"Fine by me. Let him come."
"I just happen to need a new puppet. I've heard Arisu has mastered all five nature transformations. Turning him into a puppet... that would be wonderful, wouldn't it?"
Sasori immediately spoke up. He even licked his lips, looking completely absorbed in the thought.
"Pain, next time you're recruiting members, remember to give them an IQ test."
Uchiha Obito let out a sneer and turned to Pain as he spoke.
Sasori's face instantly darkened. Hiruko's tail swayed slightly behind him as he stared coldly at Obito, killing intent appearing in his eyes.
"If you're only here to watch a joke, then hurry up and leave."
The Animal Path looked at Obito and spoke coldly.
Obito didn't care. Not wanting to waste any more time, he said directly, "One more thing. Juzo is dead. From now on, Itachi's partner will be Kisame."
The Animal Path Pain gave a slight nod in agreement.
"Oh, right."
"I found two more promising candidates. One is in the Land of Hot Water. His name is Hidan, and he's immortal."
"The other is Deidara from the Hidden Stone. He's Onoki's disciple. Find time to recruit them.", Obito continued.
After saying that, Obito said nothing more. His body slowly sank into a distorted space vortex and silently disappeared from where he stood.
In the rain, only Sasori's annoyed voice remained.
"Tch, that guy really needs a beating..."
Konan slowly descended from above, her paper wings folding away. Looking at the place where Obito had disappeared, she frowned slightly but said nothing.
The Animal Path Pain remained standing calmly in the rain.
———
[Konoha, Hokage's Office, Several Days Later]
Warm sunlight streamed into the Hokage Building. Arisu had finally left the hospital. After stretching lazily, he slowly made his way to the Hokage's office.
Seeing his teacher arrive, Minato Namikaze smiled and had tea brought over. The two temporarily set aside official matters and chatted casually.
The conversation went from recent changes in the village to their respective sons, and they exchanged compliments.
"That kid Yukio has improved a lot recently."
"Naruto is doing very well too. Minato, you've taught him well."
The atmosphere was relaxed and warm.
As they chatted, Arisu suddenly remembered something.
It seemed he hadn't seen Sakumo Hatake for several days.
"By the way, Minato, where's Sakumo? I haven't seen him recently. He should've returned by now even if he was on an S-rank mission, right?", Arisu took a sip of tea and asked casually.
Minato froze slightly, then revealed a smiling expression.
"Cough, cough. Teacher, normally only the Hokage is allowed to know about S-rank classified missions, but you're not an outsider..."
"Sakumo went to the Hidden Rain Village. I heard that's where the Akatsuki Organization originated, so I wanted him to investigate it.", Minato answered honestly.
"He went to the Hidden Rain?", Arisu's hand holding the teacup visibly stiffened.
'Isn't this Jiraiya's mission?'
'How did it become Sakumo Hatake's mission instead?'
Arisu's brows gradually furrowed as he asked in a deep voice, "How many days has Sakumo been gone?"
Minato quickly calculated the time and answered, "A week. He should be coming back soon."
The corner of Arisu's mouth twitched slightly. He rubbed his forehead, and a trace of helplessness flashed through his eyes.
It's over. Sakumo Hatake probably isn't coming back.
If it had been a few days earlier, he could have stopped Sakumo Hatake, or personally gone to the Hidden Rain and brought him back.
But now so much time had already passed.
Sakumo Hatake had probably already arrived at the Pure Land Reception Hall...
———
[In The Pure Land Reception Hall]
"Where is this place?"
Sakumo Hatake stared blankly at his surroundings.
Suddenly, a member of the Hatake clan saw Sakumo and froze for a moment before grinning.
"Sakumo, congratulations on ascending to the Pure Land."
"Come on, come on. Your father and grandfather have been waiting for you for quite a while."
———
"Sakumo isn't coming back."
After a moment of silence, Arisu spoke with certainty.
"What?!"
The smile on Minato's face instantly froze. His expression quickly turned serious as his blue eyes locked onto Arisu. Even his voice became tense.
"Teacher, why do you say that?", Minato asked nervously.
The atmosphere inside the office suddenly became heavy.
Arisu let out a slight sigh and slowly spoke, "Minato, you've never fought a war in the Land of Rain, so you don't understand the situation there. Sakumo Hatake is nearly sixty years old now. His strength has declined greatly over the years..."
"And the leader of the Akatsuki Organization is a monster who possesses the Rinnegan."
"The Akatsuki's base is most likely in the Hidden Rain Village. Since Sakumo hasn't returned after so many days, I'm afraid... things don't look good."
Arisu paused before speaking in a low voice, "It's that serious?! I didn't know any of this information!"
The color drained from Minato's face. His eyes were filled with anxiety and self-blame.
He had originally thought this was just a normal S-rank infiltration and reconnaissance mission. He never expected it would directly involve the Akatsuki headquarters and the legendary Rinnegan.
"If... if I had known even one of those things, I would never have sent Sakumo there alone!"
Minato's voice trembled slightly as his fists clenched unconsciously.
The next second...
Minato suddenly stood up. His cloak swept behind him, and his eyes became incredibly determined.
"I'm going to the Hidden Rain Village myself right now with Flying Thunder God! I'm bringing Sakumo back!!"
At this moment, Minato had completely stopped caring about his identity as Hokage. Chakra surged through his body as he prepared to leave immediately after placing a Flying Thunder God marker.
"Minato!"
Arisu quickly stood up and stopped him.
Minato turned around, his eyes full of urgency.
Looking at his student, Arisu let out a deep sigh.
"Minato... I'll go. I'll make the trip myself. Hopefully Sakumo is only trapped and things haven't reached the worst outcome yet."
The office fell into brief silence.
In the end, Minato suppressed his anxiety and slowly nodded.
"...Teacher, I'm counting on you."
Arisu patted Minato on the shoulder and said nothing more.
After returning to the hospital, Arisu told Tsunade everything that had happened in the Hokage's office.
"...Sakumo is most likely in grave danger already. I told Minato that I'll personally make a trip to the Hidden Rain Village. At the very least... I'll bring back news of him, or his body."
The moment he finished speaking, the hospital room instantly became silent.
The smile that had been on Tsunade's face gradually froze. Her eyebrows shot up, and her expression quickly changed from disbelief to panic.
"What did you say?!"
Tsunade suddenly stood up from the bed.
"You're going to the Hidden Rain Village?! For the sake of an old man who's probably already dead? Have you lost your mind?!"
Tsunade completely exploded. Her chest rose and fell violently as both hands tightly grabbed Arisu's collar.
"My strength is enough. Going to the Hidden Rain Village won't be a problem."
Arisu raised an eyebrow slightly. He hadn't expected Tsunade's reaction to be this strong.
Had he given Tsunade the impression that he was too weak?
"I'm not letting you go! Did you hear me?! I'm not letting you go!! Do you even know what kind of place the Hidden Rain Village is now? That's the Akatsuki's nest!"
"Even Sakumo couldn't come back. What makes you think you'll come back if you go?!", As she spoke, her voice suddenly choked up, and her eyes quickly turned red.
"Arisu... you bastard..."
Tears finally slid down her cheeks. Tsunade threw herself into Arisu's arms and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.
"I finally got to live a peaceful life with you... If you don't come back either, what am I supposed to do? Huh? Tell me, what am I supposed to do?!"