Naruto called Namikaze Minato "Fourth-sama."
The "Fourth" referred to Minato's title as the Fourth Hokage.
The "-sama"?
Pure sarcasm.
After all, asking a man with an adult mind to suddenly call a stranger "Father" was ridiculous. In Naruto's values, the grace of raising someone far outweighed the grace of simply creating them.
Blood didn't mean much if you weren't there.
Minato didn't react to the mockery. Instead, he frowned, carefully considering Naruto's words.
From Naruto's tone, it wasn't just resentment toward the Third Hokage or the villagers of Konoha.
It was dissatisfaction with the entire shinobi system.
Naruto glanced at Minato and stopped beating around the bush.
"Fourth-sama, you don't seem to understand what I'm saying."
He spoke calmly.
"The Will of Fire sounds beautiful. But it doesn't cover the entire Land of Fire."
He paused slightly.
"It couldn't even cover the Uchiha clan."
"And it certainly didn't cover the Uzumaki."
Minato's expression shifted repeatedly.
The argument seemed full of loopholes on the surface—but Minato couldn't refute it.
He had been Hokage.
He knew the Will of Fire had never truly embraced the Uchiha.
Nor had it protected the children raised in Root like disposable tools.
Naruto saw the silence and smiled faintly.
Checkmate.
Instead of pressing further, he walked toward Kurama.
Compared to Minato, who kept trying to pour ideology into his head, Kurama was simpler.
Blunt.
Honest.
And strangely enough—more reliable.
After all, Kurama had been with him day and night.
That counted for something.
Meanwhile.
Loquat Jūzō arrived at the nearest underground black market and found the local handler.
After verifying the noble's identity, the handler nodded in satisfaction and handed over the prepared cash.
Even as the regional manager, he wouldn't dare provoke someone who casually assassinated nobles.
Jūzō counted the money quickly, then gestured lazily.
The handler immediately brought out a bounty list.
Flipping through it, Jūzō's eyes landed on familiar names—the current Five Kage.
The rewards were enormous. Kill one, and you'd earn hundreds of millions of ryō.
Of course, you'd also need to break into a heavily fortified hidden village and fight one of the strongest shinobi alive.
High risk. Very high death probability.
After flipping through more than a dozen pages, Jūzō still didn't find anything suitable.
Either the target was too strong—even for a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Or the pay was too low to bother.
He wasn't some hardworking model employee.
He either completed missions—or was on the way to the next one.
If the organization didn't require regular funding, he wouldn't even bother with black market side jobs.
Then he stopped.
Uchiha Itachi.
Reward: tens of millions.
Jūzō raised an eyebrow.
"A thirteen-year-old kid is worth that much?"
The handler glanced at the description.
"The bounty was issued by Konoha. Crime: clan massacre. Classified as an S-rank missing-nin."
"S-rank…"
Jūzō snorted lightly and continued flipping.
Suddenly, his right-hand ring began to heat up.
Another meeting.
He quickly left the black market, found a secluded area, and looked at the ring engraved with his position in the organization.
"New member?"
Forming hand seals, he activated the Magic Lantern Body Technique. His spiritual projection traveled across thousands of miles to the Land of Rain.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood inside a dark cavern.
At the center was the massive Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
He stood upon one of its fingers. Before him were chakra projections of other members.
One by one, the Akatsuki members appeared.
Pain—leader of Akatsuki.
Konan—the Angel of Amegakure.
Kakuzu—the man who once fought Hashirama and somehow lived to complain about it.
Sasori of the Red Sand—the Suna puppet master who defected.
Orochimaru—the former Sannin and professional snake-shaped problem.
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu—the world's most suspicious houseplants.
Once everyone had assembled, Pain spoke emotionlessly:
"There are two matters today."
"First, to investigate the cause of Kakuzu's teammate's death."
"Second, to welcome a new member—Uchiha Itachi."
At the mention of the newcomer, several Akatsuki members turned their gaze toward Itachi.
They had all heard of him.
Thirteen years old.
Slaughtered his entire clan.
S-rank missing-nin.
Impressive résumé.
But fear?
Not really.
Let's be honest—who in Akatsuki wasn't an S-rank criminal with a body count long enough to need footnotes?
If you didn't have at least a dozen kills, you'd probably get mocked at meetings.
Itachi calmly observed the members in return.
Aside from Pain and Konan—whose identities were unclear—he recognized everyone else from the Anbu bingo book.
Each one was a notorious criminal.
Even Orochimaru, one of the former Sannin.
Itachi's internal threat assessment rose immediately.
With this lineup, Akatsuki could destabilize any hidden village.
Orochimaru suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and amused.
"Itachi-kun… long time no see."
"We're destined to meet again."
"Why not team up with me? I'm getting rather tired of my current partner."
Before he could continue, Sasori's cold voice cut in.
"Orochimaru… if you want to die, just say it."
Orochimaru merely smiled.
According to Akatsuki rules, members weren't allowed to kill each other—unless one proved too weak.
So technically, threatening each other was just… bonding.
Itachi ignored Orochimaru entirely.
His attention was fixed on Pain.
More precisely—
On those eyes.
The Rinnegan.
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu, alongside the Sharingan and the Byakugan.
The legendary eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.
Only someone with those eyes could command a group of monsters like this.
The brief shock on Itachi's face did not escape Pain's notice.
He was used to that reaction.
Anyone who saw the Rinnegan hesitated.
Eventually, Pain turned toward Zetsu.
"Enough."
"Let's review whether Kakuzu intentionally killed his partner."
He activated the Rinnegan's ability to replay White Zetsu's recorded memory.
The scene appeared.
Kakuzu's teammate was entangled with the enemy.
Without hesitation, Kakuzu unleashed Fire Release: Head Migrate.
The flames swallowed both enemy and ally.
When the fire cleared, only charred corpses remained.
Silence filled the cave.
Kakuzu spoke flatly.
"You saw it."
"I told him to dodge the Fire Release."
"He didn't move fast enough."
"That's not my fault."
He paused.
"I also died once during that mission."
Translation:
If he was too weak to survive, that's on him.
Akatsuki logic.
Simple. Efficient. Slightly insane.
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