Konoha's entrance.
With the burning gate as the background, members of Akatsuki, dressed in black cloaks with red clouds pattern, stood in a line. The street beneath their feet cracked inch by inch, revealing tiny fractures extending to the street's end.
At the end of the street, the Anbu Commander, Eagle descended from the sky. Shadows flickered around him as over a hundred Anbu's members swiftly took positions on the rooftops of the shops lining the street, forming a fan-shaped formation that vaguely surrounded the Akatsuki's members.
"Which of you is Pain?" Eagle asked loudly.
Deva Path Pain stepped forward and said expressionlessly, "Step aside, or die."
"If I'm not mistaken, your target is the Biju, correct?" Eagle continued to ask.
"Our intelligence has indeed been leaked."
Kakuzu grumbled angrily, "Shisui, that traitor!!"
"I'm afraid you're making this trip in vain."
With his eyes wide opened, Eagle started talking nonsense. "Kyubi's Jinchuriki, Kushina, is with the Fourth Hokage in the Land of Iron. Your information is quite surprising."Deva Path Pain replied indifferently, "What about Sanbi and Hachibi?"
"How could Sanbi and Hachibi be in Konoha? What a joke!" Eagle said, pretending to be indignant.
"When Orochimaru launched the Konoha Crush Plan, Sanbi and Hachibi appeared near Konoha at the same time. I saw it with my own eyes." Kisame said while chuckling.
'So the missing Ichibi was indeed captured by Akatsuki…' Eagle thought to himself, "You saw it wrong."
"A dignified Anbu Commander acting like a child? Ridiculous!" Kisame smiled disdainfully.
"Because I am Konoha's Anbu Commander that my words are absolutely true!" Eagle retorted seriously, spouting nonsense.
Facing the aggressors, what Eagle wants to do most is to kill the other party instead of engaging in endless chatter here. It annoyed not only the enemy but himself as well.
However, he had no choice. Based on the information he has, although the Akatsuki's numbers were few, each member was an S-Rank Missing-nin, which is extremely difficult to deal with. Especially the Pains controlled by Nagato using the Rinnegan, whose power was even more terrifying. If they recklessly started a fight, it will inevitably affect the entire Konoha!
Therefore, upon recognizing the Rinnegan, he had immediately dispatched three Anbu's members, one to the Military Police Force to notify them to evacuate all Konoha's residents to shelters, another to find Nara Shikaku to inform him of the situation and bring two Elite Jonin Teams for support, and the last one to the Hokage Tower to ask Hiruzen to use the messenger toad to contact Minato!
Although Minato is far away in the Land of Iron, Eagle knows that the Shinobi World is full the Flying Thunder God Technique's coordinates laid by Kanpū. As long as they relayed the information here to Minato, then Kanpū could return in an instant…
'Well, in an instant might be a bit exaggerated. But ten seconds, in ten seconds, Kanpū can definitely rush back!'
Therefore, before Kanpū came back, Eagle had no choice but to lower his stance and use all sorts of trash talk to stall for time!
"Are you… trying to stall for time?" Deva Path Pain seemed to see through Eagle's thoughts, then slowly raised his right hand.
...
At the same time.
A few kilometers away, on top of a tall building, two figures stood by the railing, watching the scene.
"Just ten people dare to invade Konoha, those guys are courting death!"
Sasuke looked displeased at the posing Akatsuki members, and said with a sneer, "Are they your allies, Orochimaru?"
"To be precise, they are pawns." Orochimaru, who was standing next to him, looked at the confrontation between Akatsuki and Konoha's Anbu with a smile, looking quite pleased.
"Pawns?"
Sasuke frowned, "What are you trying to achieve by using them?"
"The first goal is to continue the Konoha Crush Plan."
Orochimaru said with a smile, "Now Namikaze Minato and Gekko Kanpū away from Konoha, the one with highest authority in the village is my teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen… Hehe, this is the perfect opportunity to destroy Konoha!"
Sasuke clenched his fists fiercely and snarled, "Even if Yondaime and Kanpū-senpai are not here, Konoha cannot be destroyed by just ten people!"
'That's right, Konoha still has Uchiha Clan, Hyuga Clan, Sandaime, and many other Shinobi Clans. How could ten people possibly destroy Konoha?'
Sasuke kept comforting himself in his heart.
Orochimaru didn't argue and continued: "The second goal is to help you awaken your eyes."
Sasuke's pupils shrank, and he roared: "What are you planning to do?!"
"Literally what I said."
Orochimaru replied with a playful smile, "Don't worry, I know you can't do anything to your loved ones, so… hehehe, you just have to watch from the sidelines."
Sasuke's brow twitched as his eyes filled with a mixture of hatred, regret, and fear.
Ever since he learned how to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, he had been plagued by nightmares. For a while, he dreamed that his big brother would kill him to kill him to awaken his eyes, the next dreaming that he had gone mad and killed his entire family to awaken his eyes. These repeated nightmares had left Sasuke increasingly haggard, and he began to understand why his family had never told him the method to awaken the Mangekyo.
"The third goal is to seize the pinnacle power of the Shinobi World!" Orochimaru's eyes overflowed with fanaticism.
...
"Quick, quick, quicker!"
An Anbu's member was speeding across the scattered rooftops.
He was carrying out Eagle's order to report Akatsuki's presence to Hiruzen at the Hokage Tower and…
'Huh?'
The Anbu's member stumbled and fell towards the ground. Looking down, he saw that his right foot had somehow been tripped by a tree branch.
"Damn it." He cursed, and was about to pull out a kunai to cut the branch when a playful voice sounded nearby.
"Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"
"Who?" The Anbu's member coldly shouted, but then his body stiffened as dense branches suddenly sprouted from inside him.
'What?'
The Anbu's member was frightened, and before he could struggle, his consciousness plunged into darkness.
"Too easy."
White Zetsu's clone, Tobi, emerged from the ground, his arm transformed into branches entwining the now-dead Anbu's member.
"Trying to send a message? Dream on." Tobi chuckled playfully.
...
Elsewhere, the Military Police Force had just when the Anbu's member sent by Eagle arrived and conveyed the order to evacuate Konoha's residents.
If they were replaced by the former Military Police Force dominated by the Uchiha Clan, they would never listen to Anbu's orders, but now, they immediately dispersed, rushing in all directions to start the evacuation.
On the side of the Jonin Teams, Shikaku also met with the Anbu's members sent by Eagle and learned about the situation at the village's gate.
"Akatsuki… Rinnegan… and they chose this time."
Shikaku looked uneasy, then forced himself to calm down, and said after pondering, "Since Eagle has already notified Sandaime and Military Police Force, then…"
A gleam appeared in Shikaku's eyes. His first decision was to send a team of Elite Jonin to protect Kushina!
'Since Akatsuki was invading Konoha while both Yondaime-sama and Kanpū were absent, their target must be the Biju!'
'Currently, Konoha had Sanbi, Yonbi, Hachibi, and Kyubi. Among these, Kyubi was the one that could not be allowed to fall into Akatsuki's hands!'
'As for Sanbi, Yonbi and Hachibi, it doesn't matter if these three Biju are captured by Akatsuki, we can just capture them back later anyway!'
Thus, Nara Shikaku made his second decision, to send someone to the Anbu's Headquarters to notify the Sanbi's Jinchuriki, Konoha Saburo, to leave Konoha and then release Sanbi to draw Akatsuki's attention!
'Hopefully, this will buy us more time.'
After making these arrangements, Shikaku immediately led two teams of Elite Jonin to support Eagle.
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