Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Perhaps sensing Payne's anger, everyone managed to control their emotions and quiet down.

"...I've gathered you all here today to introduce two new members: Obito Uchiha and Sasori of the Red Sand." Pain, too lazy to waste words with such scoundrels, went straight to the point, pointing to the two as they introduced themselves to everyone.

As for who is Obito Uchiha and who is Sasori of the Red Sand?

This is not a problem at all.

The Sharingan is the best distinguishing feature.

"Uchiha Obito?"

Orochimaru first looked at the masked Uchiha Obito, a playful smile appearing on his face. Wasn't he supposed to be Uchiha Madara the last time they met? How come he's suddenly Uchiha Obito? And if he remembered correctly, this name was the Fourth Hokage's student?

"Obito Uchiha! This is truly..."

"Alright, Orochimaru, shut up. Obito Uchiha isn't a newcomer like Sasori. He's been a member of the organization for a long time, but he always operated in the shadows and never officially joined. This time, he's officially becoming a member. Orochimaru, if you dare to be sarcastic again, I'll show you what fear is."

Pain gave Orochimaru a serious warning.

"Fine! I won't say anything."

Orochimaru smiled.

They really shut their mouths.

He could only keep his mouth shut, not his racing thoughts. Uchiha Obito... Uchiha Madara, this is really interesting! Is Uchiha Madara really dead? Was it always Obito impersonating Uchiha Madara, or is there something else going on?

Speaking of which, there's also Kazuma, one of the former Guardian Ninja Twelve.

I thought I would join the Akatsuki organization.

Instead of Kazuma, Sasori Akasago, who had disappeared for several years, joined the group.

This is really interesting!

It's a pity that Hiruko was too useless. I heard he was captured alive by Sogen-kun. Otherwise, the Akatsuki organization might have gained another colleague from Konoha. It's such a shame!

“Scorpion, judging from the commotion these guys are making, you should have a general idea of ​​their names, right? I won’t go into details. The other two are Konan and Zetsu. The one who hasn’t said anything is Zetsu, the intelligence officer in the organization.”

Payne continued with the important matter.

Xiao Nan and Jue, who hadn't said a word, were introduced to Scorpion.

"Alright, that concludes the introductions of the new employees. Next..."

"Payne, I have a question."

Scorpion interrupted Payne at this moment.

"what?"

Payne wasn't angry this time; Scorpion was still a newcomer, so he had to give him some face.

"What exactly does our organization want to do?" Scorpion asked a question that Payne hadn't expected.

To be honest,

Kakuzu, Hidan, Deidara, Orochimaru—none of these guys genuinely cared about the organization's principles. They all joined Akatsuki for different reasons, but none of their reasons aligned with the organization's ideals.

After being defeated by Pain, Kakuzu felt that joining the Akatsuki organization would lead to many valuable prey, and ultimately chose to join the Akatsuki organization.

Hidan's purpose was to make more people aware of the pain of injury or death, and also to promote the Jashin cult.

Deidara's words,

A very innocent child.

He joined the organization because he was dissatisfied with losing to Pain and wanted to challenge Pain again one day.

Orochimaru, needless to say, came specifically for Pain's Rinnegan.

all in all,

This is a bunch of guys, each with their own ulterior motives.

"The Akatsuki's goal is true peace in the ninja world, to replace the Five Great Nations and rule the ninja world with the Akatsuki," Pain answered Sasori's question seriously.

"Peace? What a grand ideal!"

Scorpion muttered something and fell silent.

Unexpectedly, such an organization has such grand ambitions. He initially thought it was just a gathering place for Konoha's enemies. Was he too naive? Or was this Pain leader too innocent?

Seeing that Scorpion had fallen silent,

Pain didn't seem to mind and continued, "Now that we've introduced the newcomers, it's time to talk about partners. Orochimaru, Deidara, you two have mentioned more than once that you want to change partners. With the addition of new members this time... how about we give you a new partner?"

"I can't ask for it!"

Orochimaru chuckled softly.

"Hmph, I've wanted to say goodbye to this stinky snake for a long time."

Deidara's attitude also clearly expressed his support.

Pain remained expressionless and simply said, "In that case, Orochimaru, you and Sasori will team up, while Deidara and Obito will act together."

Obito Uchiha glanced at Pain with some surprise. Was this a way to bring Orochimaru and Sasori, two unpredictable elements, together for easier control? Not so bad! He had no objection to this arrangement; it didn't matter to him who his partner was.

As for Orochimaru and Sasori, the two exchanged glances, and then... they both frowned. A bad feeling arose in their hearts at the same time; it seemed that they had encountered someone with whom they had very poor compatibility.

Deidara, on the other hand, seemed indifferent.

For now, as long as it's not Orochimaru, that stinky snake, he's fine. As for whether he can get along with this masked man, he'll only know after they've spent some time together!

So far,

Akatsuki organized this internal personnel meeting.

It's finally come to an end.

[Chapter 330 Job Hopping]

In the northwestern part of the Land of Grass, bordering the Land of Earth, the Leaf Village ninja and the Rock Village ninja stand facing each other across the border. A chilling killing intent rises to the sky, and birds will avoid them from afar, not daring to land nearby to forage. Or rather, if any bird approaches, both sides will choose to shoot it down without prior agreement.

Heaven knows if that bird is a spy sent by the other side.

Isn't that what summoned beasts do?

Not all summoning beasts are that powerful. To be precise, summoning beasts are originally meant to be auxiliary helpers for ninjas, doing things like gathering intelligence, transmitting messages, and tracking enemies. On the contrary, summoning beasts with strong enough direct combat ability are rare. Not everyone is as lucky as the Sannin, who were able to form contracts with the three great holy lands.

but,

Besides bird-hunting protests

Neither side took any further steps.

The reason Konoha was so restrained was that after receiving an urgent message from the border guards, Sogen immediately granted Uchiha Shisui the authority to command the frontline troops and gave him the instruction not to fire the first shot before sending him to the Land of Grass.

The still water has coordinates here.

To be precise, all the border guard units' camps contained kunai inscribed with the Flying Thunder God Technique. These kunai were made by Shisui, and then Sogen arranged for them to be delivered to various border guard units for safekeeping, in order to prevent similar situations from occurring.

With the timely arrival of the water stopper,

The Konoha side restrained their urge to retaliate. Even though they hadn't yet figured out who killed their people, the fact that one of the dead was an Uchiha was enough to provoke the surviving Uchiha. It had to be admitted that the Second Hokage's opinion wasn't entirely prejudiced.

The Uchiha clan is a family that believes in love.

The Uchiha, accustomed to 'pretending', sealed this love deep within. When this love finally bursts forth, the long-suppressed emotions will be released, and they may awaken even greater power as a result.

of course,

This situation is not enough to cause the Uchiha clan to generate another pair of Mangekyou Sharingan.

But it was enough to enrage the remaining Uchiha members in the border guard force. Before they had even investigated the perpetrator's true identity, they had already pinned the blame on the Iwa ninja and were preparing to take action.

To be honest, the army will press on to the border of the Land of Grass and confront the Iwa ninja.

It was the work of the Uchiha clan.

With Sogen becoming the Sixth Hokage, the Uchiha clan members naturally rose in rank. In the northwestern border defense force, one Uchiha was even promoted to the second-in-command position. With the support of the rest of the clan members, he managed to send the army to the front line without the permission of the top leader.

Fortunately, Shisui carried the orders of the Hokage and the clan leader and brought the situation under control. If he had arrived even half a day later, the great battle might have already broken out, especially since Obito Uchiha and Sasori were still lingering nearby at the time.

While the commander of the Iwa ninja was completely bewildered, he was still quite capable. This commander, who was entrusted by Onoki with the important task of guarding against Konoha because of his steadiness and reliability, restrained his troops and issued an order that they should not take action unless Konoha crossed the line. He did not blindly start a war because of Konoha's unusual movements.

At the same time, an urgent dispatch was sent to report the intelligence to the village, awaiting instructions from the village.

then,

During this stalemate and waiting period,

Shisui personally led the team to investigate all the missing persons sites. With the help of experts from the Hyuga, Yamanaka, and Inuzuka families, they still found some clues in those white patches of land. The Inuzuka family's tracking expert smelled the same scent he had smelled at the scene of the barrier class before.

This discovery,

This is tantamount to declaring the case solved.

What followed was simple: the Iwa ninja showed goodwill and eased the tense atmosphere between the two sides. After receiving Konoha's explanation, the Iwa ninja did not react excessively. The commander was relieved, as long as Konoha was not really preparing to start a war.

The current Konoha is not something that the Iwa ninja can handle.

The Tsuchikage is getting old, while the Sixth Hokage on the other side is like the rising sun. If they really fight, there is not much hope of victory!

The conflict ultimately did not break out.

Onoki sent a team of envoys to Konoha to lodge a protest, demanding that Konoha compensate him for the spiritual and material losses. The protest letter was immediately thrown into the trash by Sogen. Compensation was out of the question. The fact that he hadn't pursued compensation for the Iwa ninja's invasion of the Land of Fire during the previous Shinobi World Wars, which resulted in their defeat, was already a sign of his leniency.

Compared to such a boring question,

He is now seriously considering whether to recall the Uchiha clan from the border guard force. After seeing the report sent by Shisui, he immediately realized that leaving his clansmen in the border guard force was not the right choice.

"The second generation's words weren't entirely prejudiced!"

Zongxian sighed.

Being the Hokage is definitely not an easy job.

The Uchiha clan members were indeed no pushovers. Including himself, none of them were exactly obedient. If they were, they wouldn't be in their current positions. It's an incredible miracle that Shisui was such a well-behaved and obedient member of the clan.

"Dismissal is necessary, and then..."

So what should we do then?

Dismissal is not a severe punishment. If he were to be perceived as favoritism and protecting his clansmen shortly after taking office, it would not be a good thing. Moreover, he himself does not like such arbitrary behavior. If his subordinates all do the same, what would be the point of his hard work in vying for the position of Hokage?