Rasa and Orochimaru

Forget it, I'd better not speculate.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Jiraiya puzzled. He should be the one feeling down, so why did Uchiha Shingen suddenly seem like he was drinking alone?

Could it be...?

"I understand!" Jiraiya's eyes widened, and amidst Uchiha Shingen's bewildered expression, he slapped him on the shoulder and declared with unparalleled dominance, "My partner! Let's go again! This time we definitely won't fail!"

Inside the tavern, pairs of eyes turned to look.

Everyone here knows Lord Jiraiya's preferences.

They already knew Uchiha Shingen's preferences, but now they felt that their knowledge might not be complete.

"Lord Jiraiya, I have no interest in that," Uchiha Shingen quickly distanced himself. "I was just thinking about my former comrades."

"Ah... I see, I'm so sorry." Jiraiya quickly withdrew his hand. "This cup is on me."

He might joke around in other situations, but when it comes to serious matters like remembering his comrades, he doesn't make silly jokes.

"No, let me do it." Uchiha Shingen finished his drink and placed it back on the table. "Lord Jiraiya, is it true that Lady Tsunade will also be returning to the village?"

"Well, actually, I'm just guessing. After all..." Jiraiya made a gesture representing Mangning, "From the Land of Fire, all the powerful gambling merchants have come to the village. If you're talking about gambling, there's nowhere more exciting to play than in the village right now."

That's clearly not the truth.

But Uchiha Shingen said he believed it.

"I see, as expected of Lady Tsunade."

He smiled, called the bartender over, told him to sign Jiraiya's bill, and then got up.

The Shadow Clone has responded; the summons has been issued.

Uchiha Fugaku acted swiftly.

"Well then, Lord Jiraiya, I'll be going now. The summons has arrived."

"Oh, go ahead, you'll all have a lot of work to do from now on."

Uchiha Shingen nodded and vanished from Jiraiya's sight using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Jiraiya picked up his wine cup, took another sip, and silently watched Uchiha Shingen leave his seat.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Shingen had already appeared at the entrance of the Hokage Building.

The people on the street didn't seem surprised by the sudden appearance of ninjas.

After all, it's been whirring around for a while now.

Uchiha Shingen went straight into the summons room.

As for the so-called summons room, it was also the place where the Hokage dispatched troops during wartime. The Jonin of the village received the Hokage's orders here and went to the battlefield.

Uchiha Shingen arrived relatively early.

However, there were already about ten Jonin in the gathering room, including Uchiha Shisui, who was on duty in the Jonin Council.

"Brother Shingen." He saw Uchiha Shingen and waved.

Uchiha Shingen walked over; the Hokage's seat in front was still empty.

None of the five arrived.

After a while, the summoned Jonin arrived one after another, and the summoning room began to feel less spacious.

Given the number of Jonin Leaf Village, this room simply cannot accommodate them all.

Those summoned at this time were either elite members of the Leaf Village Jonin or Jonin their teams.

Not many, only about twenty people.

The side door of the meeting room opened, and Namikaze Minato led the Leaf Five into the room.

The five leaders took their seats, facing the assembled Jonin.

"Enough with the small talk. I've gathered you all here to announce something," Namikaze Minato said, looking at everyone. "However, judging from your expressions, you've probably already expected this."

"Of course, Lord Hokage, we are already prepared," Hatake Kakashi said first. "Now that people from other ninja villages have appeared in our village, you must have already issued clearance orders to each village."

"That's right, the ninjas from Hidden Mist Village and Cloud Village have already entered the village, and the Sand Village should be arriving soon," Sarutobi Hiruzen said. "Everyone will have a tough time during this period."

"Cloud Village? Didn't they refuse to participate?"

Obviously, not every ninja clan has a clan leader who serves as Hokage to assist them, so there will always be times when information is not timely.

"That was indeed the case at first," Sarutobi Hiruzen said, "But after learning that the Mizukage, Tsuchikage, and Kazekage would all be attending, they changed their minds and agreed to participate."

"Is everyone alright?" Namikaze Minato waited a moment, and seeing that no one was asking any more questions, he said, "Then, I officially announce that the Chunin Selection Exam will be held in seven days."

Chapter Two: Rasa and Orochimaru

In the memories of the people of the Hokage world, the Land of Wind is a place covered by endless yellow sand that has existed since time immemorial.

The boundless desert, with its endless yellow sand and fine texture, remains unchanged despite the relentless passage of time and countless trials. Only the echoing of camel bells resonates in the vast expanse of the desert.

The sunsets here are breathtakingly beautiful. As the sun sets, the desert people frolic barefoot in the desert, enjoying the warmth left by the sunlight.

A team is moving forward in the desert.

Their speed was faster than the wind in the desert.

The sand could not stop their steps; it protected them like guards.

There are very few people in the world who can travel on sand.

The group crossed the sand dunes and entered the more prosperous eastern region of the Land of Wind.

This is the transition zone between the desert and the continental plains, Land of Wind spends a large amount of money every year to protect this land and water.

The group entered the westernmost town in the area.

Compared to the bustling metropolises within the Land of Land of Fire, this city has a rugged style.

"Let's rest in the city tonight and get some rest; we still have two days' journey ahead."

"Yes, Lord Kazekage."

At the inn, after giving his orders, Rasa went to his room to rest with his guards.

Among the Genin), one team stood out—the other Genin teams all avoided them.

"Kankuro, stop looking, let's rest too." The girl in the group patted the boy next to her.

"Ah, okay," Kankuro said.

He couldn't help but glance at his younger brother.

As the children of the Kazekage, the three siblings wouldn't receive any extra care. On one hand, such behavior was tantamount to being labeled "useless" in Sand Village. On the other hand, among the genin, no one dared to Genin the youngest brother except for the siblings.

Jonin rarely dare to approach it.

[Really... I'm sure nothing bad will happen?]

Kankuro is no innocent boy; Sunagakure doesn't produce such people.

But he really didn't want to talk to his younger brother. It wasn't that he disliked him; in fact, they had a pretty good relationship when they were kids. It was just that one day, after he saw Gaara go berserk, he couldn't look his younger brother in the eye anymore.

That was absolutely terrifying!

"Gaara, it's time to go back and rest." Temari took a few steps, then noticed that one of her younger brothers hadn't followed, and quickly called out.

Gaara glanced back at her, then silently turned and walked away.

The other Sand Village Genin quickly moved aside to make way for this old man.

Gaara is not the Naruto Uzumaki from the original timeline.

Naruto Uzumaki uses pranks to attract attention and dispel his loneliness.

Gaara embodies the tough guy image; he crushes people to feel alive.

You can dislike him, but try blocking his way!

Die!

Temari and Kankuro are among the very few people he can talk to without his first thought being, "Come here and let me pinch your cheeks."

Even Gaara, who never argues with anyone but only pinches them, will argue with Kankuro.

This was one of the few times the brothers had such a close interaction.

However, Gaara stopped to leave not for any other reason than that he felt his nominal father seemed somewhat different from before.

That's all.

He wasn't interested in whether his so-called father was alive or dead.

After all, they would send people over to kill him whenever they had nothing to do, and they even sent another one before he left.

Gaara now kills those so-called Special Jōnin with absolutely no effort.

But Gaara is really looking forward to Hidden Leaf Village.

He remembered the man he had seen on the battlefield.

That man is very strong!

Gaara retreated not only because the opponent was from Leaf Village, but also because the opponent gave him the feeling that he could be killed with a single slap.

From then on, Gaara trained like a madman.

He wanted to challenge that man!

But he was still far from enough. Thinking of this, he became excited and couldn't help but smile.

His expression was seen by Kankuro, who was facing him, and Kankuro almost thought that some idiot had angered his younger brother again.

Kankuro was worried about one thing—wouldn't the Sand Village team suffer casualties before even reaching Leaf Village?

Putting aside the interaction between the three siblings, in the room, Rasa was standing by the window, enjoying the night breeze.

"Lord Kazekage, Gaara has gone to his room with Temari and Kankuro."

"Hmm," Rasa hummed.

The guard was at a loss for words.

"Lord Kazekage, what about Orochimaru...?"

"What's wrong with him?" Rasa turned his head.

Speaking of Orochimaru, during the Third Shinobi World War, he held off the Sand Ninja Army at Kikyo Pass.

How the tables have turned! Orochimaru is now an ally of Sand Village.

In Sound Village 'Rasa eyes, Otogakure was nothing but Orochimaru, how could they possibly be qualified to discuss an alliance with him?

"His men just made contact."

"Sound Village is utterly nonsensical and has slowed down our journey," Rasa said. "Why didn't they reply to our letters earlier?"

"It's said that preparations are underway."

"What have they prepared?" Rasa scoffed. "They really think they're something important. Did they send over Orochimaru's stuff?"

"It's here."

"That's good. As originally planned, stay in this city and be taken over by subsequent troops."

"Yes."

The guard saluted and withdrew.

Rasa stood by the window for a while, his hands behind his back.

Suddenly, he disappeared in a sudden burst of sand and gravel.

He appeared on the street, where two guards were already waiting.

"Let's go see Orochimaru and see what he's up to."

The sand and gravel rose up again, and the three of them vanished from their spot.

The streets returned to tranquility.

When Rasa and the others reappeared, they were already outside the city.