Amegakure – Hidden Rain Village
The skies were dim and gray, rain drizzling ceaselessly across the land.
Inside a dark cave, a colossal statue sat silently—its hands outstretched, ten fingers extended. On the fingertips of two of them stood a man and a woman, both gazing silently at the statue's massive head, seemingly awaiting something.
After a short while, the cave floor began to bulge, and two enormous pitcher plant leaves sprouted. As the leaves swayed and grew to nearly a meter in height, a black-and-white human face emerged from between them.
The woman standing on the statue's finger turned her head. It was Konan, known by the people of Amegakure as an angel. Her expression tightened.
"Zetsu, you could've just walked in through the entrance."
The pitcher plant face belonged to Black Zetsu. Now fully aboveground, he tapped the ring on his right pinky finger and replied,
"Pain, Sasori and Deidara's mission failed."
"Hmm?"
The man on the fingertip beside Konan turned. His strange eyes—Rinnegan, rings radiating outward from the pupil—locked onto Zetsu.
"What happened?"
Black Zetsu leapt up onto another of the statue's fingers.
"A third-party force interfered. I recorded everything. See for yourselves."
He activated a genjutsu using his eye technique. Pain and Konan watched a familiar figure appear—long, flowing white hair down to his waist, and a forehead protector engraved with the kanji for "oil" (油).
Their eyes narrowed.
"Jiraiya…" Pain said, face unreadable.
"Deidara's abilities are impressive. What about Sasori?"
"He started off well. Since Deidara came from the same village as the Five-Tails' jinchūriki, he was able to poison him early on. He should've completed his assigned capture without issue."
Zetsu's pitcher-plant shoulders rustled.
"But then they split up, and I was hiding in the dark. I could only observe one of them at a time."
Pain immediately formed the Ram hand seal.
"Then let's hear it directly from them."
Land of Hot Springs – Shortly Before
Hundreds of meters above the forest, Deidara and Sasori stood atop a white clay owl, scanning the landscape below.
"Sasori-danna, we've circled this forest more than a few times. Those two have definitely escaped by now. And you said the masked guy never showed his face, so you don't know who he is, right?"
"The guy I ran into seemed like one of the Leaf's Legendary Sannin—Jiraiya. And I even made a special art piece just for them. Hmm."
As Deidara spoke, he formed a clay bat and tossed it toward a dense area of forest.
Boom!
With a puff of smoke, hundreds of small white bats scattered, flapping into the trees.
"Tch. Shut it, Deidara! I'm really starting to hate you. One more word, and I'll turn you into a—hmm?"
Sasori paused mid-threat.
"The Leader is summoning us."
Deidara's face froze for a moment. Before he could react, Sasori manipulated the owl like a puppet, steering it into a landing.
"Oi, careful with the owl! That's one of my best pieces, hmm!"
"Shut up."
After landing, the two sat with their backs to trees and simultaneously formed the Ram seal, activating their shared communication technique.
Akatsuki Meeting
In the next instant, their phantom images appeared, each standing atop one of the Ten Fingers of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. The other members' phantoms had already assembled.
Sasori was visibly irritated. After glancing around, he locked eyes on Itachi Uchiha.
"Leader, the capture of the Five-Tails failed."
Pain nodded.
"I've already heard Deidara's side. What happened on yours?"
Sasori's tone turned colder, still staring at Itachi.
"A masked figure intervened and took my assigned target."
Pain frowned slightly.
"A masked figure? The enemy never showed their face?"
"Correct. I don't know who they were, but they used a jutsu specific to Konoha—Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu."
"Also, the one who held off Deidara was Jiraiya, one of the Leaf's Legendary Sannin."
As he finished speaking, every member's gaze—aside from Pain, Konan, and Zetsu—shifted to Itachi.
The implication was clear.
There was a traitor in the organization.
The atmosphere in the cave turned cold and tense. The coincidence was too glaring to ignore.
They reviewed the timeline:
Itachi had personally gone to the Land of Earth to recruit Deidara.
Then, Sasori and Deidara were sent to the Land of Hot Springs—and their mission was interrupted.
Deidara encountered Jiraiya.
Sasori's unknown enemy used a jutsu exclusive to the Leaf.
And the last traitor before this... had also been from Konoha—Orochimaru.
The pattern was impossible to miss.
Still, Itachi remained calm, silent, his Sharingan spinning slowly as he looked directly at Pain.
Deidara, clearly agitated, spoke up.
"Oi, oi! Isn't it obvious? There's a traitor among us. Itachi Uchiha, don't you think so? Hmm."
Itachi replied flatly, his tone indifferent.
"Everyone standing here—who among us isn't a traitor?"
"Tch!"
Deidara's face darkened. He was about to curse, but recalled a previous encounter with Itachi—and thought better of it. He shut his mouth.
Pain turned to Black Zetsu.
After a pause, Zetsu shook his head.
With that confirmation, Pain made his judgment.
"This matter ends here. I'll assign someone to investigate. For now, return to your missions."
Land of Fire
Naruto checked the spoils of his mission, then looked down at the unconscious Han.
"Kokuō, are you sure you want to give up this chance to escape? Once he wakes up, he'll likely return to Iwagakure. After that, you may never get another opportunity."
From within the seal, Kokuō's voice responded firmly.
"I want freedom, yes. But we tailed beasts have our pride. I won't accept dying passively without resistance."
Naruto raised a brow.
"Aren't you tailed beasts all supposed to be 'better dead than enslaved'?"
Kokuō, just lying down again, turned his eyes and replied:
"Sure, we say that. But I've never actually died before. Sure, we tailed beasts can revive, but the process is painful and leaves us weakened. Regaining power takes a long time."
"Besides, with the Akatsuki lurking, staying inside a jinchūriki is actually safer. Right, Kurama?"
Kurama didn't respond. His head remained buried in his paws—until his voice rumbled through the seal space.
"If Kokuō has decided, we're done here. Naruto, didn't you already mark him?"
"Yeah, time to head back."
Naruto casually tossed a scroll in his hand.
"Still didn't expect Han to own dozens of bathhouses here in the Land of Hot Springs. Guy's been carrying his entire net worth on him. Not bad for the 'Steam Shinobi'—really got that side hustle figured out."
"Kokuō, I'm taking this as payment. You okay with that?"
Kokuō lazily rolled over.
"What's it got to do with me? Funny though—Han actually wanted to defect from Iwa because of that money. Now you've taken it all, and with the Akatsuki after him too, there's no way he'll return to the Land of Hot Springs. He'll probably spend the rest of his life stuck in Iwagakure."
Kurama groaned and sat up, finally snapping:
"Are you two going to keep yapping forever?!"
Naruto shook his head and vanished in an instant.
Whoosh!
When he reappeared, he was already back in Konoha's Forest of Death.
PS : I've been consistently releasing chapters for many days now, and If you want to support my work and read the complete fic (all chapters), you can check out
my P@treon. -> patreon.com/FinalArcHero789
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/FinalArcHero789