Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 307 The Akatsuki Organization in a sorry state
The enormous, ferocious head of the Outer Path Statue looked down at the empty, dark space below.

Ten fingers, as thick as tree trunks, stretched upwards, and the corresponding words appeared on the fingers the next moment.

The person sitting next to her in the "white" position was naturally Konan. At this moment, her face was pale, clearly still shaken by her experience in Konoha.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Nagato, standing at the "zero" position, formed hand seals.

boom!boom!
Seven puffs of white smoke exploded almost simultaneously on the other seven fingers of the Outer Path Statue, the smoke swirling around them, gradually revealing the disheveled figure within.

The "North" position should have belonged to Kakuzu, but it was empty at the moment.

In the position of "Qing" was Wuwei, who was traveling with him. Blood was spilling from the corner of his mouth, he was breathing rapidly, and his face looked extremely pale.

The "Jade" position is occupied by Scorpion, but unlike before, he did not hide in the Scarlet Amber. Instead, he appeared directly in his true form and looked at the position to the side as soon as he appeared.

The third position was occupied by Hanzo, whose face was so grave it could drip water, but seeing that he was still alive, Sasori also withdrew his gaze.

The "South" position is occupied by Juzo Biwa. He carries a guillotine on his shoulder and has wounds on his body, but he seems to be relatively unharmed compared to the others. At this moment, he has a blank look on his face.

In the empty position was Hiruko, who appeared to be the least injured. He looked at the figures around him, his eyes flickering slightly.

The position of “Xuan” should have belonged to Shennong, but he was not present at this moment either.

The "Vermilion" position, which should have belonged to Miyajo En, was now occupied by "Shadow".

Most of the people present were in a sorry state, their clothes were tattered, and they had injuries of varying degrees.

Even Nagato's white Zetsu robes were quite withered, and his aura no longer possessed the same intense pressure as before.

The entire space was filled with a sense of oppression and deathly silence after defeat, a stark contrast to the cold and ruthless atmosphere of previous gatherings.

"Hey."

Pipa Juzo looked around and was the first to break the silence, asking in bewilderment, "What's going on? Why are you all in this state?"

"What about Kakuzu and Shennong? And..."

His gaze fell on the shadow in the "red" position, and he continued, "Where did that guy, Miyajo En, go?"

His question was like a pebble thrown into stagnant water, immediately stirring up an even deeper silence.

"Heh...hehe...is that even a question?"

Hiruko let out a low, mocking laugh and said, "Juzo, it seems that apart from the two of us being lucky enough to barely complete the mission, the other teams' actions..."

"It's been quite difficult."

His words made the atmosphere even more awkward.

Especially Konan, Shennong and Miyajo En were acting together with her and Nagato.

But now...

"Tsk." Sasori looked displeased and was about to say something when Nagato interrupted him.

"Let's save our gloating for later."

Nagato's gaze swept across the entire scene, taking in the miserable state of everyone present.

With a hint of suppressed anger, he said coldly, "Report on the mission, starting with you two, Hiruko and Hiwa Juzo."

All eyes were focused on Hiruko and Pipa Juzo, who were seriously injured.

"Hmph, I don't know how you ended up like this, but our operation went very smoothly."

With barely concealed smugness, Hiruko said, "The Seven-Tails Jinchuriki has been successfully captured and placed in a base in the Land of Rain, where the Tailed Beast can be extracted at any time."

"Wuwei." Nagato's icy gaze shifted to Wuwei. "Where are you and Kakuzu?"

Wuwei's face was extremely ugly. He took a deep breath, suppressing the pent-up anger in his chest, and said hatefully, "The information provided by Miyajo En is completely wrong!"

"The Two-Tails Jinchuriki did not stay in Kumogakure, but went to the Land of Demons with the Fourth Raikage to attend the Five Kage Summit."

"Kakuzu and I had no choice but to change our target and find Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, who was training in the Cloud Thunder Gorge. Just when we were about to succeed, the Fourth Raikage suddenly returned!"

He paused for a moment, his throat bobbing, and said in a deep voice, "That guy's strength far exceeds expectations."

"Not only did it severely injure Kakuzu with a single blow, but it also displayed a power never before heard of, managing to withstand 'Satoru's' full-force attack!"

"I only managed to snatch back the dying Kakuzu and a severed tentacle from the Eight-Tails, but Kakuzu is currently unable to suppress the rampaging Earth Grudge within him."

"I had to use sealing techniques to temporarily seal his chakra, barely keeping him alive and preventing the black lines from breaking out of his body, but this method can't last long."

Wuwei's report made everyone's hearts sink again.

This means that the Akatsuki organization not only lost a top-tier fighter, but the Eight-Tails' chakra they acquired may also be just a drop in the ocean.

"It's the same here."

Immediately afterward, Sasori spoke in a cold voice: "That old bastard Onoki's sudden return has completely disrupted my and Hanzo's plans."

"We only had time to kill the Four-Tails Jinchuriki and bring the Four-Tails back."

As Scorpion finished speaking, almost everyone's gaze involuntarily turned to the "Crimson" position that originally belonged to Miyajo En.

Pipa Juzo, with his straightforward temper, pointed his Executioner's Blade at 'Shadow' without any politeness and demanded, "So, where is that bastard Miyajo En?

'Shadow' let out a soft, enigmatic laugh and said, "I think it would be more appropriate for your leader to answer this question."

All eyes immediately focused on Nagato.

Nagato's Rinnegan eyes grew even colder as he sneered, "Miyajo En is already dead."

"His erroneous intelligence not only led to the failure of your mission and seriously affected the organization's plans, but also killed him."

"Hyuga Kumokawa, who rushed back to Konoha, not only killed him, but also slaughtered most of Shennong's air ninja force, and Shennong was also severely injured as a result."

"In order to save his life, he used the forbidden technique 'Physical Transformation,' which exhausted most of his life force. Now his strength is less than one-tenth of what it used to be, and it will take a long time to recover."

Therefore, I did not allow him to attend this meeting.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "However, I still managed to bring the One-Tailed Beast back from Sunagakure."

"In addition, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki who was traveling outside Kirigakure was also successfully captured by my two puppets."

The puppets in Nagato's mind are naturally the "Human Path" and the "Asura Path," but apart from Hanzo who knows his true identity, everyone else only knows him as "Pain." They simply assume that the six Pains are his "puppets."

However, these reports of "success" seem so pale and powerless in comparison to the enormous losses, like a series of dull thuds hitting everyone's heart.

In other words, they only obtained a small portion of the chakra of the One-Tailed, Four-Tailed, Six-Tailed, Seven-Tailed, and Eight-Tailed.
The price they paid was the complete death of Miyajo En, the near annihilation of the Sky Ninja Squad, the critically injured and dying Shennong and Kakuzu, and the barely escaped of the rest...

This operation to capture the tailed beasts targeting Konoha and other major ninja villages not only suffered a severe setback, but also resulted in the loss of three core members and important peripheral forces.

The price is too high!
This is a far cry from their original plan to collect the tailed beasts with lightning speed and sweep across the ninja world!
"How could this be?"

Scorpion couldn't hold back any longer and said irritably, "Pain, why did the puppet you sent to support us suddenly lose contact at the crucial moment?"

"Furthermore, with you here, how could Miyajo En and Shennong have ended up with one dead and the other seriously injured? Why was the Sky Ninja Squad wiped out?"

"Having paid such a heavy price, why couldn't they even bring back the most important Nine-Tails?"

Scorpion's question revealed the doubts in the hearts of almost everyone present.

They had all personally experienced Nagato's overwhelming, godlike power; apart from Hanzo at full power, no one could directly confront him.

Why would a leader with such power end up in such a sorry state when he personally intervened?

Is it because of that old guy, Hiruzen Sarutobi?
Or is it because of Jiraiya and Tsunade, who are known as the Legendary Sannin?
"..." Nagato fell into a long silence.

Konan, standing to the side, had a gloomy expression and her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to explain something for Nagato, but Nagato raised his hand to stop her.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Nagato slowly spoke, uttering a name that greatly surprised everyone.

"It is Hinata Kumokawa."

Nagato's voice remained calm, but the gravity within it made everyone's hearts tighten: "His strength far exceeded my previous expectations."

"I was forced to use a certain degree of my true power, which is why the puppets I sent out went out of control."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "That is the power of the gods. Legend has it that the Sage of Six Paths used a similar technique to create the moon that hangs in the sky."

"Although I am far from the level of the Sage of Six Paths, my power is enough to completely wipe the entire Hidden Leaf Village off the map of the ninja world."

Was the moon created by the Sage of Six Paths?

What level of power is this?

This is completely beyond their understanding of the concept of "power"!

Pipa Juzo swallowed hard, his voice hoarse as he asked, "Having used that level of power, why did it end up like this?"

Nagato slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again. A complex and enigmatic light flashed in his Rinnegan, ultimately culminating in a brief sigh:

"I underestimated the enemy."

"I didn't expect that Hyuga Kumokawa also possesses a pair of powerful eyes."

"I don't know if those eyes have any other abilities, but the power they display is already comparable to my eyes."

"With a single strike, he not only cleaved the small celestial body I used to seal him, but also instantly destroyed the aerial fortress, killed most of the aerial ninjas, and severely injured Shennong to the brink of death."

what?
Eyes with power comparable to the Rinnegan?

Upon hearing this, everyone's pupils contracted sharply, and the hall fell into a deathly silence. Everyone was shocked by this information.

How can this be?

In the Hyuga clan's understanding, the Byakugan is more of a support-type bloodline limit used for reconnaissance, so how could it possibly possess such power?

Before taking action, they did not consider Hyuga Kumokawa to be a significant threat.

Hyuga Kumokawa was too young. His only truly brilliant achievement seemed to be the battle in the Land of Hot Springs, where he used celestial phenomena to annihilate the Kumogakure forces.

However, that battle also exposed the obvious flaws in its techniques and its dependence on specific environments.

Even though Hyuga Kumokawa is an anomaly in the Hyuga clan.

However, the Byakugan and Gentle Fist techniques are greatly restrained when facing these ninjas with unique skills and strange abilities, and their threat level is far less than that of the well-known Five Kage or the Three Sannin.

However, reality gave them a resounding slap in the face.

Unexpectedly, it was this guy who they all ignored that forced the organization's strongest member, Pain, to use his "divine power" but still failed and even suffered losses!
Just as everyone was processing this information, Xiao Nan's cool voice rang out again.

“There’s one more thing I think we should pay attention to.” Xiao Nan’s gaze fell on the ‘shadow’ standing in the ‘Zhu’ position.

"In Sunagakure, after we successfully extracted the One-Tailed Beast from the Jinchuriki's body, the dead One-Tailed Jinchuriki was transformed into a Hollow at the Espada level."

Konan said coldly, "Not only that, when we later arrived in Konoha, the Hyuga clan also experienced a change, giving birth to another 'Hollow' at the level of a Ten Espada."

"These events happening one after another are too much of a coincidence."

As soon as Konan finished speaking, Hanzo, who had been silent all along, suddenly raised his head and said in a hoarse voice, "It's the same on our side."

"The body of Rōshi, the Four-Tails Jinchūriki we killed, also underwent a strange transformation, becoming a Hollow at the level of a Espada!"

Upon hearing this, Nagato and Konan glanced at him in surprise, while everyone else's eyes immediately focused on the 'Kage'.

Indifference, suspicion, scrutiny, hostility...

What a coincidence!
It was so coincidental that it was impossible not to be suspicious!

Who among those present didn't know that 'Shadow' controlled a mysterious force called the "Virtual Realm"?

Who doesn't know that those monsters called "Void" are largely considered to be creations of "Shadow" or at least closely related to it?
Who doesn't understand that every time a Hollow of the Espada level is born, it almost always attracts the attention or recruitment of Espada members or even the Kage himself?
The birth of a Hollow at the Espada level requires the consumption of a large number of recently deceased souls filled with negative emotions.

Their all-out effort to capture the tailed beasts resulted in heavy casualties for several major ninja villages, and the Akatsuki organization itself also suffered enormous losses. The battlefield was never short of fresh dead souls...

In contrast, 'Shadow' and his virtual forces seemed to have remained in a state of 'observation' and 'following' throughout the entire operation.

And what was the final result?
Their organization suffered heavy losses and their mission was severely thwarted, yet 'Shadow' unexpectedly gained three new Espada-level subordinates almost as if he were reaping the benefits!
This feeling is as if their Akatsuki organization is fighting to the death, shedding blood and sweat, only to end up benefiting the 'Kage,' being used by him to collect souls and strengthen his power!

"Hehe, so you mean..."

Hiruko let out an undisguised sneer, saying sarcastically, "After all our hard work, it turns out the biggest winners are those who are outside the organization?"

　Four thousand words, and two more chapters of three thousand words each.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)