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Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 183
🕑 Added 2024-12-18 22:17:33 +0000 UTCThe peaceful Konoha was always an ideal haven.
"Honestly, who told you to act tough?"
"You're just causing trouble for us."
Team 7, having just returned from their mission, walked down the street.
At the front of the group, Kakashi was casually holding Icha Icha Paradise in one hand, strolling in a way no ordinary jonin could imitate—without watching where he was going.
Naruto, battered and bruised, struggled forward with the help of Sasuke and Sakura.
Even though he was the only one injured, neither Kakashi, Sasuke, nor Sakura showed the slightest bit of sympathy for him. After all, he brought this upon himself.
During a mission to walk the Inuzuka clan's dogs, he insisted on picking a giant, oversized dog to show off. As a result, the massive dog dragged him straight into a trap-filled area, leaving him in his current sorry state.
What was surprising, though, was that an ordinary person entering such a heavily trapped area would have no chance of survival. Even for a genin, it would mean serious injuries.
But Naruto?
He merely returned from the dog-walking mission, walked a little on the street, and was already bouncing back to life. He even had the energy to start threatening Sasuke.
Kakashi glanced at him and had some guesses.
Such an astonishing recovery ability—it had to be the power of the Nine-Tails.
To this day, Naruto still didn't know the Nine-Tails' power resided within him.
While keeping him in the dark was beneficial for stabilizing the Nine-Tails' power, Kakashi, once a disciple of the Fourth Hokage, knew his teacher's intentions went beyond making Naruto a mere vessel to seal the Nine-Tails.
Given Minato's character, he would have wanted Naruto to master the Nine-Tails' power. So Kakashi wasn't sure whether keeping Naruto in the dark was good or bad for him.
But ever since Danzō came to power, the secrecy surrounding the Nine-Tails in Naruto's body became even stricter than during Hiruzen's tenure.
This made it even harder for Naruto to understand himself.
Kakashi let out a long sigh. "Alright, let's disband for now. I need to submit the mission report."
Sasuke immediately closed his eyes in boredom. "Then I'm out."
Watching his retreating back, Sakura wanted to stop him, but Sasuke showed no interest in her. He dismissed her, claiming she was weaker than Naruto, and walked off.
Kakashi could only shake his head at the increasingly fractured team spirit, thinking to himself, It's really hard to lead a team these days.
With a puff of smoke, he vanished on the spot.
---
At the mission submission office, Kakashi handed the mission report to Iruka.
Iruka, taking the report, looked slightly embarrassed and asked, "Naruto... is he getting along well with his teammates?"
The sudden question caught Kakashi off guard. "Uh, well, it's passable."
"But you know, with that kid hanging around his so-called rival, it's really helped his abilities improve. So there's no need to worry."
Just then, Kakashi's ears caught the faint sound of papers being placed on a desk nearby.
He instinctively turned to look and saw someone beside him submitting their mission report.
Such light footsteps—I didn't notice at all.
As a jonin, he was constantly aware of the people around him. But in that moment, he had failed to sense anyone's presence nearby.
This shocked him a bit, as only someone with jonin-level skills could pull this off.
When he looked up to see who it was, he recognized the face immediately.
It was Kagami.
What's his rank now? Last I recall, he was still a chunin, wasn't he?
At that moment, Kagami seemed to notice Kakashi for the first time. He glanced at him.
"Oh, if it isn't Kakashi-senpai. What a coincidence," he greeted, but Kakashi paused briefly before nodding in response.
"Ah, yeah."
At that moment, the piercing cry of a hawk echoed from the sky outside the window.
The sharp call immediately drew the attention of everyone in the mission submission office.
All present were at least chunin, and they knew the sound was a summons for jonin to assemble.
"Kakashi-senpai, I was hoping we could chat a bit more, but it seems time won't allow it," Kagami said.
"Mm. Let's talk another day," Kakashi replied.
With a puff of smoke, he vanished again.
Watching Kakashi's sudden disappearance, Kagami understood what it signified.
Without lingering at the mission office, he hurried home.
He had already mentally prepared for the Chunin Exams to take place, but the information he had gathered through his spider surveillance suggested that this year's exam wouldn't be as straightforward as expected.
The reason? Orochimaru hadn't intercepted and killed the Fourth Kazekage on his way.
In the original timeline, the Suna and Oto allied to attack Konoha. Orochimaru ambushed and killed the Fourth Kazekage during his journey, then impersonated him to infiltrate Konoha.
However, based on Kagami's intel, Orochimaru had not attacked Rasa this time. The team from Suna that entered Konoha for the exams was led by Rasa himself.
Kagami had a theory about this deviation.
It was likely that Orochimaru, considering Konoha's current strength, decided to keep Rasa as an ally for his combat power.
In the original timeline, Konoha was under the leadership of the Third Hokage. Orochimaru, knowing Danzō's dissatisfaction with Hiruzen and his ambition for the Hokage position, relied on their collaborative relationship following his defection.
Therefore, Orochimaru only needed to deal with Hiruzen.
In this altered timeline, however, he had severed ties with Danzō after fleeing with the Cthulhu statue. Danzō, now having achieved his goal of becoming Hokage, made no further effort to seek out Orochimaru.
Their collaboration had ended completely after Orochimaru's defection.
Additionally, with Danzō now serving as Hokage and Hiruzen as his advisor, their roles had reversed. Orochimaru, well-acquainted with his former teacher, understood that Hiruzen would never abandon Konoha to pursue personal ambition, even for the Hokage title.
Thus, if he attacked alone, he would have to face two Kage-level opponents: Danzō and Hiruzen.
Because of this, in this timeline, Orochimaru had refrained from killing the Fourth Kazekage and had instead chosen to cooperate with Rasa.
It seemed this year's Chunin Exams would be quite different from what the special strings had revealed to Kagami.
---
The Chunin Exams, hosted by Konoha, were less than three days away from officially beginning. Ninjas from various villages had already begun arriving in the village.
On the streets of Konoha, one could now easily spot shinobi wearing forehead protectors from other villages or individuals dressed in clothing representing the styles of other nations, passing themselves off as "ordinary tourists."
Of course, these so-called "ordinary tourists" were not true visitors but included dignitaries, officials from various countries, and mission clients who regularly required shinobi for assignments—all gathered to witness the Chunin Exams.
In terms of ninja rankings, the structure of most shinobi villages was fairly similar. Genin were numerous but relatively weak, while jonin were few in number. Therefore, chunin served as the backbone of a shinobi village's strength.
The Chunin Exams allowed villages to assess the abilities of their new generation of chunin, giving mission clients like feudal lords a more direct metric to evaluate when commissioning missions.
Thus, the Chunin Exams were essentially an arms race among shinobi villages, a grand "ultimate test" where each village staked its honor and future.
This was especially true in recent years, as the issues from the Third Great Ninja War began to wane. Villages had increased their focus on the training and selection of chunin.
Moreover, since this was the first publicly open Chunin Exams held after the Third War, the attention and excitement surrounding it were expected to reach new heights.
"That being said, only Suna and Konoha from the Five Great Nations are participating this time. Kumo, Iwa, and Kiri have opted out. It feels a bit lacking, doesn't it?"
"Well, it's not surprising. Those three villages all had conflicts with Konoha during the Third War. It's understandable that they wouldn't want to send their shinobi here."
"Yeah, that makes sense. And since the Fourth Mizukage's death was announced, Kiri hasn't even decided on a Fifth Mizukage yet."
"Based on my intel, there are 153 participants in this Chunin Exams. Konoha has the largest contingent with 72 participants, followed by Suna with 30."
"As for the rest, smaller villages are sending their ninjas too: Ame has 21, Kusa 15, Taki 12, and Oto just 3."
"Wait, Oto? What's that?"
"You don't know? Oto is a newly established shinobi village in the Land of Sound. Nobody even knows who their leader is—it's a total mystery."
"A newly formed village daring to join the Chunin Exams? They're just a bunch of country bumpkins who don't know their place."
"Haha! Who knows what they're thinking? The betting pools for the exams are about to open. I'm betting the Oto team won't even pass the first test."
"Same here!"
In a private booth of a restaurant, two good friends laughed and walked out together.
Unbeknownst to them, just on the other side of the thin wall separating their booth, the Oto team was seated.
With only four members—including Orochimaru in disguise as their jonin leader—Oto had the smallest team among all the villages.
Of course, this was only their "official" roster.
Hearing the mocking words from the other side, Zaku slammed the table, ready to storm out, but was immediately stopped by Kin and Dosu.
"The leader is still here. What do you think you're doing?"
"But they—"
"Shut up! Sit down."
Kin, who carried herself like the big sister of the group, commanded respect with her sharp tone, quickly silencing Zaku's impulsiveness.
However, much of the tension in the room stemmed from the presence of the man seated across from them.
Although he appeared to be an ordinary jonin leading the Oto team, the trio knew full well that the man before them was none other than Orochimaru, the leader of Oto.
To their surprise, he showed no anger at Zaku's outburst. He calmly picked up a bite of food with his chopsticks, savoring it before breaking into a sinister smile.
"This restaurant's food still tastes just like it used to. Why aren't you eating? Go ahead, enjoy."
While to an ordinary person his smile might seem pleasant, to the three Oto ninja it was filled with chilling malice and danger. The oppressive aura made them shiver involuntarily.
The three exchanged a glance and quickly picked up their bowls and chopsticks to start eating.
Orochimaru placed his chopsticks down and gazed around the restaurant's decor, reminiscing about the times he had spent drinking and celebrating with Jiraiya and Tsunade after completing missions together.
Although he was not fond of alcohol and would always substitute it with other beverages, watching Jiraiya and Tsunade's drunken antics back then had been rather amusing.
However, returning to Konoha now, everything had changed beyond recognition.
This time, he had come at the invitation of Rasa to carry out the Konoha Crush Plan.
Not that he had much interest in the plan itself—his ultimate goal was currently focused on obtaining the Silver Key and the Necronomicon.
As for old grievances, like the Third Hokage passing the Hokage title to Minato instead of him, Orochimaru no longer held much weight in such matters.
Besides, the current Hokage was no longer Hiruzen.
What truly intrigued Orochimaru was certain "opportunities" within Konoha.
As a gesture of goodwill, Suna had provided intelligence revealing that Konoha had recently acquired a unique biological specimen near the Land of Crafts.
The Land of Crafts bordered the Land of Wind, so it wasn't surprising that Suna spies had discovered it. While the intelligence didn't elaborate on how "special" the specimen was, Orochimaru's interest in any unusual organism was boundless.
Additionally, intelligence relayed by his agent Kabuto, who had infiltrated Konoha, suggested that the Uchiha clan's massacre was not as straightforward as it seemed.
The sole Uchiha survivor, Sasuke, had consistently claimed that someone other than Itachi had been involved in killing his parents.
Orochimaru's interest deepened when he recalled a conversation with Itachi during his time in the Akatsuki. At the time, Itachi had asked him whether he knew of a being called the "Black Pharaoh."
This led him to ponder whether the incident involved forces far beyond normal shinobi conflicts.
Even more pressing to Orochimaru was a personal mystery that had haunted him for a decade.
During his escape from Konoha after stealing the Cthulhu statue, he had passed through the Inuzuka clan's training grounds. There, he had been ambushed by a strange object that released grotesque, bloated spider-like creature.
He distinctly remembered hearing faint human breathing from behind a tree during the incident. The breathing pattern suggested either small children or unskilled genin attempting to suppress their presence.
However, the peculiar projectile had clearly been thrown by human hands.
After years of investigation, Orochimaru had finally identified the weapon: the Shining Trapezohedron, a technological creation of the Mi-Go, an extraordinary extraterrestrial species.
Through communication with the Mi-Go, Orochimaru learned that they were a technologically advanced and creative species, unparalleled in their mastery of science. Their technological feats had even brushed against the forbidden techniques wielded by the Outer Gods.
The Mi-Go had achieved astonishing feats, including the creation of Ghatanothoa, a nascent Great Old One derived from the seed of Azathoth, the source of all things.
They had also built a vast network of magical portals that allowed for rapid travel between their outposts on various planets.
Furthermore, they had developed a device tied to the powers of Nyarlathotep known as the Shining Trapezohedron.
And it was none other than this device that had been used during Orochimaru's ambush years ago.
He was now deeply intrigued by the identity of the person who had wielded such a device that day.
