Starting as the mastermind behind Naruto

Chapter 232 How to Respond to the Akatsuki's Meeting Invitation (Fourth Update!)

After Uehara Naraku and Sasuke returned to the shore.

Deidara rushed forward, laughing and hugging Uehara Naraku's shoulder, showering him with praise: "Hahaha... Uehara, as expected of you! You defeated the Three-Tails with ease, much stronger than any Uchiha!"

Sasuke Uchiha's face darkened.

Uehara Naraku also broke free from Deidara's arm, somewhat amused and exasperated. This guy was clearly using the opportunity of praising him to take a jab at the Uchiha clan!

Sasuke Uchiha turned to look around, then asked with some curiosity, "Hmm, where's Zabuza?"

"Hmm, Zabuza no Yaiba..."

A meaningful smile immediately appeared on Uehara Naraku's face: "Because Zabuza wanted to betray the Akatsuki, we buried him in our hometown. This can be considered a reward for his hard work over the years, even if he didn't achieve anything."

"..."

Sasuke Uchiha's heart skipped a beat.

These guys are indeed ruthless and decisive.

Sasuke Uchiha recalled how he had leaked information to Kakashi Hatake back in the Land of Grass. How would the Akatsuki treat him if they found out?

No.

Before I am strong enough, I absolutely cannot have any further involvement with Konoha.

"Alright, alright, let's take the Three-Tails back and seal it away!"

Uehara Naraku patted Sasuke on the shoulder and scanned the surroundings. Just as he was about to summon the ancient dragon down, he saw Sasori of the Red Sand approach Orianna again.

Scorpion seemed to be having a good time chatting.

If you keep talking, are you trying to exchange the engine oil you're using with her...?

Uehara Naraku watched this scene speechlessly, raised his finger and dismissed the clockwork Orianna, who was his puppet!

Sasori of the Red Sand walked over, looked at Uehara Naraku with a hint of hesitation on his face, and softly said, "Uehara..."

"Senior Scorpion, let's go!"

Uehara Naraku interrupted Sasori to prevent him from making any unreasonable requests, and waved his hand to summon an ancient dragon to land beside them.

Even with an ancient dragon, it seems that it wouldn't be easy to leave with the Three-Tailed Isobu. After all, it's a living tailed beast. What if it rebels halfway through?

Deidara frowned, staring at the enormous Three-Tails, and said, "Are we really going to leave carrying such a huge thing? Why don't we just find a safe place here and have Pain gather his forces to seal it away using the Illusion Body Technique?"

"Forget it, we've destroyed Kirigakure, so the Land of Water isn't safe for us."

Uehara Naraku shook his head, glanced at his skill panel, and found a genjutsu skill called Hypnotic Bubble. This skill was a reward for defeating Yamanaka Ino during the Chunin Exams, and he hadn't used it much.

The illusionary effect of the hypnotic bubble is to put people into a deep sleep, but it consumes 80 chakra points every 3 seconds, which Uehara Naraku needs to calculate carefully.

"Wait for me a moment."

Uehara Naraku was drawing and writing on the ground with a twig, which puzzled the people present. Why was this guy suddenly doing math?

Uehara Naraku sighed softly. It seemed that using the hypnotic bubble would consume a lot of his energy!

Even if you only hypnotize the Three-Tailed Isobu for an hour, it would still require 40,000 to 50,000 chakra points, even if you remove the two Seraph's Embraces which reduce chakra consumption by 50%.

With Uehara Naraku's current 250,000 chakra, he can only control Isobu for a little over five hours.

"I'll first use illusion magic to hypnotize the Three-Tails."

Uehara Naraku suddenly kicked out, and a cute bubble flew out from his toes and landed on the Three-Tailed Isobu.

This scene left several people speechless.

What kind of operation is this?

Is this what you call illusion?

After the hypnotic bubble struck the Three-Tails, it transformed into countless adorable birds that appeared around Isobu. The enormous tailed beast slowly closed its eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Uehara Naraku clapped his hands, summoned the ancient dragon to grab the three-tailed Isobu, and said softly, "Remind me in five hours, and I will recast the illusion on it."

"…good."

Sasori of the Red Sand nodded.

Fortunately, the ancient dragon was incredibly fast, and after a night's rest, they made it back to the Akatsuki's base in the early morning.

The speed at which the tailed beasts were captured this time was remarkably fast.

The day before yesterday at noon, Uehara Naraku and his group set off for the Land of Water; Kakuzu's team also set off for the Temple of Fire.

Yesterday morning, Uehara Naraku destroyed Kirigakure and captured the Three-Tails Isobu; Kakuzu's squad is on their way to the Fire Temple.

This morning, Uehara Naraku and his group returned to Akatsuki's base with the captured Three-Tailed Isobu; Kakuzu's team was still on their way to the Fire Temple...

The efficiency comparison is simply too obvious.

Therefore, when Pain used the Illusionary Body Technique to gather them, Deidara learned that they were still on their way to the Fire Temple and immediately provoked Hidan of Kakuzu's team.

"Trash, trash, trash! Idiots, idiots, idiots! We've already captured the Three-Tails and returned, and you haven't even reached your destination yet!"

"Damn it! Sooner or later I'll offer you up to the evil god!"

Hidan was furious. After hurling insults for a while, he turned to Kakuzu and said, "Hey, Kakuzu, we need to hurry up! Can you summon your summoning beast too?!"

"Finding a suitable summoned beast isn't easy..."

Kakuzu shook his head slowly and said in a deep voice, "How can we rush things like making money! After we seal the tailed beasts, we need to rest for another day before continuing our operation."

"Hahahaha..."

Deidara couldn't help but burst into wild laughter.

"Shut up!"

Sasori couldn't help but rub his forehead, utterly helpless with his teammates: "Whether it was capturing the Three-Tails or destroying Kirigakure, it was Uehara Naraku and Uchiha Sasuke who did it. We two just went on a trip..."

"..."

Deidara's smile froze on his face.

It seems he really didn't do anything on this trip, no wonder he looked so relaxed when he came back from this mission.

In terms of contribution, he is not only inferior to Sasuke Uchiha, but also inferior to Sasori of the Red Sand. After all, Sasori gave Uehara Naraku a scroll to seal the Byakugan, and reminded Uehara Naraku to use genjutsu on the Three-Tails Isobu at night!

"Hahahaha!"

Hidan immediately seized on Deidara's weakness, looking at him mockingly and saying, "Seriously, I could do that too! That just proves that Kakuzu, that idiot, is no match for Uehara..."

"Shut up!"

Kakuzu couldn't help but feel a twitch on his forehead.

If he could, Kakuzu would really like to change his teammates.

Unfortunately, most of the other members of Akatsuki had extremely high bounties and none of them were immortal. Kakuzu couldn't control his desire to kill his teammates for money, so he could only put up with Hidan.

"alright."

Pain frowned, interrupting their argument, and said softly, "This time we're sealing two tailed beasts, so save your energy!"

Because the Akatsuki's base still houses the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, it will take the Akatsuki quite some time to seal the Three-Tails Isobu and the Four-Tails Son Goku.

While the Akatsuki members were sealing the Tailed Beasts, Konan was living a somewhat leisurely and confused life in Amegakure, vaguely feeling that something was not quite right.

Why does it seem like ever since her disciple became a full member of Akatsuki, she's integrated into the organization like a fish in water, while she, one of the founders of the organization, hasn't carried out any missions in a long time...?

However, Xiao Nan soon stopped feeling lost.

Because she was completely bewildered.

Hydrangea appeared in Konan's office and respectfully said, "Lady Konan, letters have arrived from Konoha and Kirigakure respectively."

"Hmm? Kirigakure?"

Xiao Nan raised her eyebrows, opened the two letters, and her expression became increasingly confused, as if she were questioning the meaning of life.

These two letters were actually addressed to Hanzo of the Salamander, mainly to invite either Hanzo or Uehara Naraku to participate in an alliance meeting between Konoha, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure. The meeting's topic was how to deal with the Akatsuki's threat to the ninja world.

After all, both letters were confidential, and they needed to attract the attention of Hanzo the Salamander while also preventing the true plans of Konoha and Kirigakure to ambush Akatsuki from being revealed.

Xiao Nan sat at her desk, falling into a long silence.

The last time Uehara Naraku destroyed Sunagakure and captured Gaara, the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast, Konoha and Sunagakure sent people to Amegakure to request assistance, hoping they could help take back Gaara.

This time, Uehara Naraku destroyed Kirigakure and captured the Three-Tails Isobu from the Land of Water. Konoha and Kirigakure sent letters inviting them to participate in an alliance meeting on how to deal with the threat from Akatsuki.

To be honest, Xiao Nan doesn't quite understand any of this.

"Am I getting too old?"

Konan picked up the two letters on the table again, examining each line of text. Finally, her gaze fell on a line in the letter from Kirigakure.

Please make sure Naraku-kun attends as well. I have been missing Naraku-kun's face so much lately that I can't sleep. I am really looking forward to meeting Naraku-kun again.

The signature is Terumi Mei.

This woman is something else!

Konan raised an eyebrow, recalling that Uehara Naraku had met Terumi Mei once when he attended the Grass Country Conference. What happened between the two of them at that time?

Konan's gaze suddenly turned subtly hostile, and she rubbed her forehead: "I remember the intelligence said this woman named Terumi Mei is already thirty years old, right? Naraku is only twenty!"

However, she certainly couldn't have come up with this while sitting in Amegakure.

Therefore, after the Akatsuki members finished sealing the Tailed Beasts, Konan appeared at the Akatsuki base using the Illusionary Body Technique and looked at her disciple: "Uehara, Kirigakure and Konoha have sent letters inviting you to participate in the alliance talks..."

"..."

After sealing the Three-Tails and Four-Tails, all the Akatsuki members felt somewhat exhausted.

However, after hearing Xiao Nan's words, everyone perked up a little.

Is something wrong with the ninja world?

Didn't Uehara just destroy Kirigakure? And Kirigakure even invited him to participate in the alliance talks? What kind of god-like spy is this?!

Uehara Naraku rubbed his forehead and asked softly, "Teacher, did they mention the purpose of the meeting?"

"have."

Konan slowly began, "How do we deal with Akatsuki's threat to the ninja world, which is also the threat our organization poses to the ninja world?"

"..."

The members of Akatsuki looked at each other, their expressions somewhat subtle, even a little speechless.

A meeting about how to deal with the Akatsuki's threat to the ninja world—and Uehara Naraku is invited to attend? Deidara and Hidan burst into tears of laughter on the spot!

How the hell can we deal with this?

You've already brought the core members of Akatsuki and their future leader to the meeting, so how else can you deal with it? What else do you want to do?

"Okay, I understand."

Uehara Naraku stood up, exuding a workaholic air, and said softly, "If time is of the essence, I'll head over now..."

"No rush."

Konan shook her head, looked at Uehara Naraku and said, "Come back to the village and find me. I have other things to ask you."

Three more chapters...

Thank you all for your generous donations. I'll write the thank-you list tomorrow. I'm off to continue writing now.

(End of this chapter)