"Hehehe. Even though I'm no longer the captain of Team 6, officially it's still called Team Orochimaru," Orochimaru said with a sinister laugh.
That guy.
In the thirty years since Konoha was founded, Orochimaru was probably the only captain who'd led his team on a single mission and then left them to fend for themselves.
Watching Orochimaru's sinister gaze, Jiraiya couldn't help making a snide remark.
"Hey, do you know why Team 6 was disbanded?" Jiraiya asked irritably.
"No." With that, Orochimaru walked away without looking back.
"That guy..." Jiraiya muttered. "It's been over a year, and he's still the same."
"Lord Jiraiya."
A voice suddenly came from behind him, and Jiraiya jumped in fright.
"Hey, kid, could you stop suddenly appearing behind me all the time?! You scared the life out of me," Jiraiya scolded loudly.
"Y-yes." Uchiha Matsuri's mouth twitched.
Old man, you're the one who just jumped and scared me...
"Isn't that Matsuri?" Minato Namikaze suddenly looked toward Uchiha Matsuri, who was standing beside Jiraiya.
"Tch, it's that guy." Kiba Inuzuka pursed his lips and shot Uchiha Matsuri a sidelong glance.
Kiba had never liked Uchiha Matsuri, even back in the Ninja Academy. He especially resented how a whole group of girls, Kushina Uzumaki among them, were always flocking around Matsuri, while Matsuri couldn't seem to care less. Kiba had privately decided that Matsuri was arrogant and fake.
Although Kiba and his teammate Minato often bickered, they'd been friends since childhood and had always gotten along well. And after learning that his friend Minato liked Kushina, Kushina had a crush on Matsuri, and Matsuri wasn't interested in her, Kiba disliked Matsuri even more.
"Matsuri," Minato greeted him with a smile.
Ever since he'd realized Kushina was interested in Uchiha Matsuri, Minato had felt a little disappointed. Still, the kind and magnanimous Minato didn't really dislike Matsuri. In fact, he admired how hard Matsuri trained.
"Minato!" Uchiha Matsuri replied with a rare smile. After all, who wouldn't like someone as kind and popular as Minato?
"Hey, what are you doing in our team?" Kiba said unhappily. "Your team was disbanded. Don't tell me you're trying to join ours."
"Kiba!" Minato tugged at Kiba's sleeve, signaling him to stop.
Seeing Minato "take the outsider's side" once again, Kiba gave a quiet huff and fell silent.
"You guessed right. I'm here to join Team 5." Seeing Kiba's unusual hostility, Uchiha Matsuri wasn't angry. He simply smiled.
"What?" Kiba jumped up.
"You're saying you're joining our team?" Jiraiya asked in surprise.
"Yes, Lord Jiraiya," Uchiha Matsuri answered respectfully. "A few days ago, Lord Hokage called Kushina and me into his office and told me I was being transferred to Team 5."
"I see." Jiraiya suddenly understood. If the two members of Team 6 had been transferred to other teams, then it made sense that Team 6 didn't appear at the bottom of the final rankings.
"If it was arranged by Lord Hokage, then welcome to the team, Matsuri," Minato said with a smile.
"Thanks, Minato."
"Matsuri, since you've joined our team, you don't need to call me Lord Jiraiya anymore. Just call me Sensei."
"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei."
Now it was Kiba's turn to say something. Though he was biased against Uchiha Matsuri, he had no choice but to "graciously" extend his right hand.
"Welcome, Matsuri," Kiba said reluctantly, holding his Ninja Dog.
At the same time, the Ninja Dog turned its head disdainfully and barked twice.
"Thanks," Uchiha Matsuri replied flatly. There wasn't much he could do about Kiba. If Kiba was biased against him, he could just avoid him as much as possible.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Jiraiya and the others, Uchiha Matsuri headed to the training ground.
As usual, Uchiha Matsuri continued his daily workout of one thousand push-ups and twenty thousand meters of shuttle runs. He'd kept up this training since his first days at the Ninja Academy, all to improve his stamina. After all, stamina was crucial for a ninja.
When he got home, the smell of food wafting from the dining room told Uchiha Matsuri that Jiraiya had prepared dinner early.
"Lord Jiraiya, I'm back." As usual, Uchiha Matsuri greeted him politely.
"Been training again, I see!" Jiraiya came out of the kitchen wearing an apron and looked at Uchiha Matsuri with approval. "Also, just call me Jiraiya-sensei. Calling me 'Lord' all the time makes us sound like strangers."
Jiraiya had already been delighted to teach a talented young ninja like Minato. Now another prodigy, Uchiha Matsuri, had been transferred to his team.
He was now teaching two potential Hokage candidates at once. Only the Third Hokage had ever enjoyed that kind of privilege.
"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei." Uchiha Matsuri went into the kitchen and helped Jiraiya clean the cutting board.
Uchiha Matsuri felt he could never treat Jiraiya like a father. Even though he'd been an orphan since childhood in this life, if he counted his mental age, he was actually older than Jiraiya.
This strange relationship meant that, unlike Minato and Jiraiya, who were as close as father and son, Uchiha Matsuri and Jiraiya remained in a respectful "superior-subordinate" relationship, despite having lived under the same roof for years.
The next morning.
Uchiha Matsuri attended Team 5's gathering for the first time.
After a brief greeting, Jiraiya led the three of them to the mission assignment office.
"Lord Jiraiya." Seeing Jiraiya arrive with Team 5, the Chunin at the mission assignment office greeted him politely.
"We'd like to take an A-rank mission today," Jiraiya said succinctly.
"An A-rank mission? Then this one should do." The Chunin flipped through the mission register and took out a mission card.
"Escort a merchant caravan?" Jiraiya's mouth twitched. Then he asked in dissatisfaction, "I mean, shouldn't escorting merchant caravans be a B- or C-rank mission?"
Usually, escorting a merchant caravan wasn't very dangerous. Those who attacked caravans were mostly bandits and thieves who couldn't use chakra, so caravan escort missions were mainly ranked B or C.
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