"Itachi, doesn't this guy look familiar?" Kisame asked in a low voice beside Itachi.
Itachi did not answer. He merely glanced out of the corner of his eye at Tobi, who was equally puzzled, before sinking into deep thought.
Could this person be...
For some reason, an ominous premonition welled up in his heart.
"Hey, newcomer..." Deidara asked. "What's your name? Are you here to fill Zetsu's empty spot?"
Hearing this, everyone went quiet, staring at the young man. The young man smiled back at them, his eyes curving into narrow crescents.
"My name is Sakakura Jokichi. I'm here to be the boss of Akatsuki. Please go easy on me, everyone!"
Silence. A deathly silence fell over the cavern.
The members of Akatsuki stared at him and Nagato behind him with indifferent expressions.
They did not know what Jokichi looked like.
However, his feats of killing the Fourth Kazekage and quelling a war entirely on his own had long spread throughout the Shinobi World, and they had naturally heard about it.
Furthermore, after that event, Akatsuki had even plotted an assassination against him.
Although Nagato, who carried out the assassination, had not announced the result, none of them believed anyone could escape Nagato's hands alive.
Afterward, Jokichi had indeed vanished without a trace, and no further rumors regarding him had surfaced.
They had all assumed Jokichi was dead.
But now...
While they weren't sure if he just shared the same name, declaring himself the boss of the organization right off the bat...
"May I ask a question?" Tobi squeezed to the front and raised his right hand like an elementary school student. "Senpai, are you the Leaf shinobi who defeated Sunagakure and Otogakure single-handedly half a year ago and ended the war?"
"If there isn't another event like that, then yes, that was me."
The moment those words were spoken, the pupils beneath Tobi's mask shrank violently. He turned his gaze sharply toward Nagato.
Itachi did the exact same thing.
Having made a deal with Jokichi eight years ago, his understanding of Jokichi far surpassed that of Tobi and Nagato. He knew full well that Jokichi possessed the potential to overturn the entire Shinobi World.
Why...
Why would he come to a place like this all by himself?
Why didn't he stay safely in Konoha to grow stronger?
And why did Nagato lead him to Akatsuki?
What on earth happened?
"Hey, a newcomer walking in and declaring himself the boss right away..." Hidan unslung the Triple-Bladed Scythe from his back, jabbed it into the ground, and leaned his body against it, a smirk curling on his lips. "Isn't that looking down on us a bit too much?"
"Oh?"
Jokichi turned his head to look at Hidan. His pitch-black eyes transformed into purple orbs featuring a pattern of concentric circles, adorned with nine tomoe.
BANG!
Hidan looked as if he had been struck by a massive sledgehammer. His body flew backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the cavern wall before sliding down, leaving a trail of blood.
A crater seven to eight meters in diameter had shattered into the wall behind him.
Hiss!
Someone sucked in a breath of cold air, while others stared at Jokichi in utter shock. None of them understood what had just happened.
There had been no chakra fluctuations, nor any physical signs of an attack...
The entire sequence looked as if Hidan were staging a scam, throwing himself into the wall on purpose.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."
Hidan clutched his chest in agony, groaning loudly. He then used his scythe as a crutch to force himself back up. "My bones and internal organs are completely shattered... You bastard, I'm going to..."
A black receiver materialised out of thin air and thrust straight through his throat, pinning him firmly against the rock wall.
Hidan's eyes widened. A series of gurgling noises escaped his throat before his neck slumped to the side, his breath extinguishing completely.
"Hey, no way!" Kakuzu's eyes widened slightly. "Isn't that guy immortal?"
As his teammate, Kakuzu was constantly at odds with Hidan.
Kakuzu had killed Hidan several times before, but no matter how he tried, the man simply wouldn't stay dead.
Even if his head were chopped off, he wouldn't die.
Yet now, a single black receiver thrust into his throat had finished him off?
"Perhaps his secret immortal technique was broken by someone," Sasori muttered, staring at Hidan's corpse, his pupils shrinking. "Ninjutsu and puppets are actually the same. They both have weaknesses. As long as you find the weakness, you can break it."
"Or maybe he's just playing dead, waiting for a chance to launch a surprise attack," Deidara offered with a strained smile.
"Itachi, what do you think?" Kisame asked in a low voice to the man beside him.
Itachi slowly closed his eyes and shook his head gently. "I don't know."
Though he found it difficult to comprehend, Jokichi's display allowed him to relax completely.
If Jokichi possessed this kind of power, his safety was not something to worry about.
Tobi, on the other hand, was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Through Uchiha Madara, he had learned every forbidden technique and jutsu of the Uchiha Clan, and he was even aware of the Yin-Yang Release techniques that only the Sage of Six Paths could master in ancient times.
That technique, which combined the power of Yin, Yang, and Five Elements, could render all ninjutsu and secret techniques completely useless.
The Rinnegan, Yin-Yang Release...
This person is no longer someone I can deal with.
Obito no longer had any mind to ask Nagato what was going on. While the attention of those around him was focused on Hidan's body, he slowly backed away.
When he reached the very rear, he prepared to use Kamui to escape.
However, the moment the swirling, distorted space began to form, it was completely disrupted by another, far more immense ocular power infused with space-time energy.
Although it didn't shut down the portal directly, it threw the space-time coordinates into utter chaos.
If anyone were sucked in now, they would undoubtedly be swept into a space-time turbulence, never to return.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Jokichi smiled, looking at Obito with playful eyes.
Being stared down by Jokichi put immense pressure on Obito's mind. He felt like a mouse pinned beneath the gaze of a cat, sensing a threat from a natural predator.
Yes, a natural predator.
In Obito's perception, Jokichi wasn't human at all. He was a deity standing high above, looking down on all living beings.
When pleased, he granted miracles to benefit the world. When angered, he brought down floods to devour it...
He was a true enemy of mankind.
Hearing Jokichi's words, everyone turned their attention toward Obito. Deidara looked bewildered.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
"There's no need to be scared to that extent, is there?"
"Even if this guy has strange, incomprehensible abilities, if we all attack together, there's no way anyone could survive!"
Fool!
Obito cursed internally. He was no longer in the mood to play Tobi. He glared intently at Nagato. "What is the meaning of this?"
Nagato looked back at Obito with an indifferent expression.
"Is something this obvious really worth me explaining?"
"I have aligned myself with Jokichi."
"I can tell that much!" Obito clenched his fists involuntarily. "You are not someone who would betray your own ideals. Why did you choose to betray me?"
"Because Jokichi can bring true peace!"
Nagato looked at the furious Obito, a trace of pity appearing in his eyes. "Before this, you and I—and even Uchiha Madara, who was controlling everything from behind the scenes—were nothing more than pawns being used by someone else. None of us could ever bring true peace."
"What?!"
Obito's eyes widened, his crimson pupils trembling slightly in absolute disbelief.
Nagato's statement proved that he already knew the full truth.
How could an outsider know about such deeply hidden secrets?
It seemed a thought struck Obito, and he whipped his head around to glare at Jokichi, who was wearing a playful smile. "Did you get this information from Black Zetsu?!"