Konoha was quiet. It was five days before the third stage of the Chunin Exams.
"You're not him. Where's Kabuto?" Baki, a jonin from Sunagakure, frowned at the newcomer, his voice tight with irritation. "What are you people from Otogakure playing at?"
The man before him was Mizuki, a Konoha chunin who was secretly a spy for the Oto.
"There's no need to get so worked up, Baki-san," Mizuki said with a placid smile, his tone unhurried. "Orochimaru-sama simply has other plans for Kabuto."
"At a time like this, what 'other arrangements' could Kabuto, Orochimaru's right hand, possibly have?" Baki's expression chilled as he stared Mizuki down. Kabuto's ability had impressed him. The man in front of him, however, was just a mid-level Konoha chunin. "Does that bastard Orochimaru really understand how serious this is?"
He took a step closer, his voice dropping to a low growl. "We cannot afford any mistakes at this stage. If word of our arrangement with the Kazekage leaks to Konoha, Sunagakure will not be the one taking the fall. This was Otogakure's plan from the start."
"It seems you don't have much faith in my abilities," Mizuki noted, not the least bit angered when Baki gave a curt nod in response. "It's true that Kabuto is the right hand, and Kimimaro is the left."
He paused, his smile widening with confidence.
"But I am Orochimaru-sama's third hand."
"Hmph. You'd better not be bluffing," Baki said, his skeptical look making it clear he didn't believe a word of it.
"Then I suppose a demonstration is in order," Mizuki replied cheerfully. He drew a small scroll from his robes and placed it in Baki's hand. "This is the latest version of the plan."
He tilted his head slightly. "And as it happens, we have a little mouse listening in. A perfect chance to demonstrate what Orochimaru's third hand is capable of."
'I've been discovered? No way.'
His Transparency Technique let him vanish completely. Under normal circumstances, no one should have been able to sense him.
"So that's who it is. Konoha tokubetsu jonin, Hayate Gekko."
The voice at his ear dropped over him like a nightmare.
Not far away, a man in a warped, half-beast form was looking straight at him with open amusement.
"Your invisibility is impressive, I'll give you that," the creature said. "But no matter how well you hide your body, you can't erase your scent."
'Scent.' Realizing he was exposed, Hayate abandoned his concealment. He drew the tachi from his back and lunged toward Mizuki.
'Dance of the Crescent Moon.'
Hayate's form split into three afterimages, all converging on Mizuki from different angles with blinding speed.
'Got him.'
All three blades struck true, sinking into Mizuki's body.
"Is this all a Tokubetsu Jonin can do? Pathetic," Mizuki sneered. A monstrous tiger claw smashed down, shattering the tachi, while another slammed into Hayate's chest, tearing through flesh and fabric.
As a crimson light flickered in Mizuki's eyes, a single thought flashed through Hayate's mind.
'Sharingan? How...'
It was his last, as the next instant, he was torn to pieces.
"Is that sufficient for you, Baki-san?"
As he spoke, Mizuki's body flowed back into its normal human shape. The wounds from the Dance of the Crescent Moon knit back together at a speed visible to the naked eye. Within a few breaths, there was no trace he had ever been cut.
'The power Orochimaru-sama granted me is incredible,' he thought. 'I could have trained my entire life and never reached this level.'
"Acceptable," Baki said slowly, giving a single, deliberate nod. When Mizuki had attacked, even he had felt a flicker of danger. This really wasn't far off from Kabuto's level, by Baki's estimate.
Perhaps he really was Orochimaru's third hand. First, an undercover genin like Kabuto, and now an undercover chunin. Baki wondered if a Konoha jonin would be next.
--**--**
Konoha's main gate.
Two men in black cloaks patterned with red clouds walked steadily toward the village.
Akatsuki mercenaries hired by Sunagakure.
They didn't test the Barrier or sneak around it. They came in through the front gate, registered like any other visitors, and were waved through.
Their stated reason for entry was business.
"If not for Shinno-san, there's no way we would've gotten into Konoha this easily." One of them was Kakuzu, whom Naruto had seen once before. He let out a dry chuckle. "Walking into Konoha in broad daylight... once, I wouldn't even have bothered dreaming about it."
"You flatter me, Kakuzu-san," replied the man he called Shinno, an elegant old gentleman in a round hat. "It was all thanks to the Company's arrangements. I wouldn't have had the chance to enter Konoha otherwise."
"Kakuzu, why did we have to come here?" the gruff man beside him muttered anxiously. He had a scarred face and wore a ring with the kanji for 'Three' on his finger. "Entering one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages is too dangerous."
"You're slow, Three," Kakuzu shot back, his tone sharp with irritation, though he still bothered to explain. "The organization is short on funds. Sunagakure paid a hefty sum."
He paused, then added for emphasis.
"It's all pure gold."
He especially stressed the word 'gold'.
"I have a name. Quit calling me by my number," the man grumbled, either not hearing or not caring about the gold in the slightest, and kept complaining.
Kakuzu gave him a long, meaning-laden stare. 'Soon you will just be bounty money if you keep talking. Be grateful I don't directly call you backup heart.'
"You're very noisy!"
Kakuzu and his partner, the advance team for Akatsuki, slipped into Konoha ahead of the others to collect information.
"Hiruko-san..." Shinno said to a man in a beige cloak following behind them. "How does it feel to be back in Konoha?"
Hiruko said with an indifferent gaze, "I just want to find what I need as quickly as possible."
"You said it was here."
"Of course," Shinno said. "In three more days, you will be able to see it."
"Very good." Hiruko nodded and said no more, his indifferent expression suggesting that nothing in the world concerned him.
The joint Chunin Exams held by Konoha this time were unprecedentedly grand. All sorts of powerful and shady figures from across the ninja world had gathered in the village, and even...
"Shibuki, Shibuki, look at this, this!" A high-spirited young girl with short blue-green hair, dark skin, and orange eyes stared fixedly at the cotton candy being sold by a street vendor, her face full of excitement.
Her large eyes were filled with curiosity about everything around her.
"It looks so delicious!"
"Is it sweet? It must be sweet!"
One moment she was looking around at the stalls, the next her eyes were sparkling at the colorful candy. The energetic girl seemed to have endless energy, finding everything novel.
"Fu, be a little quieter," the young man named Shibuki seemed a bit shy. Under the strange stares of the surrounding people, as if they were looking at country bumpkins, his face flushed red. "We were specially invited. We represent the Takigakure. Don't disgrace our village."
"Hehe..." The girl called Fu stuck out her tongue, not caring at all about the stares from those around her. On the contrary, she was exceptionally lively, a stark contrast to her shy companion. She patted her chest and said, "I came to Konoha to make friends!"
A jinchuriki from another hidden village.
From the Takigakure, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki: Fu.
===============
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