Joining the Akatsuki

3. Joining the Akatsuki

Chen Xiaoxi raised countless blades from beneath his feet, each of which then shattered to produce even more blades, once again surrounding Sasori of the Red Sand.

Senbonzakura Kageyoshi: An omnidirectional attack with no blind spots, composed of hundreds of millions of blades.

Boom!!

In the blink of an eye!

The thousand arms of the Third Kazekage puppet suddenly exploded, turning into a sky full of iron filings and debris!

The cherry blossoms formed by millions of blades acted like a meat grinder, shredding Sasori of the Red Sand's skin, flesh, and bones into pieces!

Sasori's thoughts were completely severed, his mind left in a state of total blankness!

Even in death, he could not understand why a technique that seemed so similar to his own could possess such overwhelming power this time!

At this moment, A woman wearing a black cloak with red clouds was floating in the air with paper wings spread wide, witnessing the entire scene.

Her mouth was slightly agape, and she was completely stunned.

White Tiger of Akatsuki! This was Konan's codename within the Akatsuki.

The only reason she was here was due to the orders of that mysterious Masked Man.

She had come to recruit members for the Akatsuki.

This time, her target was none other than the S-rank missing-nin from Sunagakure who had assassinated the Third Kazekage—the renowned genius puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand!

Because Sasori often operated while hidden inside his puppets, it was rare to find his trail in ordinary places.

After spending several days, Konan had finally discovered that Sasori had attacked several villages on the border of the Land of Wind.

Following his trail, Konan had finally tracked him down today.

This guy had actually returned to Sunagakure in a leisurely manner, despite being pursued by the village's ninjas.

However, she had only just caught sight of Sasori and hadn't even had the chance to descend and speak with him.

She had then witnessed that scene unfold.

A Kage-level powerhouse had been killed in an instant.

A small ninja tool had transformed into countless blades, directly slicing Sasori of the Red Sand into fragments.

It was simply inconceivable.

After a moment of hesitation, Konan decided to go down and check the situation.

No matter how she looked at it, the scene she had just witnessed was far too strange...

Although there might be a risk of combat, Possessing the Dance of the Shikigami, she could perfectly immunize herself against all physical attacks.

No matter how terrifying the opponent's blades were, she naturally had nothing to fear.

Furthermore, she did not want to have made this trip for nothing.

After all, her mission was to recruit people. While she might not be able to recruit Sasori, perhaps, She might be able to recruit someone even stronger than Sasori of the Red Sand for the Akatsuki...

Thinking this, Konan spread her wings and flew downward.

"Ding, congratulations to the host, mission successfully completed.

Reward: one lucky draw~!"

"Start draw!"

"Reward: Flash Step +1; Kido Basics +1; Reiatsu +1."

As the notification sound faded, Chen Xiaoxi's eyes lit up. This time, the rewards were directly related to the Shinigami class, and he had received three bonuses at once, including a boost to his Reiatsu.

He knew that for these 100,000+ point missions, most of the rewards he drew from the system were related to Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, or Kido; it was rare to get a direct increase in Reiatsu.

As a result, his Reiatsu was only at LV.3 until now.

As for the importance of Reiatsu, there was no need to elaborate.

Aizen had once said—

Battles between Shinigami are, in essence, battles of Reiatsu!

When the gap in Reiatsu is too large, one can even completely ignore an enemy's attacks;

In fact, a powerhouse only needs to release their Reiatsu to make the weak scatter into nothingness, without even needing to engage in combat.

In truth, Chen Xiaoxi had just attempted to release his Reiatsu in front of Sasori, The result, however, was that it only strengthened his own aura, which was not yet enough to intimidate others.

Therefore, now that he had received a reward to increase his Reiatsu, Chen Xiaoxi was naturally very pleasantly surprised.

However, just as Chen Xiaoxi was deep in thought, Suddenly, within his Reiatsu perception, a target was approaching at high speed!

"?"

Chen Xiaoxi's heart stirred slightly, and he immediately narrowed his eyes, looking toward the direction of his perception.

He saw that in the sky above, A woman wearing a black robe with red clouds was unfolding paper wings that looked like those of an angel, looking down from above.

That iconic short blue-purple hair, along with the paper floating around her, left no doubt about her identity.

The moment Chen Xiaoxi saw her, he was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but reveal a smile.

Looking from his angle, Konan's beautiful figure was fully revealed, and even the wide black robe could not conceal it.

She truly lived up to the name of Pain's Seventh Path, the Path of Great Misfortune.

Chen Xiaoxi admired her openly while sighing inwardly.

Seeing Konan appear here, In fact, he had already guessed the general idea.

It was very likely that she had come specifically to invite Sasori of the Red Sand to join the Akatsuki.

After all, the chances of the two of them appearing on screen together were rare, and even rarer in the desert.

Unfortunately, due to the appearance of an outsider like himself, Sasori had been wiped out.

That was what led to this scene.

And at this moment, Konan, floating in the air, could naturally not know what the seemingly serious youth below was thinking in his mind.

Her gaze merely looked at Chen Xiaoxi indifferently, and she said without a ripple:

"Who are you?"

"Did you kill the S-rank missing-nin Sasori of the Red Sand, who controlled the Third Kazekage puppet, all by yourself?"

"Since when did Sunagakure of the Land of Wind have such a powerful existence as you?"

Konan said expressionlessly.

In fact, the purpose of these words was obvious; although it sounded like praise on the surface, she was actually probing for information about Chen Xiaoxi.

Chen Xiaoxi naturally heard it too, and he chuckled as he said:

"You have probably misunderstood something."

"I am not from Sunagakure, and the reason I fought Sasori was simply because he wanted to kill me."

As he spoke, Chen Xiaoxi spread his hands helplessly.

"..."

Konan's gaze flickered, and then she said indifferently:

"Then, how about I invite you to join the Akatsuki!"

"Our organization needs power like yours, and likewise, we can provide a sanctuary for someone like you."

"..."

As her voice fell, a small question mark immediately appeared on Chen Xiaoxi's face.

What was going on?

She was starting the invitation already?

You clearly haven't even figured out who I am, have you?

Chen Xiaoxi was surprised in his heart, but after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly understood.

The Akatsuki at this time was probably still in its early stages and not the ten-member team of the later period.

The only real members were Nagato, Konan, and the two actors, the Masked Man and Zetsu.

In reality, there were hardly any members who could actually take action; otherwise, she wouldn't have let someone from the leadership group like Konan come out to recruit people personally.

Thinking about it this way, since he had defeated Sasori, it was indeed possible that he would be recruited...

Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoxi couldn't help but ponder.

Seeing Chen Xiaoxi deep in thought, Konan knew there was a chance, so she continued:

"As long as you join us, apart from missions, you will not be restricted in any other way, and you can still do whatever you want."

"How about it?"

"Someone alone like you should need an organization, right?"

Konan spoke with persuasive, gentle encouragement.

Chen Xiaoxi rolled his eyes immediately.

Why do I feel like you guys are some kind of pyramid scheme?

"However, what you said isn't half bad."

"I can join."

Because just a moment ago, the system had issued a mission: join any organization to receive a lucky draw opportunity. Naturally, Chen Xiaoxi was not about to miss out on that.

"Congratulations on drawing the Hollowfication Power of the Shinigami!"

"Hollowfication Power of the Shinigami: The host will obtain a perfectly fused Hollow Soul, capable of easily breaking the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow to enter the Masked State, granting an all-around boost in strength!"