Akatsuki

At this moment, only eleven people remained standing on the cave floor. Kabuto Yakushi observed for a while, then left the base and returned to Orochimaru's side.

Now, only Guren was watching from the top of the cave. One of the monsters had been blasted high into the air, and as she watched the blood splatter from the corpse, a cruel smile appeared on Guren's lips. She leaped down, slamming a monster that was still about to attack to the ground. Her sharp eyes swept over the remaining few, and she said, "Alright, stop your fighting. From now on, you are my subordinates. Follow me to carry out Lord Orochimaru's orders." Then she turned and left, and the monsters, all revealing bloodthirsty smiles, reverted to human form and followed.

The eleven people left the base and quickly leaped through the trees.

Suddenly, the person at the very back asked, "Where are we going?"

Someone nearby said, "Of course we should go to Orochimaru's place."

Upon hearing this, one of the people ahead said in fear, "Going to Orochimaru? That means we'll be captured and subjected to all sorts of experiments again, and we don't know when we'll die."

Another person suggested, "Why don't we take this opportunity to escape?"

The person next to him said in fear, "But that's Orochimaru!" He was clearly terrified of Orochimaru and dared not resist Orochimaru.

Another person said angrily, "Do you really want to go back to that life that's worse than death, especially since the other side is only one person?"

Seeing that Guren was the only leader, seven of them nodded and stopped.

Guren noticed the commotion behind her, went up to the seven people, and shouted sternly, "What are you doing? Who ordered you to stop?"

One of them stepped forward, transforming back into a monster covered in grotesque bone spikes. He glared at Guren with bloodlust and said, "It's me. We no longer want to be controlled by you. We'll kill you and regain our freedom."

In Guren's eyes, these failed attempts were nothing but ants, so she completely ignored what the other party said and began counting them.

Seeing Guren's nonchalant attitude, the leader said coldly, "Do you really intend to take on all of us by yourself?" The others also began to transform into monster forms. The seven of them charged towards Guren.

At this moment, Guren had finished counting the number of people and said, "Crystal Release: Crystal Pentagonal Prison." Instantly, all seven people were enveloped by a crystal pillar and then shattered.

Guren turned to the three monsters who hadn't fled and said, "And you? Do you want to be my subordinates?" Tiny, shimmering crystal particles emanated from her body.

For Guren, this mission was something she could easily complete on her own, but Orochimaru wanted her to recruit several subordinates. If she didn't recruit any, she wouldn't have the face to face Orochimaru. However, if they disagreed, she would have no choice but to crystallize them.

The three bowed their heads and said, "Lady Guren, we are willing to become your subordinates."

Guren's lips curled into a dangerous smile. Seeing that the three were so sensible, the crystalline substance around her dissipated, and she said, "Then let's go." She led the three quickly toward the Land of Demons. Guren wanted to complete Orochimaru's mission as soon as possible, gain Orochimaru's attention, and thus return to Orochimaru's side, once again qualifying to become Orochimaru's vessel.

At this moment, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Pain, summoned all members of Akatsuki.

At this moment, only seven people stood on the ten fingers. Everyone looked towards the middle finger of the left hand. Kakuzu was not there. Last time Pain suddenly summoned everyone, they noticed that Hidan was missing from the position of the left index finger. From Kakuzu, they learned that Hidan had been killed by the Konoha ninja Uzumaki Hane. Unexpectedly, Pain summoned everyone again this time, but Kakuzu did not appear. Could it be...? Everyone was somewhat surprised and looked at Pain, quietly waiting for him to Pain.

Pain surveyed the crowd, his voice flat and even, and said, "Kakuzu dead, and he was killed by the Konoha Ninja Uzumaki Hane."

Although everyone had already guessed that Kakuzu probably dead, they were still shocked to hear Pain say it himself. Kakuzu and Hidan, while not the strongest, were the most formidable duo. They never expected that they would be killed by a single person. Everyone was very curious about who this Uzumaki Hane was.

Ignoring the crowd's surprise, Pain continued, "Kakuzu's ring must be retrieved. Deidara, Sasori, you are closest to the Land of Demons, so this matter is entrusted to you."

At this moment, Uchiha Itachi suddenly spoke up, "We've lost two people recently. Should we invite Uzumaki Hane to join the organization?"

When Uchiha Itachi spoke, everyone was even more surprised. However, they immediately fell into deep thought. Uzumaki Hane was able to kill Kakuzu and Hidan, although they didn't know how he did it, and no one really believed that Uzumaki Hane had killed them head-on. But this was enough to prove that Uzumaki Hane was qualified to join them. However, Uzumaki Hane was a Konoha ninja, so whether he would join them was still a question.

In fact, Uchiha Itachi was also wondering why Madara Uchiha wanted him to invite Uzumaki Hane to join Akatsuki.

Pain looked at Uchiha Itachi and said, "Well, I'll leave this matter to you, Deidara, Sasori."

Scorpion simply said, "Okay."

Deidara exclaimed excitedly, "Let me test his skills first and see if he's qualified to join us. I'll show him the explosion of art!"

Then, the two of them simply vanished.

In the morning, Uzumaki Hane woke up early and opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar high ceiling. A moment later, she remembered that this was the training ground she had just built.

Five days have passed since they arrived at the volcano to train. Uzumaki Hane has been training at the training ground until late at night every day, and eventually sleeps there.

Uzumaki Hane stretched, then pushed himself upside down on the floor and walked towards the training ground. After a quick breakfast in the kitchen, Uzumaki Hane returned to the training ground to begin his morning warm-up Taijutsu training.

Having finished his Taijutsu training, Uzumaki Hane once again left the house upside down and entered the volcano's crater passage. Soon, he arrived at the platform, climbed the stone steps, and entered the lava to begin his training. For the past five days, Uzumaki Hane had been training like this every day, and in the blink of an eye, five days had passed. Time flies, Uzumaki Hane couldn't help but marvel at how quickly it went, but he could feel his strength increasing every day, Uzumaki Hane was completely immersed in his training.