Chapter 209: Why Is My Career Panel in a 2D Anime Style? Chapter 94

Without further words from Changmen, all members of the Akatsuki, including Li Ang, had already arrived atop the pair of bound hands before the Outer Path Statue.

Although in the subsequent plot, Obito and Madara extracted the Tailed Beasts as they went, during the initial capture of Jinchūriki, the Akatsuki still needed to use the Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Sealing Chains to extract the Tailed Beasts from the Jinchūriki and seal them into the Outer Path Statue.

At this moment, everyone stood on the fingertips of the Outer Path Statue, forming hand seals as they gazed at the Six-Tails Jinchūriki lying motionless on the ground before it.

The next instant, a faint glow emerged from the monstrous mouth of the Outer Path Statue, followed by nine dragon-shaped energy forms that shot out and lunged fiercely at the Jinchūriki on the ground.

The Phantom Dragons Nine Sealing Chains required three days and three nights to sustain, normally needing ten powerful ninja to cast simultaneously; however, since Orochimaru had defected, the remaining nine had to exercise extra caution during the ritual.

Fortunately, the ninja present were among the strongest in the current Ninja World and would not commit any elementary mistakes.

Thus, the sealing process continued slowly and steadily.

……

Just as the Akatsuki members began extracting their first Tailed Beast, the atmosphere outside began to grow strangely tense.

In the Hokage's office, piled high with piles of paper documents, a mature woman with an extremely exaggerated chest frowned at the intelligence in her hands.

After a moment, she murmured softly, puzzled: "What are the Kirigakure trying to do?"

"Kakuyu, what do you think?"

As she spoke, the mature woman lifted her gaze toward a middle-aged man with two scars across his face seated at the desk.

Hearing her voice, the man named 'Kakuyu' reached out and took the intelligence from the desk, examining it carefully.

After a long while, he exhaled softly: "My lord, there are two possibilities."

"One, Kirigakure is merely conducting routine troop movements; two, Kirigakure defectors have fled to our territory."

He said this because the intelligence showed a clear increase in Kirigakure ninja within the Border of the nation over the past two days.

Not ninja passing through on missions, but specialized spies sent to gather information.

While intelligence gathering between villages was normal, Kirigakure's current actions had crossed a line.

After brief consideration, Hashirama made a decision: "I'll send a formal inquiry to Kirigakure directly."

At that moment, Kakuyu suddenly spoke in a lowered voice: "My lord, there is another possibility."

"Kirigakure is preparing for the Fourth Great Ninja War."

Upon hearing this, Hashirama's expression froze instantly, as if recalling some terrible memory.

After a long pause, she barely controlled her face and forced a strained laugh: "Hahaha, I never realized Kakuyu had such a talent for telling jokes."

Hashirama's voice grew quieter and quieter until she fell into silence.

Indeed, before the Second Great Ninja War began, the Five Great Nations had merely probed each other—no one could have imagined it would escalate into a war of such massive scale.

But Kirigakure…

Hashirama's mind flashed to the nation perpetually shrouded in thick fog, and a flicker of doubt crossed her eyes.

With their strength and unique geography, could they truly instigate a war?

Moreover, Kirigakure had always been a marginal player in previous Great Ninja Wars—what motive could they have now?

Or had they received some promise from another village?

After deep contemplation, Hashirama spoke in a voice devoid of emotion: "Jumping to conclusions too quickly is too rash. Send the ANBU to investigate whether anything major has occurred in the Land of Water recently."

"My lord is correct."

Nara Shikaku obediently agreed—he wasn't flattering, but truly believed Hashirama's judgment was sound.

Matters involving two nations, or even more, demanded extreme caution.

After Nara Kakuyu departed, Hashirama turned toward the window.

Though sunlight streamed brilliantly outside, she felt an invisible gloom had settled over the entire Ninja World.

The Hokage's office fell silent, until long afterward, a long sigh echoed through it.

'I hope I'm overthinking this.'

……

Inside the cave.

The three-day, three-night sealing process finally ended.

Li Ang looked up at the Ten-Tails, whose single eye had just opened, and thought to himself:

'At this rate, the nine Tailed Beasts will be gathered soon—but the real challenge remains the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails.'

In the original story, the Akatsuki failed precisely on these two Tailed Beasts.

Of course, for Li Ang, the greatest problem was still the Nine-Tails.

Although Naruto's power at this stage was pitiful, his connections were formidable—who knew if a deus ex machina might appear?

At that moment, Changmen, controlling Pain, spoke: "The plan is proceeding smoothly. Rest for a few days, then begin the true operation."

Capturing the Six-Tails Jinchūriki was merely a trial; when the true plan began, the Akatsuki would simultaneously capture Jinchūriki from all major villages.

Based on the members' capabilities, Changmen quickly assigned roles: "Sasori and Rōshi handle the One-Tail; Kakuzu and Deidara, the Two-Tails; Itachi and Kisame, the Four-Tails."

As in the original, Sasori was still assigned the One-Tail mission.

Li Ang understood this—Sasori, as a defector from Suna, clearly had deeper knowledge of Sunagakure than any other village.

Then Changmen added: "Zetsu, please go gather intelligence first."

"Understood."

As he spoke, the black-and-white figure resembling a pitcher plant dissolved into the ground and vanished.

Seeing this, Li Ang thought to himself:

'The Tailed Beast capture plan was accelerated so much—will Sasori still die as he did in the original?'

Not just Sasori—entirely, the plot of the Naruto world had shifted drastically; aside from knowing the true purpose of the Moon Eye Plan, Li Ang had no remaining intelligence advantage.

Fortunately, he was only one Sharingan away from completion.

Thinking of this, Li Ang glanced at a man nearby with deep nasolabial folds.

In the Naruto world, those who possess the Sharingan are few.

Uchiha Obito, the eye of Shizuka in his hand made him somewhat envious.

Uchiha Madara is also a decent choice, but Shinra Tensei is too powerful for mere survival.

Then there's Danzō, but Li Ang remembers that the Shadow Hokage placed a sealing technique on Shizuka's eye, triggered by death—dealing with it is troublesome.

As for Changmen

Unless Li Ang can locate his true body, plucking the Pain eyes is useless.

After handling the Six-Tails Jinchūriki, the members of the Qingjuran Society left the cave.

Yet, only a few days after Changmen assigned the tasks, he summoned the members again for a meeting.

"In the past two days, orders for explosive tags have surged dramatically. After Akatsuki's investigation, we discovered that Kirigakure recently dispatched ninja to the other four nations to gather intelligence."

Here, Changmen paused, then his tone took on a rare hint of strangeness: "The reason is"

"They suspect the other four nations have secretly sent people to capture their Tailed Beasts."

At these words, the cave fell into an eerie silence.

Li Ang narrowed his eyes slightly.

What kind of development is this?

Is Kirigakure planning to start the Fourth Great Ninja War?

Li Ang felt the reason was likely more complicated than that.

Unbeknownst to them, Kirigakure was merely reacting out of paranoia—they felt someone had been targeting them lately.

After all, since the Fourth Mizukage, their village has been plagued by misfortune.

As Li Ang pondered what would come next, Changmen spoke: "The plan has changed. Prioritize capturing the Three-Tails and continue provoking Kirigakure's nerves."

He turned to the figure of black and white: "Akatsuki, disguise yourself as a Kirigakure ninja and kill ninja from the other four nations, framing them."

"A chaotic Ninja World suits us better for capturing Tailed Beasts."

Hearing this, Li Ang raised an eyebrow—he hadn't expected things to take this turn.

But sowing discord has always been the Qingjuran Society's strength; otherwise, their original strategy wouldn't have been to incite war and then accept war contracts.

Now, the target of provocation has merely shifted from small nations to great ones.

Of course, due to the Naruto world's ninja village system, the difference isn't significant.

Moreover, the Qingjuran Society now has an even more perfect disguise than in the original story.

Because Konan's explosive tags are cheap, all major ninja villages now prefer to purchase them from the Qingjuran Society.

There's no need to worry about production capacity—after all, someone who can manually craft sixty billion explosive tags can't possibly have weak output.

Besides, explosive tags aren't tools usable by every rank of ninja; they're classified as mid- to high-tier ninja equipment, so the quantity purchased by each village won't be excessive.

In truth, for the Qingjuran Society, exposure doesn't matter—once they truly begin their plan, they'll inevitably draw the attention of the Five Great Nations.

This is merely a trial run.

At this moment, Changmen turned to the two figurines: "Sasori, Ryū, the task of capturing the Three-Tails is yours. Hide your identities."

"If Kirigakure's ANBU discover you, eliminate them cleanly and leave traces of Konoha."

The Three-Tails usually dwells at the bottom of lakes; in the original story, it was captured by Deidara.

But now, that role has been taken by Li Ang, so the mission naturally falls to him and Sasori.

"Understood."

"Got it."

Li Ang and Sasori responded.