Sakuya and Orochimaru had been having a great time chatting at the dessert shop. Sakuya thought he'd raised Orochimaru's opinion of him enough, while Orochimaru thought he'd found a kindred spirit. Both of them thought they'd won.
Just as they were about to leave, the dessert shop's door swung silently open. An Anbu Ninja wearing a dog mask came over to them and nodded.
"Jonin Orochimaru, Jonin Uchiha Sakuya, Lord Hokage requests your presence."
"Now?"
Sakuya was taken aback.
They'd just attended a Jonin meeting that morning, and now they were being summoned again at noon?
Did they think this was Genshin Impact, with how often they were activating things?
Had something happened?
Sensing something was off, Sakuya and Orochimaru exchanged a glance and immediately headed for the Hokage Office.
Three minutes later, the two arrived at the Hokage Building.
When they pushed open the office door, they found it already packed with people. Sakuya gave the room a quick once-over and saw that many Jonin were present, including Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the current Ino-Shika-Cho.
Besides the many Jonin he'd caught a glimpse of that morning, there were more than a dozen unfamiliar faces.
Sakuya thought carefully, then realized they were Jonin from Konoha's Barrier Team.
What could have happened?
What could have brought even the Jonin who guarded Konoha's barrier year-round and never left their posts to the office?
"Are Sakuya and Orochimaru here?"
When he saw the two enter, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "Come take a look at this."
He waved the mission scroll in his hand.
Sakuya stepped forward, took it, and quickly skimmed the contents. His brows furrowed.
"...Something happened in the Land of Fang?"
"Two nights ago, a group of wandering ninja from who knows where seized the Land of Fang's sugar refinery and destroyed the port Konoha had built nearby."
Hiruzen Sarutobi explained to Sakuya, "The two Jonin guarding the site were killed on the spot. Eleven Chunin were also killed or badly injured, and two Chunin are missing. As for the Genin..."
At this, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, then continued, "Aside from those casualties, the wandering ninja also seized the port."
"Have those wandering ninja gone mad?"
Sakuya looked utterly incredulous.
The Land of Fang was a small country bordering the western side of the Land of Fire, wedged between the Land of Rain and the Land of River. Its territory wasn't large, amounting to only about a third of the Land of Rain.
It might have seemed insignificant, but it was an important sugar-producing region for the Land of Fire.
Though the Land of Fire sat in the center of the continent, with vast territory and abundant resources, it lacked suitable land for producing sugar. Many of the raw materials needed for sugar production had long been imported.
That sugar refinery in the Land of Fang produced nearly thirty percent of the Land of Fire's sugar each year. Once some of it was allocated to Konoha, it accounted for about forty-five percent of Konoha's supply.
And now they were saying that some wandering ninja from who knew where had suddenly occupied the refinery and destroyed the port Konoha had built nearby?
That was a port belonging to the Land of Fire, the strongest of the Five Great Nations!
A port belonging to Konoha, the strongest shinobi village!
Reading this, Uchiha Sakuya could only feel that it was absurd.
This wasn't just snatching food from a tiger's mouth.
They were playing with the tiger's balls right in front of it—then yanking them!
They were slapping the Land of Fire and Konoha in the face!
They had some nerve.
"Uchiha Sakuya, Orochimaru, Tsunade Senju."
Hiruzen Sarutobi swept his gaze over those present and called out their names one by one. "Prepare at once and head to the Land of Fang as quickly as possible."
The Third Hokage's voice rang coldly through the Hokage Office. "Wipe out those wandering ninja completely, and take back the port and sugar refinery. All of it."
"Yes!"
The three answered solemnly.
As they were leaving, Hiruzen Sarutobi called out to Orochimaru. "Orochimaru."
He looked at his beloved student, lowering his voice. "You'll lead this mission. Remember, you must not only reclaim what belongs to Konoha..."
The Third Hokage's gaze was fierce, a suffocating chill hidden in his eyes. "...you must also make those watching from the shadows understand the price they'll pay for laying a hand on Konoha's property."
"Heh. What sort of price do you want them to pay, Sensei?"
Orochimaru looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi and asked.
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't answer. He simply looked at him in silence.
In the quiet office, the golden-eyed snake met the eyes of the middle-aged monkey. After a moment, the snake's lips curved into a faint smile, and he gave a slight nod.
An hour later, the three gathered at the village entrance.
Sakuya glanced at Tsunade, who had changed clothes.
Unlike the light blue casual outfit she'd worn earlier, Tsunade now wore the standard Konoha Jonin flak jacket. Her long blond hair was tied high with a band, giving her a very capable look.
Beneath the green flak jacket, she wore a black, form-fitting outfit. The tight fabric traced her full, rounded curves, making her look completely different from the young lady of the Senju clan she'd seemed like earlier.
Noticing Sakuya's gaze, Tsunade snorted, looking like she had no intention of indulging him.
That made sense. How could Tsunade be expected to give someone a friendly look after he'd just given her a hard time that morning?
"Sakuya, Tsunade."
Orochimaru looked at them and handed over the scroll in his hand.
"What's this?"
Sakuya took the scroll and glanced over it.
"Information on those wandering ninja. I got it from the sensory unit."
Orochimaru said, "We're short on time, so I'll keep it brief."
The three left the village entrance. As they walked, Orochimaru said, "According to the preliminary investigation, there are seventy-three wandering ninja in total. Their leader is skilled in Wind Release and is about as strong as a Jonin. The rest are a mixed bag, mostly Genin."
"...That's it?"
Sakuya raised an eyebrow.
He'd felt that something was off ever since they were in the Hokage Office.
"I remember the port the village built in the Land of Fang was guarded by two Jonin and quite a few Chunin, wasn't it?"
"Mm. One was named Shiranui Tane, the other Shiranui Bo. They were brothers."
"One Jonin-level fighter, leading a bunch of nobodies, killed two of our Jonin and quite a few Chunin and Genin..."
Uchiha Sakuya's brows furrowed.
Something was wrong.
Nine out of ten—no, ten out of ten—wrong.
Though they were all called Jonin, the gap between one Jonin and another could be enormous.
An ordinary Chunin could become a Jonin by mastering a nature transformation and learning a powerful technique, then passing their village's selection process. Kakashi, for example, had been recommended for Jonin at just over ten years old based on Chidori alone.
The standards for becoming a Jonin in small countries were even more lax. Sometimes, learning a powerful secret technique was enough to qualify.
By the unspoken rules of the Shinobi World, ninja from small countries and wandering ninja were considered a rank weaker than ninja from the great nations.
A Jonin from a small country was equivalent to a Chunin from a great nation, while a Chunin corresponded to a great nation's Genin.
But the sensory unit's report now claimed that a wandering Jonin had killed two Konoha Jonin?
Even if the two Jonin had been civilian ninja, and had been ambushed, they couldn't have been taken out so easily.
What exactly had happened in the Land of Fang?
Before you continue