Kara Base.
Jigen emerged from a pitch-black spatial portal and approached with unhurried steps.
"You've already... confirmed it, haven't you?" Amado asked cautiously.
"Yes. More or less," Jigen replied mildly.
Unable to gauge his attitude, Amado asked carefully, "Then... when will you bring Delta back?"
As Jigen passed him, he smiled without answering.
That only made Amado more uneasy.
Could he... already know the secret of Sasuke Uchiha's previous life and have decided to steer clear of him rather than become his enemy?
If that were true, then the pledge of allegiance he'd prepared for the Sasuke Faction, using Delta as bait, would...
"Amado." Just before entering the room, Jigen suddenly stopped with his back to him.
"Ah...? Yes!" Amado startled and hastily adjusted his glasses.
A voice drifted back from the motionless figure.
"Orochimaru of the Sannin. Compile everything you know about him and give it to me..."
"Ah... what?"
"I'll bring him back along with Delta." Leaving him with a glimpse of a profile bearing an inscrutable smile, Jigen walked into the shadows of the corridor.
"Gulp." Amado swallowed hard.
"Did he take the bait...? But why Orochimaru? He's the one responsible for Sasuke Uchiha traveling back from the future to the present. For this to happen at such a critical moment... could Jigen really have obtained the crucial information?"
"No, that's not something I should concern myself with... Bringing Jigen into their sights is the pledge of allegiance I intend to offer."
"As for how to deal with Jigen, that's your job."
"We're all intelligent people... Surely we can leave that understanding unspoken?"
Blue Moon Island, beneath the great waterfall.
Led by the First, Hashirama, the First Mizukage, Byakuren, the First Tsuchikage, Ishikawa, the First Kazekage, Reto, and the First Raikage, A—the five founding Kage—were holding