Regarding the development of a spy in Konoha, this is not only Madaras idea but other members of the organization have also mentioned this matter several times.

The current Akatsuki already has quite a lot of spies in other shinobi villages, and this is also the reason why they have been able to grasp the movements of those villages quite early and repeatedly obtain intelligence regarding the plans of the Kages of those villages, but Konoha is the only Shinobi Village they havent been able to penetrate as of yet.

So, Madara has been planning to develop a few capable spies in Konoha who will be able to give him important information on a regular basis.

Since, Hyuga Neji, the disciple of Hyuga Kuroto was kidnapped by accident, Madara will not easily let go of this opportunity.

As far as Madara is concerned, Hyuga Kuroto is just a member of the Branch family of the Hyuga Clan, if there is one thing common among all the members of the branch family of the Hyuga Clan, then it is definitely that fact that their fate of servitude is decided at the moment of birth, no matter how extraordinary they may become, no matter how excellent they perform, and no matter how splendid of a shinobi the members of the branch family become, they will always remain subordinates and servants of the Main family engraved with the curse of the Bird Cage, whose destiny, life, and death are always in the hands of the members of the main family of the Hyuga Clan.

As such, generally, the members of the branch family hold resentment towards the main family, the more talented a member of the branch family, the higher his resentment. Madara feels that he can definitely use that resentment to his advantage and he doesnt really believe that Hyuga Kuroto wouldnt be tempted if presented with the opportunity to be able to break free of the Cage Bird Juinjutsu.

After reaching this conclusion, Madara shifted his gaze from Neji to Sasuke.

The fact that a second Mangekyou Sharingan user has appeared in Amatsukami has made Madara vigilant again, at the same time, his heart is puzzled.

When did the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan become so worthless? this doubt is not unreasonable, when Madara was young, the Mangekyou Sharingan was a legend with almost no one from the Uchiha Clan having it, in fact, at that time, many Uchiha werent even aware of the existence of the Mangekyou Sharingan it was such a rarity.

But now? Including himself, Shinichi, Shisui, and the two Homusubi of the Amatsukami, there are already as many as five Mangekyou Sharingan awakeners in the Shinobi World!

Such a thing is no joke!

In fact, if the Amatsukami had only one Mangekyou Sharingan awakener, Madara can still understand it, and perhaps accept it.

After all, during the second and third great shinobi wars, just like him, a lot of people died or went missing on the chaotic battlefield, and couldnt be found or retrieved back whether dead or alive due to many reasons, such, it would neither be too strange nor impossible if a lucky guy from the Uchiha Clan managed to survive and coincidently awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan due to some reasons, just like him.

But the probability of this kind of thing happening is extremely low; infinitely close to zero After all, Mangekyou Sharingan is not something one can awaken just because they want to, the person in question must not only have the necessary qualification, but they must also experience despair.

If only one such person had appeared beside him, it would already be a miraculous situation, and Madara might still be able to accept such a miracle for once, but if two such people appear? Then it is no longer a miracle, there must be some other reasons!

But no matter how much he tries to think about it, Madara just isnt able to figure out what those reasons are.

Therefore, he has come to the conclusion that he must start looking at the root of it.

The Mangekyou Sharingan can only be used by the Uchiha Clansmen, therefore, one thing he can be absolutely certain about is that the two Homusubi are definitely people of the Uchiha bloodline

Since the Uchiha Clan is standing at the centre of all his doubts, Madara has decided to look into the Uchiha Clan of Konoha to get the answers to his doubts.

If I remember correctly, the kid Itachi seems to care quite deeply about his younger brother Sasuke With Sasuke in my hands, I can coerce him into investigating the origin of the two Homusubi of the Amatsukami from inside the Uchiha Clan and I dont think he will refuse me in the end, even if he isnt able to give me any significant information, as long as he gives me a list of possible candidates, I can at least find something about them

The reason why Madara chose Uchiha Itachi to be another spy is that Madara appreciates Itachis talent and also knows how deeply Itachi care about his younger brother. With Itachis weakness in his hands, Madara feels that he can control Itachi in the palm of his hand. Moreover, Itachi is the heir to the position of the next Patriarch of the Uchiha clan, which is to say, he can easily access and investigate most of the confidential information within the Uchiha Clan, as such, he is the perfect candidate to be a spy.

As for the possibility of Uchiha Itachi is one of the Homusubi? Its not that Madara didnt consider it, but no matter how much he considered it, he didnt think it was possible.

Madara doesnt question Uchiha Itachis talent, without a doubt Uchiha Itachi is a one-of-a-kind talent, but how old is he? And how old was he when both the Homusubi had already made their presence in the Shinobi World?

Even now, Uchiha Itachi is too young, just a little over thirteen years old both the Homusubi had made their presence known in the Shinobi World as early as four to five years ago, which means, Uchiha Itachi was only about nine years old at that time at such a young age, awakening Mangekyou Sharingan is impossible, no matter how talented of a child he may be, it is just impossible!

Even the likes of Uchiha Madarawho lived and grew up in the constant war-ridden world of the Warring States Period where even children as young as five or six years of age had to go to the battlefieldcouldnt have awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan at such a young age, so how can Uchiha Itachi do it? This is simply beyond the realms of whats considered common sense.

Since Madara has concluded that Uchiha Itachi couldnt be Homusubi, making him a spy by blackmailing him would be the best choice for Madara.

Thinking so, Madara looked at the two children one more time, then left the dingy room in a satisfied mood.

As for the hostage exchange with Orochimaru? Madara never took that matter seriously.

Orochimaru is a traitor to the organization, traitors within the Akatsuki Organization arent tolerated, and traitors like Orochimaru who have good strength and can influence the situation are even more intolerable.

The only reason they havent yet disposed of Orochimaru is because of how busy Akatsuki has been in regard to the five great shinobi villages and the Amatsukami, and, Madara also understands that killing Orochimaru wouldnt be an easy task so he has never really spared any manpower in regards to Orochimaru.

This time Akatsuki just wants to tempt Orochimaru using the hostage exchange and dispose of him for good. So Kabuto was absolutely correct, Akatsukis offer of Hostage exchange was nothing more than a cheezy trap prepared to catch Orochimaru, and by the way, also take the Jinchuriki of Kyuubi from his hands.

Of course, Madara is not very optimistic about it given Orochimarus personality. He knows Orochimarus cunning and cautious nature, so theres just no way someone like Orochimaru would take such a big risk and agree to the Hostage exchange, as such, Madara never put all his hopes into it.