Orochimaru's Scheme

Everyone who could be in this command tent was a Konoha Jonin. Being watched by so many Jonin at once, Uchiha Yuan immediately felt the pressure mounting.

Fortunately, most of the Jonin did not keep staring at Uchiha Yuan and the others. They merely swept a brief glance over them before looking away.

At that moment, Lord Orochimaru, who stood at the very front, lowered his head and looked at the three of them.

His gaze paused on Yamanaka Kizuki for an instant, then moved to Uchiha Yuan in the middle.

Uchiha Yuan immediately felt the hairs on his body stand on end. Lord Orochimaru's gaze carried a kind of predatory pressure that made Uchiha Yuan feel extremely uncomfortable.

However, Lord Orochimaru's gaze did not linger on him for long, and soon shifted over to Hyuga Asana.

After sizing up Hyuga Asana for a few seconds, Lord Orochimaru said, "Shibi, introduce your subordinates."

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru. The one on the left is Yamanaka Kizuki, a member of the Yamanaka Clan. The one in the middle is Uchiha Yuan, a member of the Uchiha Clan. The one on the right is Hyuga Asana, a member of the Hyūga Clan."

"Shibi, is there anything special about your subordinates?" Lord Orochimaru asked.

"Well... I don't think so!"

Hearing this, Lord Orochimaru smiled and said, "It seems you, as their teacher, still don't understand your students well enough."

At that moment, a ninja beside Lord Orochimaru, wearing a mask and looking somewhat like an Anbu, said, "Lord Orochimaru, let's not joke around. Please get to the matter at hand."

"All right! Then the joke ends here. Shibi, the reason I called all the members of your squad here this time is that there is a mission I want to assign to you."

"Please give your orders, Lord Orochimaru," Shibi Aburame said.

"This time, we caught the Kirigakure Shinobi off guard and won this battle, eliminating a large number of Kirigakure Shinobi. However, Kirigakure's high-end combat power has not suffered much loss.

And if nothing unexpected happens, the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, will soon arrive on the battlefield.

That man has just taken over as the Fourth Mizukage. He will certainly need to fight a battle to establish his authority, and the battlefield in the Land of Bears may face an even more dangerous situation next.

So we need your squad to go deep into the hinterland and constantly monitor the movements of the Kirigakure Shinobi until you confirm the Fourth Mizukage's arrival, then return."

(P.S.: At this time, the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, had not yet taken the position of Mizukage, but I couldn't find any relevant information on the Third Mizukage, which made it hard to write, so I'm directly writing him as the Fourth Mizukage. Also, at this stage, the Fourth Mizukage is not the Three-Tails Jinchuriki. He only becomes the Three-Tails Jinchuriki after Rin's death. Stating this in advance to prevent nitpicking.)

Hearing this, Shibi Aburame's expression immediately turned serious. The danger level of this mission was completely incomparable to the previous one.

Their previous missions had at most involved clearing traps on the battlefield, but this time, they would probably have to go even deeper.

If they wanted to confirm when the Fourth Mizukage arrived, they might even have to get near the Kirigakure Shinobi camp.

"Lord Orochimaru, the three of them lack experience. It would be better for me to go alone on this mission!" Shibi Aburame said.

"Shibi, your Kikaichū can indeed detect enemies from a very far range, but you have no way to identify the amount of an enemy's chakra, nor do you have any real means of transmitting information. I'm afraid you can't complete this mission alone," Lord Orochimaru said.

"But the three of them only graduated from the Ninja Academy not long ago. Isn't it inappropriate to have them carry out a mission like this?"

"That is why I said you don't understand your students, Shibi. Teacher Sarutobi thinks very highly of the three of them. In the letter that just arrived, Teacher Sarutobi even specifically asked about their situation," Lord Orochimaru said with a smile.

After hearing Lord Orochimaru's words, Shibi Aburame did not know what to say for a moment.

"Yuan does indeed have some talent, but he is still too young, after all. His temperament is not steady enough, and he also lacks experience. Why not let me take Yuan's place?" Uchiha Mei, who had remained silent all this time, said.

Seeing Uchiha Mei state his position, a Jonin from the Hyūga Clan branch family also made a similar request.

The Clan Head of the Yamanaka Clan, Inoichi Yamanaka, also stepped forward and said, "Most members of our Yamanaka Clan coordinate with members of the Nara and Akimichi Clans. Someone like Kizuki, who acts alone, is very rare.

For the time being, we have no one on our side who can replace Kizuki. However, we are willing to send a perfectly coordinated Ino-Shika-Cho group to assist in carrying out this mission."

"What Inoichi means is what I mean as well," Choza Akimichi followed up.

"Shikaku, what do you say?" Lord Orochimaru turned his head and asked.

"I have no objections either," Shikaku Nara replied somewhat helplessly.

"In that case, this mission will be left to you. Shibi, you are the captain of this mission. All five of them will follow your arrangements."

Only when he heard this did Uchiha Yuan understand. Lord Orochimaru had called them in and assigned them a mission in public, but his real aim had never been the wine in the cup.

With the three of their qualifications, how could they possibly be eligible to carry out such an important mission? It was obvious that Lord Orochimaru was using the three of them as bait.

In particular, Lord Orochimaru had even deliberately mentioned that the Third Hokage thought very highly of them. This was also putting pressure on the various clans present.

He was forcing them to send suitable people to carry out this mission.

"Since someone is replacing you, the three of you don't need to go. You may leave."

Hearing this, Shibi Aburame gave Uchiha Yuan and the other two a look, telling them to hurry out.

Uchiha Yuan turned his head and glanced at Uchiha Mei. Uchiha Mei also nodded at him.

Uchiha Yuan sighed inwardly, then turned and left.

Seeing this, Hyuga Asana and Yamanaka Kizuki immediately followed.

After coming out of the command tent, Uchiha Yuan's expression looked somewhat grim.

"Yuan, just now, did Lord Orochimaru use us to coerce the Jonin from our clans into carrying out this dangerous mission?" Hyuga Asana asked.

"Mm."

Hearing this, Yamanaka Kizuki sighed and said, "Sigh! So it really was like that! I thought I'd misunderstood! If the seniors from our clans get injured or killed because of this operation, what are we supposed to do?"

Uchiha Yuan and Hyuga Asana looked at each other, but neither of them spoke. The atmosphere between the three of them became somewhat heavy.

To be honest, Uchiha Yuan had not expected Uchiha Mei to be the first one to speak up and ask to take his place on the mission.

After Uchiha Yuan figured out Orochimaru's objective, he felt that someone from his clan would probably speak up and take on the mission, after which the people from the other clans would be forced to state their positions.

At first, Uchiha Yuan thought the first to speak would be someone from the Yamanaka Clan. After all, their clan head, Inoichi Yamanaka, was right here.

In the end, the first to speak was actually Uchiha Mei. This senior, whom he had only met twice, stated without the slightest hesitation that he was willing to carry out such a dangerous mission in his place. It made Uchiha Yuan's conviction to save the Uchiha Clan grow even firmer.

"Asana, Kizuki, let's call it here for today! Tomorrow morning at eight, meet at the Old Place in camp." After saying that, Uchiha Yuan turned and left.

Hyuga Asana and Yamanaka Kizuki also said goodbye to each other and returned to their respective clan camps.