Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Orochimaru looked up at the sky. The clouds were still thick, but the rain had stopped abruptly, like a summer downpour. "The rain stopped suddenly... has she been discovered? That's terrifying! Such a wide-ranging, long-lasting sensory ninjutsu..."

The sheer depth of chakra reserves alone is terrifying!

And then there's his illustrious feat of single-handedly taking down Hanzo the Salamander and his trusted lieutenants. If this isn't just fake news, then Lord Pain is probably even stronger than he anticipated!

only--

I've never heard of this name before! There's no reason for such a strong person to remain unknown. Logically speaking, every strong person grows from weak to strong, even those geniuses who achieve success overnight still have that brief period of 'one-step' growth.

Orochimaru investigated Pain for months but found not a single clue; it was as if he had appeared out of thin air.

"Is it a pseudonym?"

Or is he truly a reclusive powerhouse?

Just as Orochimaru was pondering, the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the pages of a book suddenly broke the silence around him. Like a blizzard, a white mass of paper rushed in, instantly enveloping Orochimaru. The sheets of paper were tightly connected, leaving Orochimaru no room to breathe.

If an ordinary person were wrapped up so tightly, they would suffocate to death in no time.

However, Orochimaru is no ordinary person.

Orochimaru, who had been wrapped up, suddenly collapsed and melted, turning into a puddle of mud that stuck to the sheets of white paper, forming a small mound on the ground.

"A clone?"

In mid-air, a woman wearing a black robe embroidered with red clouds looked down from above. Behind her, a pair of huge wings made of white paper provided lift, and paper fluttered around her like butterflies. From a distance, she really looked like an angel descending.

She looked at the small mound of earth, her heart heavy.

As expected of one of the Legendary Sannin, a master on par with Jiraiya, she didn't even notice when Orochimaru replaced his real body with an earth clone. However, she was only a little more cautious. Orochimaru certainly lived up to his reputation, but she was no longer the helpless child she once was!

"You are that angel?"

Orochimaru slowly rose from the ground, stood on the ground again, looked up at the woman flying in the air, and frowned slightly.

This angel was a beauty, with long, light blue-purple hair tied in a bun, a pale blue paper flower on the right side of her head, and cold, icy light orange eyes. Her features were delicate and elegant, with light purple eyeshadow and a lip piercing at the bottom of her lips... Of course, Orochimaru wasn't Jiraiya, so he wouldn't be distracted by a beautiful woman. And even if he were Jiraiya, he was actually just a smooth talker, but when it came to being serious, he never faltered.

He frowned because he felt that the angel in front of him looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

"Orochimaru, what are you trying to do by infiltrating Amegakure?"

"This question... can I say I'm looking for Hanzo the Salamander?"

Orochimaru relaxed his brows and said with a smile.

He remembered seeing this woman somewhere before. If he remembered correctly, she was one of the children that Jiraiya, that soft-hearted guy, had protected back then. He had wanted to kill those kids from the Land of Rain, but Jiraiya had stopped him.

Later, Jiraiya stayed in the Land of Rain for a long time, and it seems that he took those children as his disciples. Unfortunately, he only heard Jiraiya mention it casually and did not know the details of those children!

However, one of those children transformed into the so-called angel.

Could Payne be connected to those children?

Various speculations arose in his mind, but unfortunately, crucial evidence was still lacking, preventing him from confirming Payne's true identity...

"Hanzo the Salamander is long dead, his bones have rotted away. If you're going to make up an excuse, at least come up with something more plausible... But whatever, God's command is to kill you. No matter what your purpose was in sneaking into Amegakure, from the moment you set foot on this land, your fate was sealed."

The damp wind howled through the air!

The white paper fluttered and swirled in the air. When she waved her hand, the soft, wind-blown paper fluttered and folded into the shape of shuriken. With the help of chakra, they temporarily gained a hardness comparable to steel.

The next moment,

A white 'torrential rain' fell, and paper shurikens rained down from the sky.

[Earth Escape·Earth Flow Wall]

Orochimaru remained calm, forming hand seals and exhaling refined Earth Release chakra to summon a solid wall of earth and rock in front of him, intercepting the rain of paper shuriken.

After blocking all the paper shuriken, Orochimaru deliberately destroyed the rock and earth wall.

He looked up at the 'angel' in the sky with a smile and said sarcastically, "The secret art of manipulating paper, huh? How interesting! But... if that's all the power you have, it's probably not enough to write my ending, my angel."

This was undoubtedly intentional.

Intentionally provoking the opponent to make a move.

Orochimaru hadn't forgotten why he came to Amegakure this time. He wasn't there to fight to the death. To be honest, he wasn't really interested in fighting or killing; for him, fighting was just a process to achieve his necessary goals.

The Rinnegan as the ultimate goal

He didn't expect it to be easy to acquire.

Before actually making contact with the Rinnegan, it is necessary to gather as much information as possible. This so-called angel is of great importance. As the only person who has come into contact with 'Pain,' information about this angel should be of considerable value.

maybe,

We can get information about Payne from this angel.

【Paper Dance - Paper Flying Wheel】

Seemingly enraged by Orochimaru's taunts, a new attack surged forth like a raging tide. The sheets of white paper flying in the air gathered together with a "whoosh," instantly forming flying wheels about one meter in diameter with sharp, blade-like edges, and these flying wheels were spinning at an extremely fast speed.

Just by looking at that astonishing spin speed, one can vaguely sense that its destructive power is completely different from the previous paper shuriken.

If the destructive power of a paper shuriken is one, then the destructive power of this paper wheel can probably be counted as ten.

The paper flywheel began its charge.

Orochimaru jumped back, avoiding the falling paper wheel. However, with a loud "boom," the stone slabs beneath Orochimaru's feet were shattered by the paper wheel. If this destructive force had hit a person, it would probably have split them into two pieces of mangled flesh.

This attack is just the beginning.

The paper shuriken, having missed its target, didn't scatter and change shape like the previous paper shuriken. Instead, it accelerated again in the crater it had created on the ground and shot towards Orochimaru once more. At the same time, the paper shuriken, which was spinning rapidly in the air, also charged towards Orochimaru.

"The destructive power has been greatly enhanced, but... there has been no fundamental change."

Orochimaru calmly commented on the incoming paper wheels, forming hand seals as he spoke, and unleashed a newly mastered forbidden technique.

[Ninja Art: Impure World Reincarnation Technique]

Three coffins were summoned and broke out of the ground.

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The top floor of the tower.

"It's Orochimaru!"

Obito Uchiha was greatly surprised.

They had just said they wanted to recruit Orochimaru into the Akatsuki, but they couldn't find anyone yet, so they couldn't do it right away. But in the blink of an eye, Orochimaru actually came to them on his own initiative. It's just... I don't even know what to say.

After a two-second pause,

They felt that they were lucky, and that their wishes had come true.

but,

Obito Uchiha frowned slightly as he looked at Pain and asked, "Pain, didn't you say you wanted to recruit Orochimaru into Akatsuki? Why did you give Konan the order to kill her? I've already told you, there aren't many capable rogue ninjas in the ninja world. Killing one means one less."

After discovering the intruder,

Payne then stopped the Rain Tiger Freedom Technique and sent Konan to investigate the intruder's detailed identity.

While the Rain Tiger Freedom Technique has an extremely wide range of perception, it also has its shortcomings. Once the target hides in a place that is not wet by rain, the technique will lose its ability to sense the target. It is because of this flaw that, after delineating a general area, Konan was dispatched to search for the intruder's exact whereabouts.

Nan did not disappoint Payne's waiting.

Soon, a paper clone arrived with intelligence, confirming that the intruder was Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin and an S-rank rogue ninja of Konoha!

"Orochimaru is one of the Legendary Sannin, after all. He won't be killed so easily. And if Konan really does take him down, it just means he's not up to the task. Akatsuki doesn't need that kind of useless person who has a great reputation but no substance," Pain replied calmly.

"That's not wrong. Orochimaru shouldn't be so easy to kill. Among the rising stars, he's quite good."

Obito Uchiha nodded, and tried his best to maintain his persona as Madara Uchiha.

"But what if Konan isn't a match for him..."

He was only halfway through his sentence.

A man wearing the same style of black robe embroidered with red clouds, with a long orange ponytail, and with similar black nail-like decorations on his face but in different places, walked out from the depths of the room. What was most eye-catching was his pair of blue-purple Rinnegan eyes that were exactly the same as Pain's.

"Are you planning to subdue Orochimaru yourself?"

Obito Uchiha suddenly realized that he was going to do it himself, which explained why he wasn't worried about Konan making a mistake.

Or even if Konan makes a mistake, it doesn't matter. With Pain personally covering for her, there's no need to worry about any accidents happening!

“I’ve said it before, if Konan isn’t a match for me, then I will personally recruit her. Konan’s butterfly will take the Animal Path to see Orochimaru. As for you, Uchiha Madara, what are your plans? Won’t you take this opportunity to officially join Akatsuki?” Pain stared at Uchiha Obito and said.

To date, the Akatsuki organization has only four official members.

Pain, Konan, Zetsu, and Kakuzu who is busy farming money outside are all dispensable peripheral support personnel. This number is obviously too small. If they do not intend to take on all the hunting work by themselves, they will need to find a way to recruit more formal members to join.

"No need for now. Just give me the status of a probationary member. I'll become a full member when the plan to capture the tailed beasts officially begins." Obito Uchiha once again refused Pain's invitation. He was not prepared to join the Akatsuki organization now and expose his existence to more people.

Instead of wasting your leisure time, why not think about how to make yourself stronger?

Giving up on taking revenge on Uchiha Sogen doesn't mean he's completely let the matter rest.

He only endured it for the time being because he was unable to defeat Uchiha Mugen.

In order to plan for the future!

Sooner or later, he will get his revenge!

"what ever!"

Pain glanced at 'Uchiha Madara', but did not insist. He then closed his eyes again and focused his attention on the Animal Path clone that was following Konan's paper butterfly. After passing through several towers, they finally arrived at the interior space of the lower level of a tower.

it's here,

He saw Orochimaru.

I saw Xiao Nan in the midst of a fierce battle.

Rather than a fierce battle, it was more accurate to describe it as a game. Orochimaru was like a venomous snake eyeing its prey, patiently toying with her little by little, forcing Konan to use all her skills. Apart from her trump card, she had already brought the Shikigami Dance to its current limit.

Unfortunately, she was facing Orochimaru.

A man who has mastered more than a thousand ninjutsu and forbidden techniques.

In particular, the forbidden technique 【Edo Tensei】 caused considerable trouble for the Allied Shinobi Forces when Kabuto Yakushi used it in the original timeline. It should be noted that the Allied Shinobi Forces at that time was a behemoth that brought together the full power of the entire shinobi world.

"That's... the Sharingan?"

What the Animal Path witnessed was the unbelievable scene of Orochimaru leading three Uchiha clan ninjas to besiege Konan.