha Gen had not done anything wrong. Even if he were to take action himself, Pain could not guarantee he could pin down Uchiha Gen, given that space-time movement ability similar to Uchiha "Madara."