Naruto: Born Gifted in Konoha

Amegakure Village, light drizzle.

At the entrance of the Akatsuki Secret Base.

Saitama's eyes drifted toward the short figure next to Konan.

With that appearance, he easily recognized the one who had successfully provoked a war between Konoha and Sunagakure—Sasori of the Red Sand, Sunagakure's once-in-a-generation puppet master prodigy!

Noticing Saitama's gaze, Konan's expression carried a hint of pride as she tilted her chin up slightly. Her gaze then shifted to Kakuzu, who stood beside Saitama.

Though she was new to the Shinobi World, she still remembered many of its famous ninja. But staring at Kakuzu's unremarkable appearance, Konan couldn't recall anything about him. So she was pretty sure her recruit was way better than Saitama. A small, competitive satisfaction made her feel good about it.

"Hey, did you just come back?" Saitama smiled and walked toward Konan and Sasori.

Kakuzu followed behind Saitama without speaking, though his green eyes remained fixed on Konan and Sasori.

After living so long, Kakuzu still had sharp instincts. Though Konan looked young, her chakra reserves were impressive. As for Sasori next to her, Kakuzu didn't detect any obvious chakra flow, but the intense aura of danger coming from him was unmistakable—he was definitely not someone to mess with!

"You must be Sasori! I'm Saitama, and this is Kakuzu. Looks like we'll be members of the same organization from now on!"

Unfazed by Konan's cold stare, Saitama introduced himself to Sasori.

"I didn't expect you could recognize me!" Sasori's voice came out crisp and clear from within the puppet.

After recently completing the Human Puppet experiments, Sasori had specially created this puppet body to protect himself. Yet, surprisingly, this young man named Saitama still figured him out.

"This is Konan, and this is Sasori!" Saitama turned again to introduce them to Kakuzu, receiving only a glance from Kakuzu's green eyes in response.

"Hello," Kakuzu said simply, his naturally cold demeanor showing through.

"Let's go inside; Nagato is waiting for us!" Konan said while subtly signaling Saitama with her eyes.

She intentionally avoided saying Nagato's name, clearly intending to give Saitama a hint.

"All right then. Didn't expect us to return at the same time, so let's go in together!"

Saitama nodded, having caught on too.

In the original storyline, Nagato always used Deva Path Yahiko as his public image, mostly because back then he had already lost the ability to move independently.

But even now, Nagato continuing to use Yahiko as the public front for the group was indeed a small but clever strategy.

Inside the lower levels of the Akatsuki base, regular Amegakure shinobi were managing daily affairs.

The routine operations of an entire village couldn't rely solely on its core members—especially when those key figures weren't particularly concerned about such matters.

...

Deva Path Yahiko sat at the head of the long table, with blue-haired Konan seated to his right, and the youthful-faced Saitama sitting on his left.

Beside Saitama was Zetsu, followed by Kakuzu—the recruit brought in by Saitama.

Sasori's physical form wasn't suited for sitting, so he stood alone at the lower end of the room.

At this point, everyone remained silent, waiting for Yahiko — their "leader" — to speak first.

"I am the leader of Akatsuki. You can all call me... Pain!"

Yahiko swept the room with cold eyes, his Rinnegan fully exposed without any attempt to hide it.

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes, lost in thought. As an elder ninja from the Shinobi World, he naturally recognized that legendary eye.

At the lower end sat Sasori, who showed no particular reaction. Even Saitama couldn't detect his presence through the Puppet body.

"Akatsuki means the break of dawn — our goal is to bring reform to the entire Shinobi World!"

Yahiko continued, a faint glow flickering within his Rinnegan.

Though it was technically a Puppet body, under Nagato's control through the Rinnegan, no one could sense its true nature.

While his face was impaled with metal rods and chakra-infused spikes, Kakuzu and Sasori simply took them for part of some unconventional appearance and paid little attention at the time.

If Saitama hadn't known beforehand, he would've also found it hard to identify its true nature — and this was exactly where Jiraiya later failed to uncover.

Kakuzu and Sasori didn't particularly care about these ideological goals. Their personal interests weren't nearly as grandiose.

However, Akatsuki could provide them with what they needed, so working for it posed no problem.

"Our objective is to collect the Tailed Beasts and create the ultimate weapon of war, making everyone realize how precious peace truly is."

"Only through pain can true peace be born!"

As Yahiko spoke slowly, Saitama tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table, appearing quite attentive.

His goal aligned closely with Nagato's, though he didn't focus on pain as the path to peace.

Although he wouldn't deliberately create suffering, war inevitably caused casualties — something unavoidable.

"Just the five of us?" Though Kakuzu had identified the Rinnegan, he doubted they could oppose the entire Shinobi World.

After all, Tailed Beasts were strategic weapons for the great ninja villages, rarely leaving their hidden villages.

Even when they did leave, the protective forces accompanying them were strong enough to rival a Kage-level ninja.

Akatsuki's objective was to gather all Tailed Beasts — an almost impossible task.

The only one to ever achieve such a feat was Hashirama Senju, known as the "Ninja God."

Having fought against Hashirama, Kakuzu knew all too well the vast gulf between a "divine" being and regular shinobi.

That immense presence, Kakuzu hadn't sensed it from this "leader," despite the man possessing the legendary Sage's Eye.

"Gathering Tailed Beasts won't start immediately — the time isn't right yet!"

Yahiko glanced at Kakuzu, offering explanation.

He hadn't prepared to confront the entire Shinobi World yet. Through his research, he'd gradually deepened his understanding and mastery of the Rinnegan.

"For now, the group's main objective is gathering funds and building outer allies and informant networks."

When Kakuzu heard this, he gave a slow nod, finally beginning to understand the logic behind it.

"I have no objections, but I'll need corpses of powerful individuals for my Puppet research, along with various specially crafted metals."

Sasori controlled his Puppet, indifferent to whatever challenges lay ahead.

He had always been a proud man. Back then, when Konan approached him, it was precisely at the moment he had just completed his [Human Puppet].

After discussing with Konan and tempted by various alluring offers, he chose to join.

Now hearing that their future target was to stand against the entire Shinobi World, his already cold heart began to feel excited.

Only through stimulation and eternity could he truly pursue what he was after, and the goal of [Akatsuki] was perfect for proving what kind of person he truly was.

"I have no problem either!" Kakuzu's emerald eyes glanced toward Konan sitting diagonally across from him. Seeing her expressionless face, it seemed as if she had already expected this outcome.

"The informant networks covering the Shinobi World will temporarily be assigned to Zetsu; others will focus on the Organization's funding."

All gazes fell upon Zetsu, wrapped within the pitcher plant. Saitama was no exception, just like everyone else.

"Oh dear, feels like quite a heavy burden indeed!" White Zetsu exclaimed in exaggerated shock, yet showed no extra movements, creating an odd contrast.

Sasori appeared particularly interested in Zetsu. Ever since witnessing Zetsu emerge freely from the surroundings, he had suspected it might be a form of [Kekkei Genkai].

A tingling curiosity stirred within Sasori, though he also knew Zetsu wasn't someone easy to mess with, and they were both members of [Akatsuki]. Attempting anything would only bring trouble, so he shelved his thoughts.

"For greater convenience during future operations, I'll distribute rings to everyone. Each ring has its own codename engraved—this represents every member's identity within the organization."

From beneath his wide sleeves, Yahiko pulled out several boxes. With a flick of his hand, the boxes flew toward those present.

Bang! Saitama pressed his hand onto one box lying before him. He glanced at the simple-looking container, then curiously prepared to open it.

Although he'd expected something like this, he was still eager to find out what codename he'd get.

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