Originally posted by: Death BOO Z
i've got two guesses, one is good, the second is probable.
1. they plan on using orochimaru as test subject for the soul\demon transfer, and they've send Kabuto to watch over.
2. Kishimoto plans to wait a year until getting back to this plotline, and by then he thinks we'll forget about it.
Maybe i missed something, but why would they be interested in soul transfer ?

And i think Kabuto being a spy for Akatsuki is a little too far fetched... even if he definitely has something up is sleeves. So it's probably your second guess... i hope Kishimoto will come up with a good explanation for this later in the story.