Priority Higher Than That of the Tailed Beasts?

Uchiha Sora's eyes flickered as he reviewed the original story in his mind.

First, after Orochimaru made his move, Konoha would reveal Naruto's existence.

After that, Yahiko, Nagato, and the others would travel the world collecting the Tailed Beasts.

They would even start a Shinobi World War along the way.

However, Uchiha Sora didn't have a very firm grasp of the story.

After all, with Uchiha Sora's arrival, many things could turn out differently.

He could only do his best to ensure that the overall direction remained unchanged.

And as far as the big picture went, the Akatsuki would definitely make a move. The only question was whether their target would be Naruto or him!

Forget it... No matter what, I need to get stronger as soon as possible. Tomorrow, I'll make two more rifles, one for Sasuke and one for my disciple, and start arming my organization!

Uchiha Sora understood that strength lay in numbers. Since he had Sasuke and Deidara, he might as well put them to use.

He would turn them into modern soldiers too, and make them believe in technology!

In the Naruto World, somewhere in a remote mountain wilderness, a long, narrow canyon split the earth. The fissure was extremely slender, and damp inside.

Moss covered both sides. Looking down, the canyon seemed endless, as if it were a crack in the earth that reached all the way to its core.

This was the cave the Akatsuki used for meetings whenever they weren't in the Land of Rain.

At that moment, all the Akatsuki members had gathered.

Their figures were blurry. Only their eyes and the rings on their hands could be seen.

Yahiko spoke coldly.

"You failed? I told you to bring Itachi Uchiha, and you brought Deidara too. You even had help from Sunagakure, and you still failed, you useless Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru shuddered. It wasn't because of Yahiko's words, but because they brought back unpleasant memories of Konoha.

It was fair to say that the mushroom cloud had dealt a devastating blow to Orochimaru's tender heart.

As a mere rogue ninja in the Ninja World, just how much psychological damage could that one blast have done to him?

At the very least, he was still trembling whenever he spoke.

"It wasn't my fault... That Uchiha Sora in Konoha is a complete freak! No, the whole Uchiha Clan is full of freaks!"

The others fell silent.

To be honest, anyone who wasn't blind could have seen the mushroom cloud over Konoha.

Even Yahiko knew there might have been more to the failure than met the eye.

Just then, Kakuzu let out a cold laugh.

"What a useless fool! Do you know that no matter what kind of unexpected situation you ran into, that mission cost us a fortune? At least half our assets!"

"Orochimaru, how are you going to pay us back?"

Duan Fei gave a sinister little smile, clearly enjoying the show.

"Exactly! Orochimaru, Konoha didn't even have any real powerhouses, did it? As far as I know, they had a Hokage and, at most, Jiraiya."

"And what about you? You had Itachi Uchiha and Deidara with you!"

"And you still lost? You're completely useless!"

Hearing the mockery around him, Orochimaru was furious.

If you're so capable, why didn't you go yourselves?

Faced with a mushroom cloud that terrifying, if you could keep a straight face, I'd take your surname right here and now.

Besides, Orochimaru had been scared out of his wits.

The terrifying power of Uchiha Sora's shot was still fresh in his memory.

He couldn't help taking a deep breath.

"You don't understand. You're all frogs at the bottom of a well. There's definitely something wrong with that brat Uchiha Sora's Sharingan!"

"You didn't see it. That terrifying explosion sounded like hundreds, even thousands, of Tailed Beast Bombs going off all at once!"

"Itachi Uchiha saw it too. If you don't believe me, ask him!"

Yahiko snorted.

"He isn't here! That guy's always absent... But are you saying that terrifying power came from his Sharingan?"

Duan Fei was interested now, and stared fixedly at Orochimaru.

"The Sharingan! Well, I've heard for a long time that it's the strongest ocular technique. Once you train it to its limits, you can even awaken unique abilities. Looks like it's true!"

Yahiko snorted.

"Enough! Everyone, be quiet. Let Orochimaru explain what happened."

Orochimaru nodded.

"Here's what happened... In short, Uchiha Sora seemed capable of unleashing that terrifying explosion more than once!"

"Maybe he can fire them off like Tailed Beast Bombs. That guy's basically a human-shaped Tailed Beast!"

Orochimaru gave them a brief account of what had happened.

When the others realized that Uchiha Sora's single shot had taken out Shukaku, they were stunned.

"What did you say? He defeated Shukaku with just one attack? Are you serious? Even if it was only the One-Tail, it was still a Tailed Beast!"

Duan Fei was dumbfounded, his face full of shock.

If all they heard was that someone was strong, they might not have understood what that meant.

But the strength of the Tailed Beasts was etched into everyone's minds. They were the nightmare of practically every ninja.

Who hadn't been frightened by a Tailed Beast as a child?

Even Kakuzu's eye twitched.

"You're saying that the Uchiha brat is just a Genin in Konoha, yet somehow managed to seemingly kill Shukaku instantly?"

"If this is true, then it'll probably change the entire Ninja World's understanding of Genin!"

Orochimaru curled his lip.

"Believe whatever you want. I, for one, don't want to go after that guy again. It feels like Uchiha Sora has an endless supply of tricks up his sleeve."

Seeing this, Yahiko's expression also grew extremely grave.

"Could Uchiha Sora become the next Madara Uchiha?"

"After all, even the man hailed as the founder of the ninja world probably couldn't have taken down a Tailed Beast when he was a child!"

A moment later, he drew a deep breath, greed flashing in his eyes.

"No matter what, Uchiha Sora needs to be watched closely. Raise his priority to the same level as the Nine-Tails. If he continues to show this kind of strength, then we'll capture him first!"

The others were startled.

They had never heard of anyone being given a higher capture priority than a Tailed Beast!

But for a freak like Uchiha Sora, it somehow made sense.

Orochimaru spoke up.

"It's best not to make a move right now. All five great ninja villages are taking action. That battle was simply too spectacular to ignore."

"They're probably keeping their guard up around the clock. Making a move now would be unwise."

Duan Fei suddenly spoke from the side.

"It feels like a lot of people are missing this time. Where's Deidara?"

Sasori shook his head.

"Deidara's my partner, but he's a hard man to track down. He went out with Orochimaru this time, and hasn't come back since."

Everyone turned to look at Orochimaru again.

Orochimaru felt thoroughly wronged.

How was he supposed to know where Deidara had gone?

When they left, Orochimaru had been too busy running for his life.

He hadn't even bothered keeping track of Deidara.

After all, even if Deidara was unreliable, he was still strong.