Orochimaru spread his arms, eyes closed, with a slight smile on his lips as he faced the sky, thoroughly enjoying himself.
On Sasuke's side, his hands were tightly clenched, teeth gritted, and his head slightly lowered, filled with unwillingness.
What a perfect world-class painting.
"Lord Orochimaru, Hokage-sama requests your presence."
An Anbu ninja's arrival broke the "peaceful" atmosphere between the two.
Orochimaru didn't care, softly replying to the Anbu ninja, "Alright, I understand."
The Anbu ninja conveyed the message, nodded to Orochimaru, and vanished in a flash.
"Let's go, my dear disciple."
"Where to?"
"Of course, to the Hokage's office."
"The Fifth Hokage called for you, not me."
"Well, that's true, but as the leader of the Uchiha clan and my disciple, no matter what happens in Konoha, you have the right to know."
"Fine, I'll go with you."
Sasuke thought for a moment. If there was news that could harm the Uchiha clan, wouldn't it be foolish for him not to go?
Inside the Hokage's office.
Soon, a group of people arrived after being called by the Fifth Hokage, Jiraiya.
Apart from the usual audience, even the village's "strategist," Shikaku, was present.
"I just received news that the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki was captured the night before last."
"What?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked.
Especially Shikaku.
Not long ago, the Five Great Shinobi Villages sent elite forces to wipe out the Akatsuki organization. Logically, if the Akatsuki is gone, no one would be interested in capturing the tailed beasts.
But not much time passed, and the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki was captured.
No doubt, it must be the remnants of the Akatsuki.
"Jiraiya, do you know who did this?"
The Third Hokage frowned deeply.
As soon as he heard about the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki being captured, he immediately thought of Uchiha Madara who can't be reanimated.
"According to the surviving people from Takigakure, it was a person with a shark-like face, carrying a large sword."
"A shark face? Was it Kisame?"
"Most likely."
If you say someone has a shark-like face in the Hidden Mist Village, there are a few people who might fit that description, but adding the large sword makes it clear – it's definitely Kisame.
"I didn't expect that after disappearing for a while, he'd team up with Black Zetsu."
"After all, he also believes that this world is fake, so it's not surprising that he joined forces with Black Zetsu."
"By the way, should we have Obito try to convince Kisame to defect? I think their situations are pretty similar. If we try, there's a good chance it could work."
"No way, you're just talking nonsense. Kisame's situation is completely different from Obito's. You can't compare them."
"How is it different? Both of them believe the world is fake, and both want to create a real world. What's so different about that?"
"Anyway, they're not the same."
"..."
Looking at the heated discussion, Jiraiya didn't stop them.
He was also thinking about how to handle the situation.
"Jiraiya, do you think Uchiha Madara is involved in this action?"
Jiraiya nodded without thinking and replied to the Third Hokage, "Most likely involved, after all, capturing the Tailed Beast is key to whether the Moon's Eye Plan will succeed. Uchiha Madara will definitely be involved."
"But the people from Takigakure said they only saw Kisame, they didn't see anyone else."
"With the strength of Takigakure, it's enough for Kisame to go alone. Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu should be observing in the shadows."
"Mm, you're right. Takigakure's strength is indeed very weak."
Except for the Five Great Shinobi Countries, all the smaller villages are very weak.
Even though Takigakure has the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, compared to the weakest of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, there's still a big gap.
It's normal for them to lose the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Alright, let's stop discussing that for now. I have more intel. It seems that Kisame used the Shinra Tensei, a technique of the Rinnegan, when he was in Takigakure. I suspect that Nagato's other Rinnegan has been implanted into Kisame."
"That's not surprising."
Minato continued, adding, "After the Akatsuki was destroyed, Black Zetsu was left with only Kisame. And Kisame's chakra levels are even higher than the Uzumaki Clan's, so giving him the Rinnegan to use makes sense."
"So, what we're facing is Kisame with the Rinnegan, and Uchiha Madara in his Edo Tensei state, also with the Rinnegan? That sounds pretty tough."
Orochimaru's words made everyone nod in agreement.
Kisame is manageable. Although he has the Rinnegan as an advantage, considering Konoha's current battle capacity, dealing with him should be relatively simple.
The real headache is Uchiha Madara.
And it's Uchiha Madara in his Edo Tensei form, with infinite chakra, immortality, and the Rinnegan. Just thinking about it gives you a headache.
"Then, what should we do next? Does anyone have any good suggestions?"
Looking around, Jiraiya saw that no one spoke, feeling helpless. He had no choice but to turn to Shikaku. "Shikaku, do you have any good suggestions?"
"Uh..."
Called out by name, Shikaku could only grit his teeth and respond. "First of all, we definitely need to notify the Cloud Village, after all, they have the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki over there.
Secondly, we need to quickly recall the external ninjas to defend, in case Uchiha Madara captures the Eight-Tails and then comes to Konoha to capture the Nine-Tails."
At this point, Shikaku glanced at Jiraiya and then at Orochimaru, asking, "Can we resurrect the First Hokage? With the First Hokage around, Uchiha Madara shouldn't be much of a problem."
"Don't count on resurrecting the First Hokage. I don't know if something happened in the Pure Land, but both the First and Second Hokages can't be revived."
Jiraiya wasn't planning to let Shikaku know about the space-time barrier.
He had to blame the resurrection failure on the Pure Land.
"I see... well, there's nothing we can do then."
Seeing that Shikaku couldn't come up with any good solutions, Jiraiya shifted his focus to Orochimaru.
"How much longer until you can revive Izuna?"
"If we don't consider the normal lifespan of a clone, I can revive Izuna tonight."
"Alright, then resurrect Izuna first. Once we solve Madara, we can just replace him with a normal clone body."
"No problem."
"Okay, let's go with that for now. Meeting adjourned."
Jiraiya hadn't even finished saying the word "meeting" when a twist in space occurred, and Obito, spitting blood, fell out from the Kamui dimension.
"Obito?"
"Tsunade, hurry and save him!"
Tsunade gave Jiraiya a glare before quickly walking up to Obito.
"Sorry to trouble you, Lady Tsunade."
"Don't speak for now."
Stopping Obito from talking, Tsunade began her examination.
It didn't take long, and she was finished with the check-up.
She patted Obito's chest and said, "Don't worry, there's nothing serious. With his recovery ability, he just needs to rest for a while."
"I see. Then I can relax."
Hearing Tsunade's diagnosis, Jiraiya immediately sighed in relief.
He walked up to Obito and quietly asked, "Now tell me, what happened? Who injured you?"
*********
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