"Yes!" The other Leaf Village ninja, the examiners, naturally had no objections!
This was actually an opportunity to showcase the strength of their Leaf Village. To let their allied villages see that Leaf Village was still the same Leaf Village!
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, had been sitting quietly beside the Old Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, without saying a word. This time, he was merely a guest; the protagonist was the Hokage, and the entire Leaf Village!
But in reality, the Kazekage himself was already a bit annoyed. He didn't care much about the details of this Chunin Exam. He just wanted to see if the Leaf Village was still worthy of being an allied village after seeing its strength.
Unnoticed by anyone, the Fourth Kazekage's attention seemed to be entirely focused on Luffy... Actually, even if he were noticed, it wouldn't matter much. After all, Luffy's identity was so special: an outsider, and an outsider who didn't belong to any ninja village.
Who wouldn't want to take a closer look at such a person? What if it's the Fourth Kazekage? Hasn't he also never seen a stranger from outside the ninja world?
But in fact, was the Fourth Kazekage really only paying attention to Luffy because of his identity as an outsider? Probably not so simple... The Hokage's speech, which made Luffy feel drowsy, finally concluded. He couldn't wait to rush out at the first opportunity. He needed to rush home to rest; he was truly quite troubled earlier.
The other Jōnin examiners in Leaf Village were all stunned in place, not knowing what to say. They also didn't understand why Lord Hokage 843 paid such special attention to this strange outsider. However, Old Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi held great prestige in Leaf Village—it would be strange if he didn't, having been in power for so long.
So the other examiners couldn't really say anything. Just do as Lord Old Hokage says. It's just a security guard, protecting the safety of the young people participating in the Chunin Exams...
Couldn't anything else unexpected happen?! Let Luffy have a sense of participation. Perhaps it could really strengthen his ties with Leaf Village. Anyway, no matter what others thought, this was Old Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's way of thinking. And now, it seemed to be working out a little bit? At least Luffy honestly stayed until this meeting ended, didn't he?
...
"Alright, things here are done. Next, Lord Kazekage, please rest. The first part of the exam is a written test indoors, and it's not convenient for us to personally supervise it." Old Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi arranged for his subordinates to lead the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, to a special reception and resting area. No matter what, this was still Lord Kazekage personally attending.
The proper etiquette and due respect still needed to be fully observed. The Kazekage didn't bring many attendants. The few he had were all masked in black gauze, their true faces indiscernible.
This wasn't a big deal, after all, Sunagakure in the Land of Wind was a desert region where the sand was immense. Without such black gauze coverings, people would probably be blown away. So no one paid much attention to these few masked ninja who had been following the Kazekage.
It wasn't until all the Leaf ninja had left that only the Fourth Kazekage remained in the resting room. Only then did he regain his "original face"! This guy, he was actually disguised! He wasn't the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa...
If someone truly recognized that face, they would probably be able to tell from that almost divine appearance and facial features that this wasn't Rasa, but rather the Leaf rogue ninja, the disciple of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi... Orochimaru!
Orochimaru was once a capable elite within Leaf Village. Among all the ninja who were good at fighting, he was also one of the strongest! Even back then, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade the three disciples of the Third Hokage were collectively known as the "Sannin," a glorious title. However, this guy Orochimaru had a peculiar personality and unique hobbies.
It could even be said that he lacked empathy. This person simply couldn't experience joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness like normal people. He didn't know that the suffering of others was suffering.
The things he did in Leaf Village, especially his evil deeds, were too numerous to mention. For a period, he even experimented on children in Leaf Village... After committing such atrocities, Orochimaru was naturally not tolerated by Leaf Village and was directly branded as a rogue ninja and pursued.
To this day, Jiraiya and Tsunade are not in Leaf Village largely because they went to pursue Orochimaru. Of course, Jiraiya had always been searching for Orochimaru's whereabouts. Tsunade, on the other hand, mainly had her own other matters...
"The feeling of returning to Leaf Village is quite strange..."
"Lord Orochimaru, should we proceed to deal with that Hokage fellow now?"
The black-masked ninja beside him were naturally all Orochimaru's subordinates. This time, their purpose in coming to Leaf Village was actually to assassinate the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. This was the teacher who had once personally guided and taught Orochimaru!
"No rush..." Orochimaru shook his head and said.
"Compared to that, the Hokage... I'm actually more interested in that other person I saw today..."
The black-masked ninja following Orochimaru also understood their master fairly well. Naturally, they had noticed who the other person receiving special attention throughout the day was.
"Is it that 'alien' that the Leaf ninja mentioned... named Luffy?"
"It's him!" Orochimaru gave an eerie smile, his expression showing interest. "I don't know why... I feel that guy's body is very special, extremely special! It's different from everyone else in the ninja world!"
"It's a completely new path... I really want that guy's body. I want to research it, experiment with it... use it as my next new vessel!" Orochimaru's appearance was almost frenzied; this was indeed his personality. This guy had been researching the so-called "immortality ninjutsu"
for many years. It must be said that, besides being insane, Orochimaru was indeed a genius. The so-called "immortality ninjutsu" was something almost no ninja believed truly existed, but Orochimaru had actually researched some notable results!
The current Orochimaru was no longer the Orochimaru of the past. His appearance was merely similar to his former self. As for the reason behind this, it was simple: he had changed bodies. "Changing bodies," spoken lightly, sounded almost like "changing clothes." But in reality, the difference only required a moment's thought for anyone to understand clearly.
Separating the soul from one's original body, then placing it into another new body, and even allowing it to function. This was not a jutsu that should exist in the current ninja world... Yet, this very ability, or rather, this technique, was actually researched and brought forth by Orochimaru! Of course, there were still flaws.
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