"There won't be any problems!!!"
Jūzō Biwa grinned, revealing a sinister smile that made people uneasy just looking at it. "Hehehe, I'll give the Five Great Shinobi Villages a surprise—a huge surprise!!!"
"A surprise is indeed needed. I never expected our White Zetsu army to be wiped out so quickly. Although the Allied Forces suffered considerable losses as well, they still didn't meet our expectations."
Black Zetsu was deeply dissatisfied with the Allied Forces' casualties. Tens of thousands of White Zetsu had died, yet so many Allied Forces shinobi remained. It was an utter failure.
"Then the Nine-Tails will be up to you, Leader."
No one else knew about Black Zetsu's equal standing with Konan and Nagato. They all thought he was merely an ordinary member like them, unaware that Black Zetsu had essentially taken control of the Akatsuki—even Konan and Nagato listened to him.
"Mm." Nagato remained as usual. Controlling Yahiko, he gave a soft response and said nothing more. His recent exertions had put some strain on his body, but Nagato would not show it easily.
The other Akatsuki members were responsible for dealing with the Allied Forces, while Nagato himself was tasked with capturing the Nine-Tails. The arrangement was reasonable enough, except the Nine-Tails was with Hikaru, which posed a major problem for Nagato.
He was finally going to face Hikaru. For some reason, Nagato's heart, which had nearly died long ago, felt a trace of anticipation. He was very curious just how strong this enemy, whom the Akatsuki feared most, truly was!!!
Hikaru could unleash some of the Rinnegan's power. He wondered how that compared to his own.
Should I tell the Third Elder about this? Hikaru hesitated over whether to inform the Third Hokage and Ōnoki that Killer B had already fallen. Who could have