"Why are you suddenly in such a hurry, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Did something happen?"
Naruto followed Kakashi, running towards Konoha, and asked with some curiosity.
After all, Kakashi's pace had quickened a lot, as if something important was happening. It couldn't be that he was in such a hurry just to go back and report, right?
Sakura also looked at Kakashi beside her. It didn't seem like he was just in a hurry to report the mission. Kakashi's aura had changed from before.
"Yes, besides the Kazekage's mission, there's also news about Orochimaru."
"The deadline is in three days. If we don't hurry, even if we get back, we won't be able to scrape together a team."
Kakashi frowned slightly.
No matter what Hatake Satoru felt about Orochimaru or Sarutobi Hiruzen, Kakashi knew his own position. He and Hatake Satoru were different people.
He couldn't be as free as Hatake Satoru, or have other ideas.
Kakashi was a Konoha person through and through. If he got news about Orochimaru, he definitely had to go back and report it right away, and then have Tsunade send people to investigate.
"Ah... that nasty guy!"
Naruto remembered Orochimaru. The Third Hokage's thing was a big deal, and he had also met that guy when he and Jiraiya went to find Tsunade.
Kakashi frowned slightly and pursed his lips.
Orochimaru had indeed been in contact with the Akatsuki organization before. Hatake Satoru must have had some guarantee when he got this information from that dead Akatsuki member.
This information was definitely accurate, but he didn't know if the Akatsuki organization would anticipate this and set up an ambush near the Tenchi Bridge.
Although it was true that Orochimaru had defected from the Akatsuki organization, no one knew if he had any further contact afterward.
And at this rate, if nothing went wrong, this mission would fall on their Team Seven again.
After all, they hadn't really contributed to the Kazekage's mission and had just been slacking off for a few days.
But now... Team Seven was missing one person.
Kakashi sighed helplessly.
...
In the Land of Waterfalls.
The people in the house were all dead, and a strong, pungent smell of blood filled the air.
Sasuke wore a hat, and the scattered white tassels almost covered his entire face. Splatters of blood were scattered on it, revealing a different kind of cruelty.
His dark eyes swept over the cabinet under the table. After a slight pause, Sasuke pushed open the door and walked out, quickly leaving the area.
There were a lot of waterfalls in the Land of Waterfalls, so Sasuke found a place that looked safe and stopped.
Water splashed from the waterfall, and the roar of the water isolated most of the surrounding sounds.
Sasuke threw the hat into the rushing waterfall, and the water washed it directly into the bottomless river.
Sasuke walked a little further into the woods before stopping.
He wasn't doing the mission alone. Zetsu would follow him from time to time to monitor his actions.
However, Zetsu usually didn't show himself, so Sasuke basically pretended he didn't exist.
His mission was a little easier. After all, the people in the Akatsuki organization were a bunch of monsters.
Although he had grown, he hadn't reached the level of the other Akatsuki members who could destroy a country on their own.
"It's only been a short time, and we have to have a meeting again..."
Sasuke grumbled a little unhappily, then found a tree branch nearby and sat down.
The Phantom Light Technique gathered them in a cave, and the images of several people appeared scattered.
Sasuke turned his head to look around. Besides their eyes, other things were not very clear in the afterimages.
One person is missing…
If everyone was there, missing one person would be very obvious.
There weren't many times when they had a group meeting. Apart from extracting the One-Tail before, or things that they all needed to know, group meetings were rare.
Each time a few people would be missing.
Their missions could be delivered by carrier pigeons and eagles. The Phantom Light Technique was usually used if there was something important.
Deidara rarely mocked Sasuke, because compared to the cold and taciturn Itachi, Sasuke was easier to tease.
After a few words, they could argue.
But this time, Deidara rarely attacked Sasuke. He just looked around at the people at the meeting, lost in thought.
"Is everyone here?"
Pain stood in the middle and glanced slightly at both sides. Everyone was there except Sasori.
"One person is missing."
Kakuzu said meaningfully.
After Deidara was seriously injured, Kakuzu found another arm for him and sewed it on with black threads, and sewed up the wound on his chest.
Deidara recovered for a while and then waited for the Phantom Light Technique meeting.
Sasori didn't bring the One-Tail to them, and Pain was having a meeting. This basically put Sasori's situation right on the table.
"Sasori did not bring back the One-Tail Jinchuriki and died in the Land of Rivers."
White Zetsu's annoying voice rang out from the side. His voice didn't sound serious at all, only a subtle sense of mockery.
"The ring has been recovered."
The projection showed a flattened cave and Sasori's puppet, which was obviously dead. Even the Jade Woman Ring was left on the puppet.
…
A swaying figure with a yellow spiral mask appeared on the projection, making a peace sign at the projection with the ring in a funny way.
That figure disappeared in an instant, and the projection returned to Sasori's body.
Deidara pursed his lips, hesitating to speak, and looked at Sasori's body.
It was hard to say what the others were feeling, but his emotions were quite complicated.
After all, Sasori and Deidara had been partners for a while, and Deidara had sincerely treated Sasori as his own person, as his partner.
Although their artistic concepts were different, they were both artists and had a little bit of a sense of appreciation for each other.
Now that Sasori was dead, he still felt a little uncomfortable.
Moreover, they were originally supposed to stay and deal with that person together, but because he was seriously injured, Sasori drove him away.
If he had stayed, he might have been giving them to the bad guys for nothing.
"I guess Sasori died because he was too confident."
Deidara looked away and said dryly.
Pain glanced at Deidara and paused.
Sasuke now had a new mission. Pain was thinking about Sasuke and Deidara's compatibility.
But no matter how he thought about it, if these two went together to hunt down Orochimaru, they would probably start fighting each other before they caught Orochimaru.
"Sasori is dead, but other missions must continue."
"Sasuke, after the Land of Waterfalls thing is over, you go to the Grass Village immediately. There are clues about Orochimaru there." Scoop.
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