"Itachi, from today onward, your identity has changed."
River turned around, smiled as he removed Itachi's Forehead Protector, then looked at his black cloak patterned with clouds.
"From this moment on, you are a member of the Akatsuki."
"That identity will last until the mission is complete. Then you'll return to your old one!"
Uchiha Itachi froze for a moment, then nodded firmly. "Yes, Teacher Sui!"
The group wasted no more words. They set off at once, racing through the Forest of Konoha.
"It's a long journey, so we have plenty of time to decide on our first target."
Pain spoke in a low voice.
On either side, Obito, Konan, Sasori, and the others listened intently, their eyes flickering. To them, the coming mission was undoubtedly dangerous in the extreme.
The difficulty of capturing a tailed beast was unimaginable. In particular, the tailed beasts in each village had generally already been sealed into jinchūriki, bound closely to their human hosts, making them even harder to capture.
"Most of the intelligence we have so far came from King."
As Pain spoke, he glanced at River beside him.
"The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, is also the younger brother of Kumogakure's current Cloud Shadow."
"Meanwhile, rumor has it that the Two-Tails is also in Kumogakure!"
"So we can choose Kumogakure as our target!"
After a pause, Pain continued evenly.
"But Kumogakure is powerful, and its strength cannot be underestimated. We must remain extremely wary of the enormous dangers it holds!"
Everyone narrowed their eyes at his words, their expressions turning grave.
Uchiha Itachi was particularly startled, gaining a clear understanding of just how dangerous his coming mission would be.
They would actually be facing an entire enemy nation's ninja.
He glanced again at the people around him. They were all unfamiliar faces, and