"Oh?"
Pain rose from his seat and walked toward Josuke.
Those inscrutable Rinnegan stared fixedly at Josuke.
They gave Josuke an eerie feeling.
"Are you the leader of the Akatsuki?"
Josuke asked.
Pain glanced at Josuke indifferently.
Then he spoke to the White Tiger of the Akatsuki—who was also the White Tiger in real life, and the author's wife—Konan.
"Bring me the robes and the ring."
(My wife) Konan nodded.
She took out three Akatsuki robes and a ring from the side and handed them to Pain.
Pain nodded at Konan.
Then he turned to Josuke.
"These are your clothes, along with the token that represents you in the Akatsuki Organization."
"White Tiger of the Akatsuki—Sora!"
Sora of the Akatsuki?
If Josuke remembered correctly, the previous owner had been Orochimaru!
Holy crap.
Josuke's expression tensed.
"Mm, got it. By the way, who's my partner? As far as I know, the Akatsuki members work in pairs."
Josuke was right. Pain had noticed that too.
"One-Tail, Two-Tails, I'm Tobi."
A mischievous voice rang out.
Pain looked over as well. Deidara whispered to Tobi.
"Hey, Tobi, the leader's right here."
As his teammate, Deidara had seen Tobi's clownish behavior plenty of times before.
Pain glanced at him.
No one knew what he was scheming.
After a moment's thought, he said,
"Josuke, for now, you'll be on a team with Tobi and Deidara."
He was suspicious of Josuke's joining the group, and he didn't trust Tobi either.
Madara Uchiha, huh?
Nagato, the scrawny puppeteer, sneered. Let's see whether your junior is stronger, or you are.
Poor Nagato. He only knew Tobi might be Madara, but had no idea that he was the most devoted man beneath Kamui—a man just as devoted as himself.
Josuke could barely keep the grin off his face.
Did you