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During this period after assuming the role of Hokage, Tsunade had specifically and thoroughly investigated Kagaya's history. Among the findings, what was particularly interesting was that after defecting from Konoha, Kagaya had joined an organization called the "Akatsuki."
In the past, the higher-ups of Konoha never seemed to pay much attention to this organization. In their view, this so-called Akatsuki organization was merely a group hiding in the shadows, too afraid to show their faces, and nothing to be feared.
Indeed, Konoha had the confidence for such an attitude. As the strongest among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, having dominated the other villages for a hundred years, when it came to "organizations," Konoha itself was the most powerful organization in the world. How could such a behemoth care about an obscure little group skulking in the dark?
Therefore, Tsunade could understand why the Third Hokage and the others didn't care about the Akatsuki, but understanding did not mean agreement. After learning about Kagaya's strength, Tsunade believed that everything related to Kagaya needed to be investigated. So, she set about looking into this Akatsuki organization.
The results shocked her.
From the intelligence gathered, it seemed that among the members of the Akatsuki was the previously defected Uchiha Itachi. That prodigy's fame had come far earlier than Kagaya's, so even Tsunade had a general idea of Itachi's history and knew of his formidable power. This made Tsunade take the Akatsuki even more seriously.
In subsequent investigations, she discovered other figures: Kirigakure's next-generation member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Kisame Hoshigaki; and the rumored immortal shinobi from the Land of Hot Water, Hidan. Although Tsunade, as a medical ninja, didn't believe in so-called immortal shinobi, lacking other intelligence, she could only refer to him as such for the time being.
The emergence of these two shinobi's information made Tsunade once again focus her attention on the Akatsuki. On this journey to pay respects to the Daimyo, Tsunade also wanted to see if that mercenary-style organization would dare to attempt an assassination on her.
Having recognized this as a threatening organization, Tsunade naturally couldn't just stand by and watch it grow. Therefore, before her departure, she secretly arranged for a Konoha shinobi, acting in the name of another country, to offer a substantial reward to hire the Akatsuki to assassinate Tsunade herself.
As one of the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade had ample confidence to annihilate any Akatsuki members who came to kill her!
Moreover, the jonin accompanying her were no ordinary individuals. Kakashi, Might Guy, and others were all present. Additionally, there was a toad within their ranks. In case of an emergency, the toad could use "Reverse Summoning Jutsu" to summon Jiraiya to their location.
With such a lineup, within the Akatsuki, unless Pain or Obito themselves came, anyone else who dared to show up would absolutely not have a pleasant experience.
It was important to understand that while the Akatsuki was strong, the Sannin were equally formidable. In the original story, Orochimaru could directly confront Itachi's Susano'o, Jiraiya could single-handedly battle the Six Paths of Pain, and Tsunade could crack Madara's Susano'o with a single punch. Although they ultimately lost, there was no doubt those were displays of their peak combat prowess. Any one of those feats mentioned was not something easily accomplished.
Tsunade plus Jiraiya, along with Kakashi and the others—faced with such an encirclement and suppression, within the entire shinobi world at present, the only ones capable of surviving single-handedly would be Pain, Obito, Orochimaru (who was intimately familiar with Tsunade and Jiraiya), and finally, the exceptional outlier, Kagaya.
This Princess Tsunade, despite her love for gambling and drinking, and occasional laziness, once she got serious, her decisiveness was enough to be awe-inspiring.
Like this time, if she successfully lured and eliminated one or two Akatsuki members through entrapment, the Akatsuki would undoubtedly suffer a significant blow to its vitality. It might even delay the outbreak of the future Fourth Great Shinobi War by a year or two.
***
On the other side, the Akatsuki received a commission from the "Kumogakure" (Cloud Village). The commission's content was: Assassinate the Fifth Hokage on her journey to pay respects to the Fire Daimyo.
The route was even marked out for the Akatsuki, and this commission came with a lavish reward.
It was very tempting. Although the Akatsuki's funds weren't so tight anymore, judging from Kakuzu's constant fund-gathering activities in the original story, one could see the Akatsuki's attitude: no one would complain about having too much money, and the Akatsuki was no exception.
Thus, Pain summoned the Akatsuki members to discuss who would be sent to carry out this mission.
"Bzzz... Bzzz... Bzzz..."
Projections appeared one after another.
Once everyone had assembled, Pain briefly explained the commission. After finishing, he continued, "The commission content is as I just said: kill the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. This mission's difficulty is not small, which is why I've gathered everyone. Is anyone willing to go?"
A mission to kill a Kage-level powerhouse? The difficulty was far beyond "not small"; it was among the most challenging tasks possible! Any other organization wouldn't dare accept such a mission!
But fortunately, this was the Akatsuki! This was a gathering place for monsters! A single Kage-level target? Difficult to kill, yes, but not impossible!
Kakuzu was the first to speak. "The Fifth Hokage of Konoha? If I recall, it's Tsunade, one of the Sannin, right? Tch. How about letting me go?"
Major events like the change of Kage in the Five Great Villages spread very quickly.
On the other side, Itachi's eyes showed no fluctuation, as if killing the Fifth Hokage had nothing to do with him. But if Kagaya were here, he would be able to guess that Itachi was certainly thinking of ways to help Tsunade out of this predicament.
It must be said that Itachi was an extremely gentle and kind person, even to a point that sometimes seemed foolishly soft-hearted. After experiencing an event like the clan massacre, the only one Itachi held resentment towards was Danzo. Deep down, he still regarded the other people of Konoha as fellow villagers.
Sasori spoke up with excitement. "One of the Sannin, huh? I'm very interested. If I participate, after killing her, can the body be given to me?"
Sasori's interest was simple: human puppets made from Kage-level figures were extremely powerful! A human puppet of the Third Kazekage alone was enough to become one of Sasori's super-powerful weapons. If he could add Tsunade to his collection, wouldn't that be delightful?
The fundamental reason Sasori hadn't been interested in hunting Kagaya earlier was that he knew Kagaya was very fast. Even if he could kill him using poison, he likely wouldn't obtain the body. Naturally, Sasori lost interest.
But now it was different. He had heard of Tsunade's reputation—a powerful medical ninja. But that was all there was to it, wasn't it?
Deidara clicked his tongue. "I'm not interested. Don't drag me into this. I have things to do."
Killing the Fifth Hokage—under normal circumstances, Deidara might have been very interested. But now was different. During this period, Deidara had just had all his pride severed by Kagaya's two Susano'o sword strikes. This only strengthened Deidara's resolve to kill Kagaya.
Thus, recently, Deidara had been burying himself in researching his ultimate move to deal with Kagaya: C4 Karura.
Therefore, Deidara had zero interest in the so-called Fifth Hokage. His mind was now solely focused on blowing Uchiha Kagaya to smithereens.