We last left off saying that the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, and the Konoha rogue ninja Orochimaru had initially reached a consensus—to mess with Konoha, but they had some disagreements on how to do it and to what extent.
Orochimaru stated that he wanted to kill the Third Hokage and play a game of student betraying teacher.
Rasa disagreed. Killing a Hokage was too serious. He only wanted to strike a blow against Konoha and get some compensation; there was no need to offend them so severely.
Orochimaru said fine, but that wouldn't satisfy his hatred, so they would have to put in more effort to hurt Konoha even more.
Rasa thought it was reasonable. In negotiations, if the other party took a step back, they should too. He would send out his village's nuclear weapon. Was that sincere enough?
Orochimaru outwardly expressed satisfaction but was actually making other plans. Thus, a superficial alliance was formed, and the two further discussed the so-called "Konoha Crush Plan."
At this time, the news of Jiraiya's return to the village had not yet spread, but Orochimaru understood that with Konoha's current strength, he and Sunagakure Village alone wouldn't have much chance of killing his former teacher. So, he needed to find some other helpers, but there was no need to tell Rasa about this.
...
"I can tell you."
At dinner, facing Naruto's question, Minato said, "Jiraiya-sensei has gone to look for Tsunade-senpai, so we haven't seen him these days."
"Tsunade?"
"Yes, even though we know Sunagakure Village might be planning something big, since they haven't done anything overtly, we can only take precautions in advance. If Tsunade-senpai can come back, even if war breaks out, our losses will be minimal."
Of course, Naruto thought, she's an epic-level healer who can heal the entire village, the woman who can rally the most people in all of Konoha.
"But what if you can't find her?"
"Regardless of the outcome, Jiraiya-sensei will be back before the exams start. I won't allow enemies to run rampant in Konoha, so you just need to focus on the exams. Before your generation grows up, leave these matters to us elders to handle." Minato smiled warmly.
Naruto nodded and continued eating, feeling that the food in his bowl was even more delicious. Orochimaru, if you really dare to come, then I'll respect you as a man.
"By the way, after Orochimaru defected, did he go directly to the Land of Rice Fields to establish the Hidden Sound Village?" Naruto suddenly remembered that in the original storyline, Orochimaru defected because he coveted Itachi's body and was then taught a lesson by Itachi. But now that Itachi hadn't defected, would Orochimaru not leave the Akatsuki and directly invite Pain to come and fight? I'm not ready to carry the rice yet!
Fortunately, Minato's words reassured Naruto: "No, according to Jiraiya-sensei's investigation, Orochimaru once joined the Akatsuki to escape Konoha's pursuit, but later defected for some reason and was even hunted down by members of the Akatsuki."
"I see. One more thing, Dad, when you fought Obito back then, did you leave a Flying Thunder God mark on him?" If that mark was still there, then could they pick an auspicious day and bring Kushina, Kakashi, Guy, Shisui, Fugaku, Itachi, Jiraiya, and so on to directly wipe them out, saving them from constantly causing trouble and not letting people rest easy.
"I did leave one..." Minato said a little awkwardly, "But it's gone now."
"Someone can erase the Flying Thunder God mark?" Naruto was surprised. Wasn't the Flying Thunder God mark supposed to be unerasable?
"It wasn't erased by someone. It's just that the power of my Sage Mode Rasengan was a bit too strong back then. Obito's body below the chest was completely shattered, and the mark disappeared with it. In fact, we can't be sure whether he escaped on his own or if someone rescued him."
"..." Okay, so even if Obito is still alive, he's only got a quarter of himself left? Is he even considered a person or just a White Zetsu now?
"Does the perverted sage know the details of the Akatsuki?"
Minato didn't correct Naruto's nickname and said, "I told Jiraiya-sensei all the information I knew, telling him that it was information you got in a dream."
"He won't do anything stupid, will he? Like single-handedly breaking into Amegakure or something." With Jiraiya's style, he might think that if his disciple did something wrong, he, as the teacher, should correct it. Even if he's strong and has information, how is he supposed to do the six hundred billion homework assignments from Nagato?
"Don't worry, I've already advised Jiraiya-sensei. He won't act for the time being, and at least he'll discuss it with me before taking any action."
"Okay." Naruto felt that he had received a lot of information today and needed to process it, and then think about what to do next.
In any case, strength is the foundation of everything. When in doubt, get stronger first. After this exam, Naruto felt that he should also go and cultivate immortality.
...
Over the next few days, the Shadow Clones' tasks included ninjutsu related to the Flying Thunder God, such as the Space-Time Barrier, the move Minato used to transfer the Tailed Beast Ball. The main body was still running with weights, sparring with Hinata, Sasuke, and the energetic Kiba.
If there was any difference, it was that in the past few days, Naruto didn't need Kushina to make excuses to send Hinata home anymore; the two of them were openly holding hands, holding hands, holding hands.
And on this day, a little loli suddenly ran out of the Hyuga Clan's gate, pouting and glaring at Naruto, then pulled Hinata back.
"Sister, I've been waiting for you for so long, you haven't spent time with me properly for almost a month!"
Hinata hugged Hanabi tightly, explaining apologetically, "This is my sister Hanabi, she's been very clingy to me since she was little, probably because I haven't had much time to spend with her these days, so... so..."
Hanabi struggled symbolically for a moment, then hugged Hinata back, giggling, Sister hasn't hugged me in so long. Hanabi was overjoyed, and even turned back to give Naruto a Byakugan as if to show off...
Unfortunately, Naruto couldn't tell if she rolled her eyes or not, he just thought this little loli was quite cute, even if he saw it he wouldn't care, anyway, if he married Hinata in the future, he would be subjected to the family's Byakugan, he didn't know if it was because he had a Fox Spirit hidden in his belly. He only knew that Sasuke would be jealous when he looked at him.
"It's okay, she's just a kid." Naruto knew Hanabi, this kid seemed to have a sister complex, Naruto wouldn't get angry over such a small matter.
Hinata said seriously, "Naruto-kun, please do your best in tomorrow's exam, and I will work hard too!"
"Okay." Naruto gave Hinata a Minato-like smile, "Let's work hard together."
...
Tomorrow, July 1st, Konoha Year 60, the joint Chunin Exams hosted by Konoha, with Sunagakure Village, Amegakure, Hidden Grass Village, Hidden Waterfall Village, and Hidden Sound Village participating, are about to begin.
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