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Although becoming a Jinchuriki had exceeded Kagaya's original plans, it ultimately didn't affect his subsequent plans. As always, he continued training in Inorganic Reanimation in the vicinity of Ryuchi Cave.
As for why he stayed near Ryuchi Cave... well... although the White Snake Sage had said this technique couldn't be taught, Kagaya still felt, in some inexplicable way, that it was easier to learn Inorganic Reanimation here, close to Ryuchi Cave. Perhaps this, too, was a kind of mysticism.
But, at the end of the day, aside from the vicinity of Ryuchi Cave, Kagaya didn't really have anywhere else to go.
Nothing beyond his plans occurred in the time that followed. The training process proceeded smoothly without interruption.
Very quickly, half a year passed.
In the distance outside the Leaf Village, standing atop a tree, Naruto gazed at the Leaf Village from afar and couldn't help but smile.
"Pervy Sage... how long has it been since we left the village?"
From beneath the tree, Jiraiya answered.
"Two years now, I suppose. Alright, stop staring from up there. Let's get ready to head back to the village."
Naruto gave the distant Leaf Village one last, heavy look.
"Two years, huh..."
Then, he leaped down from the treetop and landed beside Jiraiya.
"Pervy Sage, how strong do you think I've become? Compared to Neji, Lee, and the others in the village?"
Jiraiya let out a hearty laugh.
"I wouldn't know that. You'll find out once you return to the village."
Naruto scratched his head.
"True enough. I wonder how Sakura's doing? And... Sasuke... Kagaya..."
Two figures set off on foot, slowly making their way toward the distant Leaf Village.
The boy from back then had now grown much taller, maturing into a young man.
Uzumaki Naruto. It had been two full years since he left the village.
********
The Hidden Sound Village.
Orochimaru clenched and unclenched his fist, moving his body around.
He could feel it. Although this body currently showed no problems, it absolutely couldn't last much longer. At most one more year—this body would begin to reject him. It was coming soon! In just one more year, he would obtain Sasuke's body!
Moreover, the cooldown period for Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation would also end in roughly one year.
"One year, huh... Heh... Sasuke..."
A long while later, Orochimaru emerged from his dark, shadowy room and found Sasuke.
"Go to Ryuchi Cave?"
Sasuke looked at Orochimaru and asked for confirmation once more.
Orochimaru nodded.
"Yes. I'm preparing to take you to Ryuchi Cave. There, you can learn a new ability—Senjutsu. At the same time, you can properly form a contract with a summon beast that belongs to you."
Sasuke furrowed his brow. He had heard a new term from Orochimaru's mouth.
"Senjutsu? What's that?"
Orochimaru smiled faintly. The person before him possessed an insatiable thirst for power. Anything that could grant him strength, he would fight tooth and nail to obtain, no matter the cost. That was something Orochimaru admired. This time, bringing Sasuke to Ryuchi Cave was precisely to have him learn Senjutsu. Due to the damage his soul had suffered from repeated use of the Living Corpse Reincarnation, Orochimaru himself was incapable of learning Senjutsu.
Thus, in order to obtain this power, Orochimaru had decided to first let his next vessel learn Senjutsu. That way, after his next reincarnation, even with a damaged soul, he would still be able to wield Senjutsu.
The stronger Sasuke's body became, the greater the benefits for Orochimaru after his reincarnation. This was the reason Orochimaru devoted such painstaking effort to cultivating Sasuke.
In the original story, it was precisely because Orochimaru became overly engrossed in cultivating Sasuke, neglecting his own increasingly frail body and the increasingly powerful Sasuke, that he was ultimately killed by Sasuke in return. Of course, in this timeline, things were different. Having previously glimpsed Kagaya's shadow within Sasuke, Orochimaru had begun to heavily suppress him. Over the past half year, Orochimaru had taught Sasuke practically nothing.
The plan to lead Sasuke to Ryuchi Cave, which had originally been scheduled much earlier, had been delayed time and time again, until now. If not for Orochimaru's intense desire for Senjutsu, he wouldn't even have considered bringing Sasuke to Ryuchi Cave at all.
In short, because of Kagaya, the current Orochimaru was already extremely wary of Sasuke.
"You know about the Cursed Seal, don't you, Sasuke? You definitely know about the Cursed Seal. After all, you possess one yourself, and it's a very powerful source of strength for you. In truth, the Cursed Seal is a type of Senjutsu power. However, compared to true Senjutsu, the Cursed Seal is a relatively low-grade power. After all, the Cursed Seal is something I concocted myself, and I had no way to perfectly transplant the power of Senjutsu into it.
So, the Senjutsu you'll be learning on this trip—you can simply think of it as an enhanced version of the Cursed Seal. It's an extraordinarily powerful strength. Well then... do you want to go?"
Sasuke smiled.
"An extraordinarily powerful strength? Of course I want to go! My current power is still insufficient. I still have people I must kill!"
These words carried a double meaning. On one hand, Sasuke was simply expressing that his power was lacking and that he needed to acquire more strength to kill Itachi and Kagaya. On the other hand, Sasuke was subtly alluding to the fact that Orochimaru had suddenly stopped teaching him over the past half year, preventing him from obtaining more power—something that left Sasuke deeply dissatisfied.
Orochimaru pretended not to understand the second layer of Sasuke's meaning and spoke with a sly, smiling expression.
"Very well then. Prepare yourself. We set out tomorrow."
Sasuke immediately rejected this. "No. We set out now. I don't need to prepare anything. As a shinobi, one should always be ready to depart on a mission at any moment."
There was one point Orochimaru had been absolutely correct about: Sasuke's thirst for power was insatiable. Over these two years, Sasuke had greedily absorbed every bit of knowledge Orochimaru had taught him, and his strength had been soaring at a terrifying pace.
It was no exaggeration to say that among Sasuke's generation, aside from the bug that was Kagaya, the strongest was currently Sasuke. Even Naruto, at this point in time, was no match for him.
Sasuke's current level of strength, in the original story, was the level he had maintained all the way up until he killed Itachi. It was exceptionally formidable.
Of course, setting everything else aside, Itachi had undoubtedly held back during that battle. Otherwise, the gap between Sasuke's current strength and Itachi's was still considerable.
However, one thing was absolutely genuine: Sasuke's current abilities did indeed make it possible for him to single-handedly defeat an opponent of Deidara's caliber. After all, in the original story, Sasuke had accomplished exactly that.
Though it had been a narrow thing... it was indeed possible.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. He didn't refuse Sasuke's proposal.
"Very well, then. We'll set off now."
Thus, without preparing anything, the two immediately began racing from the Hidden Sound Village toward the direction of Ryuchi Cave.
In truth, there was no need to prepare anything. As shinobi, wilderness survival was as fundamental as it could possibly be. One could even say this: in a village, a shinobi might starve to death due to lack of work. But in the wilderness, as long as one was a shinobi—even a Genin—it was absolutely impossible to starve to death.
Moreover, in this world, many wilderness areas had lodging places that relied on passing shinobi for their livelihood.
Thus, in this world, when a shinobi undertook a long journey, they didn't need to worry about wilderness survival or anything of the sort. They only needed to consider whether the trip was worth it.
******
The Akatsuki Base.
Bzzz... Bzzz... Bzzz...
Multicolored, illusory projections materialized one after another. This time, everyone assembled very quickly. In just a short moment, all members were present.
Pain performed his customary sweep of the group, and after confirming everyone was there, he spoke.
"According to plan, aside from Kakuzu and Hidan, everyone else should begin reducing their current workload and prepare to officially begin capturing the Tailed Beasts. That is all. Dismissed. I will notify the selected individuals for the Tailed Beast captures individually."
"Eh?! Leader, are you serious? You gathered us all just to say that little?"
Deidara spoke, utterly dumbfounded.
Pain looked at Deidara.
"Do you have a complaint?"
Deidara shrugged.
"Alright! Whatever you like, Leader. Sasori and I will be off, then."
With that, the projections of Deidara and Sasori vanished.
An almost imperceptible flicker of worry passed through Itachi's eyes. He then closed them and disappeared alongside Kisame.
Kakuzu and Hidan said nothing at all and decisively vanished as well. They were still busy making money.
Very quickly, everyone had departed. Pain's projection also disappeared.
*****
The Hidden Rain Village.
Pain opened his eyes and looked at Obito standing beside him.
"So that's how it is, is it?"
Obito nodded.
"The fact that our capture of the Five-Tails was so easily discovered by that Uchiha Kagaya... I don't even need to think about it. I know it was that bastard Uchiha Itachi who leaked the information."
Pain spoke with puzzlement. "But you still don't plan on moving against Itachi."
Obito explained.
"That guy Itachi... even though he leaked the intel, he has completed every single mission we've assigned him with exceptional results. He and Kisame are an extremely powerful duo. As long as Itachi still follows our Akatsuki's orders, there's no need to act against him. Nor can we afford to act against him. Just do as I told you before. Don't announce the Tailed Beast captures publicly. Go to the members individually and assign them the missions. That way, Itachi will have no way of finding out, and that Uchiha Kagaya will have no way to interfere with us."
Pain nodded.
"I see. I understand. But... you'd best be more careful. Don't lay another finger on the people around Uchiha Kagaya! This is a warning!"
Although Pain—or rather, Nagato—usually gave off the impression of deferring to Obito, that was only because Obito was more knowledgeable than Nagato on many matters. In truth, at least in Nagato's view, he and Obito stood on equal footing. Theirs was not a relationship of one obeying the other.
Thus, at this moment, Nagato unhesitatingly issued a stern warning to Obito.
Obito narrowed his eyes slightly but didn't retort.
"I understand. I won't act recklessly again."
Obito accepted Nagato's warning without protest. In fact, he couldn't afford not to. The utter devastation of the Hidden Rain Village—reduced to ruins just earlier—was the best warning of all. Faced with such a catastrophic battle, and on top of that, the loss of the Five-Tails, Obito truly had nothing to say.
Obito and Nagato had no idea about the relationship between the Five-Tails and Kagaya. From their perspective, Kagaya seizing the Five-Tails was purely an act of retaliation—because Obito had laid hands on Karin and Haku, Kagaya had come to exact revenge.
Thus, regarding this matter, Obito had always been in the wrong before Nagato.
Half a month later.
Amidst a field of ruins marked with Hidan's ritual death pattern, Pain found Kakuzu and Hidan.
Gazing at the surrounding devastation, Pain spoke.
"How utterly gruesome. It seems this was quite a significant battle."
Kakuzu tucked away the small notebook in his hand and replied.
"Not particularly. The target this time was just a bit troublesome. My attention slipped for a moment, and my hand got a little heavy. That's how it ended up like this."
On the other side, Hidan was still gesturing and posing within his enormous death pattern. Before Hidan lay a corpse.
It was Hidan's ritual offering—practically a routine affair by now.
Pain glanced at Hidan once and paid him no further mind. Among the Akatsuki's members, having certain peculiar obsessions was perfectly normal.
"Kakuzu. I have a mission to assign to you, and I hope you'll keep it as confidential as possible."
Kakuzu spoke without a trace of surprise.
"I figured as much. Leader, instead of announcing it at a full assembly, you came to find us individually. I suspect... you're worried that someone in the Akatsuki might leak the mission details? Well... never mind. It's none of my concern anyway. Leader, you don't need to explain anything to me. My interests lie solely in money and killing. Just tell me directly what the mission is."
Pain spoke with an impassive expression.
"I hope you and Hidan will go to the Hidden Sand... and capture the One-Tail!"
Kakuzu casually hoisted the suitcase full of money and spoke.
"Understood."
"Ha?! What?! Capturing another Tailed Beast?! Why do these no-kill missions always end up landing on us?!"
"Oi, Hidan. Aside from the Tailed Beast capture missions, haven't you gotten to kill people every single time? Isn't that enough?"
"W-Well... that is true, I guess... Bahahahaha! Forget it. It's not like we get Tailed Beast capture missions that often anyway. I'll go along with it. Hey, Kakuzu, this time—"
"Alright, I know. As long as they don't die, you can torture the Jinchuriki all you want."
"I haven't even said anything yet."
"Hidan... do you think I don't know exactly what goes on in that head of yours?"
"Mm... fair enough."
As they walked along the road, Kakuzu and Hidan chatted ceaselessly about matters concerning the Tailed Beast capture. They didn't take the One-Tail Jinchuriki seriously in the slightest.
What they didn't know was that among all the current Jinchuriki, aside from the Five-Tails Jinchuriki and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, the strongest Jinchuriki was probably the very one they were about to face—the One-Tail Jinchuriki. He was by no means comparable to the previous Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
This was destined not to be an easy battle.
On the outskirts of Ryuchi Cave, Kagaya was in the midst of training. Suddenly, his hand twitched. A kunai shot out instantly, pinning a small snake that had been about to bite him directly to death.
Kagaya opened his eyes and glanced at the snake.
"This isn't a snake from Ryuchi Cave. Snakes from Ryuchi Cave wouldn't bite me either. So... Orochimaru, are you provoking me?"
Whoosh!
With a Body Flicker Technique, Orochimaru appeared before Kagaya and offered a slight bow.
"Kagaya-kun, regarding this snake's attempt to bite you... I apologize. But, how should I put it... the snake that tried to bite you wasn't controlled by me. Rather, it was another little snake that I brought along. He is still immature, foolishly attempting to bite a true dragon with a mere serpent's fangs. I beseech Kagaya-kun to show mercy and refrain from killing him."
A segment of golden skeletal arm materialized, blocking a sword slashing toward Kagaya from his left side. Kagaya looked at Orochimaru and spoke.
"Then you should keep proper control over the snake you brought!"
Orochimaru shrugged, putting on an expression of "I've done all I can."
At the same time, a voice rang out from Kagaya's left.
"Kagaya! It seems your luck has finally run out! I've caught you! Today... is the day you die!!"
Hearing that familiar voice, Kagaya sighed. He turned his head and looked at Sasuke, whose blade was currently embedded into his Susanoo.
"Right now... you're still far from it, Sasuke."
Hatred erupted forth. The three-tomoe Sharingan glared fiercely at Kagaya. The blade gripped in Sasuke's hand pressed down with ever-increasing force.
"Are you looking down on me?!"