Testing the Waters! [Second Update, Please Subscribe]

Black Zetsu had mainly been able to bring Jūzō Biwa into the Akatsuki Organization because Jūzō Biwa was an extremely ambitious and driven man. Otherwise, no matter how skilled Black Zetsu was at manipulating people, it would not have been easy to recruit Jūzō Biwa so casually.

It was obvious enough: among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, only one had joined Akatsuki. The others had shown no reaction at all. They might not even have known Akatsuki existed, or perhaps Black Zetsu had never contacted them.

With that, Akatsuki had six core members.

Nagato, Konan, Black Zetsu, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Jūzō Biwa.

With six suitable members in place, Black Zetsu's plans gradually began to unfold. For him, the time had come to test Hikaru.

The major ninja villages were still doing their best to investigate everything about the Akatsuki Organization. Ōnoki relentlessly sent Iwagakure ninja to attack Konoha, but Hikaru did not pay much attention to it, instead handing more of the matter over to Hatake Sakumo.

He even used the excuse that he was cultivating Hatake Sakumo, leaving him unable to refuse and with no choice but to grit his teeth and take it on. In truth, Hatake Sakumo really was outstanding. Even an old fox like Ōnoki found it difficult to gain any advantage against him.

In the original story, Hatake Sakumo's reputation had not been as resounding as that of the Sannin, largely because he had died too early and left behind too few glorious achievements. On top of that, he had taken his own life after a mission failure, which carried a great deal of negative impact. Naturally, the village would not go out of its way to promote him, causing Hatake Sakumo to fade into obscurity. If not for Kakashi Hatake, who would