Pain glanced at the masked man but said nothing, seemingly silent in his agreement with the man's words.
Hidan scrutinized the group before hoisting his Three-bladed blood scythe onto his shoulder and licking his bright red lips.
"Simu, these guys look pretty decent. How about we sacrifice them all to Lord Jashin?"
He looked toward the Gedo Mazo, his face filled with greed.
"Especially this big guy. If we can sacrifice it to Lord Jashin, He will definitely be very happy!"
"Tsk, tsk. Senior Hidan's ideas are quite bold."
Without anyone noticing, the masked man had appeared behind Hidan.
Hidan immediately snorted coldly: "You don't understand the greatness of Lord Jashin at all!"
The masked man tilted his head: "Jashin? Never heard of him."
"Bastard! How dare you desecrate Lord Jashin!"
Hidan gripped his Three-bladed blood scythe and twisted his waist with force. The scythe carved a massive arc through the air, slashing toward the masked man behind him.
Facing this sudden conflict, neither Simu nor Nagato—nor anyone else—showed any intention of intervening.
Simu, in particular, felt that if this self-proclaimed Akatsuki intern were solved so easily by a single strike from Hidan, he would need to seriously reconsider the strength represented by the Akatsuki.
However, such a thing was naturally impossible.
Hidan's crimson blood scythe cut through the masked man's body like a bolt of red lightning, yet the latter showed no signs of injury whatsoever. It looked as if the strike had passed through a mere phantom.
Not only that, the masked man used the opportunity to close the distance, teasing Hidan: "Senior Hidan, you really scared the life out of me."
At that moment, several plump insects crawled onto the masked man's windbreaker.
"Wait, what?"
The masked man let out a confused sound and was immediately engulfed in a terrifying explosion!
Hidan tumbled several times across the ground before stabbing his scythe into the floor to regain his balance and stand up.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You two seniors are quite short-tempered. I almost lost my life there."
The masked man had somehow quietly reappeared on the fingers of the Gedo Mazo, patting his chest as if he were genuinely terrified.
"Enough, Tobi. These two will be our partners from now on. Don't go too far."
Pain spoke up to end the farce.
Hearing this, the masked man simply scratched his mask and said with regret: "I really wanted to see the seniors' true strength. But since the leader said so, I have to stop."
Even though the opponent backed down, Hidan was not a master who settled things easily. He raised his scythe, ready to offer everyone in the room to Lord Jashin.
Unfortunately for him, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.
"Stop it, Dan."
"We are going to be comrades with Tobi from now on."
Simu adjusted his glasses and gave Tobi a friendly smile.
Hidan looked at Simu, unable to understand: "Bastard Simu, are you really going to join this bullshit organization?"
Simu glanced at Hidan sideways, his Rinkaku already touching the back of Hidan's neck.
"Why? Is there a problem?"
Feeling the aura behind his neck, Hidan was instantly silenced. He raised both hands in resignation and said: "Fine, fine, fine..."
Pain gave Simu a surprised look. It seemed the relationship between these two was even closer than he had imagined.
"Since that's the case, the two of you should choose your code names."
With a wave of Pain's hand, the seven remaining rings flew through the air and stopped in front of Simu.
Simu observed them. The seven rings were [Azure Dragon], [Vermilion Bird], [South Star], [Jade Maiden], [North Star], [Three Platforms], and [Void].
After hesitating for a moment, Simu chose [North Star].
After all, this name held a unique meaning in his previous life. Perhaps it could point him in the direction of truth?
"Hmph. If I have to choose, then I'll pick this one."
Hidan pouted and selected [Three] from the rings, the full name being [Three Platforms].
Pain gestured, and the remaining rings flew back into his hand.
"These rings are proof of your identity in Akatsuki. I will contact you through them. Only when you die will Akatsuki send someone to recover your ring."
Pain briefly explained the significant meaning of the rings.
Simu narrowed his eyes. The phrase 'only when you die will they be recovered' spoke for itself: one could only leave Akatsuki upon death.
Conversely, it could be translated as: if you try to leave Akatsuki, the outcome is death.
Of course, Simu didn't care about such warnings at all.
Compared to the others, his relationship with Nagato wasn't one of superior and subordinate; they were more like partners who happened to be wearing the Akatsuki skin.
Simu didn't just tolerate this skin; he actually liked it a bit.
This meant that in the future, anything he did could be blamed on Lord Jashin or on the Akatsuki.
No one noticed the various thoughts running through Simu's mind because of that one sentence.
Pain simply had Konan bring over two sets of red-clouded uniforms for Simu and Hidan. Along with the uniforms, two scrolls were delivered.
"The first scroll contains the Yin Style Jutsus you requested."
"The second contains a portion of the Gedo Mazo's body."
Since Simu and Hidan had joined the Akatsuki, Nagato was quite straightforward in delivering the 'down payment,' which served as a sign of sincerity for their partnership.
Simu took the scrolls. His gaze moved past Konan to rest on the giant, mysterious statue behind her, the corners of his mouth curling upward.
Akatsuki was, in fact, a rather loose organization.
As long as one completed the tasks assigned by Pain, their time was quite free, and they could earn decent rewards.
Simu immediately took his gains to an underground base.
This base was naturally an asset of Akatsuki, but now it belonged to Simu.
He summoned his Black Beetles to set up the area and then immediately submitted a list of equipment needed for his research to Konan. He hoped she would fulfill it quickly so as not to delay his work.
"I say, Simu. Now that things have turned out like this, how are we supposed to spread the Jashin Religion?"
Ever since joining Akatsuki, Hidan had been completely dejected.
Hearing the question, Simu raised an eyebrow: "Who says we can't spread the faith of Lord Jashin within the Akatsuki?"
"Huh?"
Hidan looked up at Simu, his eyes full of curiosity.
Simu slowly took off his glasses and wiped them gently with the corner of his clothes. He spoke flatly: "If everyone inside the Akatsuki becomes a believer of Lord Jashin, then won't the Akatsuki organization simply become the Jashin Religion?"
With that one sentence, Hidan's eyes instantly ignited with a bright light.
It seems...
That actually makes sense!