"What is this?" They looked at Hyuga Akira in shock.
"So cool!!" Yahiko's eyes lit up.
"It really is an outfit completely unlike anything in the shinobi world," Konan muttered.
"Now, no enemy stands before us."
Hyuga Akira laughed.
"Come on. Let me see the people you've gathered."
While Hyuga Akira had been in Konoha, the Akatsuki had never stopped working. Although they had not expanded outward, they had continued recruiting powerful fighters.
"This way, Teacher."
Nagato led the way forward.
There was an enormous black high tower in Amegakure. It had been built later and was the Akatsuki's true base.
Rain was falling from the sky.
It fell steadily onto the black tower, and great streams of water slid down its sides.
The four figures vanished from the spot.
Inside the black tower.
The enormous Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood in the center, surrounded by tiers of spiraling stairs that wound upward.
Hyuga Akira stood at the highest point of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Since Madara Uchiha's death, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path had become Nagato's possession and belonged entirely to the Akatsuki.
Spectral figures coalesced within the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The Akatsuki were still carrying out bounty missions elsewhere, and not all their powerful fighters were present.
"The real leader?" A man with bandages on his face watched the person standing in the very center.
"So it really is you, the strongest in the shinobi world."
"Hyuga Akira."
"Well, if it isn't Mr. Kakuzu." Hyuga Akira wore a brilliant smile.
"You know me?" Confusion showed on Kakuzu's face. He did not remember ever meeting this Hyuga Akira.
"You're a powerful fighter who once fought Hashirama Senju, after all. Naturally, I know of you," Hyuga Akira said.
Kakuzu