After the two finished exchanging greetings, they quickly got down to business.
Kisame Hoshigaki looked at Nagato and asked, "If I'm not mistaken, you should be the leader, right?"
Nagato gave a slight nod before turning toward Uchiha Itachi. The rest is up to you, Itachi.
Receiving the look, Uchiha Itachi spoke to Kisame,
"Kisame, I understand why you originally joined the Akatsuki. But I've realized that the path we walked before was wrong."
Hearing this, Kisame Hoshigaki frowned. "Itachi-san, are you planning to betray the Akatsuki?"
Uchiha Itachi fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
"You could say that. But my goal hasn't changed. I still want to bring peace to the ninja world—just through a completely different path than before."
After hearing Itachi's answer, Kisame turned toward Nagato beside him.
"And what about you, Leader?"
Nagato smiled faintly. "My thoughts are the same as Itachi's. That's why this time, we want to know what choice you'll make."
"So the 'Eye of the Moon Plan' was wrong? Then what exactly is the correct path?" Kisame Hoshigaki muttered as he slightly raised his head.
Afterward, Uchiha Itachi and Nagato worked together to repeat the explanation Rorin had given them earlier.
Once he heard everything, Kisame Hoshigaki fell into silence. Uchiha Itachi and Nagato exchanged a glance and said nothing further, waiting for Kisame's decision.
A quarter of an hour later, Kisame Hoshigaki finally seemed to make up his mind. His gaze became resolute.
"Even though I still don't know which of these two paths is truly the better one, since Itachi-san chose the latter… then I'll continue following you."
Hearing that, Uchiha Itachi and Nagato smiled at each other.
The three continued discussing things afterward, and Uchiha Itachi told Kisame about the previous plan.
When he heard they intended to oppose Uchiha Madara, Kisame's pupils contracted slightly.
"I never expected the road ahead would turn out like this."
"But can we really defeat him?" Kisame added at the end.
At that, Nagato and Uchiha Itachi exchanged another smile. They trusted each other—and trusted even more the one who had proposed this entire plan.
However, since they still hadn't informed Rorin about recruiting Kisame, they also refrained from mentioning anything related to him.
"In that case, what do you need me to do?" Kisame asked.
"For now, we need to arrange a few things, so Kisame, stay with us and move together for the time being. Itachi still needs to keep dealing with Uchiha Madara," Nagato said slowly.
Kisame Hoshigaki frowned slightly and glanced at Uchiha Itachi, but ultimately said nothing more.
In the end, the three of them exited the video conference together.
...
The next day.
Inside the alternate dimension, Rorin slowly opened his eyes and sat up.
'System, it's finished, right?'
[Yeah, all done, Host. You can open your eyes and take a look now!]
Rorin looked around the area before frowning slightly. There didn't seem to be anything nearby that could act as a mirror.
Rorin rubbed his head. "Too bad I never learned any Water Release ninjutsu."
If he knew Water Release, he could at least make a pool of water to check his reflection.
After hesitating for a moment, Rorin communicated with the system again.
'System, how about giving me something reflective?'
[Host, you can open the system map and adjust its transparency settings. You can use it as a mirror.]
Damn, that works too?
Rorin immediately started fiddling with it. After adjusting the transparency, the map interface in front of him turned into something resembling a mirror, with surprisingly good reflectivity.
Then Rorin slowly closed his eyes, and with a thought—
An eye appeared in the center of his forehead. The eyeball itself didn't bulge outward at all, nor were there any eyelids around it. It simply manifested from beneath the skin.
Rorin looked at his reflection. "Mm, not bad. Pretty handsome."
Then he opened his eyes again, experiencing what it felt like to view the world through three eyes.
"Yeah, no discomfort either. This is pretty great." Rorin nodded lightly with a smile.
Naturally, he had also obtained the dōjutsu abilities belonging to that eye.
Afterward, Rorin closed the eye on his forehead once more. The eye quickly sank back beneath the skin and vanished.
Rorin was very satisfied with this transplant surgery.
He took out some ramen from storage space and ate his fill before leaving ten Flying Thunder God marks around the area.
Clapping his hands together, he thought that since analyzing Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's data would still take some time, staying here any longer would be pointless.
After figuring that out, Rorin used Flying Thunder God and returned to the Hidden Leaf Village.
Inside Rorin's temporary rental house in the Hidden Leaf Village.
The first thing Rorin did after returning was take a shower.
After washing up, Rorin left the rental house and headed toward the construction site of his new estate to check on the progress.
Looking at the mansion that was already nearly halfway completed, Rorin nodded with satisfaction.
"Lord Rorin! The project is already over halfway done. At this rate, it should be completed in another three days. Are you satisfied with it?" The construction foreman hurried over as soon as he spotted Rorin.
"Mm, it's pretty good. It's nothing important, I just came to take a look. Go ahead and continue your work." Rorin smiled faintly and was just about to leave.
"Oh, right. Lady Shizune came looking for you yesterday. She seemed pretty anxious, so maybe it's something urgent," the foreman suddenly recalled and said.
Hearing this, Rorin frowned slightly and muttered,
"Shizune-san was looking for me? Don't tell me something happened again?"
Rorin waved his hand toward the foreman.
"Thanks. I'll head off first then. I'll leave this place to you!"
The foreman nodded repeatedly.
"It's my duty. I'll definitely keep a close eye on everything for you."
...
Hokage's Office.
Knock knock!
"Come in!" Tsunade replied without even raising her head from her work.
Rorin pushed open the door and walked in. Looking toward Shizune standing beside Tsunade, he gave a slight nod, causing her expression to brighten with surprise.
"Tsunade-sama, I'm back. I heard Shizune-san was looking for me, so I thought maybe you had something you needed from me again," Rorin said softly.
Hearing this, Tsunade raised her head and smiled faintly.
"You're back."
Then her expression turned serious once more.
"In short, it's complicated. The Akatsuki member you all captured alive in the Hidden Sand Village before—we searched through his memories and discovered that the true leader of the Akatsuki is actually Uchiha Madara!"
"Uchiha Madara?! How is that possible? Wasn't he already dead long ago?" Rorin 'froze' for a moment before asking in confusion.
Tsunade slowly shook her head.
"We still don't know why he's alive. The important part is the Akatsuki's true purpose in gathering the tailed beasts."
Then Tsunade explained the contents of the "Eye of the Moon Plan" to Rorin.
After hearing it, Rorin clenched his fists tightly, his brows furrowing deeply. After remaining silent for a moment, he finally said softly:
"That's nothing more than self-deception."