Inside the central tower of the Forest of Death.
Uzumaki Kuming leisurely cracked sunflower seeds as he watched the various feeds on the monitors. Suddenly, the door to the surveillance room opened, and Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha entered one after the other. Their arrival immediately drew everyone's attention. Kuming turned to look at them and, seeing that both Shisui and Itachi were neat and unruffled, asked curiously, "Shisui, Itachi, didn't you run into any enemies?"
"Looks like there wasn't a fight?"
Facing Kuming's question, Shisui stepped forward and reported, "Master, we did encounter someone, but we weren't able to capture him."
"The other party possessed the Sharingan and seemed to have mastered a space-time ninjutsu. Neither Itachi nor I was able to keep him there."
"Space-time ninjutsu!" Upon hearing that, Kuming tossed the sunflower seeds in his hand onto the table and fixed Shisui with a focused gaze before asking, "What did that person do? Did he attack Naruto and Karin?"
"Could Akatsuki have already made its preparations at this stage and begun collecting Tailed Beasts?" Although Kuming was asking Shisui, he was also questioning himself. He had never let down his guard against Akatsuki. Even when he had previously sent Kakashi, Itachi, and the others to investigate Akatsuki, they had obtained very little useful information.
He had long since lost surveillance of the organization. After taking control of Orochimaru, Kuming had also asked him about Akatsuki, but Orochimaru's answer had been that he did not know. Orochimaru had left Akatsuki years ago, and during his time undercover in the organization, his main work had merely been participating in its combat missions. He had never come into contact with Akatsuki's true core.
Thus, Kuming's impression of the organization remained at the level of a terrorist group.
"The other party's