Jiraiya secretly told Naruto, "Everything you asked me to take care of has been done."
Afterward, Jiraiya quickly left.
"Yamato, Lady Tsunade, the Hokage, has issued an order. You need to work with me to find Orochimaru." Naruto handed a document to Yamato.
After reading the document, Yamato had no choice but to suppress all his dissatisfaction.
Naruto thought to himself, One day, I'll definitely get the Wood Release Scroll.
An hour later, at the gates of Konoha Village.
Naruto, Hinata, Yamato, and Neji had assembled.
Neji stared at Hinata for a long time and discovered that she had changed tremendously.
The old Hinata had been extremely timid. As long as someone looked at her, she would avert her gaze.
The current Hinata carried herself with proud confidence and even took the initiative to provoke Neji.
This made Neji extremely displeased. He had always believed Hinata was very weak, and that his defeat to her during the Chunin Ninja Exams had been entirely because of Naruto.
Without Naruto, Neji was completely confident that he could defeat Hinata.
Naruto quickly noticed the tension between Neji and Hinata. They were both members of the Hyuga Clan—one from the main family and one from the branch family—yet they behaved like complete strangers.
Naruto spoke first. "This mission is to locate Orochimaru's hideout."
"Why was I chosen?" Neji Hyuga interrupted. "Hinata is already on the team. She has the Byakugan too, so why add me? She's from the main family. Her Byakugan's abilities shouldn't be inferior to mine, right?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes, completely ignoring Neji as he continued explaining the mission. "I received intelligence that roughly pinpointed the location of Orochimaru's hideout."
Naruto took out a map, unfolded it, and pointed to a spot. "Orochimaru should be hiding here."
"Why was I chosen