Time slowly passed, three days had gone by.
The ninja alliance was already prepared at the border of the Land of Rain.
Since the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Fire border the Land of Rain, ninjas from these three countries could easily reach the Land of Rain directly from their own borders.
The Land of Lightning's Cloud Village and the Land of Water's Mist Village had a more complicated journey.
The former had to pass through the Land of Rice and the Land of Frost to reach the Land of Grass, entering through the Land of Grass' border.
The latter had to go through the Land of Bears, pass by the Land of Fire, reach the Land of Rivers, and then enter from the Land of Rivers' border.
In this way, the only country bordering the Land of Rain that didn't have people from the Five Great Shinobi Villages was the Land of Birds.
"How's the situation?"
At the base of the Akatsuki organization in the Hidden Rain Village.
Pain had already gathered all the official members.
Facing the powerful forces of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Pain showed no sign of fear.
Since he wasn't scared, the official members, including Kisame, naturally weren't scared either.
"The people from the Five Great Shinobi Villages are already stationed at the border, they can enter the Land of Rain at any time."
"Black Zetsu, tell us how many people the Great Shinobi Villages have sent and who the main figures are."
"Alright."
Black Zetsu, the information gatherer of the Akatsuki organization, with the cooperation of White Zetsu, had already gathered information about the Five Great Shinobi Villages as soon as they arrived at the border.
"Cloud Village has the most people, with twenty ninjas, all of them Jōnin. The main figures are the Fourth Raikage A, and his right-hand men, Darui and C."
"Did the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki not come?"
"No."
"Alright, continue."
At this point, Black Zetsu felt a bit disappointed.
If Kakuzu and Hidan had been a bit more reliable and sealed the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki into the Gedo Statue, Nagato could have used this chance to sneak into the Land of Lightning and capture the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki.
What a pity.
"The people sent by Sunagakure are Chiyo, Temari, Kankuro, and five jonin."
"The people sent by Kirigakure are Ao, Chojiro, and five jonin."
"The people sent by Iwagakure are Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, Kitsuchi, and ten jonin."
"As for Konoha..."
At this point, Black Zetsu glanced at Nagato, then secretly looked at Itachi, before continuing: "The people sent by Konoha should be the highest quality, including the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, the Copy Ninja Kakashi, the Third Hokage's son, Asuma Sarutobi, the Uchiha Clan leader, Fugaku Uchiha, and his son, Sasuke Uchiha."
"I've gathered all the information about the personnel. Do you have any thoughts?"
After hearing Zetsu's report, Pain didn't react much. He just looked at everyone indifferently, waiting to hear what they had to say.
"Hehe, leave the Land of Earth to me. I'll show them what true art of explosion is."
As soon as Pain finished speaking, Deidara eagerly volunteered.
Years ago, the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, who was also his teacher, hated his explosions and even made him live on the outskirts of the village.
He never understood why.
The village had an Explosion Corps, so why was it that when they played with explosions, they could live in the village, but when he did, he had to live on the edge of the village?
If it weren't for living in such a horrible place, he wouldn't have been forced by that bastard Itachi to join the Akatsuki.
Not just for revenge, but this time, Deidara wanted to show Onoki that the explosions he once despised would now bring the Iwagakure a huge headache.
"Leave Sunagakure to me."
Deidara volunteered, and without hesitation, Sasori spoke up as well.
"What about you, Kisame? Are you handling Kirigakure?"
"Since the leader has spoken, I'll take care of Kirigakure."
Three of the five great ninja villages had been assigned.
Only the most numerous, Kumo, and the highest quality, Konoha, were left.
"Kakuzu, Itachi, you're responsible for Konoha. Any issues?"
Kakuzu really wanted to say, there's a problem, and a big one.
Looking at Konoha's lineup, is it something he and Itachi can handle?
At most, he could deal with the Fourth Hokage and the current Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. The rest, can Itachi deal with them?
Kakuzu still highly recognized Itachi's strength, but when it came to Itachi himself, Kakuzu could never truly see through him.
However, he did understand that Itachi wasn't truly joining the Akatsuki organization, just as he wasn't truly joining either.
Thinking from his own perspective, Kakuzu was afraid that Itachi might just defect in the middle of the fight.
After all, Konoha had sent both Itachi's father and brother.
With that in mind, Kakuzu made a firm decision—if things go south, he would run.
"I'll handle the situation in the Hidden Cloud Village with Konan."
"Black Zetsu, you'll stay in the middle and assist wherever necessary."
"Alright, any questions? If not, go prepare."
No one had any questions. They all shook their heads and left the Akatsuki base, heading toward their assigned areas.
"Nagato, with such a big incident happening, why hasn't Madara shown up?"
After everyone left, Konan returned to the depths of the base and asked about the missing masked man—Madara.
"I don't know. He's always been so mysterious."
"Forget about him, let's go. Wait, someone's infiltrating the Hidden Rain Village."
Just as Nagato was about to take Konan to deal with the situation in the Hidden Cloud Village, he suddenly sensed two unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar chakra signatures within the village.
"Who is it? Should I go handle it?"
"If I'm right, it should be Jiraiya-sensei and Yahiko."
"What? Why are they here at this moment?"
The usually calm Konan, after hearing what Nagato said, started to feel a little flustered.
"I don't know. Let's follow Pain and see."
"Jiraiya-sensei is really unreliable. How could he bring Yahiko back at a time like this?"
On the way, Konan kept grumbling.
Clearly, she was very dissatisfied with Jiraiya bringing Yahiko back at such a time.
Wasn't this putting Yahiko in danger?
At the gate of the Hidden Cloud Village, Jiraiya, who had just sent the toad back to Mount Myoboku, looked at Yahiko with an expressionless face.
"Heh, Jiraiya-sensei, don't be mad. I'm here now, you can't just send me back, can you?"
Before leaving, Yahiko had heard somewhere about the Five Great Shinobi Villages planning to exterminate the Akatsuki organization, and he kept pestering Jiraiya, insisting that he be taken along.
If Jiraiya didn't agree, he would head to the Hidden Rain Village on his own.
Unable to refuse him, Jiraiya had no choice but to bring him along to the Hidden Rain Village.
"Yeah, since we're here."
Sighing, Jiraiya felt helpless.
He couldn't really send Yahiko back, could he?
With the chaotic situation around the Land of Rain, Yahiko, only at the strength of a chunin, could easily get himself killed if something went wrong.
"Let's go. We'll head into the village and find Nagato."
"Okay, Jiraiya-sensei!"
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