Tetsuya: When I'm in a good mood, you're a sage. When I'm not, you're a dish on the table

At Akatsuki's headquarters, inside an enormous cave.

Nagato stood atop the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

The members of Akatsuki stood below him. Their once substantial ranks had dwindled sharply for various reasons lately.

Even so, Akatsuki still had considerably more members than it had in the original timeline.

In the original timeline, Akatsuki's members operated in pairs. Now, each elite member led a squad.

Nagato looked down at the members of Akatsuki and nodded in satisfaction.

He had previously begun reorganizing Akatsuki according to plan, eliminating quite a few of the people Obito had brought in.

Still, to draw Obito's attention, Nagato had exercised restraint and avoided going too far.

Without examining it closely, no one would find anything amiss. It looked like ordinary combat losses.

By his calculations, it would take several more years to eliminate all the people Obito had brought in.

But not long ago, a large batch of those people had suddenly disappeared.

Only afterward had he learned that Obito had summoned them to assassinate Chiba Tetsuya.

Nagato found that laughable.

Trying to assassinate Master Chiba with that bunch of misfits? What a pipe dream.

Still, that made his next moves easier. With so many of Obito's people gone, control of Akatsuki had returned to his hands.

"Fellow comrades!"

Nagato lowered his voice and spoke in a grave tone.

"The time has come for the shinobi world to undergo another transformation!"

His low, solemn voice echoed through the cave, lending his words even greater gravity.

For a moment, the members of Akatsuki grew tense.

As Nagato continued his speech, their emotions rose with it.

Watching everything from a corner, Obito found himself stirred despite his current state of mind.

After successfully using Hidan to assassinate Chiba Tetsuya, he had managed to cause considerable turmoil