Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"It's definitely a Konoha ninja. I sensed Jiraiya-sensei's chakra fluctuations."

Payne, expressionless, uttered the name of the man who had once been their guiding light in a calm, emotionless tone.

"Jiraiya-sensei? It's been such a long time!"

Xiao Nan said softly.

Her beautiful face seemed to be covered with a thick layer of frost, making it impossible to see any change in her expression; one could only sense a bone-chilling coldness.

"So, Payne, what's the next step?"

"Just wait patiently."

Payne remained motionless.

He gazed indifferently at the clear blue sky.

"Amegakure is our home turf. The gale cannot last. This country is destined to be soaked in endless rain. Moreover... the Akatsuki was rebuilt precisely to deal with similar situations. The same goes for the Amegakure ninja left in the village. It's time for them to show their strength. Pass on my orders: there's no need for them to come to the tower. What they need to do is to repel the invaders from the southwest."

"Especially Orochimaru, tell him to have his subordinates keep an eye on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, while he himself needs to go to the front lines to fight off the Konoha ninja's attack with Sasori."

Finally,

Pain even singled out Orochimaru's name.

This venomous snake,

This cannot be ignored.

"I see."

Xiao Nan responded.

With a gentle wave of her hand, white butterflies surged forth from her side like a torrent, fluttering their wings and flying in all directions to find their targets and deliver the 'orders' to the Akatsuki members and Amegakure's elites throughout the village.

"Let me see! Jiraiya-sensei, just what kind of determination you have brought to come here."

Payne murmured softly.

A sharp screech echoed from the sky, and a bizarre bird with a long, pointed beak and wavy eyes swept across the heavens, flying southwest. Everything the bird saw was simultaneously transmitted to Payne's field of vision.

He saw what Amegakure looked like under the sunlight.

I saw the shimmering water.

Upon seeing the Konoha ninjas wearing straw hats standing on the hill, it became clear that even the straw hats couldn't conceal Jiraiya's long white hair.

[Chapter 365, Plan D]

The clouds parted to reveal the sun, its light shining brightly.

Standing on the hill, you can see many shimmering waves, like hundreds of shattered mirrors scattered on the ground.

In the distance, the tall buildings of Amegakure stand scattered in the water. The steel-cast drainage pipes seem to be carefully maintained, with little rust or blemishes despite being washed by rain all year round. The wet steel pipes are like a mirror polished from steel, making Amegakure seem to shine.

"I see!"

Hinata Himon was the first to shout, breaking the silence on the hill.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki."

"Are you sure it's true? Or is it someone using a transformation technique to disguise themselves?" Jiraiya asked urgently.

"it is true."

The one who answered Jiraiya was not Hyuga Himon, but Yamanaka Santen. This young man from the Yamanaka clan opened his eyes and said, "I sensed Naruto Uzumaki's chakra, and at the same time, I also sensed the sealed power on Naruto Uzumaki's body."

Transformation techniques, strictly speaking, do not refer to a single type of ninjutsu.

Rather, it is a category.

There are many different transformation techniques, some extremely sophisticated, some barely acceptable, and some that can only fool low-ranking ninjas. However, no matter how sophisticated the transformation technique is, it can only transform into a single target and cannot simultaneously simulate the chakra aura of two targets.

Naruto has the Nine-Tails' seal on him.

That was the power from the Fourth Hokage, and it was completely different from the chakra aura on Naruto's body.

Therefore,

Only after three days in the mountains did I dare to make such a statement.

While a sophisticated transformation technique might be able to mimic Naruto's aura, it would be extremely difficult to simultaneously transform the aura of the seal on his body. At least, during his three days in the mountains, he had never heard of any method that could accomplish such a thing.

"Sealed?"

Zongxian nodded slightly. "Then there should be no mistake. By the way, Uchiha Sasuke, has anyone found my clansman?" He glanced at Uchiha Itachi, whose breathing was somewhat disordered, and took the opportunity to ask about Sasuke's situation, lest Itachi, who was obsessed with his younger brother, go berserk.

"Have."

Hyuga Iroha quickly chimed in.

His reaction was already a step slower than his two companions, but when he heard Zongxian's question, he hurriedly answered.

"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto were imprisoned separately, but the two were not far apart. They were both in the core area of ​​Amegakure, in the high-rise buildings on either side of the tallest building in the center of Amegakure. However... I cannot determine whether he is really Uchiha Sasuke himself."

At this point, Hyuga Iroha also felt somewhat helpless.

Unlike Naruto Uzumaki, who has two different chakra traces, Sasuke Uchiha doesn't have as many variations. While the Sharingan's aura is unique, simulating or disguising it is extremely difficult, but not impossible, especially since their enemies this time are a group of monsters on par with Orochimaru.

What once seemed impossible has become possible.

Even situations with very low probability are magnified into possibilities at this time.

"You all probably only found one Uchiha Sasuke, right?"

Zongxian asked.

There is only one.

"No similar aura was detected."

"Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha each only saw one."

Hyuga Himon, Yamanaka Santen, and Hyuga Iroha answered in turn.

Simultaneously,

One of the three masked ANBU members who had been standing obediently behind Uchiha Shisui nodded, indicating that they had not discovered anything unusual.

"So, where are the noteworthy targets in Amegakure? You, Himon, tell us. Tenka, Iroha, if you find anything missing about Himon, please add it. Otherwise, keep quiet." Zongxian was not in a hurry to act.

Even if Uchiha Chihaya used her eye technique to dispel the dark clouds over Amegakure, it was tantamount to openly announcing their arrival.

He wasn't in a hurry at all.

From the beginning,

He had no intention of catching Payne and his men off guard.

To ambush a member of the Uzumaki clan with the Rinnegan... honestly, this is probably no less difficult than directly confronting Madara Uchiha, the ancestor, at his peak. Not to mention the various unpredictable supernatural powers of the Rinnegan, the powerful sensory abilities of a genuine Uzumaki clan member are enough to keep any enemy from getting close.

Perhaps Pain was too absorbed in the power of the Rinnegan and didn't develop the abilities of the Uzumaki clan much.

but,

Once awakened, this innate ability tends to spontaneously improve over time and as one's strength increases.

The Uchiha clan is like this. As long as you can awaken the Rinnegan, even if you only have a single tomoe, as long as you don't die prematurely, it's only a matter of time before you advance to the three-tomoe Sharingan. The latest example is more than ninety years ago, when a forty-six-year-old clansman successfully advanced to the three-tomoe Sharingan.

She broke the previous record of being 42 years old.

Nagato was chosen as a pawn by Madara Uchiha, which means he must have been exceptionally talented within the vast Uzumaki clan.

Speaking of which—

During the years he served as Hokage's assistant, Sogen spent time researching the events surrounding the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools.

Initially, he also believed that the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools and the decline of the Uzumaki clan stemmed from the Kirigakure and Kumogakure's fear and greed towards the Uzumaki clan, as well as Konoha's dissatisfaction with maintaining an alliance with the Uzumaki clan and its desire to completely integrate the power of the Uzumaki clan into Konoha. Therefore, he chose to stand by and watch, only bringing back the most talented girl from the Uzumaki clan to Konoha.

However, after securing his position as the Hokage's assistant,

Zongxian had sufficient authority to access many sealed and outdated archives.

He found the old documents and records without much effort. The reason it was so easy was that he found a research notebook that was obviously more recent among the files that had been organized together. The notebook did not have the owner's signature, but the handwriting... was clearly left by the Fourth Hokage.

then,

The Fourth Hokage also investigated the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools.

Zongxian didn't care what the Fourth Hokage's purpose was in doing this, whether it was to pass the time or for his beloved wife. In any case, the investigation records left by the Fourth Hokage made Zongxian's work much easier. After carefully studying all the relevant information...

Having confirmed that Hiruzen Sarutobi, this "hero of ninjas," truly had no intention of standing idly by while the Land of Whirlpools fell, he immediately dispatched a small elite force to the Land of Whirlpools to assess the situation upon receiving intelligence that the Mist Ninja and Cloud Ninja intended to attack the Land of Whirlpools. At the same time, he secretly began to amass troops, preparing to support the Uzumaki clan at any time.

However, the situation developed in a way that completely exceeded Hiruzen Sarutobi's expectations.

The Land of Whirlpools fell so quickly that he didn't even have time to react. Before he could even send out the troops he had gathered, he received news of the Land of Whirlpools' destruction.

Only Sakumo Hatake, the "White Fang of Konoha," who was sent to the Land of Whirlpools at the time, led a small elite force and fought his way through the army of Kirigakure to escort a little girl named Kushina Uzumaki and many of the Uzumaki clan's legacies back to Konoha.

The report left behind by Hatake Sakumo only mentioned that the Mist Ninja's offensive was fierce, while the experts of the Land of Whirlpools seemed to have been targeted and assassinated, and were defeated by the Mist Ninja without being able to organize a decent defense.

that's it,

The Uzumaki clan, once renowned during the Warring States period and qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Senju clan and even rival the Uchiha clan, has vanished into obscurity, with only a very few members surviving by sheer luck... However, Sogen believes that the survival of Nagato's mother and Karin's mother may not have been merely a matter of luck.

Do not,

He was certain that this was no fluke.

This was also arranged by Madara Uchiha, or rather, Black Zetsu.

Nagato's mother was probably the first pawn, while Karin's mother was a backup pawn. If Nagato could not meet the needs of Madara Uchiha and Black Zetsu, then they could abandon Nagato and cultivate another Uzumaki instead. Moreover, there might be more backup pawns hidden in some corner of the ninja world.

However, because Nagato's performance was unexpectedly good,

This left the spare pieces completely idle, and it didn't matter at all if Orochimaru took advantage of them.

certainly--

Many of these things are just Zongxian's guesses, and there is no evidence to prove the correctness of his deductions. However, Zongxian doesn't need to prove them. Whether they are true or false is no longer important. What is important is that Hyuga Himon, Hyuga Iroha, and the three heavens of the mountains have not been able to find Nagato's true location.

They only saw a red-haired girl with an astonishing amount of chakra in a month staying in the building where Naruto was being held, but they didn't see a red-haired middle-aged man with injured legs who could only move with the help of some kind of mechanical device.

The whereabouts of Jue are also unknown.

As for the others, such as Obito Uchiha and Orochimaru, they were all in Amegakure. The problem was that none of these S-rank rogue ninjas were easy to deal with. Apart from Deidara and Hidan, who were both hotheads, the rest of them were all cunning and treacherous.