Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 224 Sasuke's Examiner

Before leaving.

Deidara and Hidan had their usual argument.

Deidara is half-mentally challenged and a goofball, while Hidan is a complete idiot and a fool. So, of course, Deidara can't win an argument with Hidan, because Hidan can lower Deidara's IQ and then win the argument with his rich experience.

After losing the argument this time, Deidara's gaze slowly shifted to Uehara Naraku, causing Uehara Naraku's heart to skip a beat.

"Hey, Uehara, where's your summoning beast?"

Deidara puffed out his cheeks, widened his eyes, and gestured wildly as he described the ancient dragon of Uehara: "You mean the one that's roaring like that... spit that bastard Hidan to death!"

Deidara even tried to imitate the roar of an ancient dragon with his voice, but he failed to capture any of its imposing power and instead came across as rather comical.

Everyone turned to look at Deidara.

What kind of summoned beast makes such a cute sound?

Uehara Naraku glared at Deidara, somewhat speechless. "Your summoning beasts are the ones that are howling!"

"Hey, Uehara, hurry up!"

Deidara stretched out his arms and urged loudly, "Hurry up and summon your summoning beast! If you do me a favor this time, next time I can create a super-huge C2 dragon for you to play with!"

"No need, your taste is flawed."

Uehara Naraku shook his head, slowly closed his palms, forming a summoning hand seal, and whispered, "Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!"

After a huge psychic seal was formed, an ancient dragon flew in from the sky a moment later. Some people who had never seen an ancient dragon before couldn't help but frown.

That spirit beast was truly enormous.

And its momentum is incredibly strong!

Even Hidan and Kakuzu, who didn't care much about summoning beasts, couldn't help but watch as the ancient dragon landed in front of Uehara Naraku.

"That's really surprising..."

Kisame Hoshigaki grinned, revealing a set of sharp teeth: "Uehara... the fighting power of each of his summoned beasts is beyond comprehension!"

When they first met, the Deep Sea Titan summoned by Uehara Naraku exhausted all of Kisame Hoshigaki's chakra... but this summoned beast is undoubtedly more powerful than that Deep Sea Titan!

Deidara swiftly climbed to the top of the ancient dragon's head, securing the best vantage point. He pointed at Hidan on the ground and muttered, urging, "Hurry, hurry, just breathe fire and kill that guy!"

Unfortunately, the ancient dragon did not obey Deidara's command. Instead, it slowly looked around, waiting for Uehara Naraku's order.

"Let's go up!"

Uehara Naraku soared into the air and landed next to Deidara, while Sasori of the Red Sand also flew up using the puppet strings.

It was the first time Zabuza Momochi and Sasuke Uchiha had ridden on such a mount. They took a few steps and jumped up, their bodies still swaying a little.

Deidara, like the master of an ancient dragon, greeted them warmly: "Hahahaha... Hurry up and use your chakra to absorb onto it, otherwise you might get thrown off on the way, but it'll be a very enjoyable ride!"

"..."

Uehara Naraku gave him a speechless look.

The reason Deidara insisted on going on the mission with him was probably just to ride around on his ancient dragon mount!

Zabuza Momochi glanced at Naraku Uehara and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Where did this summoning beast come from? I don't think we've ever seen a ninja beast like this before in the ninja world."

"The ninja world is very large..."

Uehara Naraku chuckled and continued, "This is a summoning scroll I got from Orochimaru. Who knew it would be this big? It'll be perfect for our flying vehicle, saving us time on the way..."

"Orochimaru's scroll?"

Uchiha Sasuke frowned.

If he hadn't been forcibly taken to the Akatsuki by Uehara Naraku, Uchiha Itachi, and Kisame Hoshigaki, but instead joined Orochimaru, would he have had the chance to obtain such a flying summoning beast?

To be honest, Sasuke was genuinely envious.

Sasuke is only sixteen years old this year, a time of youthful passion and enthusiasm. How could he not like such a powerful summoning beast that can fly?

Sasuke Uchiha has found yet another reason to hate Itachi Uchiha…

If Itachi Uchiha hadn't forced him to join the Akatsuki back then, he might have one of these ancient dragons by now!

Sasuke, of course, had no idea that the reason Itachi Uchiha forced him to join the Akatsuki was because those two treacherous individuals, Naraku Uehara and Kisame Hoshigaki, threatened to kill Sasuke if he didn't join…

Let's go!

Uehara Naraku looked down at the giant beast beneath him.

"roar!"

An ancient dragon rose from the ground, flapped its wings and hovered in the air for a while, then flew towards the Land of Water according to Uehara Naraku's command!

After Uehara Naraku and the others left.

Everyone's eyes were involuntarily drawn to Kakuzu.

Hidan went even further, saying bluntly, "Hey, Kakuzu, where's your summoning beast? Let everyone have a seat!"

"Shut up."

Kakuzu interrupted Hidan with a deep, resonant voice, looking up at the dragon disappearing into the distance. He murmured, "If this is how missions are carried out, the speed of travel is very fast, and it can save time and thus a lot of unnecessary expenses. It seems that in the future, when choosing reinforcements for missions, we can prioritize choosing that brat Uehara Naraku..."

"Hey, hey, hey, all you're thinking about is money!"

Hidan, in a fit of rage, roared at his partner, "I hate money more than anything! Money is blasphemy against the Jashin!"

Kisame Hoshigaki: "..."

Uchiha Itachi: "..."

Hozuki Mangetsu: "..."

Yuri Lin: "..."

What kind of teammates are these?!

Kisame Hoshigaki, Mangetsu Hozuki, and Ameyuri Ringo exchanged a knowing glance. Clearly, all three understood that assisting Kakuzu in his mission was secondary; the primary objective was to monitor or supervise Itachi Uchiha's actions.

After the group left, a space-time vortex appeared behind them, revealing Obito Uchiha's figure. The next second, Obito Uchiha transformed into a space-time vortex again and caught up with Kakuzu and his group.

For this mission, Itachi Uchiha received extremely generous treatment.

There are four ninjas overtly and covertly monitoring him, plus Kisame Hoshigaki's overt threat, so he'll surely behave himself.

Kakuzu was unaware of the undercurrents surrounding Kisame Hoshigaki, Itachi Uchiha, and others who were assisting his team in carrying out the mission; he was solely focused on making money.

Kakuzu is such a pure person.

Kakuzu flipped through the map and the bounty booklet from the gold exchange, and said in a deep voice, "Let's go to the Fire Temple first, take down this guy named Jiraiya, then go to the gold exchange to get the 30 million ryo bounty, and then see if we can kill a few Konoha ninjas to earn more bounty..."

Kisame Hoshigaki chuckled, objecting to Kakuzu's opinion: "If I remember correctly, to avoid casualties, we're forbidden from attacking ninja villages without Pain's permission, right? Even capturing tailed beasts requires a team of at least four people..."

"It's just about selling the corpses of Konoha ninjas for money."

Kakuzu glanced at Kisame Hoshigaki and said in a sinister tone, "If you're afraid of dying, Hidan and I can go. You can go back now!"

They're an immortal duo.

It's incomprehensible why Uehara Naraku insisted on bringing this group of guys along to make money. Since they're already here, they can't just be bystanders.

The Akatsuki sent six people; they can't just kill one Jiraiya, can they?

Kakuzu flipped through the wanted list in his hand, frowned, and asked, "This guy named Sarutobi Asuma was also one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire. He's worth five million more than Jiraiya's corpse. Uchiha Itachi, do you have any information about him?"

Itachi Uchiha shook his head and said, "I only remember that Mr. Asuma was the second son of the Third Hokage of Konoha, and I don't know anything else..."

"Mr. Itachi, are you serious?"

Kisame Hoshigaki grinned and chuckled, "We encountered that guy when we infiltrated Konoha. He seems to be skilled in using a chakra blade and fire-style ninjutsu..."

Itachi Uchiha frowned and asked, "Is that so?"

"Of course that's true."

Kisame Hoshigaki chuckled and continued, "In that battle, didn't you injure Kakashi? Uehara Naraku was just an intern back then, and he was waiting for us outside Konoha. I remember you even lent him some money before we infiltrated Konoha..."

"I forgot."

Itachi Uchiha raised an eyebrow.

"Hmph, you can even forget about money?"

Kakuzu snorted coldly, giving Uchiha Itachi a disdainful look: "You can forget something as important as lending money to someone? Your memory really doesn't match your age!"

"Perhaps..."

Itachi Uchiha shook his head indifferently.

A gentle breeze ruffled his hair.

While this team was still striving to advance towards the Fire Temple, Uehara Naraku and his group on the other side had already arrived at the Land of Water riding on an ancient dragon.

After all, flying is always faster than walking.

The situation in the Land of Water is somewhat tense.

Because of the news brought by Hozuki Mangetsu, and the Akatsuki's large-scale capture of the Tailed Beasts, Mei Terumi had to be on guard.

Unfortunately, Kirigakure failed to select a suitable Jinchuriki and could only temporarily relocate the Three-Tails Isobu to a more defensive location.

Mei Terumi dispatched over a thousand Kirigakure ninja to garrison near the Three-Tails Isobu. The densely packed outposts almost completely surrounded the Three-Tails Isobu's location, so much so that even a bird flying in would need permission from the Kirigakure ninja.

According to the information she received from Konoha, the Akatsuki members were very fast at capturing the Tailed Beasts.

Before finding a suitable Jinchuriki and without a definitive sealing technique, Mei Terumi had no choice but to resort to this clumsy method to protect the Three-Tails, Isobu.

After an overnight flight.

It was in the early hours of the morning.

When Uehara Naraku and the others arrived, they were also surprised by the sheer number of Kirigakure ninjas. They never imagined that ninjas would one day be protecting tailed beasts...

"How foolish..."

Deidara peered through his small binoculars at the densely packed Hidden Mist ninja on the ground, a pure and innocent smile spreading across his face: "The entire Sand Village was utterly destroyed by that Uehara guy. How could they possibly think these people could stop us?"

"Shut up."

Sasori of the Red Sand glanced at Deidara with displeasure. What was wrong with his teammate? Sunagakure was, after all, his hometown. Didn't this guy know to be more discreet?

And they always bring it up again?

I really want to sew Deidara's lousy mouth shut!

Uehara Naraku commanded the ancient dragon to land on a desolate mountain, tapped his arm, and said, "Alright, let's find a place to discuss our tactics!"

"Does this even need tactics?"

Deidara stared at Uehara Naraku with a deadpan expression: "You let this big guy fly over, I'll stand on him and drop a C3 No. 18, blasting everyone away, then let Sasuke, that brat, go and capture the Three-Tails, isn't that enough?"

"That won't do."

Uehara Naraku glanced at Uchiha Sasuke's solemn expression and chuckled, "After all, I'm Sasuke's examiner. I should at least prepare a suitable examination room for the students taking the exam!"

(End of this chapter)