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--- Chapter 171 ---

"I am Pain."

Pain stared at Yunlong confidently and slowly evaluated him, which ended rather poorly because he didn't see or sense anything special from him.

However, even a simple-looking person could be a threat and cause trouble for some people.

'Zetsu said he was rather special, so let's put that in mind.' Pain calmly thought while slightly looking at Yunlong with regard.

Meanwhile, Pain was busy with his evaluation. Yunlong quietly observed Rinnegan with an attentive gaze because those eyes are one grade higher than his current eyes.

Yunlong was obviously interested, but he would preferably awaken Rinnegan by himself compared to taking Pain's eyes.

'Well, He's not the one who awakened the Rinnegan, to begin with.' Yunlong casually commented because he knew Uchiha Madara was the rightful owner of these eyes.

"You're the leader?" Yunlong asked with a confused tone.

Pain nodded his head quietly and confidently answered, "I'm the leader of Akatsuki."

Yunlong knows how miserable Pain's life was, but it would rather be plain because he was actually a tool for Uchiha Madara's Resurrection.

They stared at each other for a good few minutes, and Obito suddenly commented, "So... Are you gonna join or not?"

Even though Obito commented casually, Pain's attitude immediately becomes solemn and somewhat cold because if Yunlong rejected their offer, they wouldn't stay peaceful like this.

Yunlong pondered for a moment and looked at these guys with a frown. "What's the purpose of your organization again?" He asked.

Pain became awfully quiet when he heard Yunlong's question and chuckled a little.

"Akatsuki's Goal is only one. Our main goal is to collect all of the Tailed Beast and use them for world domination." Pain brazenly answered.

"Only that?" Yunlong responded while tilting his head, which left Pain and Obito speechless.

"I had expected you guys would aim higher than this?" He plainly added.

Pain was about to say something, but Yunlong cut him off and said, "Fine, I'll join your organization."

Yunlong would easily find the person, who appeared in his soul's vision, using Akatsuki's help, so he doesn't have a problem joining them.

Not to mention that Akatsuki was indeed a reliable source of information, so finding that person might be easy.

Pain nodded lightly and threw a ring toward Yunlong, which he caught using his left hand.

"Minus?" Yunlong tilted his head while looking at the symbol on the ring.

"Your code name is Ghost." Pain said while walking away from him. "You'll receive further information from Tobi."

"See you later after you finish your first task." He continued and abruptly disappeared into the shadow.

Uchiha Obito approached Yunlong and looked at his ring with a somewhat weird gaze, but he decided to shrug it off because it wasn't so important.

"What are we going to do now?" Yunlong asked while wearing the ring on his index left finger.

"We wait." Uchiha Obito bluntly replied.

A quiet breeze suddenly swept over the forest, and Uchiha Itachi landed right in front of them.

"It really took you a while, huh," Obito said while looking at Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi wasn't responding to his remarks and slowly moved his gaze to Yunlong because it seemed the mysterious person had a connection with Uchiha Madara.

"We've met again." Yunlong smiled a little, and Itachi nodded his head.

Uchiha Obito looked at them with a confused expression and asked, "You guys have met each other before."

"Haha, when I woke up, this guy had almost killed me again," Yunlong answered while laughing heartily, which caused both Obito and Itachi to frown at him.

'Again? What does he mean by that?' Uchiha Itachi looked at Yunlong weirdly because he had never met him before, even if they were in the same clan.

'I see... So he was coming back to life when Itachi was about to kill that body.' Uchiha Obito thought while thinking about a few things.

The mood became somewhat awkward for them, and Obito shook his head. "Itachi, here is your ring." He threw a red-stoned ring toward Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi caught the ring and saw a Vermilion character on the red stone. "This is?" He asked while looking at Obito.

"Your identification. Just like Ghost, you got that ring after you became an Akatsuki's member." Uchiha Obito answered while pointing at Yunlong's ring.

Uchiha Itachi indifferently nodded his head and wore the ring on his finger, which suddenly glowed a little.

'Hmm? Does that ring different from mine?' Yunlong suddenly thought because his ring didn't have that kind of reaction when he wore it.

Uchiha Obito then told Itachi about his code name and mission, to which the Illusion Master responded with a nod.

As they kept talking with each other, Yunlong suddenly sensed his teleportation technique got initiated, which means Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto should have disappeared from the Leaf Village.

"Ghost? Are you listening?" Uchiha Obito said while moving his gaze to Yunlong and realized this man didn't listen to him at all.

Uchiha Obito frowned a little and looked back at Itachi, who had been diligently listening to his explanation.

"Itachi, you'll tell him the mission. I'll find you guys later." Uchiha Obito created a swirl and disappeared from their vision.

.

.

"What are you guys talking about?" Yunlong asked while looking at Itachi, who miraculously had changed into a black robe with a red cloud pattern.

"Our first mission." Uchiha Itachi calmly replied. "We should hunt the Four-Tailed Beast Jinchuuriki."

"Does he tell you about the current location of the jinchuuriki?" Yunlong questioned, to which Itachi responded with a nod.

"Where?"

Uchiha Itachi threw the Akatsuki's robe toward Yunlong and answered, "Land of Earth."

"Well, let's go then," Yunlong smirked a little.

They swiftly moved to the east, but they didn't talk to each other for the entire journey because Itachi wasn't a very talkative person.

Even the journey was uneventful and so peaceful, they arrived at the border after moving for hours without any rest.

Yunlong was actually impressed by Itachi's stamina because even a spirit ancestor wasn't as fast as him.

'This body has almost reached its limit...' Yunlong thought while feeling his leg throbbed a little.

Uchiha Itachi noticed Yunlong's condition and swiftly landed on the river. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, but a short isn't bad, I guess," Yunlong answered with a weary smile because his actual body won't reach this kind of limit.

Itachi slightly looked at the skies and saw the sunrise, which illuminated the area with a warm light.

Yunlong ate a pill he prepared from his inventory and sat cross-legged on a rock because he wanted to cultivate for a moment.

The sunlight hits Yunlong's body, and the pill starts working because all the fatigue suddenly disappears from his body.

A white fog abruptly came out of Yunlong's mouth, and he felt warm energy washed through his entire body.

'To think, I'd use this pill.' Yunlong thought while opening his eyes.

Yunlong felt his physical strength increased, which caused him to become proud for a moment.

"Hey, I want to ask something." Yunlong moved his gaze to Itachi, who leaned on a tree.

"...What?" Uchiha Itachi silently replied.

"Can you teach me Shadow Clone Technique?"