The Konoha Crush Plan Begins! Orochimaru's Coveting

In a hidden underground cavern outside Hidden Leaf Village, damp droplets slid down the stalactites and struck the ground, echoing with a steady drip.

Several ninja dressed in Sound ninja attire knelt on one knee, while Orochimaru reclined against a stone chair draped in luxurious furs. Bandages were wrapped around his neck. The injuries from that day had forced him to switch into a temporary, makeshift body, and his chakra was still recovering.

"Have things been arranged with the Hidden Sand?" Orochimaru's voice was as hoarse as two pieces of sandpaper scraping together.

"Lord Orochimaru, the Kazekage has already gathered his elite forces at the border of the Land of Fire. On the day of the Chunin Exam finals, once you give the signal from the stands, the Sound ninja and the Hidden Sand army will immediately attack Konoha," one subordinate reported with his head lowered.

Orochimaru extended his long tongue and licked his lips, an eerie gleam flashing through his eyes. "Very good. That old man, the Third, has reached his time to die. However, you must make sure to avoid that madman Uchiha Yuan. His strength is a variable. Once I've completely destroyed Konoha, I'll take my time refining that perfect body of his."

Not long after the Sound ninja messenger left, however, the secret scroll letter personally written by Orochimaru to the Hidden Sand higher-ups, confirming the time to launch the full-scale assault, did not successfully reach the border of the Land of Wind.

Inside the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Late at night, all was quiet, and moonlight spilled across the training ground. Sasuke was bare-chested, sweat running down his muscles.

He panted heavily, practicing hand seals over and over again.

The curse mark on his neck flickered with black light from time to time, breathing as if it were alive. That faint, stinging sensation constantly reminded him of the threat from Orochimaru. Yuan sat on the rooftop, holding a secret letter from Hidden Sand Village that he had just intercepted. The invasion route and timing were written clearly on it.

"The day of the Chunin Exam finals... the Konoha Crush Plan." Yuan gave a scornful laugh. A flame ignited at his fingertip, and he directly burned this secret letter—one that would have been enough to put the entirety of Konoha on level-one alert—into ash, then casually scattered it into the wind.

The system notification rang out right on time: [Host has indulged the invasion of hostile forces into Konoha, ignored the village's safety, and acted with extreme arrogance! Rampage Points +100!]

Yuan clapped the ash from his hands and looked in the direction of the Hokage Building, muttering to himself, "Stop it? Only an idiot would stop it. What the hell does Konoha being destroyed have to do with me? Besides, a few thousand ninja from other villages charging in—that's a whole lot of moving stat shards. When takeout delivers itself to my door, why the hell would I refuse it?"

At the same time.

In the underground of a ruined temple several hundred kilometers away from Konoha, Danzo—whose wrist had been severed by Yuan, whose hand full of Sharingan had been gouged out, and who should have been fleeing like a rat in the streets—was hiding in a gloomy underground palace.

His sole remaining left eye stared fixedly at a map of Konoha on the table. Several diehard members of Root were kneeling on one knee.

"Lord Danzo, we have confirmed Orochimaru and the Hidden Sand's movements. They will strike on the day of the finals."

Danzo's old face looked exceptionally sinister under the candlelight. With his only remaining hand, he crushed the wooden cup he was holding. "Heaven helps me! That coward Hiruzen absolutely won't be able to stop Orochimaru. That little Uchiha bastard may be a monster, but even he won't last long before an army. When Orochimaru turns Konoha upside down and both sides are badly wounded, that will be when this old man leads Root to turn the tide and reclaim the Hokage's seat!"

It was not only the venomous snake inside the village. Outside the village, someone was also watching this storm.

In the vast forests at the border of the Land of Fire, two figures wearing black robes patterned with red clouds were slowly advancing along the tree trunks.

One of them carried a large sword wrapped completely in bandages over his shoulder, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth. "Mr. Itachi, up ahead is Konoha's sphere of influence. We're going to capture that Nine-Tails. Is now really the right time? I hear Konoha hasn't been very peaceful lately."

Itachi Uchiha walked in front, the bamboo hat on his head covering most of his face. He stopped and raised his head to look toward Konoha. Those scarlet Sharingan flickered once in the shadows. A few days ago, he had bought information about Konoha on the underground black market. When he saw the report stating, "Uchiha Yuan revived, single-handedly tore down the Hokage Building, and crippled Danzo," Itachi's still, unruffled heart skipped half a beat for the first time.

That child from six years ago... not only didn't die, he became a monster even I can't see through. Itachi silently thought to himself, his gaze complicated to the extreme. He did not know whether Yuan's resurrection would be fortune or disaster for Sasuke.

"Kisame, keep moving." Itachi lowered his bamboo hat. "A very interesting Uchiha has appeared in Konoha. We only need to concern ourselves with the Nine-Tails. As for the rest, we can just watch the show."

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the day of the Chunin Exam finals.

In the largest arena in Hidden Leaf Village, not a single seat was empty. The village's civilians, the clan heads of the major ninja clans, and even the daimyo of the Land of Fire were seated in the VIP stands.

The first match was Naruto Uzumaki versus Neji Hyuga.

Yuan sat atop a pillar with the best view, watching as Naruto below, after having all of his chakra sealed, suddenly erupted with red tailed-beast chakra and forcibly smashed Neji's Revolving Heaven apart with one punch, taking the match.

"The Nine-Tails jinchuriki... the taste of that violent chakra is actually somewhat interesting." Yuan rubbed his chin. On the system panel, if he could obtain chakra shards from the Nine-Tails, he might even be able to fuse an even more abnormal skill.

As several matches passed, the atmosphere in the entire venue was pushed to its peak.

"Next, Sasuke Uchiha versus Gaara of Hidden Sand Village!" the referee announced loudly.

Sasuke walked out from the contestants' passage, dressed in black, his eyes cold. Opposite him, Gaara had only just reached the center of the stage when he could no longer control the killing intent inside him. The sand around him churned wildly like boiling water, and the tyrannical aura of One-Tail Shukaku began to seep out of his body. The moment the match began, Gaara directly lost his sanity, and the sand started destroying the arena indiscriminately.

Just as the audience was crying out in alarm again and again, terrified by Gaara's madness.

On the main VIP platform, the man who had been sitting quietly the whole time wearing the Kazekage's hat suddenly moved.

He sprang violently up from his chair, his hands clamping directly around the Third Hokage's neck. In a flash, he took the Third to the tiled rooftop above the stands. Immediately afterward, the Sound Four, who had long since made preparations, took positions at the four corners and formed hand seals at the same time.

"Ninja Art: Four Violet Flames Formation!"

A square purple barrier rose from the ground, firmly trapping the "Kazekage" and the Third Hokage, Konoha's spiritual pillar, inside it. Anbu outside the barrier charged forward and were instantly burned to ash by the violet flames.

"Kazekage, have you lost your mind?!" Inside the barrier, the Third cried out in shock.

"Heh heh heh, Teacher Hiruzen. The Kazekage died in the desert long ago." The Kazekage tore off the human-skin mask, revealing Orochimaru's sickly face. "Today, I will wipe Konoha off the map!"

Almost at the exact same moment Orochimaru made his move, countless pure white feathers suddenly drifted down over the arena stands.

"Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana Technique!"

The ordinary villagers and weaker genin rolled their eyes back the moment they saw the feathers and collapsed into sleep one after another. Meanwhile, the hundreds of Hidden Sand and Sound ninja hidden among the audience abruptly tore off their disguises, raised bloodstained ninja blades, and began wildly hacking at the Konoha ninja around them who had not been caught in the genjutsu!

The stands instantly descended into chaos, screams and explosions rising one after another.

The Konoha Crush Plan had officially begun!