Satoshi quickly returned to the temporary base and found Kakashi pacing anxiously and Tenzo standing guard with focused vigilance.
He repeated the intelligence provided by Hanzō.
"This girl named Konan should be the person the Mizukage mentioned."
"But who is that person with orange hair? Yahiko's appearance matches, but he died long ago, so it doesn't add up."
As the two were pondering, Satoshi spoke again, "Maybe Yahiko died, but was resurrected in a strange way?"
"Don't look at me like that. Nothing that happens in the Ninja World should be considered strange."
"For example, Obito. Everyone thought he was dead, but turns out he wasn't dead at all and even got involved with Orochimaru."
Satoshi cleared his throat and continued, "Even if Yahiko really died, can he not be resurrected?"
"I heard that Second Hokage-sama, famous for his forbidden Ninjutsu research, left behind a forbidden Ninjutsu called Edo Tensei, which can summon the deceased from the underworld back to the living world."
Edo Tensei?
Kakashi had heard a little about this forbidden Ninjutsu from his father. He just didn't expect Satoshi to know about it too.
How does he know so much about the Second Hokage?
It couldn't be that he's some kind of die-hard fan, could it?
Kakashi said, "Satoshi, you said that's a forbidden Ninjutsu."
"Does Orochimaru care about that? Which of his actions hasn't violated Konoha's regulations?"
"...You have a point."
Thus, the blame for the abuse of forbidden Ninjutsu was once again accurately placed on Orochimaru, who was thousands of miles away and completely unaware of it.
They reached a preliminary consensus.
This orange-haired man was either Yahiko, or the deceased Yahiko.
[Mission Progress Update]
[Confirmed mysterious organization as Akatsuki, clarified main personnel list.]
[Investigate identity of orange-haired man: In Progress]
[Investigate identity of blue-haired woman: Completed]
[Partial Mission Reward Settlement: Intelligence Master - Tobirama's intelligence analysis ability has improved]
This is pretty good.
Don't give me this again next time, I hope you give me a Mangekyo.
...
"Satoshi, there's no information about Obito here."
"Hanzō didn't mention Obito's name. Perhaps he's an intern who joined Akatsuki and hasn't been officially enlisted yet?"
Kakashi was very annoyed, the clue was broken again here.
Obito, Obito, where are you exactly?
After organizing Akatsuki's member information, the Konoha Squad began to investigate the location of their base. But after several days, they didn't even see a shadow of the Akatsuki. It was as if they already knew someone was investigating them, so they hid.
Fortunately, one day, while the Konoha Squad was having dinner, they overheard a girl next door talking about a small matter.
She was a technical worker who only worked at night. She often entertained some wealthy nobles.
Yesterday, a noble got drunk and inadvertently mentioned Akatsuki's name.
That Akatsuki seemed to be very short on money, a blue-haired girl took ten million to kill his enemy. Now he could finally sleep soundly at night.
This instantly piqued their interest.
It seemed like a good idea. Using this noble as a springboard, they could contact Konan again.
They would pretend to commission a difficult mission. When she appeared for the rendezvous, they would capture her in one fell swoop.
Then, using Anbu methods, they would pry open her mouth and obtain information about Obito and that orange-haired man.
But there was still a problem. They had to find that noble through some method. Clearly, they had to trouble this technical worker.
The three exchanged glances.
The question came again: who would go?
Satoshi said, "I'm underage, Tenzo-senpai should go."
Tenzo looked awkward. "I'm not very good at handling these kinds of occasions."
Both their gazes fell uniformly on Kakashi.
Kakashi was startled. "Me?"
Satoshi nodded. "That's right. You often read the raunchy novels written by Jiraiya-sama, so your experience must be richer than ours."
Tenzo also nodded. "I agree with Satoshi's point of view."
"Alright then..."
That night, Kakashi came to a street, found a storefront with a small red light on, and slowly walked in.
However, nothing unmentionable happened. He used his Sharingan to control her and calmly inquired about the noble's identity and the usual time he came.
When that drunken noble stepped into this pleasure quarter again, he was greeted by a cold Sharingan. Under the control of genjutsu, the noble, like a puppet, followed Kakashi's instructions and sent a new commission to Akatsuki.
Late at night, a few days later.
The rendezvous point was changed to a long-abandoned courtyard on the outskirts of town.
Suddenly, countless folded paper flew through the air, converging into a blue-haired girl.
As Akatsuki's liaison, Konan deeply understood the principle that the customer is God. So, as long as conditions allowed, she would personally handle the docking.
"You've changed the rendezvous point, you are cautious, sir."
Konan slowly approached the gate, and through the dim yellow light, she saw a blurry figure sitting at a table.
"Who are you going to kill this time?"
"One of Konoha's Sannin, Jiraiya."
"Who?"
Konan's brows furrowed slightly, she didn't really want to hear that name.
"Sir, don't you know that Jiraiya is a very difficult opponent? The price needs to be increased." Konan was very hesitant.
From Akatsuki's perspective, if Pain personally made a move, killing the Sannin shouldn't be a problem and they could earn a lot of money.
But from her personal perspective, Jiraiya was their teacher who had given warmth and strength to the three orphans in the cold Land of Rain.
She found it a bit hard to act. So, she decided to go back and discuss it with Pain.
"This mission is very difficult. I need to go back and communicate with the leader."
Just as her mind was slightly distracted—
"Who's there?"
Wooden vines shot up from the ground, forming a wooden prison, trapping Konan within.
Tenzo was somewhat pleased. "Akatsuki's Konan, capture successful."
Kakashi said, "Well done, Tenzo."
He had said his Wood Release was vastly different from First Hokage-sama's but hadn't he just captured Konan?
If First Hokage-sama had acted, he would have just killed her. How would they get information then?
So this time, he won.
The next second, Tenzo's eyes widened.
Konan transformed into countless flying paper pieces. She easily flew out from the gaps in the wooden vines and quickly re-formed into a human shape not far outside the cage.
Tenzo: ...
Konan floated in the air, looking down at the two strangers. She immediately realized this was a trap.
Hanzō's methods were becoming increasingly sophisticated. He could even find their single-contact client.
At this moment, the door was pushed open from the inside. A white-haired person walked out from within.
"Konan-senpai, you really aren't dead."
A hint of surprise flashed in Konan's eyes. She suddenly remembered a piece of information Zetsu had shared a long time ago.
Jiraiya had taken on a new student. Of course, he only taught for a few days before wandering the world again.
"Konan-senpai, Jiraiya-sensei said you were already dead? Why would you join such a dangerous organization? And Nagato-senpai?"
"Are you two, like Obito, being misled by Orochimaru? Have you become his tools for murder?"
Konan did not speak. She had no feelings for this junior whom she had never met and who had killed an Akatsuki member.
As for them becoming Orochimaru's tools like Obito, that was simply preposterous. This junior didn't seem very smart.
Tenzo snapped out of his huge shock and attacked again. His arm transformed into a thick wooden branch, whistling as it coiled towards Konan in the air.
Konan's body silently disintegrated again, turning into countless flying paper pieces. They scattered lightly, cleverly avoiding all attacks. Fnally, they completely merged into the night, disappearing.
Satoshi narrowed his eyes. "She is indeed Konan. Jiraiya once showed me their childhood photos."
"Despicable Orochimaru, to even mislead the students of his closest friend. It's simply an unforgivable crime."
Kakashi and Tenzo stepped forward.
"This operation failed, it will be difficult to find them again."
"Quite the opposite." Satoshi closed his eyes, sensing the surrounding Chakra.
[Auxiliary Ninjutsu, Chakra Sensing]
"I've already found Akatsuki's base."