Discovered

"Josuke, I need you to make a trip. Losing the cargo isn't a big deal, but there are some precious materials inside that can't be lost. I installed a tracker on the cargo before escaping. Please bring it back."

Josuke nodded. It was a simple mission. There was no one in the Hidden Leaf Village who could put up a fight; anyone with hands could handle it.

His only concern was that a few members of the Akatsuki Organization might suddenly pop up at this time and beat Josuke to a pulp. That would be GG.

Hearing Josuke agree so readily, Orochimaru's expression finally improved slightly. Then he gave Sasuke another order.

"Sasuke, go scout the perimeter and see whether any enemies have tracked us here. Find a way to shake them off. Once Josuke succeeds, provide him with support."

"Got it~"

Sasuke was as aloof as ever and unwilling to say much. He simply left without looking back.

Josuke had no reason to stay either. After bidding Orochimaru farewell, he got up and left. Once the two had gone, Orochimaru began coughing violently.

His coughing echoed through the underground chamber. Of course, the two people above could not hear it.

After a long while, Orochimaru finally let out a slow breath and looked in Sasuke's direction. The Living Corpse Reincarnation was nearly ready. All that remained were several boxes of medicinal herbs.

After leaving the base, Josuke followed the location marked on the scroll and indeed found where the cargo was being kept.

Seeing the Hidden Leaf Village ninjas here, he found that they had no proper sense of combat readiness at all. The scattered groups of ninjas were lined up messily as they slept together.

Are these Konoha Village's ninjas?

They were far too lax.

All he could say was that they were inferior even to the Sound Village founded by Orochimaru. Josuke dared to guarantee that even the Sound ninjas would slaughter this batch of ninjas with ease.

Josuke recognized the person leading them. Who else could it be but Ebisu? But why wasn't Ibiki here? Josuke did not know. That was all the intelligence he had gathered.

After confirming their numbers and defensive formation, Josuke began to sneak in. It was unbelievably easy; he dismantled the defenses Ebisu had set up without any effort.

He soon arrived at the place where the supplies were stored. The two guards were already drowsy, and Josuke did not even need a disguise to slip right past them.

The cargo Orochimaru wanted...

Just as Orochimaru had said, the cargo was indeed a small box. Josuke had no idea what was inside, though there was a combination lock on the outside.

Josuke had no curiosity about checking it.

After taking the cargo, Josuke prepared to leave.

Just then!!

An unexpected change occurred. Outside the tent, Kotetsu Hagane, one of Konoha Village's gate guards, arrived at the entrance to conduct a serious inspection of the warehouse. Josuke inside heard the movement.

He hurriedly hid.

Damn it, he could've come early or late, but he had to come now. What a plot-kill.

Kotetsu Hagane still had no idea someone was inside. He merely walked around as casually as usual, carrying the Summoning Technique: Giant Rod on his shoulder.

A huge club shaped like a shell, the Giant Rod could fly freely through the air, with Kotetsu Hagane controlling all of its offense and defense.

(I've seen many Naruto plot analyses saying this is the Three-Tails' eye. I don't know whether that's true, and Kishimoto himself made things up as he went, so let's do a little poll here.

Reply "the author is the most handsome" if it is not the Three-Tails' eye. Reply "the author is handsome, but not as handsome as the readers" if you choose that it is the Three-Tails' eye. Then, reply "the readers are handsome" if your answer is the same as "the author is handsome, but not as handsome as the readers.")

Josuke, hiding in place, did not know who had entered. He could only pray that the person would not discover him.

But how could the heavens possibly favor him?

Kotetsu Hagane's weapon seemed to draw out the Nine-Tails chakra within Josuke, making his chakra extremely restless. It was only a small amount of chakra, but that tiny amount alone—

—directly exposed Josuke.

As everyone knew, Stands—no, tailed beasts—would attract one another. Tailed beast chakra was no exception. When Kotetsu Hagane used his weapon, it had already sensed the aura of Nine-Tails chakra.

Thus, the weapon deliberately yet seemingly casually moved closer to Josuke. Josuke had originally remained hidden and undiscovered, but the Nine-Tails chakra chose this moment to act up.

It directly wrapped Josuke in a tailed beast cloak.

Evil tailed beast chakra overflowed into the surroundings. Even Kotetsu Hagane, who was in the middle of swinging his weapon, sensed it and immediately assumed a combat stance.

Kotetsu Hagane was thrilled. Today truly was his lucky day. His team had first received intelligence from a kind Konoha Village civilian that Orochimaru's supply convoy would pass through here today.

That kind civilian had even led the ninjas here. Kotetsu Hagane had thus laid an ambush and, sure enough, caught a big haul.

And now, he had merely been performing a routine inspection of the goods when he found himself catching a thief.

The only imperfect thing about these past few days was that the kind civilian seemed not to like the Hokage, but preferred Danzō instead. Kotetsu Hagane had no idea why. It was rather strange.

"Who's there? Come out!!"

Kotetsu Hagane shouted, trying to force Josuke out, but why would Josuke do as he wished?

Josuke not wanting to fight did not mean he could not fight. Since you've called for backup, don't blame me for getting rough.

The tailed beast chakra had once again returned to Josuke's control. Seeing that the thief hiding inside refused to come out, Kotetsu Hagane decided to go all out.

He hurled the giant hammer in his hand!

"Boom!!"

It smashed the surrounding wooden crates apart and kicked up a cloud of dust. Josuke seized the giant hammer in passing. Sure enough, it was that sensation—a chakra similar to the Nine-Tails chakra within Josuke.

With half his weapon taken, Kotetsu Hagane tried to pull it back, only to discover that the other party possessed the strength of a savage bull. He could not budge it at all.

"Who exactly are you?" Kotetsu Hagane asked as he looked at the man wearing a mysterious mask. Their fight had already drawn many people over, including quite a few "experts" as strong as Kotetsu Hagane.

"My name remains unchanged—I am Yamanaka Feng!!"

Yamanaka Feng? Who was that?

Was he from the Yamanaka clan? Then why had Kotetsu Hagane never seen him before? What Kotetsu Hagane did not know was that Josuke had hidden his true appearance.

Josuke had made up the name Yamanaka Feng on the spot. In any case, he was wearing a high-end custom mask, so he did not need to worry about his handsome face being smashed up.

The only thing he needed to worry about was being captured.

Kotetsu Hagane continued tugging with all his strength at his weapon. He never expected Josuke to pull again, dragging him right in front of himself. Kotetsu Hagane was no coward.

Even when dragged over, he remained calm in the face of danger and fired a Great Fireball Technique at Josuke.

But it was useless. How naive!!

For every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. Kotetsu Hagane had been pulled right in front of Josuke, who drove a fist straight into his face. Kotetsu Hagane was sent flying several meters away.

The weapon made from the Three-Tails' eye successfully fell into Josuke's hands.

As Kotetsu Hagane was sent flying, another group of enemies surrounded Josuke...