Land of Rice Fields

Ye Wuyue and Itachi exchanged a glance. Both could tell something was off about the couple, as if they were deliberately hiding something. Sai stood to the side with the same expression as before.

"I'll believe you for now, but I hope you understand that if you've concealed the true circumstances of the mission, we can abandon it midway," Itachi warned the couple.

The couple's bodies trembled almost imperceptibly. "Ninja-sama, we absolutely haven't deceived you. Everything happened exactly as we said. If you don't believe us, you can go to the Land of Rice Fields and verify it yourself." The man quickly returned to normal, meeting Itachi's gaze without changing his expression.

Since there was a rule in the ninja world forbidding the use of genjutsu on mission clients, Itachi chose to treat their words as true for the time being.

"As long as you understand that. I'm willing to believe you're telling the truth." Itachi looked at them. "When do we leave?"

"If possible, today. The longer we delay, the fewer clues we'll be able to find," the man answered.

"Then let's leave now." Itachi nodded.

Ye Wuyue and the others had already packed everything they needed when they received the mission. The five of them immediately set out for the Land of Rice Fields.

After Ye Wuyue's group left, a staff member from the mission assembly hall suddenly departed as well.

In a dark underground chamber, Danzo stuffed a scroll into the mouth of a snake before him. After swallowing the scroll, the snake vanished in a puff of white smoke...

After several days of travel, Ye Wuyue's group finally arrived in the Land of Rice Fields. The journey had been fairly smooth, with barely any obstacles. There were only a few blind bandits, and Ye Wuyue's Hakuda was more than enough to deal with them.

On streets where the crowds were somewhat sparse, Ye Wuyue's group searched for a place to stay for the night. They were still some distance from the place the couple had mentioned.

"The streets in the Land of Rice Fields are so much worse than Konoha's," Ye Wuyue said as he looked at the surrounding shops.

The shops here mostly sold local specialties, with almost no goods from other places. It seemed this country didn't interact with the outside world very often; at the very least, few merchants were willing to come here.

"It's just a small country, so it's normal that it isn't as prosperous as Konoha. The Land of Waves, where Naruto's group went on their last mission, was probably even worse than the Land of Rice Fields."

Itachi answered while eating a local sweet.

"By the way, what happened to those two Kirigakure rogue ninja Naruto's group brought back last time?" Ye Wuyue suddenly remembered and asked Itachi.

Not long after Team 11 returned from their first mission, Naruto's group had also begun their first C-rank mission: escorting Tazuna, a bridge builder from the Land of Waves.

When they returned after completing the mission, they had brought back two rogue ninja from Kirigakure—Zabuza and Haku. Ye Wuyue wasn't particularly surprised that Team 7 had managed such a thing.

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Ye Wuyue roughly understood Naruto's strength. Naruto had not only learned his signature techniques, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and the Rasengan, but was also quite accomplished in the Body Flicker Technique. He had even mastered some of the Uzumaki Clan's sealing techniques. Overall, his current strength could probably qualify him as a Jonin.

Naruto's other ninjutsu and his Body Flicker Technique had basically all been taught by Minato, but his sealing techniques had been taught by his mother, Kushina. Ye Wuyue didn't know what method Minato had used, but Kushina's remaining Chakra had been able to remain inside Naruto for a long time. Whenever Naruto missed her, he could see Kushina.

Kushina had even called Ye Wuyue over once, saying she wanted to see what her grown-up self looked like. She had also asked about his mother, Mikoto.

Itachi thought for a moment before answering, "Lord Hokage probably handed the two of them over to Kirigakure together. As for how Kirigakure will deal with them, that's unknown. But Kirigakure seems to have had some major changes recently. The Fourth Mizukage died, and the Fifth Mizukage took office. Their punishment for those two rogue ninja may change as well."

Had Mei Terumi, Qing, and the others discovered that the Third Mizukage had been controlled?

After hearing Itachi's words, Ye Wuyue lowered his head and thought for a while.

The major event in Kirigakure was probably that Mei Terumi and the others had discovered their village's Mizukage had been controlled by someone else for years. During that time, he had continuously suppressed the village's bloodline clans and turned Kirigakure into a complete mess.

The person controlling the Third Mizukage was naturally Uchiha Obito. Ye Wuyue hadn't told anyone else about Obito yet. First, he couldn't find a suitable opportunity. Second, even if he said it, no one would really believe him, and he might even incur some people's dislike. It would be better to wait until he had evidence before revealing it.

"Speaking of which, after we return from this mission, the Chūnin Exams jointly held by the Five Great Ninja Villages should begin immediately, right? By then, not only Genin from the Five Great Ninja Villages, but Genin from other small ninja villages should participate as well. What do you think, Sasuke-kun?" Sai asked Ye Wuyue with a fake smile.

That's right, the major event, the Chūnin Exams, was about to arrive. The timing was similar to the original, taking place less than a year after Naruto, Sasuke, and the others became Genin. However, the scale of these Chūnin Exams was far larger than in the original.

It would no longer be jointly held by just Konoha and Sunagakure. All five great ninja villages would hold it together, and smaller ninja villages could participate as well. It would be held in Konoha.

Chūnin Exams on this scale could be said to be the first of their kind since the founding of the ninja villages.

The main reason such a grand event could happen was Konoha's current strength. Although the other ninja villages coveted Konoha's abundant resources, none of them dared to make a direct move.

Thus, they could only use these joint Chūnin Exams to probe Konoha's current strength.

"What thoughts could I have? I'll definitely participate. It's the first grand event of its kind in decades, and it'd be too regrettable not to take part. But with my strength, I can only take things one step at a time. I hope I can get promoted, so our team will have two Chūnin," Ye Wuyue answered casually.

Because of Itachi's genjutsu, Sai saw Ye Wuyue as possessing only the strength of an ordinary Genin. Whenever a mission required combat, Itachi would place Sai inside an illusion. In reality, Sai had been fighting wits with thin air every time they carried out a mission.

"With Sasuke-kun's strength, I don't think you'll be promoted. You should wait a few more years," Sai said with a fake smile.

Ye Wuyue turned his head and glanced at Sai. Although this false impression in Sai's mind was exactly what Ye Wuyue wanted, hearing those words still made him somewhat unhappy.

"What is it? I think what I said was right." Sai was somewhat puzzled after noticing Ye Wuyue's reaction.