Pursuit in the Rainy Night

"Jiraiya, why don't you just say it clearly?" Orochimaru's raspy voice echoed.

"There's no need for that. It's enough that I understand it myself, isn't it?" Jiraiya walked over to Orochimaru's side and offered a self-deprecating smile.

"If you were to confess the fact that you like him, you wouldn't be suffering from this unrequited love. You're so timid, and whenever you're caught, you have to put on the act of a pervert. Are you an idiot?" Orochimaru spoke slowly.

Jiraiya laughed and draped an arm around Orochimaru's neck. "Orochimaru, you must have never liked a girl. You won't understand me right now, and that's fine. That's enough. Alright, I'm going to check the map and take a look at the surrounding villages while I'm at it. Maybe I'll find some intel."

Jiraiya patted Orochimaru on the shoulder and waved his hand.

Orochimaru turned around, watching Jiraiya depart.

Rain fell gently onto Orochimaru.

"I suspect I'll never understand those kinds of romantic feelings in the future... Heh, romance, how strange." Orochimaru shook his head and returned to his tent.

At this moment, inside Konohagakure, at the Root base.

"Lord Danzo, I have already dispatched Wood Ghost to search for that map," a Root ninja reported, kneeling on the ground with his head bowed.

"You must find that map. It must not fall into anyone else's hands," Danzo's aged, buzzing voice resonated. He touched the scar on his chin—a mark left behind during the war when he served under his teacher, Senju Tobirama.

His teacher's wish was to protect Konohagakure.

And what Danzo had to do was protect the village in his own way, to let the Monkey, and his teacher, see...

That I, Danzo, am the one who truly inherited the teacher's will.

Danzo slowly walked into a dimly lit room.

"Monkey, how will you resolve this one? I want to see if you still have the capability to shoulder the responsibilities of the Hokage position," Danzo said in a gloomy voice, looking at the cluttered communication letters on the desk.

The table was covered in correspondence between Danzo and Hanzo the Salamander. The gist of it was that Danzo provided intelligence to Hanzo the Salamander in secret, and in exchange, Hanzo would provide Konohagakure with resources and other assets.

Within the Land of Rain, outside Amegakure.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Wood Ghost bit his thumb, blood oozing out, and slammed his hand onto the ground. A puff of white smoke flashed, and a hound appeared.

"Woof!" Unlike the talking summons of Hatake Kakashi from the original story, this hound's ability was its keen sense of smell, typically used for searching and tracking.

Wood Ghost then pulled a box from his pocket—the box that had once held the map. It was a token retrieved from the Root base, the kind of item used as a clue. Root was a department devoid of emotion, prioritizing the mission above all else; thus, after a death, they relied on summons like this hound to track the mission objective.

"Woof, woof, woof, woof!" The hound sniffed, lifted its head, and instantly locked onto a direction.

"That direction is... Huh? That brat's home? Could it be..." Wood Ghost narrowed his eyes, a suspicion forming in his mind.

At night, Uchiha Chiba suddenly opened his eyes.

He looked around.

Konan was curled up in a corner nearby, fast asleep under a cloak, while Yahiko slept in a corner not far away.

"Where did that heart palpitation come from?" Chiba clutched his chest, an inexplicable panic causing him to subconsciously scan his surroundings.

It was still raining.

The pattering rain fell onto the broken roof tiles.

"I'll go for a walk." Uchiha Chiba stepped out of the house on tiptoe.

He threw on a straw raincoat, and the rain dampened his hair.

Arriving at the nearby forest, Uchiha Chiba's movements faltered, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Something's wrong. It's too quiet here." Chiba frowned.

On a rainy night, frogs and similar creatures usually appeared in this forest; the perpetually damp environment of the Land of Rain was their dream habitat. Yet tonight, there was no croaking or chirping. Something was wrong!

Uchiha Chiba glanced around.

Rain fell onto the leaves, then slid to the ground.

I need to leave, quickly.

Perhaps there were rogue ninjas nearby.

As far as the Land of Rain was concerned, the quality of their ninjas differed from those of the Five Great Nations. The ninjas here believed in "might makes right" far more than those from the major hidden villages. They felt that war was a way to get rich, so they would rob and kill outside Amegakure. If passing merchants were sensible, they would pay a large sum to save their lives; if not, they would be killed and their goods taken. This was why almost no ordinary merchants were willing to come to Amegakure to do business.

Uchiha Chiba slowly retreated.

Suddenly—

BOOM!!!!!

A kunai landed at Chiba's feet.

"Yo? Since you're here... don't bother leaving. We're in the middle of a war, after all; I'm sure no one would notice a few dead brats, hehehehehehe." Up in the tree, Wood Ghost, the Root ninja who had only met Chiba once before, was feigning a harmless smile.

Trouble...

The chakra on that guy...

He's a Jonin!

Uchiha Chiba took a deep breath.

Even uninjured, he wouldn't have been confident in killing a Jonin, let alone now, when Uchiha Chiba couldn't even gather his chakra. In other words, he was currently worse than a Genin, with only his taijutsu—roughly at the level of a Chunin—to rely on.

"Hey, what are you thinking about? Answer me one question obediently, and I might just give you a quick death." Wood Ghost stood on the branch, initially puzzled as to why he couldn't sense the brat's chakra.

It wasn't until shortly before, when he dug up the corpses of Chen and Moon Crow from the rain-soaked soil and examined them, that he discovered Moon Crow's short blade was missing and the wounds appeared to have been caused by Chen. This allowed the experienced Wood Ghost to immediately confirm his suspicions: that brat was the target of Moon Crow and Chen, and the map was definitely on him.

Uchiha Chiba remained silent. At this moment, his brain was racing; he only had one explosive tag and two kunai left on him...

A comeback... is highly unlikely.

What should I do?

"Brat, give me the map," Wood Ghost narrowed his eyes.

"The map isn't with me," Uchiha Chiba said slowly.

The next second, Wood Ghost's savage face appeared right in front of Chiba. He grabbed Chiba by the throat and slammed him hard into the ground.

"Brat, are you trying to play me? My ninja hound smelled Moon Crow on you. Do you think I'm some kind of pushover?" Wood Ghost kicked him.

Crack.

Uchiha Chiba's leg bone shattered.

"Ngh!!" Uchiha Chiba let out a muffled groan. This guy wouldn't even give him a chance to think or stall for time—was he afraid of complications?

Complications?

Wait.

"Are you in a hurry? Afraid that patrolling ninjas might come here, right?" Uchiha Chiba knew he was gambling; if he was wrong, it was game over.

"You... stop stalling. The ninjas from Amegakure won't come this way, so you might as well give up on that idea." Wood Ghost naturally saw through Chiba's intentions.

They won't come this way.

That means...