Hanfu took the oranges out of the Hokage Office. As he walked downstairs, he peeled and ate them, and by the time he reached the Hokage Building's entrance, only two segments remained in his hand.
"Here."
Hanfu wasn't embarrassed. He generously split the two orange segments between Naruto and Karin.
"Teacher Hanfu."
Naruto swallowed his segment whole and chewed as he asked, "Is that guy Sasuke coming or not?"
"Sasuke's not here. It's just the three of us today."
Hanfu waved his hand grandly. "Come on, let's pick a mission."
"Oh! Great!!" Naruto was overjoyed. He could finally get away from that smug jerk, Sasuke.
"Big brother, is Sasuke really all right?" Karin, by contrast, looked worried.
"If it's not a blessing, it's a disaster; if it's a disaster, there's no escaping it." Hanfu replied cryptically.
"What does that mean, big brother?" Karin asked, confused.
"It means to let things take their course. Don't force anything," Hanfu said.
Karin furrowed her brow, still not quite understanding, but Hanfu couldn't explain any further. After all, the matter involved a lot of confidential information that Karin wasn't allowed to know yet.
After that, whenever Karin asked again, Hanfu kept changing the subject. After a few rounds of this, Karin finally stopped asking, looking aggrieved.
After choosing a mission, the three of them left Konoha together.
Inside an underground Research Base in the southeastern coastal region of the Land of Fire.
Tobi slowly emerged from the base entrance. Then he opened up his body and spat Sasuke out.
"We're here."
Tobi smiled. "Orochimaru's inside."
Sasuke glanced at him and said coldly, "I thought you had nothing to do with Orochimaru. How do you know his exact location?"
"Well..." Tobi's smile stiffened. He was in a difficult spot.
"Hmph!"
Sasuke snorted, turned toward