On a rise above the mine, beneath a rain shelter.
Orochimaru stood there. He had been standing there for an hour.
His gaze passed over the fighters and settled on the wanderer in a straw raincoat. He could not look away.
What was Uchiha En doing here?
Once the thought surfaced, it ran wild through his mind.
I thought Uchiha En wanted that information to ambush Akatsuki. I never expected him to come in disguise.
There was only one explanation for Uchiha En's presence.
Pain was recruiting.
He wants in.
And me... He wants me to help him from the inside.
Just like last time, when he had me steer Itachi's trail toward Iwagakure.
Orochimaru closed his eyes and drew a deep breath of damp air. When he opened them, his usual languid indifference had covered the fear in his slit-pupiled eyes.
Expose him?
What a joke.
If I laid out my dealings with Konoha before Pain, I'd be the first to die.
Besides...
He watched the figure quietly cutting down men in the rain, and the corner of his mouth slowly lifted.
If that man really joins Akatsuki, I'll have another layer of protection here.
Good. Very good.
Then I'll play along.
From today on, I don't know anyone named Uchiha En.
I only know a wanderer from the Land of Hot Water who's rather good with a sword.
Sunset.
The gong sounded again.
The paper wings that had circled overhead all day swept back behind Konan like a tide, layering together into a white wall.
Fewer than twenty people remained standing in the mine.
The mud was strewn with people groaning, people playing dead, and people who were truly dead.
Konan swept her gaze over the survivors and read their names from the roster, one by one.