Pain, Amegakure's Tower.
Cold rain endlessly beat against the tower's heavy metal walls, producing an unbroken pattering sound.
Deva Path Pain sat at the edge of the tower, quietly listening to Konan's report behind him. Yahiko's face bore not the slightest expression, like a meticulously carved mask.
"Orochimaru has sent word." Konan's voice carried a trace of barely perceptible tension. "He has betrayed Akatsuki."
"It does not matter." Deva Path Pain's voice was low and calm. "Someone has long since filled the vacant position."
"No, that is not the issue. He has joined another organization—Ash."
"And the message he brought was... Ash's leader, 'Menma,' wants to speak with us."
"...Speak?" Deva Path Pain's Rinnegan turned slightly. "What does he want to discuss?"
Not long ago, a white snake had eerily bypassed every guard and appeared directly before Konan. After spitting out a tiny scroll, it dissolved into smoke. This unique and unsettling method of delivery immediately told her it was Orochimaru's handiwork.
The contents of the scroll made her feel that matters were sliding toward an uncontrollable direction.
"Menma... knows our plan. He demands that we abandon the capture of the Tailed Beasts."
"At the same time, he wants us to hand over Madara and Zetsu."
"But—Menma explicitly stated in the message... that the man calling himself 'Uchiha Madara' is actually Uchiha Obito."
Konan and Nagato had always harbored doubts about the mysterious Masked Man who called himself "Uchiha Madara" and wielded the Sharingan and space-time ninjutsu.
Now, "Menma" had directly exposed his identity as "Uchiha Obito." Konan's first reaction was... who was Uchiha Obito?
Konan immediately mobilized the intelligence network to investigate. The result only left her more confused—he was merely an obscure Uchiha youth recorded as having died long ago during the Third Shinobi World War.
A Chunin