Nine years in the Northern Lands, sixty-four years in Konoha.
Anko is about to lead her team to Konoha in the Land of Fire to participate in the Chunin Ninja Exams.
Things didn't go as smoothly as she had imagined; she had experienced a series of setbacks before that.
Since learning that Northern Land Village had taken in and sheltered many Rogue Ninja, villages with Rogue Ninja in Northern Lands have launched attacks against the Northern Lands. Even villages like the Land of Lightning, which don't produce Rogue Ninja, didn't mind adding fuel to the fire.
The first to launch an attack was Ōnoki from Iwagakure, who sent his capable assistant, his son Kitsuchi, to the Northern Lands.
The purpose was obvious, and Orochimaru did not prevent him from meeting Deidara.
However, the two did not have a pleasant conversation, and in the end, Deidara did not leave with the other party.
People grow up. I was initially tricked by Orochimaru into coming here, but after seeing all sorts of people in society, I found that the people here are all pretty good.
He also witnessed the Northern Lands gradually become prosperous, and he contributed to that. It's impossible not to feel some affection for it.
In addition, there was much he wanted here. Orochimaru introduced him to various bomb theories and conjectures, which gave his art a higher pursuit and goal.
More importantly, the Northern Lands possesses two "nuclear energy sources," Deidara felt that his artistic life would only have value if he could develop an even more powerful bomb.
People are naturally inclined to favor the rich and despise the poor, so he was somewhat unwilling to return to the harsh and desolate Iwagakure. Shallow waters cannot nurture a true dragon; he believed he was a true dragon, and the Northern Lands was the great river that could nurture him.
Upon learning that his own children looked down on his hometown, Kitsuchi was naturally filled with resentment.
If they didn't want to fall out on the spot, they probably would have already started fighting.
But Orochimaru knew that the stubborn old man Ōnoki wouldn't give up so easily, so he personally went to Iwagakure with Kitsuchi.
What Ōnoki and Orochimaru talked about, and what happened between them, is unknown to outsiders. However, after that, Iwagakure withdrew the bounty on Deidara and promised Orochimaru that they would no longer be obsessed with Deidara.
The same was true for Anko, but things took an even more dramatic turn.
"Hand over our Rogue Ninja Anko immediately, or our village will take forceful measures on its own. We hope your village will consider this carefully!"
Orochimaru laughed when he saw the letter. Konoha, which had always sought stability, was actually telling him that they were going to take tough measures.
Konoha is the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Others may fear him, but Orochimaru is not. He doesn't need to give them face, so he immediately replied with a letter.
He explained that Anko had offended him and needed to work for him for a hundred years. If Konoha continued to pester him, he would send troops to the border in five days and start a war!
This news immediately alarmed Konoha, prompting them to convene a meeting.
I thought it was just a small matter, but I didn't expect the other side to escalate it to the level of a village war.
The two sides had just begun trading and there was not much conflict of interest. It would be unwise to start a war over an Anko!
Before they could reach a conclusion, another message reached their ears: the Golden Shadow had personally gone to Iwagakure to negotiate with Ōnoki in order to resolve the matter of Deidara, who was also Rogue Ninja.
Afterwards, Iwagakure withdrew the bounty on Deidara, and the Golden Snake Gentleman escaped unscathed.
When Konoha received this message, they silently calmed their restless hearts. They didn't know the Golden Kage, but they did know that old man Ōnoki.
There was only one person before who could make the other party so obedient and shut up: Uchiha Madara.
When he was a child Ōnoki and his father came to Konoha to pay homage to the First Hokage, and Lord Madara slapped him in the face.
At that time, Ōnoki could only be angry but dared not speak out. Even after he grew up, Ōnoki still had a considerable shadow in his heart regarding Madara.
Upon receiving this message, Konoha's leadership could only temporarily set the matter aside and resumed trade with the Northern Lands as if nothing had happened.
The matter passed by in a blur, the tense situation eased instantly, and Orochimaru ostentatiously withdrew his ninjas from the border.
Upon discovering that the other side had indeed amassed troops on the border and dared to wage war against Konoha, the Konoha High Command members were all somewhat uneasy.
Don't think that just because they call themselves a great ninja village, they can be so aggressive. If we're talking about who has the most right to declare war on the Northern Lands, it's Kirigakure.
Because people have discovered that there is more than one Kirigakure Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure in the Northern Lands.
Secondly, there's Iwagakure), since Deidara was, after all, Ōnoki's apprentice.
Although Anko is Orochimaru's apprentice, she is technically a grand-apprentice of the Third Hokage. But there are many such grand-apprentices. There is a grand-apprentice in the next village who claims to be a god, and they are all incredibly filial.
If Orochimaru was also hiding in the Northern Lands, this reason would be plausible.
Many high-ranking officials in Konoha had also had this suspicion, after all, Anko and Orochimaru were inseparable when they were young, and now, by following the clues, they might be able to find something.
But since the other party wouldn't hand over the person, there was no way to force them to hand over the information.
Since the Third Hokage was quite certain that Orochimaru was not in the Northern Lands, the group abandoned the idea.
Because Itachi had already sent back news that Orochimaru had joined the Akatsuki, then defected, and was now presumably dead.
These events all occurred before the Chunin Ninja Exams, and once these problems are resolved, the Chunin Ninja Exams will soon begin.
The system that had been dormant in Orochimaru's mind for a long time reacted again!
"Host has triggered event: Chunin Ninja Exams + Konoha Crush Plan!"
Orochimaru had anticipated that the mission would be triggered ahead of schedule.
Because he had too many things to prepare for. Whether or not he prepared for the Chunin Ninja Exams was irrelevant to the overall situation, but the Konoha Crush Plan was not something that could be implemented on a whim.
If the original storyline had unfolded as it did, he would have used his Orochimaru identity to first ingratiate himself with Sunagakure before killing Rasa.
Although the lack of ninjas from the Otogakure makes cooperation with Rasa difficult, killing Rasa and becoming Rasa would be no problem.
Anyway, Sunagakure didn't cause many casualties to Konoha later on; the most important thing was to promote the development of his side.
He had been looking forward to the battle between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage for a long time.
"However, one Third Hokage isn't enough; we also need to randomly select one lucky audience member to perform on stage with us!"
Thinking of that old man who kept saying he wanted to dedicate himself, sacrifice himself, and shed his last drop of blood for Konoha, Orochimaru wanted to grant his wish.
"The host has the following choices: ① Continue the plan, reward unknown (Note: reward will be given based on final performance); ② Suspend the plan and become a pacifist, reward unknown (Note: I didn't have a choice before, but now I want to be a good person)."
After looking at some of the system rewards, Orochimaru realized that this was the first time he had encountered a system that rewarded players based on their performance. It seemed that the system also knew that the start of the new era was not simple!
Without hesitation, he made his choice and then ordered his clone in the laboratory to stop the experiment.
The research on Uchiha Madara's cells has been progressing well these days, and some results have already been achieved.
However, it is still a long way from being able to fuse with Hashirama Cells, so for now we can only deal with the more urgent matters.
After arranging things in the village, Orochimaru's clone headed towards the Land of Wind, while his main body headed towards the Land of Lightning.
" With Konoha so lively, Hidden Cloud Village can't just sit back and watch!"