Chapter 120: The Candidate for Orochimaru

Although Uchiha Li was quite curious upon hearing Orochimaru’s words, he suppressed the impulse. He did not want to appear overly eager, lest Orochimaru demand an exorbitant price during their future transactions.

"Then, let us end this meeting here," Orochimaru said. "Do not forget to come out again in a while."

Without waiting for a reply, Orochimaru vanished into the thicket using the Body Flicker Technique. Uchiha Li did not choose to leave immediately, opting to linger for a moment. Orochimaru’s appearance had brought him quite a bit of useful information. In particular, the invitation to join the Akatsuki served as a preliminary indicator that the organization, which would likely become his enemy in the future, was already beginning to stir. Once the Akatsuki finished recruiting its members, the ninja world would undergo earth-shattering changes within a short period. If he remained at his current level by then, he feared that Terra would be buried in the annals of history.

"I must accelerate the recruitment of members and, at the same time, seize the time to push myself further."

He had thought that transplanting the First Hokage’s cells would grant him a moment of respite, but it was far from enough. Before the Akatsuki began their operations, he needed, at the very least, to evolve his Mangekyo into an Eternal Mangekyo. Of course, the boost from the Eternal Mangekyo might not be significant enough, so it would be best to take another step forward. Only by possessing the Rinnegan would he truly have the strength to confront the Akatsuki head-on.

After lingering for a while longer, Uchiha Li took one last look at the thicket and headed home. Since he needed to accelerate his growth, he had to take action regarding both his own strength and the development of Terra. He had originally intended to wait a few more days before writing the second volume of *The Legend of Terra*, but he now decided to pull an all-nighter to finish it tonight. Once the second volume was done, he had to finish grooming Itachi as soon as possible and recruit him into Terra.

Given that the ninja world had a "tradition of killing one's master," Uchiha Li would certainly take precautions. Especially with a student like Itachi, who knew if he might have a sudden lapse in judgment and decide to "attain enlightenment by slaying his master." He had to nip all such threats in the bud!

...

Late at night, the bright moon hung high. Just as Uchiha Li was writing furiously in his room, the Akatsuki was holding a meeting. It was the same pitch-black cave where water droplets fell incessantly from stone pillars, creating an atmosphere of profound gloom.

Soon, several holographic projections of figures wearing cloud-patterned cloaks appeared in the cave. Compared to before, Orochimaru was now among them. Nagato, manipulating the Deva Path of Pain, was the first to speak. He scanned the room, his gaze finally resting on Kakuzu, and said slowly, "Kakuzu, it seems your partner is gone again?"

Nagato had lost count of how many times he had said this; he was almost getting used to it. Since the death of Kakuzu’s partner at the hands of Terra two years ago, Kakuzu had gone through five more partners. Now that a partner was absent again, it was safe to assume they were gone for good.

Kakuzu, standing to the side, remained calm and replied indifferently, "Can't be helped. That guy was too incompetent and couldn't coordinate with me properly. That is the risk of bounty hunting."

His reckless, heavy-handed combat style did indeed make it easy to implicate his partners. However, Kakuzu had no intention of changing; in his view, it was the other person's problem. If someone wanted to be his partner, they should have sufficient ability to stay alive.

Hearing this, Konan, standing beside Pain, frowned. She wanted to say something, but ultimately chose to remain silent. Kakuzu’s efficiency in completing missions was extremely high, and one could say that the majority of the Akatsuki’s funding came from him. Even the projects she was secretly preparing required Kakuzu’s earnings to sustain. Therefore, it was difficult for her to object. Yet, this could not go on forever; even if she and Nagato kept finding new people, they couldn't withstand such attrition.

With this in mind, Konan glanced at the Deva Path of Pain and gave a slight shake of her head. Seeing Konan’s subtle gesture, Nagato signaled her to remain calm, then controlled the Deva Path to speak again: "I am doing my best to scout for personnel."

He paused, then continued, "But finding suitable candidates is truly not easy, so it will take time."

Pain then looked toward Orochimaru, who had been silent the whole time. "How about you? Do you have any suitable candidates?"

It was indeed difficult for him alone to find people with the right strength and circumstances to join the Akatsuki. Most targets lacked sufficient power, making them useless to the organization and merely cannon fodder for Kakuzu. Therefore, he had assigned recruitment tasks to Orochimaru, hoping he could provide some leads.

Of course, he did not hold high expectations; he merely wanted to use the task to test Orochimaru’s level of compliance. Seeing everyone’s gaze fixed upon him, Orochimaru licked his lips with his tongue and revealed a cold, sinister smile. "I do have a suitable candidate."

"Oh? Let’s hear it."

Hearing Orochimaru’s response, a hint of surprise flashed in Nagato’s mind, though the Deva Path remained as cold as ever.

Orochimaru said in a deep voice, "The person I recommend comes from the Leaf Village. His name is Uchiha Li. He possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan long ago; his strength goes without saying..."

After roughly outlining Uchiha Li’s profile, Orochimaru stopped. Everyone in the cave fell silent, their expressions varied.

"Uchiha Li..." Konan pondered the name, as if recalling something. "Is that the Uchiha who forced the Third Hokage of the Leaf to abdicate?"

If it were any other Uchiha, she might not have had any impression. But the name "Uchiha Li" was no longer obscure. Two years ago, the incident of the Third Hokage's abdication had spread to every corner of the world. From that moment on, Uchiha Li’s name had appeared on the desks of every major power. An Uchiha capable of forcing a heavyweight like the Third Hokage to step down, and who had managed to reverse the situation of the Uchiha clan through various means in such a short time, was worth the attention of everyone.

Nagato also reacted, manipulating Pain to ask slowly, "Orochimaru, are you certain that Uchiha Li would join us?"

Since it was Uchiha Li, he knew very well that the current Akatsuki likely did not hold much appeal. Given Uchiha Li’s status in the Leaf and within the Uchiha clan, he truly could not fathom why Uchiha Li would betray the Leaf to join the Akatsuki. Not only Nagato and Konan, but Kakuzu and Sasori also cast looks of skepticism.

Orochimaru, having anticipated this, replied calmly, "You may not be aware, but Uchiha Li is actually my student. Do not be deceived by his outward appearance; in reality, he is the same kind of person as I am."

Hearing this, the others paused, then seemed to understand. They were well aware of Orochimaru’s history. If Uchiha Li were truly a person like Orochimaru, then the probability of him joining the Akatsuki was indeed not low. However, before anyone could speak, Orochimaru continued, "And I have already gone to see him, but..."