"Orochimaru-sama, this is intelligence regarding Hada Ichiba."
Before the door to the dimly lit secret chamber, the bandaged man glanced at Orochimaru, who was about to push the door open, then bowed and presented the scroll in his hand.
"Mm..."
Orochimaru looked at the scroll, an inexplicable emotion flashing through his eyes. The hand he instinctively reached out trembled slightly, stopping an inch or so above the scroll, yet he could not bring himself to grasp it.
Then, with a slight stiffness on his face, he picked up the scroll.
"Creak."
Then he pushed the door open and entered.
"Orochimaru, are you ready on your end or not? I have no patience left to wait. There are only five days until the Chunin Exams begin. It will take around three days to get from here to Konoha, and with preparation time included, if we do not begin now, it will be too late."
The moment the door opened, before he had even stepped inside, a deep voice filled with impatience and dissatisfaction came from within.
The speaker was the man seated at the inner side of the only long table in the secret chamber, wearing the Kazekage's hat and having just stopped tapping the tabletop.
The Fourth Kazekage, Rasa! "Oh? Only five days remain already?"
Hearing this, Orochimaru showed no reaction. He maintained that wicked smile as he walked in slowly, showing no pause, hesitation, or urgency in response to the Fourth Kazekage's impatient words, which even carried a hint of anger.
"Do you even have any sincerity in this cooperation?"
Seeing Orochimaru's unhurried manner, as though he had not taken his words to heart at all, Rasa's hand, which had stopped tapping the table, abruptly clenched. An already furious question squeezed out of his throat.
If this man had