Danzo felt that Orochimaru was a bit of an idiot.
Not to mention Satoshi was hard to kill, even if he managed to trick Satoshi into dying, then what?
He knew that Satoshi was very popular among the Uchiha, and some even regarded him as the hope for the Uchiha's revitalization. If Satoshi died, the Uchiha would go crazy that very day.
Looking at the entire Konoha, who didn't know that he, Danzo, had an irreconcilable feud with the Uchiha?
Satoshi's body probably wouldn't even be cold before those red-eyed lunatics came for him with knives.
Even if the Uchiha were too cowardly to act, Hiruzen would definitely come looking for trouble with him. Now he had already lost his position as an advisor, and couldn't afford another demotion.
Danzo said, "I know you're interested in that kid, but moving against him is a bit complicated."
Orochimaru licked his lips.
He felt that Danzo was an idiot.
Why would he do it himself? Did he not understand what it meant to kill with a borrowed knife?
Orochimaru said, "I'll leave some traces, creating the impression that I'm in Kirigakure. Konoha naturally won't let go of this news, and they'll definitely send Satoshi to investigate then."
"Kirigakure is full of lunatics even crazier than the Uchiha. He'll definitely lose half his life if he goes there."
"If he still doesn't die, then we'll use the private soldiers you and I have outside. We'll exhaust him to death if we have to."
After one encounter, Orochimaru believed he had already understood Satoshi.
Seeing Danzo still hesitating, he threw out another bait.
"Danzo, don't you want to be Hokage? At the rate that child is growing, you don't have much time left."
The word "Hokage" deeply stung Danzo's heart, that was his lifelong dream.
"Hmm, you and I will cooperate. We must kill him this time. Not for me, but for Konoha."
Orochimaru sneered and quietly left the room.
You truly are as hypocritical as ever, Danzo.
Time passed bit by bit.
In the Hokage Building, Hiruzen received information from various departments.
Orochimaru was very likely lurking in Kirigakure.
Hiruzen immediately called for Kakashi. "Not only do we need to search for Orochimaru's whereabouts, but we also need to gather intel on Kirigakure. That place has always been isolated, and we have too little information."
Even though it was peacetime, Hiruzen still felt there was a possibility of war breaking out at any time. If they didn't have enough intelligence, they would suffer greatly in the future.
Kakashi said, "Understood. For the personnel this time, I suggest Satoshi and Tenzo again."
Hiruzen agreed without much hesitation.
This squad complemented each other well and was very reasonable.
The situation was urgent. That very night, Kakashi and Tenzo knocked on Satoshi's door.
Upon learning they were going to Kirigakure, Satoshi was momentarily stunned.
If he remembered correctly, Kakashi's friend was hiding there, right?
Orochimaru, you really bring disaster wherever you go.
Satoshi didn't dally and set off in a hurry.
In less than three days, they had reached the border of the Land of Water.
What they found somewhat troublesome was that these boatmen would rather starve than go into the Land of Water.
Tenzo went to negotiate for a while but ultimately returned empty-handed.
He sighed helplessly, "He said that going rashly would get them killed by patrolling Kiri ninjas, so he absolutely refused to go."
"The level of blockade here is greater than we imagined. No wonder Orochimaru would hide here."
While Tenzo and Kakashi were still hesitating on how to quietly enter the Land of Water, Satoshi had already used his Sharingan to control a boatman. The boat carried them towards the Land of Water.
Satoshi asked, "If we encounter patrolling ninjas, we can quietly take them out, no problem, right?"
"Big problem."
Kakashi frowned. "This is at sea. How can you quietly kill those who specialize in Water Release..."
Wait.
Kakashi felt something was off. Satoshi seemed to be very skilled in Water Release.
He even thought that if it weren't for taking care of the two of them, Satoshi could have just glided across the water.
"As long as the Mizukage doesn't personally act, Satoshi should have no problem leading us to retreat, right?"
Satoshi reassured, "Don't worry, senpais, what I'm best at is escaping."
Under normal circumstances, the Mizukage certainly wouldn't act personally. He wouldn't have that much free time, there were so many village matters.
But—
The current Mizukage, Yagura, was not a normal Mizukage. He was controlled by Obito.
—
In the Mizukage's office.
Obito sat in the Mizukage's seat, examining the files of ninjas within the village one by one. He needed to find some subordinates from there. So far, besides Kisame, he hadn't found any suitable candidates.
Yagura stood by, quiet as a wooden dummy. He had been controlled by Obito a long time ago, becoming a puppet.
As for the mutual slaughter within the village, Obito couldn't even be bothered to care.
If it weren't for Kirigakure, Rin wouldn't have died. It was already good that he didn't directly annihilate them all. Moreover, he truly wouldn't care.
"Someone's coming." Zetsu slowly emerged from the ground.
"Hmm?" Obito was a bit puzzled.
This place had always been isolated, who would be so bored as to come looking for them?
"Ninjas from Konoha received news that Orochimaru was here, so they sent a few ninjas to check the situation. It's those three again."
Obito really wanted to curse.
Was Orochimaru sick? The Ninja World is so big, you can run anywhere, why do you have to come here?
And that bunch of useless people from Konoha, how could he, the dignified number one boss of the Ninja World, be Orochimaru's subordinate?
Do your IQs even exceed two?
"What should we do? Let them in or..."
Obito's voice was a bit cold. "Stop their actions with all your might. I suddenly want to see if that kid can unleash his potential if he sees his comrades die in front of him."
—
The Konoha Squad was getting closer and closer to their destination.
Tenzo breathed a sigh of relief. "It seems we're lucky. We haven't encountered any Kirigakure ninjas."
Satoshi slowly stood up and said, "Prepare to attack. We've already been surrounded by Kirigakure ninjas."
He took out explosive tags and distributed them to Kakashi and Tenzo. "When they get closer, blow them up with all you've got."
Kakashi felt something was wrong. "Our mission is to infiltrate Kirigakure, not to fight them to the death."
Satoshi spread his hands. "Kakashi-senpai, either take them out, or be taken out by them. You choose."
"This..."
Kakashi felt that neither of these options was very good.
He said, "I think we can still communicate. After all, both sides have signed a peace agreement. Publicly attacking Konoha ninjas would be considered provoking a war, wouldn't it?"
Satoshi drew out his short sword. "Do the lunatics of Kirigakure care about that? They're almost all dead, you know."
He paused, then continued, "And given our Hokage's personality, even if the three of us die without a trace, he'll just gloss it over with words like 'prioritizing the big picture'."
Kakashi fell silent. He remembered the tragic incident of the Hyuga clan.
Soon, a large number of ships surrounded them.
A short person holding a staff stood in front.
Kakashi recognized him as the current Mizukage.
He thought about struggling, but the other party waved his hand.
"Intruders detected. Kill on sight."