Moon Ring Gorge.
After a long time, the doomsday-like scene from last time still remained. There was just less fire and smoke, but what met the eye was mostly ruins.
The Konoha team heading to Kumogakure to participate in the Chunin Exams was slowly advancing on the road.
In the very center was a carriage, and Hiruzen was sitting inside. It wasn't that he wanted to ride in such a carriage. It was just that Jiraiya disliked handling political affairs, so Hiruzen had no choice but to handle them himself.
Putting down his pen, Hiruzen sighed slightly.
The curtain was pulled open, and Shinji poked his head in, asking, "Sensei, is it handled?"
Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, it's done. Have someone send it back later."
"No problem." Shinji waved his hand, and several Anbu quickly followed near the carriage.
Watching Shinji put everything away, Hiruzen finally rubbed his temples and asked, "Do you have the list of examinees?"
Hearing this, Shinji entered the carriage, picked up a scroll from the side, and handed it to Hiruzen, saying, "Sensei, it's all here."
Taking the scroll, Hiruzen began to examine it, and after a long time, he slowly shook his head. "It seems Kumogakure might really make a name for itself this time."
Shinji nodded. "That's right. Iwagakure and Sunagakure have sent only ordinary Genin. Rather than saying they are participating, it's more like they want to observe Kumogakure's situation."
Regardless of Kumogakure's intentions for this Chunin Exams, the Genin sent by the major nations could not possibly be the geniuses from their own villages.
The reason?
The Gold and Silver Brothers incident was one thing, and even if Kumogakure wanted to use this to showcase its strength, it wouldn't matter. The rumors in the Ninja World were only meant to disgust Kumogakure. If the other four great nations really took this seriously, they would be fools.
Just as Hiruzen was about to pick up his pipe for a relaxing puff after his hard work, a crisp sound came from the carriage.
"Kakashi, come in." Hiruzen said without thinking. At this time, it could only be Kakashi.
A head of white hair, pushing aside the curtain, first appeared in the eyes of Shinji and Hiruzen.
Kakashi, with his deadpan eye, entered and first nodded in greeting to Hiruzen. "Hokage-sama."
"Sit down. It's not convenient to stand in the carriage." Hiruzen waved his hand.
Kakashi didn't hesitate. He sat down cross-legged, and pulled out a scroll, handing it to Hiruzen.
He began to speak, "Hokage-sama, the news from our people sent to Kirigakure."
"It's just that they have always enforced the Bloody Mist policy, making it very difficult to enter."
Hiruzen nodded. Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, was fine when he first took office. But after a period of time, he seemed to have lost his mind and initiated a bloody, twisted period of rule.
The most ridiculous part was that their ninja training system was changed to require students of the same class to kill each other. Only when half of them remained could they become true ninjas.
This led to most of the ninjas who graduated having twisted psyches, becoming nothing more than cold-blooded killing machines. It was a complete adherence to the idea that ninjas are merely tools, and mutual trust ceased to exist.
Without further thought, Hiruzen unrolled the scroll and carefully read the intelligence Kakashi had compiled.
After a long time, he exhaled. He then handed it to Shinji to read. Shinji didn't stand on ceremony, taking it and beginning to read.
As he read line by line, Shinji roughly understood the current situation of Kirigakure. Even if they couldn't enter, they could often detect ninja battles in the outer areas.
Shinji lowered his eyes, guessing it was probably the Kekkei Genkai clans within Kirigakure trying to escape.
However, how could one clan be a match for a village?
The clans had not thought of acting together, so they were naturally systematically purged by Kirigakure's high command.
"Any thoughts?" Hiruzen took a deep puff and asked.
"Chaos, darkness." Shinji closed the scroll and slowly said.
Even with just a few words, it was still clear that the internal situation of Kirigakure was a mess and shrouded in darkness.
Hiruzen nodded, slowly saying, "Extreme rule by those in power will only bring destruction to the village."
Shinji nodded.
A very poignant observation.
It was just that Obito was truly ruthless, but it could also be said that Kirigakure's geographical location, being surrounded by seawater on all sides, and its territory being covered by thick fog year-round, completely isolated it from other nations. This gave Obito the opportunity to cause trouble.
If he had tried this in other ninja villages on the continent, he might have been stopped as soon as he started. Kirigakure would have been annihilated by the other nations in an instant. Even if Obito could hide later, some clues would have been found.
"Kakashi, arrange for close monitoring later. Send any news immediately." Hiruzen's brow relaxed as he instructed Kakashi.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi nodded, as this was something he had been working on all along.
"Oh, Hokage-sama, there's another piece of news that came in on the way."
"Zabuza, the missing-nin from Kirigakure who failed to assassinate the Mizukage last year, apparently tried to assassinate the Land of Water's Daimyo again recently."
"But he failed once more. I heard the Land of Water's Daimyo was protected by a Kirigakure Kekkei Genkai user."
Shinji blinked. Was there such an event originally? It didn't seem so, did it?
Hiruzen, however, nodded.
Assassinations were not surprising at all, especially the assassination of the Land of Water's Daimyo. The only one who would suffer next would be Kirigakure.
If the Land of Water's Daimyo cut off their finances, then Kirigakure, already a mess, would likely find itself in an even more difficult position.
Hiruzen pondered for a while before speaking, "If we received this, other ninja villages should also know about it. Remain still and see what they think."
The Kage of the four great nations would soon gather, and there would inevitably be verbal exchanges then.
"Pass down the order: full speed ahead from now on. This unprecedented Chunin Exams is the first time the great nations have gathered since the Third Great Ninja War."
"Yes."
Shinji and Kakashi nodded in response, then immediately got up and left the carriage.
Shinji, who had come to the front of the team, looked at Kakashi's out-of-sorts expression and asked, "What's wrong, Captain Kakashi? It's rare for you to show such an expression."
Hearing this, Kakashi simply rolled his deadpan eye helplessly, glancing at Shinji. "I just recalled some things."
Shinji raised an eyebrow.
Kirigakure?
Then it must be the Three-Tails, right?
After all, Kakashi's only surviving teammate at the time, Rin, was forced to become the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki. And the Three-Tails was Kirigakure's Tailed Beast.
(End of Chapter)
Read 50 Chapters ahead on
patreon.com/astralicity