After a while, Pain spoke first, breaking the silence, "Don't worry, the Nine-Tails must be captured last, and now is not the time."
"And the Eight-Tails Jinchūriki is the younger brother of the Raikage. If we capture him now, the furious Raikage might initiate the Five Kage Talks, which would directly alert the Five Great Nations. That would be detrimental to the organization's next plan to capture the Tailed Beasts."
"So for now, I won't give you the mission to capture the Eight-Tails."
"For the time being?" Kirito smiled calmly. "Then what do you want me to do?"
Pain said: "Orochimaru has become restless again recently, and he is very likely planning to target the resurrected Three-Tails. His subordinate, Kabuto Yakushi, is Sasori's spy."
"Ten days later, at the Tenchi Bridge in the Land of Grass, Sasori originally planned to meet Kabuto there after completing the One-Tail capture mission, so as to find out Orochimaru's whereabouts and eliminate him completely."
"But now that Sasori is dead, you and Pakura are the only members of Akatsuki without a Tailed Beast mission. The mission to hunt down Orochimaru is now assigned to you. Having fought Orochimaru so many times, I'm sure no one is more suitable for this mission than you."
"This mission seems good." Kirito smiled gently. It was about time for him to go meet his stepson.
"That's it. Disband."
After saying that, Pain released his projection.
After opening her eyes, Pakura didn't ask Kirito when they would go to the Tenchi Bridge but instead asked about the situation in the Sand Village.
She knew that Kirito possessed the Purple Cloud Wings and the Flying Thunder God Technique, and had secretly left the Flying Thunder God seal on Orochimaru long ago. No matter which method he used, he could locate Orochimaru quickly.
When Pakura first learned from Kirito that the cold-hearted villagers didn't think about rescuing Gaara, the Kazekage, after he was captured, but just stayed in the village to guard their insignificant territory, she was undoubtedly disappointed.
Then when she heard Gaara became the hero of the village, her disappointment was replaced by surprise.
"It's really surprising that the child became a hero of the village."
Speaking of heroes, Pakura couldn't help but feel a little lost and angry.
She was once abandoned by the village despite being called a hero of Sunagakure.
"He's called a hero, but that's only because the Tailed Beast in his body no longer exists." Kirito showed disdain. "If that kid still had the Tailed Beast inside him, do you think those people would truly see him as a hero?"
"That's true." Pakura knew Kirito was comforting her, and gently leaned into his arms.
Kirito also raised his hand and placed it on Pakura's shoulder, smiling slightly.
The two walked toward the bedroom tacitly.
For the next period of time, Kirito's life became leisurely again.
At night, he took turns visiting the Hagura household, Mikoto's room, Izumi's room, Tsunade's room, and Kurenai Yuhi's room.
Occasionally, he went to check on Hinata to see how she was doing.
In addition to training during the day, he traveled between Amegakure and Konoha to spend time with his two daughters.
Life was full of joy.
It wasn't until the tenth day that Konan finally couldn't stand it anymore and knocked on Kirito's door early in the morning.
Kirito suddenly remembered that there was such a thing as the Tenchi Bridge.
By the time he and Pakura reached the bridge, Naruto, who had transformed into his Four-Tails form, was already fighting Orochimaru.
Kabuto Yakushi, Karin, Haruno Sakura, and Team 7's acting captain Yamato stood on the other side of the bridge watching the battle.
"Hey, Kabuto, long time no see." Kirito and Pakura appeared quietly beside Kabuto and patted him on the shoulder.
Kabuto instantly became alert and leapt back. He held three kunai in his right hand, locked onto the figure behind him, and threw them out.
It was no wonder Kabuto reacted that way. The sudden voice gave him too great a shock.
You know, as a ninja, if someone touches your back without you realizing it, that's the equivalent of being dead.
"Kabuto, attacking me is not a wise move." The calm voice rang out again. The three kunai Kabuto had thrown had already been caught softly in Kirito's hands, and he was casually playing with them.
"Lord Fujiwara Kirito," Kabuto's forehead was covered in sweat, his voice trembling. Without any hesitation, he dropped to one knee. "I'm sorry, Lord Kirito. I thought it was someone from Konoha attacking me. Please forgive me if I offended you."
Kabuto knew the man in front of him was someone with unfathomable strength and methods.
Lord Orochimaru had praised him as someone in the Akatsuki organization who was even more troublesome than Pain.
If this man wanted to kill someone right now, even Orochimaru himself, the person Kabuto respected most, would have difficulty escaping.
On the other side, Yamato, Karin, and Sakura had also noticed Kirito and Pakura.
Sakura and Yamato, who knew how terrifying Kirito was, turned pale with cold sweat running down their backs.
Karin almost drooled. If there hadn't been so many people around, she would have pounced on Kirito and rubbed herself against him without hesitation.
"Don't worry, I don't intend to blame you. I know you were just reacting out of self-defense." Kirito smiled faintly and turned his gaze to Yamato and the others, his face bearing the usual 'harmless smile' he wore. "It seems there are quite a few familiar faces here today."
"Captain Yamato, this is Fujiwara Kirito." When Sakura met Kirito's eyes, her gaze became unfocused. She swallowed hard and whispered to Yamato.
"I know." As Kirito's former superior in ANBU, Yamato naturally recognized him, but he never imagined that a ninja he once held in high esteem had now become a traitor to Konoha.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel uneasy. Naruto was currently locked in a fierce battle with Orochimaru, and they couldn't retreat.
Now two Akatsuki members had appeared, clearly here to capture the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
One of them was even stronger than Orochimaru. Could they really escape safely today, like when the Kazekage was recovered?
Kirito understood Yamato's concerns, smiled faintly, and greeted him, "Hey, Senior Tenzo—oh no, I should call you Yamato now. Long time no see. It's been what—seven or eight years since the Uchiha clan was annihilated?"
"Yes, it's been a long time." Yamato pretended to be calm and asked carefully, "Then… could I ask you to not attack the Konoha ninja today, for the sake of our old friendship?"
"Of course, because the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki was never my mission in the first place. This time I only came to find Orochimaru. Now it looks like things are almost done." Kirito said calmly.
While they were speaking, Naruto, in his Four-Tails state, was knocked flying by Orochimaru's Kusanagi sword.
(End of this chapter)