One day later, inside the Country of Fire, at the Akatsuki Headquarters.

Firelight flickers, illuminating the underground base brightly.

Su Xiao, Obito, and Deidara are sitting around a stone table; this is essentially the Akatsuki Organization’s conference room where matters are discussed.

"Overall, the rescue plan was very successful, but there’s one thing I’m curious about."

Obito, with black gloves on his hands, tapping rhythmically on the stone table with his fingers.

"Bai Ye, the Third Tsuchikage was also in the underground prison; how did you manage to rescue Deidara?"

Upon hearing this from Obito, Deidara was somewhat surprised.

"Did you confront that old man from the Third?"

"Almost got decomposed by Dust Release; as for saving Deidara, the Third Tsuchikage slipped, and I seized the opportunity to rescue Deidara."

Su Xiao certainly wouldn’t reveal that it was Bubu Wang who rescued Deidara. Though he is currently in cooperation with Obito, both sides are destined to turn against each other someday.

"Slipped... at the feet."

Obito’s expression under the mask wasn’t looking very good; he certainly didn’t believe Su Xiao’s nonsense.

While the three were chatting idly, a mummy slowly walked over.

"Who is this? A new member?"

Deidara shifted his body slightly, his eyes filled with doubt. He believed this ’mummy’ was a new member.

"Ahem, this is Sasuke."

Obito spoke while looking at Su Xiao.

"It seems you’re recovering well."

Su Xiao examined Sasuke; the other’s recovery ability was stronger than expected.

"..."

Er Zhuzi was silent, the reason being simple—he didn’t want to see Su Xiao anytime soon, as it was simply a nightmare for him. Er Zhuzi was very grateful for one thing: during the surgery, he had dignifiedly not uttered any humiliating words, although he screamed quite embarrassingly in the ensuing days.

"You’re late."

Kisame approached from afar, a girl accompanying him.

Apart from Bai Jue, who was out gathering intelligence, all Akatsuki members were gathered together. The purpose of the gathering was to determine whether the woman named Rose could join the Akatsuki Organization.

If Nagato were still alive, new members could join the Akatsuki Organization with only his approval. But now that Obito was the leader of Akatsuki, he couldn’t gain everyone’s support, as he had never provided evidence of his identity as Uchiha Madara. Moreover, he always wore a mask, and only Nagato and Kisame had seen his face. Su Xiao didn’t count as he learned of Obito’s appearance through the original story. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Experience proves that a dictatorial leader like Nagato cannot lead us to the end. Therefore, I decided to implement a voting system, with the current rule that new members need to get more than half the votes to join."

Obito’s approach was clever; he noticed that Su Xiao was somewhat repellent towards the woman named Rose, yet Obito didn’t want to offend Kisame, so he chose to vote directly—more than half would pass.

"Senior Bai Ye seems quite unfriendly to me."

Rose, sitting beside Kisame, suddenly spoke, her eyes, like black gems, blinking.

Su Xiao guessed the meaning behind her blinking—mutual non-interference, don’t stop her from joining the Akatsuki Organization.

Su Xiao wasn’t deliberately targeting this chick named Rose; although he didn’t sense malice from her, he detected a familiar aura.

It was a peculiar aura, not killing intent, nor malice—once upon a time, Su Xiao also had this aura, or rather this temperament—a hidden revengeful spirit that emerges when consumed by thoughts of revenge.

Su Xiao once had the greatest ambition for revenge, thus mastering killing skills, but the ironic thing was that his direction for revenge had been misguided, which made Su Xiao somewhat skeptical of life upon learning the truth.

The killing skills honed for revenge were ultimately not used for revenge, rather allowing Su Xiao a significant edge within the Reincarnation Paradise.

Seeing Rose, Su Xiao felt as if seeing himself once infiltrating targets, void of killing intent yet desperate to dismember foes.

Su Xiao didn’t know who Rose’s target was, but he wouldn’t leave such a timed bomb unheeded.

This was Su Xiao’s personal intuition; intuition differs from instinct—if instinct foresaw enemy intent from Rose, Su Xiao would act immediately.

But alas, Rose’s disguise was too superb, and she had a favorable relationship with Kisame, which posed some trouble.

"Then, let’s start voting."

Obito surveyed the group.

"I agree with Rose joining."

Kisame was the first to speak.

"I also agree; the Akatsuki currently needs manpower."

Obito evidently was welcoming; he dared to keep Su Xiao in the Akatsuki, let alone a woman who was a Perception Type.

"I oppose."

Su Xiao certainly wouldn’t allow Rose to join Akatsuki; the stability of Akatsuki directly related to the advancement of his Main Task.

"I also oppose."

As expected, Deidara supported Su Xiao; the two were teammates from the same squad—their relationship wasn’t something Obito and Kisame could rival.

The two agreeing and the two opposing; Sasuke’s choice seemed to play a crucial role.

"I... oppose."

To everyone’s surprise, Sasuke opposed.

"Your purpose confuses me, moreover, whether I oppose or not doesn’t matter."

Su Xiao was quite surprised at Sasuke’s words; the other’s Intelligence seemed to have improved remarkably recently.

Sasuke was right—even if Rose passed the vote, she couldn’t join Akatsuki; as for Sasuke’s opposition, it was simply to avoid getting splattered with blood.

From this it was clear—though young, sometimes impulsive, Sasuke wasn’t foolish.

"Regrettably, no new member joins."

Obito, Su Xiao, and Deidara glanced at Rose, Kisame remained expressionless.

"Sorry."

For some reason, Kisame expressed an apology to Rose.

The matter was simple—once Rose entered the Akatsuki base, she would either join Akatsuki or die there.

"Dear seniors, I’ve traveled thousands of miles to join you, yet you intend to kill me? Though incapable of resistance, what if other rogue ninjas learn that you treat defectors this way, what would they think?"

Rose wouldn’t sit idly by; confronting anyone individually in Akatsuki, she wasn’t intimidated, but if Su Xiao and Deidara teamed up, she would be no match.

Furthermore, Obito’s stance was always unclear, Kisame might not assist under those circumstances, and as for Uchiha Sasuke, she’d temporarily disregard; him being wrapped like a mummy—it dares interfere, she’d let him know why flowers are red—not venturing to kill but enough to transform Sasuke into Er Zhuzi.

The room was tense, but Rose made a good point—she came to defect, and if Akatsuki unjustly killed her, it would be hard to recruit more rogue ninjas.

Su Xiao cared little about this, but Obito did—he needed Akatsuki’s fullest strength to reach his goal.

"Bai Ye, from the start, I sensed your animosity towards Rose—give me a reason, a reason to kill her."

"Yes, reason—dying like this is too unjust."

Rose appeared to be struggling desperately, but she was secretly enjoying it.