Inside the dim room, a giant humanoid statue stood, its legs crossed. Its wrists were joined together, and its fingers formed the blossoming petals of a lotus flower, placed in a lotus seal on its chest.
Above the fingers, the space rippled. Soon, several shadowy silhouettes condensed, glowing with a seven-colored light.
One of them, Pain, looked around and noticed someone was missing.
With his rippled eyes, he calmly watched the phantom with the golden vertical pupils, seemingly trying to discern something from the other's eyes.
After a while, he spoke in a flat voice: "Where is Hiruko?"
Orochimaru's voice was hoarse as he replied: "He was probably killed."
A ripple appeared in Pain's calm, mirror-like eyes: "Probably?"
"We ran into Uchiha Tōshirō on the way."
Orochimaru lowered his voice, secretly observing Pain's reaction to hearing that name.
A barely noticeable hint of surprise flashed in Pain's eyes: "Uchiha Tōshirō. I remember that guy used to be your teammate, didn't he?"
"That's in the past," Orochimaru sighed. "As you know, Hiruko and I are both rogue ninjas from the village. You can imagine his reaction when he saw us."
"So, you just abandoned Hiruko and ran away?"
Based on the preceding information, Pain deduced this conclusion.
"What else would I do?" Orochimaru shrugged and teased: "Should we have both stayed there?"
A lie mixed with truth is the most difficult to distinguish.
The actual situation was that Tōshirō had ambushed them on the road, found a chance to instantly kill Hiruko, and then used a summoning jutsu to call Shinya to turn Hiruko into stone. He was still in the lab.
Just then, a hunched-back member of the organization's phantom spoke up mockingly: "How useless. Neither of you was a match for him."
Orochimaru retorted: "Oh yeah? If you're so capable, you go. I bet you wouldn't even have time to run away. Your lousy puppet probably can't even withstand one of his punches."
This wasn't Orochimaru intentionally being confrontational; he was speaking the truth.
The puppet that the other person was so proud of could probably be defeated by a single punch from Tōshirō's Soul Flame.
"You bastard, say that again."
The member's eyes were bloodshot, and his rage was laced with a strong killing intent.
Seeing that the two couldn't stand each other, Pain spoke up at the right time to stop them: "Stop arguing."
Pain knew Orochimaru's personality very well, so it was natural that he wouldn't stay and fight to the death for a partner.
The Akatsuki was composed of rogue ninjas, and their personal qualities varied. Pain had long been mentally prepared for such behavior.
Pain spoke indifferently: "Give me the intelligence on Tōshirō."
Orochimaru had anticipated Pain's actions and gave him the prepared answer.
"Uchiha Tōshirō..."
Pain mumbled the name, making a mental note of it.
Orochimaru joked: "Leader, are you planning to go after Tōshirō?"
Pain did not respond.
Orochimaru, finding no fun in it, laughed to ease the awkwardness.
Pain looked at the member who had just argued with Orochimaru and said: "Sasori, you will form a team with Orochimaru."
The Akatsuki usually operated in pairs. First, to increase the success rate of missions. Second, to supervise each other.
Within the organization, Sasori, who had a bad relationship with Orochimaru, was a good choice.
But Sasori wouldn't consider the bigger picture. He just did whatever he wanted based on his mood, and he stated his refusal to be in a team with Orochimaru in a firm tone.
This was exactly what Orochimaru wanted: "Oh, what a coincidence. I don't want to team up with you either."
Since neither party was willing, Pain couldn't force them.
Pain's control over the members of the organization was quite lenient.
White Zetsu proposed: "In that case, let's find a new partner to join."
This suggestion was accepted by Pain: "Do you have anyone in mind?"
"A rogue ninja from the Hidden Mist Village, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."
"Who is it?"
Hearing this, someone within the organization couldn't help but ask.
"Oh my, you're so impatient, Juzo. Well, it's normal, after all, you two used to belong to the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."
After teasing him, White Zetsu stopped being coy: "It's Raiga Kurosuki."
Juzo let out a cold snort: "You've already found this guy?"
Although they were from the same organization, their relationship wasn't very good. The only thing that connected them was the ninja swords.
White Zetsu replied: "Not yet, but we should be able to find him given some time."
Pain looked at Orochimaru: "No problem, right?"
Orochimaru didn't show much reaction. If he seemed too eager, it would raise suspicion.
After reaching an agreement, the Akatsuki members left one by one, leaving only Sasori, Zetsu, Pain, and Konan.
Pain, Zetsu, and Konan were in a circle. As for Sasori, he was left here for a special purpose.
"What do you think?"
Pain asked the three of them for their opinions.
Orochimaru's motive for joining the Akatsuki was impure, so Pain had always been wary and didn't consider him a real member.
Black Zetsu, on one side of White Zetsu's face, spoke in a low voice: "I don't see any problems yet."
"I think this guy might have some kind of scheme," Sasori sneered. "I have my pawns near him who can keep an eye on him."
Pain accepted the proposal: "Inform me immediately if there are any unusual movements."
"Okay."
On the other side, Orochimaru opened his eyes, lowered his hands from the jutsu sign, and smiled at the white-haired young man in front of him: "Things are going very smoothly. They will be finding me a new teammate, and when that happens, Zetsu should be present."
He then added a bit more, about the new member they were recruiting.
Tōshirō didn't pay much attention to this.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, besides Kisame, were just average.
Out of caution, Orochimaru gave a reminder: "Since it's about recruiting a core partner, the other members will also be there, and even Pain might show up."
"The Rinnegan, huh? That is indeed quite tricky."
Tōshirō's serious tone didn't last long, quickly replaced by a confident one: "But getting out of there unscathed shouldn't be a big problem."
Seeing Tōshirō's confidence, Orochimaru said no more. He pulled out a white snake from his clothes to use for communication: "Those guys don't trust me, so it's better for us to be a little cautious with our communication."
Tōshirō took the communication snake and asked: "Do you have a picture of Raiga Kurosuki?"
"Are you planning to find him before the Akatsuki?"
It would take the Akatsuki some time to find Raiga Kurosuki. If Tōshirō found him first, he could gain more initiative and advantage.
Tōshirō's lips curved slightly, and he said with a profound air: "The top-tier hunter often appears in the form of the prey."
It sounded arrogant, but Orochimaru chewed on the words carefully. A mischievous smile then appeared on his face: "I see. As expected of Tōshirō. I'm really looking forward to seeing their expressions when the time comes."
"Intelligence is always important."
"You can go back to the village and look for Kabuto. I think he'll have the intelligence you need."
Tōshirō was inspired, and drew an inference: "That works. I have some other things to take care of as well."
(End of Chapter)
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