Encountering a Spy

With Hoshi, the transmigrator, and Jiraiya, the resident comedian, around, Orochimaru quickly became much less reserved.

Right now, he was only a six-year-old child, not nearly as difficult to approach as he was in the Original Story. Under Hoshi's guidance, he opened up after just a few exchanges.

Worth mentioning was that Orochimaru, who had still been somewhat gloomy when talking with Hoshi, had already started bickering back and forth with Jiraiya in no time at all.

After the four chatted by the school gates for a while, Sakumo was clearly starting to get restless. He was the type of training fanatic who felt uncomfortable all over if he went even a moment without practicing, and he was already itching to drag Hoshi off to train.

Hoshi keenly noticed this. He first signaled Sakumo with his eyes not to rush, then said to Orochimaru:

"Um, we should go finish today's training. Orochimaru, do you want to come with us?"

Orochimaru hesitated upon hearing that. He felt that things had progressed too quickly today, and it made him somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Jiraiya's eyes also lit up at those words. Bringing Orochimaru along to train was a great idea. Before this, whenever the three of them trained, he had been the one getting beaten up.

Now that an even weaker Orochimaru had joined them, didn't that mean he could enjoy the fun of crushing someone weaker too? At that thought, Jiraiya's eyes gleamed. Throwing an arm around Orochimaru's shoulders, he said, "Come on, let's train together. I'll show you the strength of the great Lord Jiraiya. But let me make this clear first—don't think you're all that just because you beat Saito.

"Compared to me, Saito is, well... an ant compared to an elephant. You get what I mean, right?"

Hearing Jiraiya say that, Orochimaru stopped hesitating. He shook off Jiraiya, who had plastered himself against him, and said:

"Then let's go. I really want to see just how strong an idiot like you can be."

Seeing Orochimaru, whom he himself had been unable to persuade, get won over by Jiraiya in just a few words, Hoshi could only sigh. This was probably the power of bromance.

The place where Hoshi and the others usually trained was beside a small stream rarely visited by anyone in the village. Just as they arrived at the stream and were about to begin the day's practice, a faint whistle suddenly drifted down from upstream.

Jiraiya blinked in curiosity. "What was that sound just now? Some kind of animal?"

Sakumo shook his head. "No. That was a whistle. There's someone upstream."

Orochimaru looked puzzled. "Isn't it normal for there to be people in the village?"

Hoshi explained, "We've been training here for two months and haven't run into anyone coming by. It's just strange to hear that sound today."

Just then, Jiraiya jumped up excitedly. "Let's go take a look! Let's see what's going on upstream. Maybe there's a beautiful big sister bathing up there."

As he spoke, Jiraiya revealed his signature lecherous expression again, making the other three clutch their foreheads. Orochimaru added:

"Idiot, would you whistle that loudly while bathing just to get people to come watch?"

Still, Jiraiya's suggestion did stir the curiosity of the other three. After two months of complete silence, a whistle had suddenly sounded nearby. Anyone would want to see what was going on.

The four immediately set off together, slipping into the dense forest and heading upstream along the creek.

Five minutes earlier, upstream.

A young man dressed as a beggar was sneaking about and searching in all directions.

After finding a crooked tree marked with a slash, the young man revealed an excited expression. He pressed his thumb and forefinger together, put them in his mouth, and let out a sharp, ringing whistle.

After the whistle, a rustling sounded through the forest, and another person dressed as a merchant appeared before the young man.

He rushed forward in two strides and slapped away the beggar's hand, saying irritably, "I'm already out here, so what are you still whistling for? Are you afraid people won't notice us or something?"

The beggar did not get angry at being scolded. Instead, he grinned and said, "It's been over a year since I last saw anyone from the village. I got excited, that's all. By the way, Qiu, have the cherry blossoms in the village bloomed yet?"

The companion called Qiu replied impatiently, "Konoha's cherry blossoms have bloomed, so of course Iwagakure's have bloomed too. Stop talking nonsense. Is the place you picked safe, An Rui?"

An Rui, dressed as a beggar, patted his chest. "Don't worry. I've watched this place for a long time. Usually, nobody comes here for days at a time.

"Only recently have a few five- or six-year-old brats started coming here after school to put on a show of training for a bit. But there's still nearly an hour until school gets out, so there won't be any problems.

"These Konoha brats are hopeless. They're nowhere near as hardworking or disciplined as us Iwagakure people. Even their training is sloppy. In the future, Iwagakure will definitely unite the Ninja World and become the strongest village."

As An Rui grew more and more outrageous, a bead of cold sweat trickled down Qiu's forehead. He impatiently cut An Rui off:

"Enough with the nonsense. The longer we stay, the greater the risk of exposure. Hurry up and tell me the intelligence you gathered over the past year."

At the mention of intelligence, An Rui immediately turned serious. He sorted through his thoughts and was just about to speak when Qiu's expression abruptly changed. He suddenly growled, "Who's there?!"

As he spoke, he pulled out a kunai and flung it into the forest.

The kunai struck a large tree with a thunk, embedding itself right beside Jiraiya. Startled, Jiraiya instinctively tried to cry out. Although Hoshi covered his mouth in time, a faint sound still escaped.

That sound further confirmed Qiu's suspicions. He exchanged a glance with An Rui, then the two turned and charged into the forest.

Sometimes, coincidences were simply like that. An Rui had specifically arranged to meet Qiu an hour early, yet he happened to run into the Ninja Academy's Combat Assessment.

Because the assessment ended quickly, Hoshi and the others had arrived here far earlier than usual, even after lingering by the school gates for so long.

The two groups collided head-on. Hoshi and the others had overheard that the other side were Iwagakure spies, while Qiu and An Rui had discovered their presence as well.

As the enemy rushed toward them, Hoshi's mind raced as he desperately considered how to resolve this.

After thinking it over, Hoshi still felt that they had to call for help. The Senju Clan's compound was not too far from here. Ten minutes—at his speed, ten minutes should be enough to bring Uzumaki Mito over to save them.

With that thought, Hoshi raised his hand and summoned a Shadow Clone before the astonished eyes of the other three. After exchanging a glance with his clone, both of them activated the secret technique, Assault.

Without another word, the Shadow Clone turned and sprinted away. A second before vanishing, Hoshi's Main Body softly told the other three, "Whatever happens, don't expose my existence. I'll find a way to take one of them out from the shadows. Then we might have a chance."

This Sunday, the story will be getting a recommendation. During the recommendation period, follows and votes are extremely important to Ye Zhi—they directly determine whether this book can receive more recommendations later and be seen by more people. So I hope all readers can help Ye Zhi out by giving it a vote and a follow. Ye Zhi is begging you all, orz.