Kyo was momentarily stunned.
He had never expected to see his appearance in advance like this.
The mysterious masked man—
the shadowy controller of the Akatsuki!
The moment Kyo saw him, this masked man naturally also noticed Kyo immediately.
However, the next moment,
he suddenly leaped up high, dashing straight over to Kyo. While rapidly circling around him, he let out a very comical loud yell.
"Waaah!"
"So this is the Kyo-senpai who killed Sasori of the Red Sand?!"
"I never expected him to be this young! Damn! Being able to become a full member at such a young age, I'm so jealous!"
He flailed his arms and legs, shouting loudly, incredibly noisy.
Yet in the distance, Pain and Konan, witnessing this scene, remained expressionless, as if already accustomed to it.
A moment later, Pain looked towards Kyo and said flatly:
"You've come, Kyo."
"Allow me to introduce him for now—"
"His name is Tobi, an Akatsuki trainee. He will also be your temporary partner for this mission."
"He will assist you in successfully completing this mission."
"...Huh?"
Hearing this, Kyo raised an eyebrow, sensing something amiss. He deliberately said:
"What's this? Giving me a trainee as a partner?"
As his words fell,
the masked man Tobi beside him seemed momentarily deflated, then clenched his fists as if somewhat unwillingly, saying:
"Wow! Kyo-senpai, don't say that about me!"
"Although I'm still just a trainee now, I'll definitely become a full member in the future! I'm actually quite strong, you know!"
At the end, the masked man Tobi even made a motion of brandishing a kunai.
Putting on airs, as if about to put on a performance right there.
Watching this exaggerated performance, Kyo's expression didn't even flicker. In fact, he felt a slight urge to laugh.
Appearances could be deceiving.
Chakra signatures could be deceiving.
But Spiritual Pressure could not be deceived.
Before Kyo, who possessed powerful Spiritual Pressure perception,
he could clearly detect that beneath that orange mask, two souls coexisted simultaneously!
Although one of those souls seemed to exist in a parasitic manner, its aura very faint, it still couldn't escape Kyo's perception.
Therefore, he had basically confirmed it—
At this moment, beneath the mask was not just the White Zetsu, "Guruguru" entity or Obito alone.
It was a combination of the two.
In other words, right now, it was very likely that two people were sharing the same body and the same identity—
Tobi.
Realizing this, Kyo's heart stirred slightly.
'This Obito, choosing to appear before me in this state, and even going on a mission with me…'
'It seemed he wanted to use this mission as an opportunity to personally monitor me and gather intelligence...'
In just a brief moment, Kyo immediately assessed the situation.
Just then,
Pain continued speaking, explaining:
"This mission is a bit special."
"The opponent you'll be facing is one of the once-renowned Legendary Sannin of Konoha, Orochimaru."
"Facing someone as cunning and scheming as him, of course you cannot go alone."
"Tobi has the intelligence on his location,"
"You just need to follow him, and you'll find Orochimaru."
"If possible, it would be best to also figure out why he's investigating the Akatsuki, and... his true purpose."
"As for how exactly to deal with him, that will be up to you and Tobi to judge on the spot."
Pain finished speaking in one go, without emotion.
Then, without waiting for Kyo's reaction, he directly turned around indifferently and said flatly:
"Let's go, Konan."
"We'll leave the rest for those two to handle."
"...Understood."
Konan slightly lowered her eyes, giving Kyo a meaningful glance, then followed Pain out of the stone cave meeting room.
Finally, only Kyo and the masked man Tobi remained in the entire cave.
On this side, after hearing the mission details, Kyo couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Taking care of Orochimaru was no problem for him.
After all, Kyo happened to have a mission requiring him to defeat three Kage-level powerhouses, and this would be a perfect opportunity to complete it.
The key issue was having to bring along such a goofy actor-king by his side...
Just as Kyo was pondering how to handle this,
suddenly,
the masked man Tobi sneakily sidled up close to Kyo, looking very mysterious as he lowered his voice and asked cautiously:
"Nee, nee, Kyo-senpai,"
"I heard from Leader Pain-sama and the others..."
"that besides this sword, you also have some kind of amazing Dojutsu that lets you release all kinds of powerful techniques without hand seals?"
"Is it true?!"