A One-Man Team

"Consider how?"

"Juzo Biwa, do you want to challenge Chen Xiaoxi and switch groups?"

Heavenly Path Pain's voice came again, indifferent.

"Uh..."

"Forget it, just forget it,"

"Actually, I think partnering with this Uchiha kid is pretty good too."

Juzo Biwa's expression was clearly a little embarrassed as he stammered.

As soon as he spoke, everyone present was speechless.

Good heavens, you changed your tune so quickly...

"..."

Hearing this, Heavenly Path Pain withdrew his gaze and then said faintly:

"Since that's the case, then, the initial grouping for the Akatsuki is temporarily set.

"Barring any accidents, it won't change in the future."

"Next,"

"is the Akatsuki's action plan."

"Given the addition of new members, I need to explain it again."

"Listen carefully, Itachi Uchiha--"

Heavenly Path Pain's indifferent gaze fell upon him, and he said calmly:

"The Akatsuki's ultimate plan is to achieve true peace in the Ninja World through absolute power.

To this end, we have a three-step plan to accomplish."

"The first step is to collect wealth through bounties and commissioned missions from various countries, providing the economic foundation for all future Akatsuki operations.

"The second step is to build a mercenary organization that does not belong to any country, first instigating wars on a small scale.

Then, monopolize the war commissions of small countries at low prices, increasing the scale of the wars.

Following this, we will successfully break the ninja systems of the major powers and monopolize all wars."

"And the third step, the most important one--"

Heavenly Path Pain paused slightly, his gaze fixed on Itachi Uchiha, and said coldly:

"Is to collect the Nine Tailed Beasts and create Tailed Beast weapons,"

"And use this as absolute power to conquer the entire Ninja World and achieve... true world peace!"

"?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Itachi Uchiha's heart skipped a beat!

Even though he was usually very calm, after hearing this, his pupils couldn't help but contract sharply.

Although he had some understanding of the Akatsuki group before and knew about some of their actions.

He had never expected, that their ultimate goal was to collect Tailed Beasts to conquer the world?

Itachi Uchiha's breathing hitched slightly.

Orochimaru, standing beside him, showed a somewhat surprised smile and said:

"My, my,"

"I didn't expect Itachi-kun to be so surprised by the Akatsuki's goals?"

"This is truly interesting."

Hearing this, Itachi merely lowered his eyes and did not respond.

Chen Xiaoxi, standing nearby, found it amusing in his heart.

It's natural for Itachi to react so strongly.

After all, this guy is probably the person who hates war the most in the entire Ninja World.

Back then, he was afraid that the Uchiha clan's rebellion would lead to Konoha being besieged by other countries, resulting in a Fourth Great Ninja War, so he directly wiped out his entire clan to prevent the rebellion from happening.

For someone like him,

the Akatsuki's peace plan would naturally be very impactful.

That's why this guy would frequently go easy on his opponents, or even let them off completely, in many subsequent actions.

Especially the fated battle with his younger brother, Sasuke, which was enough to be recorded in the history of the Ninja World as the Pacific War.

Therefore, the Akatsuki's goal of instigating wars was almost completely contrary to his life's creed.

However,

After a moment of silence, Itachi suddenly raised his eyes again and said expressionlessly, "Understood, Leader."

"As a member of the Akatsuki, I will do my utmost to contribute to the Akatsuki's ultimate cause of peace."

This Leaf spy within a spy, the fourth Actor of the Akatsuki, finally spoke words against his will with his composed acting.

From beginning to end, there was no change in his expression.

The Akatsuki's first grouping meeting soon concluded.

Although there were individual members (referring to Juzo Biwa) who expressed dissatisfaction with the grouping and proposed to switch with Chen Xiaoxi, in the end, they reluctantly compromised.

And at this moment, except for Chen Xiaoxi, the other members gradually left in pairs.

This was because Leader Pain required everyone to begin practicing and coordinating their rapport with their partners.

This site has added a font switching function. Click the "Settings" button to try it out!

At this time.

Walking on the streets of Amegakure, Chen Xiaoxi slowly strolled towards his residence.

In fact, after leaving the System Secret Realm, Chen Xiaoxi's pace of life had slowed down considerably.

Back then, fearing being devoured by the vast-bodied Hollows of Hueco Mundo, Chen Xiaoxi practiced day and night, learning Kido and Flash Step while also delving into swordsmanship and Hakuda, and never stopping his training for Bankai.

But now, after leaving the secret realm, he could directly improve his strength by completing various side quests.

It had to be said that it was a lot easier.

And in this grouping meeting, Konan seemed to have specifically arranged a solo combination for him, which was not bad without teammates to hold him back or drag him down.

As for his mission.

In short, there were only two—

First, to provide support for the actions of other group members.

Second, to annihilate the enemies of the Akatsuki.

In other words, from now on, he wouldn't have to go out to accept commissions or bounty missions to earn money like before.

It could be said that he had basically bid farewell to his identity as a wage earner.

Moreover, if other group members could handle their missions, Chen Xiaoxi naturally wouldn't need to provide support and could openly slack off.

As for annihilating the enemies of the Akatsuki—

This mission was relatively broad.

After all, the Akatsuki, in the Ninja World, could not be considered utterly evil, but they were basically constantly causing trouble.

Therefore, there would definitely be many enemies eyeing them covetously.

To take a step back, those who coveted Amegakure could also be considered enemies of the Akatsuki.

"Hmm, wait—"

"If I directly use this time to enhance the Akatsuki's reputation and deter those people from attacking..."

"Wouldn't that mean even this second mission could be skipped directly?"

Chen Xiaoxi had a flash of inspiration.

He was instantly amused by his own idea.

Good heavens, if he could really achieve this, it seemed he could openly slack off at work in the future. That would be great...

Chen Xiaoxi walked toward the residence with a light smile, contemplating his plan.

He hadn't even entered the house when he suddenly saw two figures slowly approaching from another direction.

The one in front was Juzo Biwa, carrying the Executioner's Blade on his back.

Following behind him was the newly joined Itachi Uchiha, still clad in his Konoha Anbu uniform.

Seeing this pair, Chen Xiaoxi immediately understood.

It seemed that as partners, Juzo Biwa was responsible for bringing the new recruit, Itachi Uchiha, to choose a residence in Amegakure.

And just as Chen Xiaoxi noticed them.

The two of them naturally also noticed Chen Xiaoxi on this side.

However, their expressions were completely different.

Although Itachi Uchiha's expression remained unchanged, a faint glint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Juzo Biwa, on the other hand, his face visibly changed, and without a word, just like before, he directly turned and took a detour.

The alert Itachi Uchiha immediately noticed the strangeness, but still pretended to be surprised and asked:

"Mr. Juzo,"

"Why are we taking a detour? It's closer to go that way, isn't it?"

"Or is it... that there's something over there that cannot be approached?"

"..."

Juzo Biwa immediately frowned, annoyed.

"Tch,"

"Do I even need to say? Of course, it's that Golden-Eyed Brat!"

The Golden-Eyed Brat?

Itachi Uchiha first paused slightly, then his eyes flickered.

It seemed he was referring to the person named "Chen Xiaoxi"...

Thinking about it, ever since he entered the base, the Masked Man, Madara Uchiha, had shown an unusual level of attention towards Chen Xiaoxi.

Moreover, he had even tried to steer the conversation deliberately to provoke a fight between Konoha's Fox Ghost and Chen Xiaoxi...

All of this, of course, was seen by Itachi.

And, what surprised Itachi even more was, if this Chen Xiaoxi possessed such powerful strength, why had he never heard this name before...