A New Team (Part 1)

"Hehehe, although I am no longer the captain of Team 6, the team is still nominally called Team Orochimaru," Orochimaru chuckled coldly.

This guy.

In the thirty years since Konoha was founded, Orochimaru was likely the only captain who would leave his team to their own devices after leading them on a single mission.

Jiraiya watched Orochimaru's cold gaze and couldn't help but retort, "Hey, do you even know why Team 6 was disbanded?"

"I don't." Leaving that single sentence behind, Orochimaru walked away without looking back.

"This guy..." Jiraiya muttered, "I haven't seen him in over a year, and he's still the same."

"Master Jiraiya."

A voice suddenly came from behind him, making Jiraiya jump in fright.

"Hey, kid, can you not just suddenly appear behind people like that?! It's terrifying," Jiraiya complained loudly.

"Yes... yes." Uchiha Matsuri couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Old man, you were the one who just jumped up and scared me...

"Isn't that Matsuri?" Minato Namikaze suddenly looked at Uchiha Matsuri, who was standing beside Jiraiya.

"Tch~ it's that guy," Kiba Inuzuka curled his lip, glancing sideways at Uchiha Matsuri.

Back at the Ninja Academy, Kiba Inuzuka had already taken a dislike to Uchiha Matsuri. He was particularly annoyed that a large group of girls, including Kushina Uzumaki, often swarmed around Uchiha Matsuri, yet Uchiha Matsuri remained indifferent to them. Because of this, Kiba Inuzuka privately considered Uchiha Matsuri to be overly arrogant and hypocritical.

As for his teammate Minato Namikaze, although the two often bickered, they had been friends since childhood, and their relationship had always been quite good. Kiba Inuzuka grew to dislike Uchiha Matsuri even more after learning that his good friend Minato Namikaze liked Kushina Uzumaki, that Kushina Uzumaki had a crush on Uchiha Matsuri, and that Uchiha Matsuri had no interest in her.

"Matsuri," Minato Namikaze greeted with a smile.

Ever since he realized that Kushina Uzumaki had feelings for Uchiha Matsuri, Minato Namikaze had felt a slight sense of disappointment. However, the gentle and magnanimous Minato Namikaze did not harbor any real dislike for Uchiha Matsuri; on the contrary, he even admired his diligent training.

"It's Minato!" Uchiha Matsuri revealed a rare smile. After all, no one could dislike someone with a personality and popularity as excellent as Minato Namikaze's.

"Hey, what are you doing in our team!" Kiba Inuzuka said with dissatisfaction. "Your team was disbanded; don't tell me you're trying to join our team now."

"Kiba!" Minato Namikaze tugged on Kiba Inuzuka's sleeve, signaling him to stop.

Seeing Minato Namikaze "siding" with an "outsider" once again, Kiba Inuzuka let out a soft huff and stopped speaking.

"You actually guessed right. I am here to join Team 5," Uchiha Matsuri said with a smile, unfazed by Kiba Inuzuka's unusual attitude.

"What?" Kiba Inuzuka couldn't help but jump up.

"You said you're joining our team?" Jiraiya asked, puzzled.

"Yes, Master Jiraiya," Uchiha Matsuri replied respectfully. "A few days ago, the Third Hokage called Kushina and me into his office and told me that I had been transferred to Team 5."

"So that's how it is." Jiraiya suddenly realized; if the two members of Team 6 had been transferred to other teams, it made sense why Team 6 wasn't on the final list.

"Since it was arranged by the Third Hokage, then welcome to the team, Matsuri," Minato Namikaze said with a smile.

"Thank you, Minato."

"Matsuri, since you've joined our squad, you don't need to call me Master Jiraiya anymore. Just call me Sensei."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei."

It was Kiba Inuzuka's turn to express his stance. Already harboring a bias against Uchiha Matsuri, Kiba Inuzuka had no choice but to "generously" extend his right hand.

"Welcome, Matsuri," Kiba Inuzuka said reluctantly, holding his ninja dog.

At the same time, the ninja dog also turned its head away in disdain and let out two "woofs."

"Thanks," Uchiha Matsuri replied indifferently. He didn't have a good solution for Kiba Inuzuka. Since the boy held a prejudice against him, he would just try to avoid him in the future.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries with Jiraiya and the others, Uchiha Matsuri headed to the training ground.

As usual, Uchiha Matsuri continued his daily routine of 1,000 push-ups and a 20,000-meter shuttle run. He had been performing this training since he first started at the Ninja Academy, with the goal of improving his physical stamina. After all, good stamina was crucial for a ninja.

Returning home, Uchiha Matsuri smelled the aroma of food drifting from the kitchen and knew that Jiraiya had finished cooking early.

"Master Jiraiya, I'm home," Uchiha Matsuri greeted him politely, as he always did.

"Back from training again, I see!" Jiraiya walked out of the kitchen wearing an apron and looked at Uchiha Matsuri with satisfaction. "And you can just call me Jiraiya-sensei. Calling me 'Master' all the time makes things feel too distant."

Jiraiya was already happy to be teaching a genius junior like Minato Namikaze. Now, another genius-level figure, Uchiha Matsuri, had been transferred under his tutelage as well.

Teaching two potential candidates for Hokage simultaneously—that was a level of prestige only the Third Hokage had once enjoyed.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei," Uchiha Matsuri went into the kitchen to help Jiraiya clear the cutting board.

Uchiha Matsuri felt he could never treat Jiraiya like a father. Even though he had been an orphan since childhood in this life, if one were to count his psychological age, Uchiha Matsuri was actually older than Jiraiya.

This strange ethical dynamic meant that while Minato Namikaze and Jiraiya shared a father-son bond, Uchiha Matsuri and Jiraiya maintained a respectful, "superior-subordinate" relationship, despite living under the same roof for years.

The next morning.

Uchiha Matsuri participated in a Team 5 assembly for the first time.

After a brief greeting, Jiraiya led the three of them to the mission assignment office.

"Master Jiraiya." Seeing Jiraiya arrive with Team 5, the chunin at the mission desk greeted him politely.

"We're here to pick up an A-rank mission today," Jiraiya said concisely.

"An A-rank mission? Then how about this one?" The chunin flipped through the mission registry and handed over a mission card.

"Escorting a merchant caravan?" Jiraiya's mouth twitched, and he asked with dissatisfaction, "I say, shouldn't missions like escorting merchant caravans be B-rank or C-rank?"

Generally, escorting a merchant caravan did not involve much danger. Since most people who attacked caravans were merely bandits or thieves who could not use chakra, these missions were primarily B-rank or C-rank.