"The Fourth Shinobi World War?"
Nagato narrowed his eyes slightly, staring deep into Simu's eyes.
Even though he acknowledged Simu's capabilities, the claim that a single person could provoke a world war seemed far too fantastical.
Faced with this skepticism, Simu merely pushed up his glasses calmly and said with a smile, "Sometimes, starting a war doesn't require you to lift a finger yourself."
A trace of mockery suddenly surfaced on his face. "You only need to deliver weapons into the hands of those who are currently unarmed."
Hearing this, Nagato immediately thought of the rebellion in the Land of Rivers. He mused, "You mean to incite an opposition between the civilians and the ninjas?"
Simu shook his head slightly. "The 'unarmed' are not just the civilians; they include the nobles and the Daimyos as well."
"Imagine if those nobles and Daimyos obtained power comparable to that of ninjas. Would they still willingly hand over massive amounts of wealth to the hidden villages every year?"
"Just thinking about it makes this seem quite interesting..."
Simu spread his arms, a mocking smile on his face, as if he were witnessing a predictable future.
For some reason, Nagato—a man determined to make the world feel pain—suddenly felt a chill in his heart at that moment.
The thoughts inside this man's head were far more terrifying than they had imagined!
Indeed, no one wished for their sharpest sword to be held in the hands of another.
Therefore, once they acquired new weapons, conflict would become inevitable.
At that point, a massive war surpassing anything seen before would sweep through the entire Shinobi World.
Under the cover of a chaotic war, the Akatsuki's plan to seize the Tailed Beasts would naturally become much simpler.
Within a few short seconds, Nagato finished calculating how this situation could benefit the Akatsuki and his own plans.
Regardless, once he gathered all nine Tailed Beasts and became the Jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails, he could use absolute strength to suppress all the chaos in the world at once.
When that time came, even if Simu had other schemes, they would be futile.
"A very good idea."
Nagato nodded in approval. Compared to the benefits this plan offered, handing over portions of the Tailed Beasts and the Gedo Mazo's body to Simu was a small price to pay.
"I can agree to your terms, provided you can actually achieve this."
Simu smiled faintly. "Rest assured, a brilliant case study will be presented to Mr. Nagato very soon."
By his calculations, the timing should be just about right.
Nagato gave a slight nod. "In that case, I hope for a successful partnership."
"A successful partnership," Simu echoed.
Both sides tacitly refrained from shaking hands.
Nagato turned his head and spoke to Konan. "Since that's settled, take our new partners to see the headquarters."
Konan finally snapped out of the shock induced by Simu's words and hurried to reply, "Understood."
"Before that, I need to go fetch my other partner."
Simu had not forgotten that the fool Hidan was still waiting for him in the explosion crater.
When Simu arrived at the scene, a massive Jashin religion symbol was displayed before him.
Hidan had been so bored that he used his Three-bladed blood scythe to dig a deep trench in the ground, allowing the blood pooling on the battlefield to flow into it, forming a giant Jashin symbol.
"Heh, little Hidan, you're quite the industrious one."
Simu retracted his black wings and landed right behind Hidan.
Sensing Simu's arrival, Hidan felt a secret sense of relief, though he still let out a huff. "Did you kill that guy?"
"No."
Simu told the truth.
"What? No? Then what were you doing?"
Hidan fired off a triple-threat of questions, his suspicious look resembling a wife catching her husband cheating.
Simu pushed up his glasses nonchalantly and explained, "I reached a certain partnership with that guy. I'm not killing him anymore."
"What partnership?"
Faced with Hidan's continued prying, Simu rolled his eyes and said in a very disgusted tone, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Stop asking. Now, follow me somewhere."
With that, Simu vanished instantly.
Hidan stared at the direction where Simu had disappeared. He thought for three seconds before finally setting off, muttering under his breath.
"Damn Simu, one day I'm definitely going to kill you!"
Behind him, the Jashin religion symbol radiated a terrifying, sky-piercing aura of blood.
After several hours of travel, Simu and Hidan successfully arrived at the Akatsuki headquarters.
It was located underground, dozens of kilometers away from the battlefield. The place was incredibly well-hidden and spacious; one could feel a slight chill upon entering.
"Bastard Simu, where is this? You didn't bring me here to rob a grave, did you? We are believers of Lord Jashin, how can we do such low-class things..."
One had to admit, Hidan was truly a chatterbox.
"Welcome to the Akatsuki headquarters, you two."
A voice drifted from the darkness. Hidan, being interrupted, looked up to see a massive shadow looming in the underground world.
It was the Gedo Mazo, which Hidan had encountered briefly before. Pain's figure stood quietly upon its cupped fingers.
"Damn it, it's this guy again!"
Hidan instantly entered a combat stance. The Koukaku on his shoulder formed a Three-bladed blood scythe in his grip, ready to attack at any moment.
Looking at the now perfectly intact Pain, a hint of surprise flashed in Simu's eyes.
Is this also one of the Rinnegan's abilities? Extraordinary recovery, or perhaps a healing ability?
Simu leaned toward the latter. He was certain that Pain had shown no signs of life earlier, yet now he stood perfectly fine before him.
It likely wasn't self-regeneration but rather healing performed by Nagato's original body.
"Oh? Have the new members finally arrived?"
Following a playful voice, the space above the fingers suddenly twisted and spiraled. A man wearing a tiger-patterned mask appeared there.
Space-time Ninjutsu...
Simu scrutinized the newcomer. Aside from a single exposed eye, there were no other distinguishing features.
After the masked man appeared, the monster enveloped by the Venus flytrap emerged from the ceiling of the underground world, hanging upside down like a bat.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am White Zetsu!"
The white half of the body greeted Simu first.
At the same time, a mass of paper sheets converged on the fingers to form Konan's figure.
"Since everyone is here, I will make the introductions."
"I am Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki. My code name is [Zero]."
Pain's Rinnegan were particularly striking in the darkness as he pointed to his companions.
"This is Konan, code name [White Tiger]."
Konan nodded toward Simu and Hidan.
Pain continued, "The ones above are Black Zetsu and White Zetsu, code name [Black Tortoise]."
"Hello, I'm White Zetsu."
"Black Zetsu."
The two halves greeted Simu as well.
Before Pain could speak for the remaining masked man, the latter spoke up first: "Hello, seniors! I'm the Akatsuki intern, Tobi. I don't have a code name yet."