Late at night, Orochimaru arrived at Xin's home.
Seeing Xin casually climb out of the window, Orochimaru smiled. "Xin-kun is as reliable as always."
"..."
Xin-kun? Why did that always sound so wrong coming from Orochimaru?
They'd talked about this before-just call him by his name. But after wandering around for a while and fighting on the frontlines in the Land of Rivers, Orochimaru had gone back to his old habit. Every time Orochimaru called him Xin-kun, Xin couldn't shake the feeling that the snake-like man was up to something.
The two of them left the village through a hidden Anbu exit, slipping into the night as they headed toward the Land of Lightning.
"What intel does the village have on the Hidden Cloud's jinchuriki?" Xin asked, wanting to be well-prepared for the mission ahead.
Orochimaru maintained a steady pace as they traveled, pulling out a scroll and tossing it to Xin.
"There's a spy placed in the Hidden Cloud Village by Konoha. He'll help us infiltrate, but after that, it's up to the two of us to handle the rest," Orochimaru explained.
"Too bad though... such pieces can only be used once."
"...Of course, they can," Xin muttered internally. Once things blow up, the Hidden Cloud will definitely launch an internal investigation. All the spies planted by different villages will be rooted out one by one.
That's the whole point of a spy, right? To be useful when it matters most. What's the point of being sentimental about it? Anyone who takes this path knows they'll be discovered
eventually. The moment they make a move, their value is gone.
Not many spies can stay hidden forever-unless they never act at all.
"Do we have any information on the Two-Tails jinchuriki?" Xin asked, skimming through the scroll.
Orochimaru took the scroll back and replied, "Konoha only has detailed intel on the Eight- Tails jinchuriki. As for the Two-Tails, it rampaged not too long ago, and they've likely replaced the jinchuriki since then. I'm afraid the Hidden Cloud has hidden them away."
"That's a shame," Xin said, slightly disappointed.
He was looking forward to testing himself against the Two-Tails jinchuriki, but if they were locked away, it seemed their target was limited to the Eight-Tails jinchuriki. If they managed to release the Eight-Tails, it would certainly make the Third Raikage furious.
How much destruction they could cause would depend on how quickly the Raikage returned to the village. The Hidden Cloud had special transportation seals, and given the Raikage's near- superhuman durability, it would hardly slow him down.