Chapter 162: Akatsuki Takes a Beating

Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Akatsuki Takes a Beating

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Accompanied by a series of sharp sounds cutting through the air, three figures landed in the middle of a devastated forest.

All three were dressed as Konoha shinobi. The jonin leading the team carried a round ceramic jar on his back and wore a pair of sunglasses, his expression calm and unruffled.

The other two members of the team were a boy and a girl, both only fourteen or fifteen years old and still looking somewhat young and inexperienced.

After sweeping his gaze over their surroundings, the boy carrying a long sword on his back muttered in disbelief,

"Could it be... that a ninja war broke out here?"

The girl beside him, wearing a Konoha forehead protector, was equally stunned.

Before them, traces of battle could be seen everywhere throughout the vast forest. Even with just a casual glance, they could easily find evidence left behind by all five basic chakra natures—Water Release, Fire Release, Wind Release, Lightning Release, and Earth Release.

A battlefield on this scale would normally only appear during a large-scale ninja war.

The jonin leading the team said in a deep voice,

"Anko, Hayate, spread out and take a look around. See if you can find any useful clues!"

"Yes!"

Anko and Hayate immediately split up.

Not long after, Anko, who had been searching for clues, stopped in front of a large tree.

"Huh...?"

Looking at half of a snake’s corpse lying on the ground, Anko crouched down with a suspicious expression.

After briefly examining the snake’s remains, her expression suddenly changed.

"This is one of Orochimaru’s snakes! Could Orochimaru have taken part in this battle too?!"

After the group reconvened, Anko immediately reported to the team leader,

"Captain Shibi, I found this. It’s one of Orochimaru’s snakes. He must have taken part in the battle here as well."

Taking the snake’s corpse and examining it, the jonin named Shibi furrowed his brow.

"According to the information we received from the black market, the ones who fought here should have been two groups of bounty ninjas. Why would Orochimaru get involved in a battle like this?"

"Cough, cough..."

After coughing lightly twice, the sickly-looking Hayate said,

"For a battlefield of this scale, if it really was two groups of bounty ninjas fighting each other, then there must have been at least a hundred people between both sides!"

Shibi nodded, agreeing with Hayate’s assessment.

After all, ordinary bounty ninjas were generally only around chunin level. Two or three people could never have caused destruction on this scale.

Judging from the battlefield left behind, there had to have been at least a hundred people involved in the fighting.

Shibi sniffed the air before continuing,

"There’s barely any smell of blood in the air. That means the winning side not only cleaned up the battlefield thoroughly, but also deliberately disguised the traces afterward! But why would they go to such lengths? What exactly are they trying to hide?"

Anko asked,

"Captain, what do we do now?"

After pondering for a moment, Shibi replied,

"These bounty ninjas are acting far too strangely, and Orochimaru is involved as well. We need to report the situation here to Lord Hokage as soon as possible!"

......

Inside a dark cave.

Summoned by the Magic Lantern Body Technique, the spiritual projections of all the Akatsuki members who had participated in the encirclement of Kawa appeared one after another atop the fingers of the enormous stone statue.

Pain swept his gaze across the group and asked in a deep voice,

"Why did the mission fail?"

Uchiha Shinichi spread his hands.

"You can’t blame us for that. If you want to blame someone, blame Orochimaru!"

Juzo Biwa gave a slight nod.

"Orochimaru betrayed us. In the middle of the mission, he suddenly attacked Shinichi and tried to take his Sharingan. That completely disrupted our encirclement."

Sasori gave a cold snort.

"I said from the very beginning that we shouldn’t have let him into the organization!"

Hearing this, Pain remained silent.

Naturally, he had always known that Orochimaru’s motives for joining Akatsuki were anything but pure. However, he had believed that his overwhelming strength would be enough to keep the scheming Orochimaru in check.

He hadn’t expected Orochimaru to choose betrayal so soon.

After a long silence, Pain asked,

"Have we confirmed the enemy’s identity?"

Kakuzu, who had remained silent until now, answered,

"He’s a man who calls himself Kawa. According to him, the organization he belongs to is called Kamigami, and that previous bounty ninja, Yama, is their leader."

"Kamigami..."

Pain slowly repeated the name, his expression gradually darkening.

In his heart, there was only one person capable of changing this chaotic shinobi world—himself.

And there was only one person worthy of being called a god—him, the one who possessed the Sage’s Eyes!

Uchiha Shinichi crossed his arms and grinned.

"Heh, that Kawa is no pushover. Three of our teams went after him together, and what happened? One of us died, another defected, and we still couldn’t catch the guy. Man, we really embarrassed ourselves this time!"

Shinichi seemed downright delighted to see the organization suffer a setback.

Because every member of Akatsuki was an elite rogue ninja, they had always been extremely arrogant. Aside from showing a certain degree of wariness toward the Five Great Shinobi Villages, they barely regarded any other force in the shinobi world as worth their attention.

Yet for this operation, the organization had dispatched a total of three teams—

Six members.

Despite holding an overwhelming six-to-one advantage, not only had they failed to capture their target alive, but they had actually lost one member while another had defected.

It could be said that since Pain had taken control, this was the greatest loss Akatsuki had ever suffered in a single operation.

Pulling his thoughts back, Pain asked coldly,

"How strong is this Kawa?"

Kakuzu replied,

"Very strong. In a one-on-one fight, I’m not confident I could capture him alive."

Once Kakuzu finished speaking, everyone turned their attention toward Sasori.

After all, among those present, the only two who had actually fought Kawa firsthand were Kakuzu and Sasori.

Sasori gave a cold snort.

"The next time I run into him, I’ll kill him with my own hands."

They had held what should have been an assured victory, yet not only had Kawa managed to escape, Sasori himself had even suffered a minor setback. For someone as fiercely competitive and prideful as Sasori, it was particularly infuriating.

After thinking for a moment, Pain ordered,

"Sasori, Kakuzu. The two of you will temporarily form a team."

Kakuzu and Sasori exchanged a glance, silently accepting Pain’s arrangement.

After all, Akatsuki had always operated in two-man teams, and both of them had now lost their respective partners. Temporarily pairing them together was only natural.

Pain continued,

"The next time you discover any clues concerning Kamigami, do not act recklessly. Gather at least two teams before making a move!"

At that moment, Sasori said,

"I suspect Orochimaru has some connection to Kamigami. The timing of his betrayal was far too convenient!"

Pain thought about it for a moment before saying,

"Then I’ll leave the task of hunting down Orochimaru to you and Kakuzu."

Sasori replied confidently,

"No problem!"

Pain gave the remaining members one final scrutinizing glance.

"Dismissed!"

After withdrawing from the Magic Lantern Body Technique, Pain walked to the edge of the tower.

Standing beneath the light drizzle, he gazed silently into the distance.

The sudden appearance of Kamigami gave him an ominous feeling.

Even so, he remained firmly convinced that with his strength, he was more than capable of keeping everything under control.

Just then, a distorted vortex appeared behind him.

A masked figure stepped out from within the swirling distortion.

It was none other than Obito—the man who publicly claimed to be Uchiha Madara.

Without turning around, Pain said calmly,

"The mission failed!"