Before anyone could say more, the office door opened and Karin hurried inside.
"Lord Shinichi! The mission you assigned me is fin—"
She stopped when she noticed several others were already in the room.
"Sorry. Did I interrupt something?"
"No. You came at the right time."
"Orochimaru succeeded in breaking the Reaper Death Seal?"
Karin nodded eagerly. "Yes. He found a way to release the Fourth Hokage's soul from the Shinigami."
Three months earlier, Shinichi had allowed her into Orochimaru's sealed chamber to assist with his research. Her knowledge was not enough to solve the problem, but as an Uzumaki, she could help with the sealing techniques while learning from him.
"I completed the mission, Lord Shinichi."
"Well done."
Karin smiled at the praise, though she soon returned to the matter at hand.
She had not understood every part of Orochimaru's work, but after assisting him for three months, she had learned enough to notice that he had been delaying for reasons unrelated to the method itself.
"There is something else."
"Go on."
"I don't think Orochimaru spent those three months figuring out how to break the Reaper Death Seal. He already knew the method before I started helping him."
"He kept delaying the actual attempt," she continued. "I think he was trying to solve a different problem first."
"He was," Shinichi replied. "Breaking the seal was never difficult for Orochimaru. What he needed was a way to release Minato's soul without seriously harming himself."
"So he delayed the mission until he found a method that was safe for him?"
Shinichi had expected Orochimaru to protect his own interests. Now that the work was complete, however, the delay no longer mattered.
"As long as he succeeded, I don't care about his tricks."
He turned to the others. "I have something to deal with. We'll continue this later."
Shinichi left the office, and Karin hurried after him into the corridor.
"Lord Shinichi, wait for me!"
The office fell quiet once they were gone.
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade and Hiruzen. "Since when did Shinichi have an arrangement with Orochimaru?"
"Since he decided he needed the half of the Nine-Tails sealed inside Minato," Hiruzen answered.
"The other half?"
"The half Minato sealed inside himself before he died," Tsunade explained. "He divided the Nine-Tails' chakra that night. Naruto received one half, while Minato took the other with him."
Jiraiya frowned. "So Shinichi can't reach it while Minato's soul is still trapped inside the Shinigami."
"And Orochimaru was the only one who knew how to retrieve it," Hiruzen said.
"So that's why Shinichi kept him alive."
Jiraiya glanced toward the closed door. "No wonder he left in such a hurry."
...
Land of Rain
The sky was as gloomy as ever. Fine rain fell over the Hidden Rain Village, tapping softly against the windows of the tower.
On the top floor, the hall was silent apart from the rain. One by one, projections began to appear on the fingers of the Gedo Statue.
Sasori and Deidara arrived first. The two of them were rarely late to these meetings.
"Another meeting..." Sasori muttered from inside his puppet shell.
Deidara folded his arms. "They're always the same. I'd rather be working on my art."
Kakuzu appeared on the opposite side of the statue with his arms crossed. "This had better involve a paying mission."
Hidan arrived beside him, his three-bladed scythe resting over one shoulder.
"I don't care about the money. Just give me someone to kill. I've been bored out of my mind."
Deidara clicked his tongue. "That's a lot of confidence for someone who ran into Shinichi and came back full of holes."
Hidan's grin vanished. "What did you say?"
"You heard me." Deidara smirked. "One attack, and you came back looking like a pincushion."
"That was an ambush!"
"Still happened."
Hidan raised his scythe. "Say it again and I'll cut you apart."
"Go ahead. Maybe you'll do better than last time."
Their feud had begun after Shinichi's first attack on Iwagakure. Hidan mocked the village for losing to a brat, and although Deidara had defected long ago, he still took the insult personally.
Since then, White Zetsu had kept him informed whenever Hidan made a mess of a mission, giving Deidara plenty of chances to mock him.
Hidan sneered. "You talk big for someone from a village that knelt to Konoha. Ōnoki surrendered fast enough when Shinichi came for him."
Deidara reached into his pouch for clay.
"Say that again."
"Iwagakure lost. That's what I said."
Hidan lifted his scythe as Deidara pulled out a lump of clay.
"Enough."
Pain's voice came from above. Deidara kept the clay in his hand and Hidan still held his scythe ready, but neither of them moved.
"I didn't summon everyone here to watch the two of you fight."
Pain stood on one of the Gedo Statue's fingers above them.
"There is someone I want to introduce."
A hooded man stepped out from the shadows beside the statue.
Deidara returned the clay to his pouch. "Who's that?"
Sasori remained silent inside his puppet shell. Something about the newcomer seemed familiar, but he could not place it.
"Remove your hood," Pain ordered.
The man obeyed, revealing short white hair, round glasses, and narrow, snake-like pupils.
Kabuto Yakushi greeted them with a polite smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Sasori recognized him at once.
"Kabuto? Weren't you the spy Orochimaru placed beside me?"
"I was, Senior Sasori, but that was a long time ago."
"And now you expect us to accept you as one of us?"
"Orochimaru is imprisoned in Konoha," Kabuto replied calmly. "Whatever happens to him now is no longer my concern."
He paused before adding, "As for me... I have inherited everything from him."
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