Orochimaru put down the documents in his hand, clearly seeing the emblem of Konoha Village's Medical Emergency Team printed on the paper.
"These people don't understand, the Medical Emergency Team's laboratory is the most important part."
"Kabuto did very well."
Recalling the intelligence Kabuto sent from Konoha Village, Orochimaru was very satisfied, but then he sighed, "If Naraku were still by my side, the experiments wouldn't be this troublesome."
However, Orochimaru also knew this was a dream. Even though he could be considered Naraku's teacher, once he defected from Konoha Village, everything became impossible to return to.
That's right, Orochimaru was also Naraku's teacher.
Or rather, all three of Konoha Village's famous Sannin were Naraku's teachers.
It was just that Orochimaru and Jiraiya were helping Tsunade teach Naraku Shihouin.
This was mainly because at that time, Tsunade had just experienced the tragedy of her younger brother and lover dying on the battlefield, almost crippling her entirely, and eventually even causing her to develop hemophobia.
In that state, Tsunade could barely teach Naraku; she herself was in a daze all day long.
As Tsunade's devoted admirer, Jiraiya actively cultivated and taught Naraku.
Later, Orochimaru accidentally discovered Naraku's talent, and coupled with his own modern medical knowledge, he was delighted to find such a promising individual and imparted all of his knowledge without reservation.
Initially, Orochimaru only wanted to train a competent assistant for himself, but as Naraku's knowledge gradually developed and accumulated, he quickly kept pace with Orochimaru, becoming his experimental assistant.
Sometimes, Orochimaru couldn't even keep up with Naraku's progress. Orochimaru was overjoyed by this, and he began to absorb new ideas and knowledge from Naraku.
Later, Orochimaru tried to entice Naraku more than once, wanting him to become his disciple, and promised many benefits.
Orochimaru also approached Tsunade, wanting to take Naraku from her, but he got beaten up several times, almost to death by Tsunade.
What made Orochimaru even more displeased was that Tsunade, due to her hemophobia, could no longer go to the battlefield. She could only manage logistics and guide Medical Ninja in saving people from the rear, or research new Medical Ninjutsu. This also meant she had time to teach Naraku, so she took him away.
This infuriated Orochimaru. After the Third Ninja World War subsided and Tsunade left Konoha Village, when Orochimaru sought out Naraku again, Naraku was already avoiding him.
Naraku, who was familiar with the plot, understood that Orochimaru was not far from defecting, so he did not approach him at all.
Because of this, Orochimaru hated Tsunade even more.
He always felt that Tsunade was secretly causing trouble, making him lose his most excellent successor.
"Lord Orochimaru…"
A sudden voice interrupted Orochimaru's thoughts, making him realize and look at Kimimaro, who stood respectfully before him.
"How did things go?"
"Lord, we've made contact with Sunagakure. However, the Kazekage is still a bit hesitant, and somewhat uncertain about your identity…"
"Is that so?" A sinister smile appeared on Orochimaru's face. "It doesn't matter, he will agree."
"Sunagakure's environment and situation will force him to cooperate with us, but I don't like him very much…"
"When the time is right, kill him!"
"That way, I'll have another excellent experimental subject."
"The plan is about to begin…"
"Konoha Village, Third Hokage, Naraku Shihouin, it's been a long time."
"Hehehe…"
A chilling laugh echoed in the laboratory. Kimimaro remained very respectful and adoring towards Orochimaru.
…
"According to intelligence, Iwagakure and Sunagakure recently reached an agreement for cooperation, the specific contents of which are unknown."
"According to the message sent back by the spy, the time and location have been confirmed. Iwagakure and Sunagakure will exchange supplies in the Bird Country, the night after tomorrow."
"This is an S-rank mission. You can decide the team members yourself."
Naraku Shihouin took the mission scroll from Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand and immediately opened it to read.
This was a typical Anbu mission. It was best to obtain intelligence from the people of Sunagakure and Iwagakure, but it wasn't mandatory. The most important thing was to kill everyone involved in the exchange of supplies.
Konoha Village and Sunagakure were allies, that was true, but disrupting their operation now and hindering Sunagakure's development would make Sunagakure more reliant on Konoha Village.
Underground skirmishes in the Ninja World had never ceased.
"Oh, right." Hiruzen Sarutobi lit his pipe with a smile and took a satisfying puff:
"Anbu members who go out on missions are very secretive. For confidentiality, they refer to each other by code names."
"What about you? Do you have a code name you like? Should I give you one?"
Code name?
Kakashi Hatake wore a mask and killed people with Chidori all day, and Tenzo was equally enthusiastic about using Wood Release. He wondered how they thought they could keep their identities secret.
However, Naraku also followed suit and decided on a code name for himself.
Dragon!!!
From now on, Naraku Shihouin's code name in the Anbu was 【Dragon】!
…
Anbu.
"Cat! Your squad is to immediately depart for the Bird Country."
"Find out the exact location where Sunagakure and Iwagakure will exchange supplies. Be careful to remain hidden!"
"Yes!"
Back at the Anbu headquarters, Naraku carefully read the mission scroll once more, then began to issue his orders.
He immediately dispatched those skilled in intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, and then followed with those possessing stronger combat abilities.
…
Bird Country.
The 【Cat】 squad had already arrived in the Bird Country.
After the initial intelligence search, the four members of the squad gathered to exchange information.
Soon, the few of them determined the location where Sunagakure and Iwagakure would exchange supplies.
This was very normal, as all four of them were Ninja skilled in gathering information.
The Ninja of the Hyuga, Yamanaka, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans were perfectly suited for intelligence gathering.
After some discussion, the four confirmed that the mission location was in the forest southeast of the Bird Country's capital.
"Should we set up an ambush in advance?"
"No, there are Sunagakure Ninja hidden in that forest. Going now would alert them!"
"There are also Iwagakure Ninja hiding in another direction, quite far away, but the insects have already found him."
"Pass the message to Lord Dragon! Wait for backup to arrive."
"Yes!"
After transmitting the message, the four immediately separated and hid, leaving no trace.
"Lord! The intelligence has arrived!"
Naraku Shihouin, wearing a white mask, took the intelligence and carefully examined it.
On his mask, there were some special markings, vaguely resembling the shape of a dragon.
"Map!"
"Yes!"
An Anbu member stepped forward and opened the map of the Bird Country.
"It's here…"
Finding the exact location made things much easier. Naraku thought for a moment.
"Moon, take out the lookout personnel that Sunagakure and Iwagakure arranged in advance and have our people replace them. What do you think…"
Naraku looked at the Anbu member standing quietly beside him. Moon was once a member of the Root Organization.
"Lord, we can manage the replacement. But it will be difficult to obtain their contact codes and other alert measures in a short time. Eliminating them rashly like this would lead to significant errors."
Indeed, time was too tight.
Even if they captured those two Ninja, the Yamanaka Clan members would find it difficult to extract crucial contact codes from their minds in a short period.
Doing so would only make the subsequent Ninja from Sunagakure and Iwagakure more vigilant.
Naraku glanced at Moon, who had quieted down again, and realized that these Ninja from the Root Organization were indeed excellent. Their outstanding qualities could be seen from their performance along the way.
But Naraku did not forget that they still followed Danzo's orders.
Now, he was somewhat looking forward to seeing whether these people would cause trouble under him.