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Mui steeled himself and placed his son Muku on the experimental table.
His emotions were a tangled mess.
From a father's perspective, he knew exactly what activating the Box of Ultimate Bliss entailed—Muku would very likely die.
But as a ninja of the Hidden Grass Village, his greatest dream had always been to make the village powerful.
If they could open the Box of Ultimate Bliss, perhaps that dream could come true.
"Muku, just hold on a little longer. It'll be over soon," Mui whispered softly in Muku's ear.
Though he desperately wanted to know why Muku was here, under the watchful eyes of the other leaders from the Hidden Grass Village, he could only bury the question in his heart.
Muku nodded, but his nerves didn't ease; if anything, he grew even more tense.
Mui placed his palm above Muku's chest and began the ritual to activate the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Muku's body lifted off the table, floating in the air. A surge of red chakra erupted from his chest, accompanied by his agonized screams—heart-wrenching and piercing.
Mui's face paled as he stared at his son writhing in the air, terrified of any mishap. The four masked individuals, however, watched in astonishment as the red chakra flowed into the strange door.
Like being sucked into a vortex, the red chakra vanished without a trace.
Muku fell limply back onto the table.
Mui rushed to his son's side, but Muku showed no signs of movement.
"Tch…" The dog-head mask wearer glanced casually at Muku's body and said coldly, "The so-called number one genius of the Hidden Grass Village… That's all he amounted to."
"You…" Mui clenched his fists, glaring at the dog-head mask with hatred.
"Don't forget your duty!" The sheep-head mask wearer approached Mui and said.
Mui's heart burned with rage, but his focus was entirely on Muku. He refused to believe his son was truly gone.
The four masked figures lost interest, exchanged glances, and quietly slipped out of the underground chamber.
Mui was utterly devastated. As he sensed his son's body growing cold, the faith and obsession in his heart crumbled as well.
"Muku… What… what should I do!?" Mui collapsed over Muku's corpse, sobbing uncontrollably.
Outside, Hozuki Castle had turned into a sea of flames. Nearly half the buildings were engulfed in fire. The prisoners, who had been slaughtering each other, now sensed the castle's impending doom and tried to flee. But as they reached the edges, flames suddenly burst from their bodies, igniting them instantly.
The sheep-head mask wearer hurried through the corridor, glancing at the self-immolating prisoners and sighing, "How did it come to this? Hozuki Castle is finished!"
"If it weren't for those 'Grass Flower' bastards, we wouldn't be backed into this corner. They allied with Akatsuki and gained the upper hand. Now we can't even activate the Box of Ultimate Bliss—our position is utterly dire!" the monkey-head mask wearer said.
"By the way, why did you provoke Mui earlier? Weren't you afraid he'd kill us?" The bull-head mask wearer turned to look for the dog-head mask, only to find no one behind him. "Hey, where are you…"
Before he could finish, a kunai pierced his heart at blinding speed, and he collapsed.
"Who's there!?" the monkey-head and sheep-head masks shouted into the darkness.
"You bastards killed my son… I'll make you all pay!" Mui emerged from the shadows, tears streaming down his face.
"Listen to me, we didn't know this would happen… Besides, we had no choice. For the sake of the Hidden Grass Village, we had to take the risk!" the monkey-head mask wearer stammered, retreating in panic.
"Shut up!" Mui roared. "I'll kill you all and avenge Muku!"
A fireball shot out from the darkness. The monkey-head and sheep-head masks exchanged a glance and, without hesitation, leaped from the corridor.
Mui rushed to the edge and peered down, but the two figures had already vanished into the night after landing.
"They escaped?" a voice came from behind Mui.
"They did." "Mui" suddenly transformed, revealing Zetsu's appearance.
He turned to the figure behind him—Obito—and said, "Wasn't this a bit overkill?"
"Of course not. Akatsuki is indeed short on funds, and the one hundred million ryo from the 'Grass Flower' faction is crucial for us," Obito shook his head. "Moreover, Jiraiya's sudden appearance forced us to accelerate our plans. But now that Akatsuki is under scrutiny, they need room to grow."
Originally, Obito's plan to collect the tailed beasts required ample manpower and resources.
Akatsuki had sufficient manpower at first, but the deaths of Danzo and Orochimaru created gaps in their ranks.
Developing in secret now would take even longer.
When discussing with Pain, a countermeasure was proposed: develop covertly while simultaneously scouting for Jinchuriki. Once intelligence was gathered, begin collection immediately.
This led to another issue—lack of personnel.
Once Akatsuki started collecting Jinchuriki, other ninja villages would quickly notice the anomalies. The information Jiraiya had gathered could easily direct suspicion toward Akatsuki, or even the Hidden Rain Village.
If they couldn't gather all the Jinchuriki quickly, they'd be drawn into a protracted war.
In this phase, powerful ninjas became especially vital.
Mui's strength wasn't exceptional within Akatsuki, but the Box of Ultimate Bliss was potent—it was, after all, a tool once used by the Sage of the Six Paths.
In critical moments, having Mui deploy the Box of Ultimate Bliss could make him excellent cannon fodder or a shield.
"By the way, is the dog-head guy dead? He might know something," Zetsu said.
"Of course he's dead. You disguised yourself as him earlier, provoking Mui and turning him against 'Grass Fruit'… Next, I just need to find a moment to 'have a heart-to-heart' with him and pull him over."
"But intervening in the Hidden Grass Village's civil war just for this one person—wasn't it a bit risky?"
"It was, slightly. But Pain and Konan have joined the battlefield outside; the fighting should be wrapping up soon… As long as 'Grass Flower' gains the upper hand, they'll support Akatsuki. That way, even if the major ninja villages want to eliminate Akatsuki, they'll be powerless. After all, Akatsuki is just doing what those major villages have always done—would they deny their own actions? Our true goal is simply to find a 'helper'," Obito said coldly.
It hadn't been necessary to go this far originally, but after Orochimaru, Danzo, and Jiraiya's rampage in the Hidden Rain Village, their plans had inevitably shifted.
"Are you confident you can convince him?"
"Of course. Oh, go tell Yoshida Shin and Kisame that we've found a suitable candidate and to stand down… If they get trigger-happy and kill Mui, all this effort would be for nothing."