At Akatsuki's base in the Land of Rice Fields, inside the vast underground chamber where the core members usually gathered, six figures had assembled.
Everyone was present except Zetsu, Obito—who still called himself Tobi—and Konan.
This time, they had all come in person rather than appearing as thought-wave projections created through Nagato's Magic Lantern Body Technique.
Akatsuki's plan to capture the tailed beasts had already been completed, and they had long since stopped taking mercenary jobs. Everyone knew the organization's plan had reached its final stage.
The expressions on the faces of these powerful S-rank missing-nin, each with their own distinct personality, varied greatly. It was easy to tell how each of them felt—and where they stood—regarding the decisive war that was about to begin.
The ever-energetic Deidara grinned excitedly.
"Sasori-danna, I heard the Five Great Shinobi Villages didn't end up fighting each other. They joined forces instead, and now they're coming after us. You might even get to see your grandmother again after all these years, hmm!"
Hidden inside Hiruko, Sasori replied in his usual muffled voice.
"Quit yapping. Aren't you the one who's going to run into your old sensei? Just don't let a few sweet words convince you to crawl back, brat."
"Hmph! As if I'd ever go back. That old geezer could never appreciate the beauty of my art."
"I don't get what's so fascinating about a flash that disappears in an instant. It'll never compare to my eternal art."
"Hmph. Motionless puppets count as art? They're stiff and lifeless. Nothing compares to the heart-stopping beauty of an explosion that exists for only a fleeting moment!"
The two immediately slipped into one of their usual arguments, acting as though the increasingly dire situation meant absolutely nothing to them.
Hidan looked toward Kakuzu.
"Hey, Kakuzu, don't go dying on me. You don't have that many lives left. Unlike me, I've got Jashin-sama's blessing. I can't die."
"You should be worrying about yourself. You're useless in large-scale battles. If you get smashed to pieces, don't expect me to waste time stitching you back together."
"Hah, good point. Then I'll just hunt down anyone who gets separated from the group and sacrifice them one by one to Jashin-sama. I'm sure He'll be very pleased."
"Looks like you've finally gotten a little smarter."
The last pair remained comparatively quiet.
Kisame glanced at Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru-san, we're about to face the comrades of your former village. How do you feel about that?"
"I don't waste time on sentimental nonsense," Orochimaru replied calmly. "But what about you? I hear Kirigakure has finally returned to normal. Don't you have anything to say about that?"
"Heh... that's just how the shinobi world is. Even without us, war would still break out. Conspiracies and betrayals are everywhere. It's truly a false world."
"But that's simply how humanity has always been. So tell me, Kisame... what is it you're really seeking?"
Kisame fell silent.
Of course, what he sought was the world Madara had once promised him—a world without war, without betrayal, where everyone could live in peace.
Granted, the Madara who had told him all that had turned out to be a fake as well, but Kisame's conviction had never changed.
Just then, accompanied by a low, oppressive roar echoing from outside, Nagato walked into the chamber.
Although everyone found it strange that he had come in person instead of using the Deva Path, no one voiced the question.
Nagato looked around at the organization's core members before speaking.
"Everyone, Akatsuki's plan has reached its final stage. My original intention was to use the ultimate weapon to deter the great nations and bring an end to war. Unfortunately, the people of those nations have never truly experienced pain. They cannot understand our dream."
"Now, the combined forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages have gathered at the border. War with them is unavoidable. Once we wipe them out, the remaining people will lose the will to resist, allowing us to create the ideal world envisioned by Akatsuki."
The six members showed little reaction. Only Deidara and Hidan looked visibly excited.
After sweeping his gaze across the room, Nagato continued, "If anyone wishes to withdraw now, I'll allow it. You may leave the organization without punishment."
No one spoke up.
Trust between shinobi was already rare to begin with, especially within an organization of missing-nin like Akatsuki. They hadn't come together because they shared some lofty political ideal.
Most of them had been beaten into joining in the first place.
Nagato might say there would be no punishment, but who would actually believe him?
For all they knew, the moment they announced they were quitting, a Shinra Tensei would slam them in the face the very next second.
Besides, with the plan already at its final stage, everyone wanted to see how it all would end.
Deidara snorted.
"Boss, you've got to be kidding. I'm about to go all out and show those bastards my perfect art. Why would I quit?"
He was a rebellious young man with nothing but art on his mind. Everything else was irrelevant.
Hidan chimed in, "Hurry up and get started. Jashin-sama's already getting impatient."
He was a complete lunatic—a bona fide Jashin fanatic. His life revolved around only two things: offering sacrifices and spreading his faith.
Sasori remained silent.
At that moment, all he could think about was his grandmother. She was already so old... surely she wouldn't be taking part in this battle.
If they did meet...
Then it would be time to bring everything to a final end.
Kakuzu said nothing either.
Money was the only thing he cared about, and he believed the shinobi world was better off staying exactly as it was. Better yet, nobody should have to risk their lives.
After all, how was anyone supposed to make money if they died?
Kisame also kept quiet.
The only thing he was truly loyal to was the world Madara had described. He had never acknowledged Nagato as his true leader.
Orochimaru couldn't care less who won or lost.
The only thing that interested him was the storm about to sweep across the shinobi world. Just how much would it change everything? Would the world become even more interesting than before?
Each of them had their own thoughts and loyalties.
Aside from Deidara and Hidan, who were fanatics through and through, Sasori's true intentions remained unclear, while Kisame's loyalty belonged to the ideal world Madara had envisioned.
Kakuzu and Orochimaru were much the same. If the tide turned against them, they'd probably be the first to slip away.
The destruction of Akatsuki wouldn't stop Kakuzu from making money or Orochimaru from continuing his research.
But if they lost their lives, then everything would truly be over.
Finally, Orochimaru asked, "Leader, don't tell me you're planning to take just the handful of us against the combined forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. If that's your plan, then I'd advise you not to be so naive."
"Of course not," Nagato replied. "I already have a plan. Follow me."
...
Inside an enormous underground chamber, the revived Ten-Tails roared incessantly.
It could sense that it was incomplete.
Now, it desperately wanted to break free, destroy the world, slaughter every human, and reclaim all chakra. That power had belonged to it in the first place.
However, under the control of Nagato's Rinnegan, it could only remain obediently confined here, serving as little more than a living factory.
Under the nourishment of the Ten-Tails' chakra, countless White Zetsu had already been produced.
They packed the chamber so densely that they numbered in the tens of thousands.
These weren't the ancient White Zetsu that the Divine Tree had created by transforming actual humans.
Instead, they were replicas grown from spores taken from a single White Zetsu as template seeds.
Because time had been limited, there weren't nearly as many as the hundred thousand White Zetsu from adult Sasuke's original timeline.
There were only around twenty thousand.
And even among those, only a small fraction were battle-ready. The vast majority were still incomplete.
In adult Sasuke's original world, Akatsuki had roughly one to two years between capturing the tailed beasts and the outbreak of the Fourth Shinobi World War, giving Obito more than enough time to cultivate the White Zetsu Army.
But the Akatsuki of this timeline couldn't afford to wait that long.
Instead, Nagato came up with an ingenious solution.
He fused these incomplete White Zetsu with living humans, using them as a kind of enhancement suit for shinobi.
Much like how Obito wore White Zetsu around his body.
The result gave off the distinct impression of a living exoskeleton—or even bio-armor.
It had to be said...
It was a remarkably creative idea.
At that moment, the shinobi of Amegakure and Otogakure gathered in the chamber were pairing up with batches of the incomplete White Zetsu one after another, forming a powerful special shinobi corps.
Orochimaru watched with great interest.
He already knew about the White Zetsu production process. After all, within Akatsuki, he was the only one who possessed the necessary expertise.
Originally, he'd assumed there hadn't been enough time for a White Zetsu Army to amount to anything.
Instead, Nagato had played an unexpected hand, squeezing every last bit of value from the resources already available.
It really was an effective way to arm a formidable force in the shortest possible time.
As for how effective they would actually be in battle...
That would have to be proven on the battlefield.
In any case, none of the six of them needed such enhancements.
These incomplete White Zetsu offered only minimal improvements to fighters of their caliber.
Nagato was no longer young.
Though he still retained his idealism, the years had also given him enough experience to see many things more clearly.
As he looked down upon the shinobi army that now belonged to him, two realizations suddenly came to mind.
First...
As a son of the Land of Rain, he had deliberately moved everything Akatsuki possessed to its base in the Land of Rice Fields just before the final stage of the plan.
If war truly was unavoidable, then perhaps, deep down, he had wanted the battlefield to be as far from his homeland as possible.
So this was why the great nations always chose to fight on someone else's soil.
Perhaps protecting their own people had always been part of the reason behind every Shinobi World War.
Second...
He finally understood how Higashino Makoto—and Konohagakure—had been using him.
Konoha had been using him as an overwhelming external threat to unite the Five Great Shinobi Villages.
In the end, their ultimate objective wasn't all that different from his own.
If that was the case...
Then it would simply come down to whose methods prevailed.
One way or another, the existing order of the shinobi world had to be broken.