Naruto: Zanka No Tachi

Chapter 51: NZNT: Chapter 51

”Is it him?”

Hearing Yusuke’s name from Pain, Orochimaru couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. Everyone turned their gaze towards Orochimaru’s shadow.

”Since he’s a Konoha ninja, you must have a lot of information about him, Orochimaru,” Kakuzu asked. Since the bounty for the mission was very considerable, Kakuzu was determined to get it.

Orochimaru chuckled ominously, ”Yusuke-kun, huh? He’s indeed a difficult ninja to deal with. Unfortunately, I don’t know his weaknesses at the moment, so I can’t give the organization much advice.”

”Oh? What kind of ninja is he?” Kakuzu was very dissatisfied with Orochimaru’s answer and continued to ask.

”Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, Yusuke-kun is an expert in all of them. He’s a well-rounded ninja,” Orochimaru said.

”Even though the target is from the same village as you, you’re praising him too much, aren’t you?” Hidan obviously didn’t believe Orochimaru’s words.

Orochimaru ignored Hidan and continued to say, ”Yusuke-kun is skilled in all kinds of jutsu, but his strongest is Fire Release jutsu.”

”In terms of taijutsu, he uses a kind of fire-based swordsmanship. It’s not hard to guess that this is his strongest ability from his nickname, ’Flame Sword.’”

”As for genjutsu, he’s also very proficient. After all, he’s from the Uchiha clan.”

”Also, I don’t recommend sending Sasori for this mission. After all, his puppets are quite fragile. They wouldn’t be able to withstand a few of Yusuke-kun’s fires.”

Hearing Orochimaru point out that he wasn’t suitable for this mission, Sasori felt offended. He snorted coldly and said with displeasure, ”Orochimaru, are you underestimating me?”

Orochimaru laughed, ”I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that ninja abilities naturally have their strengths and weaknesses. You just happen to be countered by Yusuke-kun.”

Sasori was still unhappy with Orochimaru’s explanation, ”You’re still underestimating me. I have to participate in this mission. I’ll personally turn this guy you’ve hyped up into a human puppet.”

At this time, Kakuzu also requested to participate in the mission.

After all, with a bounty of one hundred and fifty million in front of him, Kakuzu, who had a strong obsession with money, couldn’t rest easy if he didn’t personally participate in this mission.

Since Sasori and Kakuzu both volunteered to take on the mission, Pain decided, ”Then this mission will be entrusted to your two teams, Kakuzu and Sasori!”

However, Orochimaru, who was partnered with Sasori, objected to Pain’s decision, ”Leader, I’m sorry, I’m refusing to participate in this mission. After all, Yusuke-kun and I have been friends for many years. It wouldn’t be convenient for me to attack him.”

Since Akatsuki always operated in pairs, Orochimaru had been hampered by Sasori ever since he became his partner.

For Orochimaru, this mission was a chance to temporarily get rid of Sasori. This was also one of the reasons why Orochimaru pointed out Sasori. He hoped that Sasori, who had been goaded, would go to participate in the mission to ambush Yusuke.

Pain agreed to Orochimaru’s request and instead assigned Kisame Hoshigaki to replace Orochimaru.

However, considering that Orochimaru was an old acquaintance of the target, Pain also warned Orochimaru not to leak any information about the mission.

This mission to assassinate Yusuke was naturally an important part of Danzō’s ”Uchiha Clan Annihilation Plan.” After getting in touch with Obito during the Nine-Tailed Fox incident more than three years ago, Danzō hadn’t forgotten about this powerful collaborator.

After receiving Danzō’s ”Uchiha Clan Annihilation Plan,” Obito immediately expressed his willingness to cooperate. However, the prerequisite for cooperation was that he would take away half of the Uchiha clan’s Sharingan. After some consideration, Danzō accepted Obito’s condition.

Both Obito and Danzō were wary of Yusuke’s strength. Obito decided to act as a middleman and use a commissioned mission to have Akatsuki deal with Yusuke.

However, to ensure that they could kill him in one strike, Akatsuki needed to send out two official teams, and Danzō also had to pay a large sum of money.

Thus, a net had been laid for Yusuke, and he was completely unaware of it.

At this time, Yusuke was in the Hokage Tower, picking up a mission.

”Yusuke, this is a reconnaissance mission. Recently, a reconnaissance ninja reported that a mysterious organization has been discovered in Amegakure. This organization’s members have been operating very close to our Land of Fire border.”

”Since their strength is unknown, I want to find a capable Jonin to investigate. You’re the best choice.”

The Third Hokage looked at Yusuke.

Yusuke nodded and accepted the mission. ”Understood. When does the mission start?”

Although Yusuke didn’t show any change on his face, he was very suspicious in his heart.

”Could it be that Konoha has noticed Akatsuki ahead of time?” Yusuke thought to himself.

In the original story, Konoha didn’t notice Akatsuki until a few years later. It was only after Itachi defected from Konoha Village and joined Akatsuki that he gave the Third Hokage some information about Akatsuki.

At this time, Yusuke only thought that the Third Hokage had obtained information about Akatsuki ahead of time for some reason and was going to investigate Akatsuki. He didn’t expect that this would be a trap specifically aimed at him.

”The mission starts tomorrow. You can prepare well. Also, there will be a reconnaissance ninja accompanying you this time,” the Third Hokage said without changing his expression.

At this time, a ninja who had been standing by, waiting for orders, stepped forward and introduced himself to Yusuke.

The ninja introduced himself as Shin. He was a reconnaissance ninja, and it was he who had accidentally discovered the mysterious organization’s activities.

On this mission, this ninja named Shin would be Yusuke’s assistant, cooperating with him to conduct a more in-depth investigation.

After receiving the mission, Yusuke went back and made some simple preparations. The next morning, he met Shin at the village’s exit and set off towards Amegakure.

It was a few days’ journey from Konoha Village to the Land of Fire border. As they traveled, Yusuke asked Shin about the information for this mission.

But as he learned more, Yusuke discovered that the information Shin was talking about didn’t match the real situation of Akatsuki.

”Could there be another organization operating near Amegakure?”

Yusuke felt very strange, but he didn’t mind too much. After all, the ninja world was so big. It was normal to have a few organizations that he didn’t know about.

A few days later, the two reached the border of the Land of Fire and prepared to infiltrate Amegakure.

At this time, Shin, who was beside Yusuke, turned to him and smiled slightly, ”We’ll reach Amegakure after passing through the forest ahead. We need to do some disguises.”

There was nothing wrong with Shin’s smile, but Yusuke felt a very fake feeling. At this moment, Yusuke couldn’t help but think of the smile of Sai, a member of Root, in the original story.

Over the past few days, Yusuke had already noticed something was wrong with Shin. It wasn’t that there was something wrong with him. It was that he was too perfect.

During their conversation, Shin had almost no emotional fluctuations, which was expected of a normal person. He felt like a robot without emotions.

”Root Organization!”

Yusuke’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help but think of this possibility.

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