Deep within Amegakure.
After being summoned, Orochimaru once again met the organization's leader.
Whenever Orochimaru saw Deva Path, he always paid special attention to the pair of eyes in the other man's sockets. He did so without the slightest attempt to hide it. Nagato, concealed behind Deva Path, had no objections... Everyone knew Orochimaru had ulterior motives for joining Akatsuki. Deliberately hiding them would only make people think he not only had ulterior motives but might even take action. Therefore, Orochimaru was always very "frank" about showing his attitude.
It was as if he had truly been bewitched by those eyes.
Nagato did not care about Orochimaru's little schemes. Even taking the worst-case scenario, so what if Orochimaru's plot succeeded? Was Orochimaru really going to seize the Rinnegan from Deva Path? Impossible. The true Rinnegan was with Nagato. The eyes in Deva Path's sockets were merely projections or reflections.
To this day, Nagato himself had never exposed his existence before the newly formed Akatsuki.
After taking a brief look at the leader, Orochimaru felt—perhaps it was only his imagination—that the other man's neck seemed somewhat stiff. Though Deva Path still wore his usual expressionless face and maintained his cold attitude, that slight discord in his movements seemed impossible to escape Orochimaru's eyes.
So Yuhara really was dead. But even if one was the owner of the Rinnegan, could one truly emerge unscathed from a battle that completely dealt with an enemy like Yuhara? It went without saying that Yuhara was the sort of person who would viciously bite his opponent before dying... Orochimaru silently considered the possibility that Deva Path had been injured, as well as the possible severity of those injuries.
Was this an opportunity? Should he give it a try?
No, Little Orochimaru quickly rejected the idea. Since