Itachi's calm voice instantly silenced the bickering at the Akatsuki meeting.
It was as though someone had thrown a stone into a pond, sending ripples across its surface, only for Itachi to freeze the entire pond solid.
For a moment, everyone fell silent and looked at Itachi.
Obito watched him in confusion. Had he actually learned something?
Pain, too, froze for a good while before realizing that Itachi was waiting for him to ask another question.
Seriously? He had asked whether Itachi had any intelligence, and Itachi had simply answered, "Yes," and left it at that?
Then Pain asked Itachi, "What kind of information?"
Zetsu and Konan also turned their gazes toward Itachi. Konan's gaze, in particular, held a hint of complicated emotion.
Until recently, the Akatsuki had still been paralyzed. Its leader, Pain, had issued no orders, and its members had not regrouped. Just as Konan was running herself ragged dealing with miscellaneous tasks, Uchiha Itachi had suddenly approached her.
He said that while operating in the Land of Fire, they had happened to hear from some of its officials that a brief but fierce battle had taken place in Konoha, along with reports that Deidara and Sasori had appeared there.
Out of responsibility toward their members, Konan had convened a meeting as the leader's second-in-command.
And, as expected, given this intelligence, Kisame and Itachi were the only members of the Akatsuki currently able to act. Naturally, the responsibility had fallen to them.
Only afterward had Konan sensed something amiss. Why had Itachi relayed the intelligence through her rather than contacting the others himself or calling a meeting?
Throughout the meeting, Itachi had not said a single word, responding only when he received his orders—as though he, too, had first heard the information at that meeting.
Only now, after