Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

The Impure World Reincarnation technique has been broken, and it seems I don't have much hope of defeating the Rinnegan's master on my own... Sigh! There's a reason why Uchiha Sogen didn't try to steal the Rinnegan! The abilities I've witnessed are probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Rinnegan.

"What a pity!!!"

He sighed with deep regret in his heart.

The Rinnegan... is not something I can get my hands on for now; I can only leave my hopes for the future!

"No need! I have already experienced the power of the Rinnegan firsthand. Ask whatever you want, but before that... can you explain which one of you is Pain? And why do you have so many Rinnegan?" Orochimaru's questioning gaze lingered on the Deva Path, Human Path, Preta Path, and the others.

"We are all Pain."

"Both? Then there must be a primary and a secondary one, right?"

"Orochimaru, enough nonsense. I'll give you two choices: either join Akatsuki or I'll send you to hell. Give me an answer in ten seconds." Pain stepped forward and raised his hand again, pointing it at Orochimaru, making Orochimaru's eyelids twitch.

"...The Akatsuki? I'll join."

Orochimaru readily agreed.

"A wise choice."

Heaven has let go.

"Since you've chosen to join Akatsuki, as a pledge of loyalty, tell me where you learned about the Rinnegan?" The Animal Path, Human Path, and Preta Path rode away on the giant bird, leaving behind the Deva Path, which naturally became the only Pain.

"It was Uchiha Mugen who told me."

Orochimaru betrayed Uchiha Munen without the slightest hesitation.

"Uchiha Sōgen?"

Pain raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes darting around as he looked at Obito Uchiha beside him. Of course, this action couldn't escape Orochimaru's notice. He looked at Obito Uchiha with great interest, "Speaking of which, you're also an Uchiha. I wonder what your relationship is with that guy, Sogen Uchiha?"

"Orochimaru, don't ask questions you shouldn't ask, or I'll kill you even if you join Akatsuki."

"Uchiha Obito said coldly."

Seeing this, Pain didn't ask anything, but stared at Orochimaru and continued to ask, "How did Uchiha Sogen find out about the Rinnegan?"

"I don't know about that. I just made a deal with Uchiha Sogen. He told me two pieces of information, and I gave him a ninja tool. That's all." Orochimaru shrugged, his attitude sincere.

"Two messages?"

Payne cast an inquiring glance.

"Yes, one of the pieces of news is that Amegakure may possess the Rinnegan. As for the second piece of news... he said that their Uchiha clan's ancestor, Uchiha Madara, is still alive!" As he spoke, Orochimaru stared intently at Uchiha Obito.

Obito Uchiha was silent for two seconds, then snorted coldly, "That bastard, I'll take care of him sooner or later." He was genuinely furious, but his anger didn't prevent him from making a rational judgment, and he took the opportunity to confirm that Madara Uchiha was still alive!

Orochimaru's pupils suddenly contracted.

Is this person really Madara Uchiha?

[Chapter 252. Obito Uchiha's Scheme]

If you can't beat them, join them. This didn't bother Orochimaru at all. After betraying Konoha, he was free of all constraints. He could even turn against his former comrades. Joining an organization whose motives he didn't know was nothing. Even if these guys wanted to destroy the world, so be it. His goal was always the Rinnegan.

His current problem is how to get his hands on those Rinnegan eyes.

Pain's strength is undeniable, so forcibly taking it is simply unrealistic. However, now that he has joined the so-called Akatsuki organization, he has enough time to figure out how to seize those Rinnegan eyes. There's no need to rush. After completing the Reanimation Jutsu, the one thing he has in abundance is time!

but,

We can't be completely without a sense of urgency.

He hadn't forgotten where his information came from.

“…Uchiha Sogen!” Orochimaru stood by the window, gazing at the drizzling rain that had started again outside. He seemed to be appreciating the unique scenery of the Land of Rain, but in reality, his mind was not on the view at all.

After joining the Akatsuki organization,

He also learned a bit about the organization. Leaving aside the unspecified number of peripheral members, there were currently only five core members, including himself. The leader was Payne, and the members included Konan and two other unnamed individuals.

This number is truly pitifully small.

No wonder the organization kept quiet even though the leader possessed the Rinnegan.

This also shows that the Rinnegan is not truly invincible; otherwise, it would have swept across the ninja world long ago, instead of being stuck in the small Land of Rain. Of course, this does not rule out the possibility of some unknown factors influencing it, but based on the information he currently has, Pain's strength should have its limits.

"Uchiha Sogen, Pain... Rinnegan, Mangekyou Sharingan..."

I don't know which one is better.

As Orochimaru pondered this, the ring on his left pinky finger felt slightly warm. He raised his left hand, stared at the ring—which he had acquired less than an hour ago—for two seconds, then turned around, walked into the room, sat down in a chair, closed his eyes, and then, following Pain's instructions, channeled chakra into the ring.

The next moment,

After closing his eyes, Orochimaru's vision, which was originally pitch black, began to distort, as if a pebble had been thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples. Within those ripples, colorful lights shimmered. When the 'lake' settled down, Orochimaru found that his consciousness had arrived in an unfamiliar place.

Is it a cave?

Or is it a locked room?

The surrounding light was so low that it was uncomfortable; one could only vaguely see the uneven walls and the high dome.

He stood on a stone pillar.

Similar stone pillars are not the only ones; there are nearly ten similar stone pillars around. More than half of the stone pillars are empty. Not counting Orochimaru himself, there are a total of four stone pillars with illusory human figures that seem to be formed by ripples. Two of these figures were separated from him not long ago.

"Orochimaru, get to know the rest of the organization."

Payne pointed to the large, pitcher plant-like creature, "This is Zetsu, the organization's intelligence officer, responsible for intelligence gathering."

then,

He then pointed to another man wearing a headband resembling that of a rogue ninja from Takigakure and with most of his face covered by a black mask, and introduced him: "Kakuzu, the organization's treasurer, in charge of managing the organization's money."

Orochimaru silently observed the two. The name Zetsu was unheard of before, and he had never seen such a strange-looking human before. As for Kakuzu... Orochimaru remembered the name. After defecting from Konoha, Orochimaru frequented the black market, gold exchange, and other underground worlds, and Kakuzu was a well-known figure in the underworld.

No one knows any detailed information about Kakuzu.

However, many people know that he is the most skilled bounty hunter and the most favored seller at the gold exchange, always able to bring corpses worth tens of millions to exchange for money.

"A newcomer? How much is that worth?"

Kakuzu's concerns are different from those of ordinary people.

"Ah! Finally, a newcomer has arrived. That's great! I've had enough. I feel like if I stay with this guy who likes to sell corpses any longer, I'll get my heart ripped out sooner or later." Zetsu exclaimed with delight, or rather, half of White Zetsu warmly welcomed Orochimaru's arrival.

"Hmph! I should be the one saying that. I also hate having a pitcher plant as a partner because it doesn't know what cooperation is and always disappears without a trace."

"Hey! Watch your mouth! Your former teammate's dead, I only teamed up with you because I had no choice, okay? I'm the one helping you out! Get that straight, you bald guy!"

Kakuzu and White Zetsu started arguing.

Pain paid no heed to Kakuzu's bastard talk or White Zetsu's idiotic remarks.

Of course, he was impatient to watch the two of them argue like this. He coughed heavily and ordered, "Enough, Kakuzu, Zetsu. I didn't call you here to fight. Besides introducing new members, it's a good opportunity to reorganize the groups. Kakuzu, since you and Zetsu don't get along, then... Orochimaru will be your new partner."

Orochimaru? That one of the Legendary Sannin?

Upon hearing the name Orochimaru for the second time, Kakuzu immediately remembered the meaning behind the name.

"Yes."

"...Looks like he's a bit more reliable than those dead trash. I have no objections." Kakuzu looked at Orochimaru, his green eyes practically gleaming. Orochimaru's bounty at the Gold Exchange was over 100 million.

"I have no objection either."

Orochimaru replied with a smile.

When he was given the ring, Pain had already explained the rules of the Akatsuki organization to him. Akatsuki members usually operate in pairs. This can prevent one person from acting unilaterally and increase the success rate of the mission. Of course, the most important point is that they can monitor each other to prevent anyone from leaking secrets.

For this,

Orochimaru had no objections.

Although he felt no guilt about betraying Akatsuki's information, to be honest, he didn't care about such a small gain right now. If he missed the opportunity to obtain the Rinnegan because of it, that would be an irreparable loss.

And to be honest,

He strongly suspected that Uchiha Sogen had planted spies within Akatsuki, and that this intelligence might not fetch a good price.

As Pain said, today's meeting was a simple meeting where Orochimaru, the new member, was formally introduced. The team formation was also reorganized, and Orochimaru and Kakuzu agreed on a meeting place. Then Pain ended the online meeting.

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"Wouldn't that be too risky?"

Konan stood by the window, gazing outside, even though she knew she couldn't see Orochimaru leave from there. "If we let Orochimaru leave like this, and he leaks the secret... we'll be in a very passive position!"

"He is a smart man."

Payne said indifferently.

“None of these rogue ninjas are truly trustworthy. Their unity is based on self-interest. Kakuzu is after money, and Orochimaru… When he looked at me, the greed in his eyes was like a campfire in the dark. He must have his eyes on mine. He won’t attract more people to compete with him. At most, he’ll cooperate with Uchiha Munen.”

Uchiha Sogen even knew about the Rinnegan earlier than Orochimaru.

There is absolutely no need to worry about leaks.

"Pain, Uchiha Sogen... Where did this guy find out about the existence of the Rinnegan?" Konan frowned even more as this topic came up. Orochimaru was a rogue ninja, and even if he had some power under his command, it couldn't be that large.

But Uchiha Sogen was different.

He is the head of the Uchiha clan and the assistant to the Hokage of Konoha. His power and status are second only to the Hokage. Such a person has the ability to mobilize the power of Konoha to cause trouble for Amegakure.

"For now, we shouldn't worry too much... According to Orochimaru, Uchiha Sogen has known about the Rinnegan for some time, but so far he hasn't taken any specific action. Whatever the reason, he shouldn't be causing us any trouble in the short term."

Payne said carefully.

He wasn't trying to comfort Xiao Nan.

It is a conclusion drawn from the current situation and existing intelligence.

As for how the information about the Rinnegan was leaked... Pain wasn't sure either. Was there a spy among his men? That's unlikely. As the 'god' of Amegakure, Pain lived a secluded life, and he always announced things through Konan as his proxy.

thinking about it,

He thought of Danzo. In Yahiko's death, besides Hanzo, Danzo's 'Root' was also involved. Although he killed all the members of Root at the time, after witnessing the Impure World Reincarnation, a forbidden technique belonging to Konoha, he realized that even the dead could not keep secrets.

Thus,

To be honest, there were quite a few possibilities, and thinking about it further would only cause me more trouble, so I decisively stopped the thinking process.

"What kind of reforms is Uchiha Munen busy with?"