After washing up, Rorin left home and first went to check on the construction of his new residence.
When he arrived, the workers were all busy, each handling their own tasks. The foreman was supervising closely the entire time. Rorin was paying a high price, but in return, he demanded the shortest possible construction period.
Rorin nodded slightly, quite satisfied. Judging by the current progress, it would take about another week for the new residence to be completed.
Afterward, Rorin headed to the Hokage's office to report his plan to leave the village.
When he arrived, he found Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya already there.
"Tsunade-sama, I have some personal matters and need to leave the village for a while. I came specifically to report it to you," Rorin said straightforwardly upon seeing Tsunade.
Tsunade frowned slightly. It hadn't been long since Pain attacked the Hidden Leaf Village, and there was no telling when he might return.
However, considering what Rorin had said earlier—that Pain would need time to recreate the Six Paths of Pain—she didn't refuse his request.
"Mm, you may go," Tsunade replied softly.
Rorin smiled slightly. Just as he was about to leave, he looked at Uzumaki Naruto and asked,
"Naruto, are you also leaving the village and came here to inform Tsunade-sama?"
Naruto nodded.
"Yeah. The pervy sage said the sages of Mount Myōboku have something to tell me, so I'm going there."
So next is training on the Island Turtle, huh? Rorin smiled and patted Naruto on the shoulder.
"Do your best, Naruto!"
After that, Rorin bid farewell to the three and left the village.
...
Land of Lightning, Hidden Cloud Village.
Inside the Raikage's office.
After learning that Killer B had been taken by the Akatsuki, the Fourth Raikage A burst into tears.
"No matter what it takes, we must bring B back—he must be rescued!"
After Omoi and Karui agreed, they immediately went to handle the rescue arrangements.
Meanwhile, in a small plaza within the Hidden Cloud Village, Uchiha Obito infiltrated the area.
Upon learning that Killer B had been captured by the Akatsuki, his brow furrowed beneath the mask.
After dealing with the Cloud ninja in front of him, Uchiha Obito sought out several more Cloud ninja to confirm the accuracy of the information.
Using genjutsu to control them into revealing the truth, Uchiha Obito's expression grew grim.
"What's going on? Who could have taken the Eight-Tails jinchūriki before me? Could it be Nagato?" Uchiha Obito muttered.
After confirming that it was someone from the Akatsuki who had taken Killer B, Uchiha Obito first suspected Nagato.
Since the Eight-Tails jinchūriki was no longer in the Hidden Cloud Village, there was no point in staying. Uchiha Obito used Kamui and left.
Returning to the Hidden Rain Village, Uchiha Obito once again used the Magic Lantern Body Technique to contact Nagato.
Before long, he received a response, and the two initiated a video conference.
"Uchiha Madara, what urgent matter is it this time?" the Deva Path of Pain spoke slowly.
"I just went to the Hidden Cloud Village and learned that the Eight-Tails jinchūriki has already been taken by someone else in our organization. So I want to know—did you assign someone else to do it?"
Uchiha Obito stared at the projection of the Deva Path and spoke quietly.
"Oh? The Eight-Tails jinchūriki has already been secured? But strangely, I haven't received any contact from others," the Deva Path replied.
"You don't know who it is either?" Uchiha Obito's voice turned cold.
The Deva Path slowly shook his head.
"If I knew, I would have contacted you to extract the Eight-Tails' chakra together."
"In that case, contact the others and ask," Uchiha Obito suggested.
The Deva Path nodded slightly. "That was my intention as well."
He then sent out Magic Lantern Body Technique signals to the other members of the organization.
Far away in the Land of Lightning, Uchiha Itachi paused upon receiving the signal, then smiled faintly.
"Is it time?"
But this time, he had no intention of joining the video conference. As long as he didn't attend, Uchiha Madara would inevitably suspect him.
This was exactly what they had planned before. The signal was also a notification for him to prepare to deal with Uchiha Madara.
A quarter of an hour later, the Akatsuki video conference began as scheduled.
"Leader, you suddenly contacted us urgently—what's the matter?" Kakuzu asked.
He had just been trading at the bounty office. Recently, Uchiha Obito hadn't been acting with him and had taken over the mission of capturing the Eight-Tails. Kakuzu had been busy making money and was thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Yes, there is something. Has any of you gone to the Land of Lightning recently?" the Deva Path asked.
Hearing this, everyone slowly shook their heads, and Uchiha Obito observed it all carefully.
"Leader, what does this have to do with the Land of Lightning? Is it related to the Eight-Tails jinchūriki?" Kakuzu quickly grasped the key point, glanced at Uchiha Obito, and asked.
"That's right. News has spread in the Hidden Cloud Village that a member of our organization has captured the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, but I was not informed. So I contacted you all to ask," the Deva Path explained.
Everyone was puzzled and denied being responsible.
"By the way, Leader, didn't you notice someone's missing from this meeting?" Deidara looked around and said with a grin.
The Deva Path scanned the group, his voice turning cold.
"Indeed, one person is missing."
Uchiha Obito thought to himself: Uchiha Itachi? Could it be him?
He had already temporarily ruled out Nagato. Thinking it through, Nagato had been in the Hidden Leaf Village at the time and was in no condition to move quickly to the Land of Lightning, capture the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, and leave.
Moreover, according to what Zetsu had mentioned, Nagato had used Planetary Devastation, so his physical condition must have been far from ideal.
That left Uchiha Itachi as the most likely suspect. But why would he do this?
Uchiha Obito couldn't quite understand Itachi's actions.
"You mean Uchiha Itachi? It is indeed strange. I sent him a message as well, but he didn't join the meeting," the Deva Path said slowly.
"Could he have betrayed the organization?" Deidara suggested.
"I'll arrange for someone to investigate the situation further. For now, we'll end it here," the Deva Path said, his eyes flickering.
After that, all the other Akatsuki members except Uchiha Obito left the video conference.
"What do you think? Do you believe it's him?" the Deva Path asked.
Uchiha Obito's gaze turned colder.
"I'll go find him and get a clear answer."
"In that case, I'll leave it to you," the Deva Path nodded slightly before also leaving the conference.
Uchiha Obito gazed into the distance, silent for a long time.