A painful cry could be heard in a dim room underground.

Orochimaru panted heavily while looking at his arms.

The pain worsened again and his Right-Hand - Kabuto - wasn't here right now.

In fact, he was sure that Kabuto wouldn't be able to serve him ever again.

And the worst part is: Orochimaru's current body was reaching its limit and he needed a new body as soon as possible.

Back then he risked a lot for the chance to obtain Sasuke's body, but not only was he unsuccessful in this regard, everything else ended in the worst possible way - to call it a complete disaster would be a huge understatement.

Another wave of pain assaulted him and he gritted his teeth to not fall unconscious.

Normally, Kabuto would get him a full cocktail of painkillers right now, but Orochimaru in his current state wouldn't even be able to hold a cup, so he could only endure for now.

Of course, he could ask one of his many minions instead, but truth to be told, he didn't trust most of them.

The only ones who he trusted were the Sound Three and Kabuto, whom he also didn't trust completely.

But even if he didn't trust Kabuto completely, he was still better than the opportunistic sla- minions.

And he had the medical knowledge, something the Sound Three lagged.

However, this all didn't matter anymore, since the Sound Three were now also a thing of the past.

When thinking about this, Orochimaru's malice towards Eiji intensified even more.

At this point, even Orochimaru was surprised that he didn't lose his mind and started to laugh maniacally.

Almost everything he built up, has been lost just like that.

Instead, his mind was unnaturally calm, and he didn't know why.

Maybe he went past a point of insanity, where he surpassed the restrictions of a healthy mind.

Or maybe not.

Anyway, he stopped scheming all kinds of future plans and decided to focus on the more glaring issue.

He needed to prepare a body, but he was unable to do it himself, so he needed someone who was trustworthy and wouldn't backstab him instantly.

Only a few seconds passed until he called for a henchman stationed outside of the room.

"Call Kimimaro here." - Orochimaru's eyes glinted.

The henchman nodded and disappeared.

Kimimaro was on death's door himself because of the illness, but currently, Orochimaru didn't have anyone who was more trustworthy than him.

So he had to do for now.

After a while, Orochimaru could hear weak footsteps coming towards his room.

"...you called, Lord Orochimaru?" - Kimimaro who entered the room asked with a weak voice.

Orochimaru glanced at the emaciated Kimimaro who was struggling to even stand before replying: "I have a really important task for you..."

"The plan is simple. Wreak havoc!" - Madara's voice resounded ominously while a thunder coincidentally struck in the distance.

Rain clashed onto their heads and robes while a short silence appeared between the Akatsuki members.

Everyone had their own thoughts, and Madara used this opportunity to study the expressions of every member.

But when it came to Itachi, he couldn't read anything.

'Tsk, as Obito said. It's hard to tell what he's thinking...but this doesn't matter. He wouldn't be strong enough to go against us anyway.' - Madara

Finally, the silence was broken by Kisame: "Wreaking havoc, eh? Sounds fun, but it would be good to be more specific."

Madara glanced at him: "The 5 villages are as disorganized as ever and it would be a wonder if they managed to unite because of my appearance. Plus...the peace made them weak and naive. They are probably expecting that we would bid our time and collect the Bijus before starting our grand plan. But why should we do that? We can just crush them completely without waiting for them to come up with countermeasures against us."

Obito could feel the contempt Madara's words carried.

"That's good and all, but our current force isn't big enough for such a feat. Though, we managed to save a decent amount of money over the years with which we could hire a sizeable army of mercenaries. But I assume that's not what you are going for, right?" - Obito

Hearing that, a smile appeared on Madara's undead face.

CrusadeAgainstFurries

With this, I'm back. A day later (as usual), but hey, better late than never, right? Since I'm on the topic, since I'm now completely derailed from the original plot, writing takes more time. So chances are that I'll be late with the schedule. It will still be 3 chapters per week and I'll let the days be as they are, so that you know at which day you can expect an upload (but more importantly is for me so that I have a schedule and don't procrastinate the 3 chapters until Sunday), but they often may be a day later.

Anyways, sorry for the long wait and thank you for the support!