Naruto: Becoming Stronger from Illusion

In Konoha Village.

Sasuke stood in front of the desk in the room, looking at the group photo of their Team 7.

This photo was taken when Kakashi took them to the only photo studio in the village when their Team 7 was officially established.

In the photo, Kakashi stood behind the three of them, and Haruno Sakura stood between them. She put her hands on one shoulder of him and Naruto, with a sweet smile on her face.

Looking at this photo, it seems that such a scene is still in front of him.

He remembered that Haruno Sakura complained that Kakashi was reluctant to take off his mask even for photos, and he and Naruto agreed unanimously.

The three of them joined forces to attack Kakashi, hoping to take off his mask.

It's just that Kakashi was stubborn and had a lot of weird excuses, so they didn't see his true face when they took the photo.

Now that Haruno Sakura has left the village, Team 7 is no longer complete, and the good memories of the past have become a thing of the past that can't be pursued.

Sasuke looked at her smiling face in the photo and couldn't help asking in his heart: Sakura, if you knew, would you stop me?

The answer to him was silence in the room.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly pulled up the corners of his lips and laughed coldly, "I don't think so!"

Feeling that someone was nearby, he suddenly condensed his eyes, restrained his emotions, and said coldly: "Come out!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the four Sound Ninjas appeared from the dark one after another.

Sakon said coldly:

"Sasuke, what do you think about Lord Orochimaru's invitation?"

Sasuke frowned, "I will leave tonight, you can disappear!"

Sakon laughed immediately, "It's a wise choice!"

At this time, Kidomaru suddenly saw the photo on the table, and suddenly seemed to remember something and pointed at the photo and said:

"Ah, that pink-haired person, that's the one we met before."

"I was wondering where I had seen her. It turns out that she is Konoha's rebel ninja Haruno Sakura. I saw her photo on the rebel ninja wanted list!"

The others were a little surprised, and they all looked at the photo.

It turned out that the pink-haired girl they met on the road was Sasuke's teammate.

Sasuke's face changed instantly when he heard this, "You have seen Sakura, is she okay?"

Sakon saw that he seemed to care about Haruno Sakura, and laughed immediately.

"It couldn't be better. There is a strange guy with her."

The guy's appearance was indeed a bit strange, which made him impressed.

Seeing that he stopped talking, Sakon reminded him:

"We will wait for you at the gate of Konoha in the evening. I hope you will not break your promise."

After that, they did not stay and disappeared in an instant.

Sasuke calmed down and started to pack up.

The next morning, Sasuke, who was supposed to come for training, was nowhere to be seen. Kakashi felt something was wrong.

He looked everywhere but could not find him. He immediately guessed that Orochimaru must have taken Sasuke away, so he quickly reported to Tsunade.

Tsunade immediately notified Naruto to gather the ninja team and issued a task to retrieve Sasuke.

When Naruto heard the news, he was really shocked and angry.

Among the three of them, Haruno Sakura had been forced to leave the village, but Sasuke was not quiet either.

Their good Team 7 now only had him and Kakashi.

Naruto vowed to bring Sasuke back and give him a good beating to make him sober.

Haruno Sakura had no idea that Sasuke had defected.

At this time, she was walking with Uchiha Itachi and Kisame on the way to the Land of Hot Springs.

The Land of Hot Springs is a country surrounded by the sea, famous for its hot springs, and is relatively close to the Land of Water.

It just feels that most of the time that the Akatsuki organization spends on the road to carry out the mission is basically spent, and it doesn't take much time to complete the mission.

They walked for several days before passing through the Land of Frost and arriving at the Land of Fields.

Walking on the road, Haruno Sakura couldn't help but ask: "Itachi, you must have done a lot of assassination missions like this before, right?"

Uchiha Itachi was silent for a while before saying: "The Akatsuki organization has more assassination missions, and we have indeed done a lot of them."

Kisame pulled up the corners of his mouth, revealing his sharp teeth.

"The reward for assassination missions is relatively high, and they are generally commissioned by some big shots."

"Don't look at those guys who look glamorous on the surface, but they are doing everything they can behind the scenes."

Kisame was right. Power struggles are inherently dirty, and there are many people who secretly hire assassins.

For such a secret mission, ninjas from the ninja village would not be entrusted.

Therefore, powerful terrorist organizations like Akatsuki became the first choice for entrusted missions.

Haruno Sakura nodded in agreement, "That makes sense. Human desires are endless. That's human nature!"

Uchiha Itachi glanced at Haruno Sakura.

I didn't expect such profound words to come out of her mouth, which is indeed somewhat inconsistent with her age.

But it feels like she was very mature when she was a child.

He still remembers what she said to him in the Uchiha clan.

Feeling Uchiha Itachi's gaze, Haruno Sakura asked in confusion: "What's wrong, did I say something wrong?"

Uchiha Itachi shook his head, "Nothing, you are right!"

Haruno Sakura raised her eyebrows, "I heard that the country of soup is famous for its hot springs. When we complete our mission, let's go to the hot springs together!"

Kisame said with a strange smile: "I'm afraid you and I can't take a hot spring together!"

Haruno Sakura paused, Kisame was teasing her, she immediately said:

"Okay, although it's a lot less fun to take a hot spring alone, I'm not picky."

Haruno Sakura sighed, "Why is there no sister to take a hot spring with me? It would be great if Xiaonan was here!"

Thinking of Xiaonan's hurried appearance, she turned to ask the two of them.

"Do you know what Xiaonan usually does? I think she is quite busy, and it is rare to see her."

Kisame said slowly: "She usually follows the leader and helps him deal with some affairs and documents reported by his subordinates in the branch base."

"She also coordinates the management of the Akatsuki organization, and occasionally goes on missions with the leader."

Hearing him say this, Haruno Sakura suddenly felt that Xiaonan was really hard-working.

Not only does she have to do secretarial work, but she also has to go on missions with the leader.

It seems that there is also a Rain Village that she and Nagato are in charge of.

Poor Xiaonan, this is simply the life of a corporate slave.

However, this is the first time I have heard that the Akatsuki organization actually has branch bases and other subordinates.

Sakura Haruno suddenly felt strange, "Are there other people in the organization? I thought there were only a dozen of us!"

Uchiha Itachi glanced at her and said:

"We are all core members of the Akatsuki organization."

"Those people in the branch base are peripheral members, most of whom are ordinary people."

"They mainly do things like accepting missions or assisting in missions, gathering information, and covering evacuations."

Hearing Uchiha Itachi's words, Sakura Haruno suddenly realized.

Indeed, these things cannot be done by just a few of them.

The operation of an organization is indeed inseparable from grassroots personnel.

She was just misled by the plot memory and thought that there were only a few people in the Akatsuki organization.

Think about it carefully, it is impossible.

Miscellaneous tasks such as accepting missions must be done by someone, and missions cannot just come out of thin air.

So it makes sense that the Akatsuki organization has branch bases and grassroots personnel.