Became the mastermind behind the Akatsuki organization

Chapter 373 Naruto and Jiraiya
After breaking free from Orochimaru's restraints, Anko headed towards the tower in the central area.

As a special jonin of Konoha, even though Orochimaru was her teacher, she had to report the information of Orochimaru's appearance in the Forest of Death to the Third Hokage.

The reason is very simple. As a disciple of Orochimaru, she knows how many tricks Orochimaru has.

After arriving at the central tower, Red Bean came to the Third Hokage and reported the information.

At this time, the Third Hokage was watching the Chunin Exam with Byakuya and Sasori. After listening to Red Bean's report, he couldn't help but frowned, and his expression became much uglier.

After letting Red Bean retreat, the Third Hokage fell into a brief period of silence.

In every joint Chunin exam, there were hostile ninjas who wanted to disrupt the Chunin exam, but those people were at most jonin, and they did not pose any threat to the progress of the Chunin exam.

But this time was different, Orochimaru actually appeared in the Chunin Exam.

Orochimaru was his disciple, who once defected from the village due to differences in ideology and became an S-rank traitor on the bounty list.

However, even though Orochimaru became a rebel ninja, he never sent out an Anbu team to hunt him down.

Firstly, Orochimaru is extremely powerful, and the entire Anbu combined may not be Orochimaru's opponent. Secondly, he still has unrealistic hopes for Orochimaru.

I hope Orochimaru can take the initiative to admit his mistake and return to the village. It is precisely because of this complicated emotion that the Third Hokage now doesn't know what to do.

He didn't know what the purpose of Orochimaru's visit was.

Should he look for an opportunity to return to the village, or should he attack the village? If it was the former, everyone would be happy. As long as Orochimaru was willing to return to the village, he could guarantee it with his honor.

If it is the latter, then you need to consider countermeasures carefully.

Bai Ye saw the reaction of the Third Hokage, and he knew exactly what the Third Hokage was thinking.

The Third Hokage was an indecisive ninja and a useless 'goody-goody'. At the moment, he was just thinking about Orochimaru and had unrealistic fantasies about him.

After muttering a few words in his mind, Bai Ye said to the Third Hokage: "Hokage-sama, a Konoha jonin just came to report. Is there something important going on?"

The Third Hokage glanced at Bai Ye, shook his head and said, "It's nothing, it's just that this year's Chunin Exam is more intense than ever before, even the cameras hidden in the dark were destroyed."

Bai Ye nodded, and then said: "That's good. I thought there were some villains who took the opportunity to cause trouble. If anyone wants to disrupt this Chunin Exam, I will definitely stop them, no matter what."

Scorpion also came over at this time and said, "The Sand Village is also obliged to deal with this situation."

The Third Hokage smiled and said, "Thank you for your support, Elder Byakuya and Lord Kazekage, but the current situation is still within Konoha's ability to handle. You two don't need to take action for the time being. You should just watch the battle with me."

The Third Hokage said this, but he was not at peace at all.

In addition to Byakuya and Sasori, he also invited many nobles and wealthy businessmen to watch the Chunin Exam. If something really went wrong, Konoha would suffer an enormous loss.

This was something he was unwilling to accept.

……

As time went on, more and more ninja teams arrived at the tower.

This includes Naruto's team and Gaara's team, as well as the other members of the Twelve Little Warriors. Although these ninjas are nominally Genin, their strength exceeds that of ordinary Chunin.

After the last team that obtained the Scroll of Heaven and Earth entered the central area, the second round of exams was immediately terminated.

Compared with the first round of exams, the second round of exams was extremely dangerous.

According to known intelligence, no less than ten ninjas mysteriously disappeared during the second round of the Chunin Exams. Some were killed by poisonous insects and ferocious beasts kept in the Death Forest, while others died in battle.

Faced with such a high mortality rate, many ninjas regretted coming to take part in the Chunin Exam.

After successfully advancing to the third round of exams, Naruto's team found the team leader Kakashi and told him about their experience in the Forest of Death.

When he heard that Naruto and others encountered Orochimaru and escaped safely.

Kakashi's face was full of shock, and he was extremely surprised at the speed at which Naruto and the others' strength was improving.

When he was young, he had thought about becoming a master like the Sannin, and believed that with his talent, he would be able to challenge the Sannin sooner or later.

But when he actually faced Orochimaru, one of the Three Ninjas, he realized the gap between them.

Orochimaru defeated him, who had already become a Jonin, with only two moves. If the Third Hokage had not appeared in time, he might have died.

After trying to calm down, Kakashi said grimly, "I will report the news of Orochimaru's appearance to the Hokage, but you must be prepared for the postponement of the Chunin Exam."

Naruto and the others nodded, agreeing with Kakashi's reminder.

Given the situation at the time, if Orochimaru really attacked them, the chances of them surviving would not be high.

With such a poisonous snake lurking in Konoha, we cannot rush into the Chunin Exam.

On the other side, Gaara and others also saw their team leader, the senior ninja Maki, but they did not report the information to Maki, but directly reported it to Sasori.

After hearing that Luo Sha appeared in the Forest of Death, Scorpion smiled and didn't take it seriously.

Gaara asked in confusion: "Scorpion-sama, will Rasa's infiltration into Konoha have an impact on the Chunin Exam? Will Rasa take action against Konoha?"

“Maybe, maybe not…”

After a pause, Scorpion continued: "However, one day you are wrong. There is not only Rasa lurking in Konoha, but also one of the three ninjas, Cold Lord Orochimaru. The two of them have joined forces."

"Rasa and Orochimaru teamed up?!"

Kankuro and Temari's eyes widened before they said, "What on earth do they want to do?"

"Perhaps he wanted to cause trouble in Konoha... Orochimaru was expelled from Konoha Village, so he naturally held a grudge. Rasa also hated Konoha ninjas very much, so the two of them hit it off and planned to attack Konoha."

Gaara thought for a while, then said cautiously: "Scorpion-sama, since Orochimaru and Rasa are planning to attack Konoha, should we do something in the chaos?"

Scorpion thought for a moment, then shook his head:

"Let's not get involved in the matter between Orochimaru and Konoha for now. This is Konohagakure. No matter what plans they have or how big the conflict is, it's a good thing for Sand Village."

Scorpion does not intend to take action against Konoha. On the one hand, keeping silent is beneficial to the Sand Village.

On the other hand, he has not forgotten his identity as a member of Akatsuki. The Fifth Kazekage is just his cover, and his real identity is still a ninja of Akatsuki. When Rasa and Orochimaru, who are also members of Akatsuki, want to attack Konoha, he naturally cannot stop them.

……

After the second round of the Chunin Exam, the Third Hokage held a jonin meeting to discuss the idea of ​​postponing the Chunin Exam.

After Kakashi gave Naruto and the others some instructions, he also rushed over to attend the Jonin meeting.

More than ten years ago, he was still a newcomer in the Jonin class, but now he has become a core figure among the Jonins of Konoha. He cannot be absent from important meetings like this one.

Naruto and the others nodded, then left the Forest of Death with the other examinees.

On the way out, Naruto and the others met Kabuto Yakushi who was participating in the competition alone. Just like the previous Chunin Exams, Kabuto Yakushi failed to advance again.

The reason this time was that the corresponding scroll was not found within the specified time.

Naruto and others were not surprised by Kabuto Yakushi's failure. It was reasonable for a Genin like Kabuto Yakushi who participated in the competition alone to fail in the team competition.

All we can say is that Kabuto Yakushi himself doesn't want to become a Chunin.

Otherwise, with the information collected by Kabuto Yakushi, he could just find a few Genin to form a team and would not fail the second round of the Chunin Exam.

Continuing forward, on the way back, they encountered Team 6 and Team 8 arguing. To be precise, it was Neji and Hinata who were arguing.

Class 6 was the class from their previous year, a team that focused on taijutsu.

The relationship between Neji and Hinata is also very delicate. Neji is a genius of the Hyuga branch family. Without a teacher's guidance, he learned many secret techniques of the main family.

Although Hinata is not very strong, she is a noble lady of the main family.

As a member of a branch family, Ningji has always felt disappointed with his sister, and believed that Hinata's personality and strength made her unworthy of being the next head of the main family.

Therefore, he always finds various reasons to make trouble for Hinata, making Hinata passively powerful.

But after Hinata was provoked by Neci, she became even more introverted, and the relationship between the brother and sister became worse and worse, turning Hinata's originally gentle character into timidity.

After seeing this scene, Naruto walked over to Hinata, stopped the two from arguing any further, and said a few harsh words to Neji.

He didn't have much ill will towards Neci, he just felt that Neci treated Hinata a little too harshly. However, the real reason was not Neci's fault, but the fault of the Hyuga clan's caged bird system.

Before meeting Hinata and knowing about the caged bird system, Naruto could never imagine that in a place like Konoha, which is full of the will of fire, such a twisted caged bird system would exist.

This made him begin to doubt whether the Third Hokage was just a puppet of the Ninja Clan and had no real power at all.

If Hinata and Neji are to reconcile, the caged bird system must be abolished, Hinata, who is not suitable to be a ninja, must be freed from the responsibilities of the Hyuga family, and a stronger ninja can be promoted.

However, ideas are just ideas.

Before becoming Hokage, he was unable to change the status quo of Konoha Village, even though he was the son of the Fourth Hokage and Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

After sending Hinata back to the Hyuga family, Naruto put his hands in his pockets, said goodbye to his team members, and walked towards the training ground.

After developing the habit of practicing, he would feel uncomfortable if he did not practice for a few hours every day, as if he had wasted his time, and he had an extremely strong sense of guilt.

After two hours of training, Naruto walked out of the training grounds and planned to return to his home.

On the way home, Naruto passed by the Konoha bathhouse and saw a wretched old man with white hair in the back alley of the Konoha bathhouse.

The wretched old man was lying on the crack of the wall, looking at the mist in the bathhouse.

If it were any other time, Naruto might have dared to go over and stop it, but today Naruto was more careful and quickened his pace.

The white-haired uncle in front of him looked very wretched, but his chakra capacity should not be underestimated.

The pressure this person exerted on him was no less than that of Orochimaru he had encountered before. If the other party was a ninja from the village, it would be fine. But if he was a disguised spy, he would be in trouble.

After Naruto left, Jiraiya, who was lying on the crack of the wall, frowned and looked at Naruto's back.

"It shouldn't be like this. I remember this trick was also effective against Minato. Why doesn't it work on this kid? Doesn't this kid have any sense of justice?"

Even though he complained in his heart, Zilai never forgot the agreement between him and the old man.

After he returned to the village this time, the old man gave him an important task, which was to train Minato's child, Naruto, the village's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

Faced with the request of the Third Hokage teacher, Jiraiya, as Naruto's disciple, had no way of refusing.

Thinking of this, Jiraiya used the technique of instant body disappearing from the spot and stopped Naruto.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya. His hands had already completed the seals, and two shadow clones appeared around his body. They looked at Jiraiya and said:

"Who are you and why are you following me?"

Jiraiya's expression became serious, and then he did an exaggerated dance, and then said: "Who am I? I am one of the three ninjas of Konoha, the legendary Toad Sage Jiraiya of Myoboku Mountain."

After saying that, Jiraiya put his hands on his hips, expecting Naruto to look at him in admiration.

Naruto looked at Jiraiya expressionlessly, and then said: "So it's Jiraiya, one of the three ninjas of Konoha. What do you want from me? If not, I'll go back to cook."

Jiraiya was a little surprised by Naruto's reaction, and asked in confusion:
"What's with that disgusted expression on your face? I'm Jiraiya, one of the legendary Three Ninjas and the Toad Sage. Don't you want to learn some ninjutsu from me?"

Naruto shook his head and said, "You've bitten off more than you can chew. The current jutsu is enough for me."

After being rejected, Jiraiya said with determination: "I know you want to become stronger. In just a few years, I can train you to become a top-notch ninja in the ninja world. Are you really not tempted?"

Naruto shook his head again.

Jiraiya took a deep breath, knowing that he had to come up with some means to prove himself.

Thinking of this, Jiraiya raised his palm, condensed a Rasengan in his hand, and said with a smile: "This is the ninjutsu mastered by the Fourth Hokage, called Rasengan, do you want to learn it?"

Naruto glanced at Jiraiya, then he also formed a Rasengan with his hand and said calmly: "Are you talking about this? I have already mastered this ninjutsu, and I can condense it faster than you."

After seeing the Rasengan, Jiraiya was filled with shock.

(End of this chapter)