Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Orochimaru grinned and chuckled, then immediately said, "The guy who took Yugito's bounty was wearing a black robe embroidered with red auspicious clouds, which is the most distinctive feature of Akatsuki—and I only know one Akatsuki member who goes to the black market to collect bounties, and his name is Kakuzu."

"Kakuzu?"

Sasuke hadn't heard of this name before.

"Don't underestimate him. He was a contemporary of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and even managed to escape unscathed after fighting the First Hokage."

"And Kakuzu is still within the Land of Fire."

"That guy has an extremely unusual obsession with money, and his favorite thing to do is hunt down ninjas who have high bounties on the black market."

Orochimaru spoke of Kakuzu's secrets, which only members of the Akatsuki organization knew—even though he had left the Akatsuki organization many years ago.

"After the body of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki appeared on the black market, some ninja hunting incidents occurred in the small countries surrounding the Land of Fire and in the Land of Fire itself—the most recent ninja hunting incident was related to the Fire Temple of Konoha."

"So you're convinced that the Akatsuki member named Kakuzu is still in the Land of Fire?"

Sasuke had already understood Orochimaru's meaning.

“That’s right, this is rare information—perhaps you can even find out where ‘Itachi’ is right now from him.”

Orochimaru naturally intended to make good use of the hatred between the biological brothers Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi.

After leaving the Akatsuki organization, he fell on Akatsuki's assassination list. Even at his peak, Orochimaru had to temporarily avoid those troublesome rogue ninjas from various countries within the Akatsuki organization.

Now suffering from both mental and physical torment, he needs to hide himself in the depths of darkness to eke out a living.

Having Sasuke, who has already grown significantly, weaken Akatsuki's strength would not only benefit Orochimaru.

This would also benefit Sasuke himself.

As a member of the Akatsuki organization, Sasuke might face an attack from other Akatsuki members if he doesn't make thorough preparations.

Therefore, before engaging Itachi Uchiha, the priority was to weaken the Akatsuki's strength.

—Sasuke had no reason to refuse.

Furthermore, Sasuke is now eager to test just how much his strength has increased.

"The Sound Four will work with you on this mission, and they will obey all your orders unconditionally."

Orochimaru did not intend to let Sasuke go alone to deal with Kakuzu.

The Akatsuki organization operates in pairs, and its members are among the strongest in the entire ninja world.

As Orochimaru had predicted, Sasuke accepted the "mission".

"Tell me detailed information about Kakuzu."

……

"The intelligence is not clear."

In a forest somewhere in the Land of Fire, Kakashi, as the captain of Kakashi's team, leaped to the front of a tree trunk and responded to his teammates behind him.

"Not clear?"

Ino was confused by Kakashi's answer.

For ninjas, intelligence is of paramount importance.

However, during this temporary team formation mission, Kakashi, as the team leader, said something that could be described as "quite irresponsible".

"That's right. In other words, Kakashi's team is the vanguard for gathering intelligence."

Kakashi answered Ino's question seriously: "The fact that the body of the Two-Tails Jinchuriki from Kumogakure appeared on the black market caused quite a stir, and not long after, other ninja hunting incidents occurred around and within the Land of Fire—it's hard not to connect the two events."

"Jinchūriki capture... Kakashi-sensei, do you mean the instigator of this ninja hunt is also 'Akatsuki'?"

Sakura keenly sensed the key point of this mission.

Information about Akatsuki has been communicated to Konoha by Jiraiya over the past three years. Although the reason why Akatsuki is obsessed with tailed beasts is unknown, it is a fact that Akatsuki is capturing Jinchuriki everywhere.

three years ago……

To verify the authenticity of the information that the "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki" had defected from Konoha, the two Akatsuki members who appeared in Konoha were investigated.

Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha.

It was precisely because these two members of the Akatsuki organization appeared in Konoha, which was still mired in grief, that Sasuke was also...

Sakura instinctively clenched her fists.

Three years later, she came into contact with "Akatsuki" again.

Whether it's Sasuke;

It's still Naruto—

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Sakura suddenly called out.

"What's wrong, Sakura?"

Kakashi turned to look at Sakura.

Immediately afterwards, Kakashi saw the resolute expression on Sakura's face.

"Thank you."

Sakura actually thanked Kakashi.

Sakura's thank you came out of nowhere.

Not only Kakashi, but Ino and Choji, who were standing nearby, immediately understood why Sakura was thanking them.

Sakura was very grateful to Kakashi—no, this gratitude also included her mentor, the Fifth Hokage Tsunade, and Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin—thanking them for not hiding the information about Akatsuki from Sakura out of concern for her safety.

This actually allowed Sakura to participate as well.

Class 7...

It is an inseparable whole.

“Sakura…”

Ino looked at her best friend beside her, whose eyes were resolute and had already made up her mind.

Ino quickly composed herself, as she had previously stated that she would help Sakura.

Therefore, the pretty girl with a light golden ponytail devoted all her attention to this mission.

Ino then asked, "Since it's such an important mission, are we going to do it alone?"

"No, besides us there are two other teams. This mission is mainly an intelligence gathering mission that avoids combat as much as possible. Three teams of twelve people is the maximum number that the Hokage can assign under pressure from the advisory group."

Kakashi explained:

"Furthermore, we are currently in the midst of the Chunin Exams, and Konoha must ensure that it has sufficient fighting power and absolutely cannot repeat the mistakes of three years ago."

As Kakashi spoke, his tone became earnest and earnest.

"So, Choji, Ino, and Sakura, we should focus on gathering auxiliary intelligence by contacting places where Akatsuki members have appeared. We must never engage in combat with the enemy without clear information—even if this mission might contain information related to Sasuke or Naruto."

"Yes!"

Choji and Ino understood the importance of this mission, and they responded to Kakashi's orders.

Kakashi's gaze was fixed on Sakura: "Sakura, I need your accurate answer more than Choji and Ino."

Sakura hesitated for a moment before finally answering, "I understand."

"Very good, we're almost at our destination. I'll now explain the mission of Kakashi's team."

After receiving responses from his three subordinates, Kakashi returned to the main topic of the mission: "Kakashi's team is responsible for gathering intelligence in the black market, constructing Akatsuki's operational logic, and predicting Akatsuki's next course of action."

"The black market? Isn't that the Fire Temple?"

Sakura pressed for an answer.

Within the Land of Fire, the last traceable ninja hunt related to "Akatsuki" occurred at the Fire Temple, and she thought Kakashi's team would go to the Fire Temple to gather intelligence.

"The intelligence gathering for the Fire Temple is handled by Asuma's team. Asuma has a deeper connection with the Fire Temple than other Konoha ninjas."

"Asuma-sensei is also one of the three ninja squads?!"

"The team is led by Asuma, and the members are Kotetsu, Izumo Kamizuki, and Aoba Yamashiro."

"And the other squad is..."

"It's the third squad led by Kai. The third squad was already out on a mission, and judging by the time, they should already be on their way back to the village—this is Kakashi's squad's second mission."

"After conveying the mission requirements to you, I will temporarily leave the team and use ninja dogs to search for and intercept Team 3 on their way back to the village, so that they can be directly incorporated into this mission related to the 'Akatsuki' organization."

Kakashiban.

Asmaban and Kaiban.

This is the composition of the three Konoha ninja teams involved in the mission related to "Akatsuki".

"Before I rejoin the team, Ino will be in charge of making decisions for Kakashi's team. Listen carefully, the three of you must absolutely avoid unnecessary battles!"

Kakashi once again spoke up to Sakura, Ino, and Choji to remind them.

"Yes!"

The three responded without hesitation, so that Kakashi could leave the team with peace of mind.

"Then—disperse!"

At Kakashi's command, the three members of Kakashi's team no longer leaped through the forest, but instead used the Body Flicker Technique to reach the mission's target location much faster.

With Kakashi's team leaving, Sakura, Ino, and Choji's team formation has also changed.

The three advanced in a standard triangular formation, with Sakura and Choji on either side of the triangle.

At the tip of the triangle is Ino, who replaced Kakashi, who left the team, and became the temporary captain of Kakashi's team.

The three moved forward in silence, Sakura eager to obtain information about Akatsuki.

in case……

Sakura couldn't help but fantasize.

If we can obtain information about Sasuke—or even Naruto—during this mission.

"Sakura!"