Chapter 145 - Prelude to the Chūnin Exams
Hokage Office – Konoha
Inside the office, around the conference table sat Kazane, Orochimaru, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Uchiha Fugaku, Tsunade, and Namikaze Minato—the current top brass of the Hidden Leaf Village had all gathered here.
At the center of the table lay an official document clearly stating that Kirigakure had invited Konoha to participate in a Chūnin Exam hosted by the Mist.
Traditionally, Chūnin Exams were organized individually by each of the major villages. Only allied villages would extend invitations to one another. Smaller villages either appointed Chūnin internally or relied on their sponsoring major villages to join their exams.
For example, in the original storyline, Konoha and Sunagakure were allies, which is why Suna's genin participated in Konoha's Chūnin Exams—an event that Orochimaru later used to initiate the Konoha Crush.
Due to the recent wars, the biannual Chūnin Exams had long been suspended.
Now, with Kirigakure extending invitations to all four other major villages, it was only natural for suspicion to arise.
The Third Great Ninja War had ended just over a year ago, and Kirigakure had taken considerable losses. Instead of laying low and recovering, they were reaching out across the ninja world to host a large-scale exam.
Something was clearly off.
Orochimaru, knowing Kazane wouldn't be useful for intelligence gathering, turned to Minato. "Minato, has the ANBU received any intel?"
Minato glanced at Kazane helplessly, then replied, "Lord Hokage, our spies in the other great villages have confirmed that Kumogakure recently exchanged encrypted messages with the other three major villages—excluding us."
"And just recently, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, sealed the Three-Tails, Isobu, into himself. After becoming the Jinchūriki, he launched a major purge within Kirigakure and has now fully reestablished control over the village."
Minato paused briefly before continuing, "This Chūnin Exam might be a coordinated probe—or trap—by the other four villages targeting Konoha. It's likely they want to assess the strength of our younger generation and use the exam as a cover to eliminate any rising stars."
Orochimaru agreed with Minato's analysis.
During the last war, Konoha had suffered the least damage and had even received substantial reparations from the other major villages.
Konoha had effectively won a three-against-one war, and now, the other villages were still licking their wounds while Konoha's elite remained intact.
This meant none of them had the strength to openly challenge Konoha.
But the Chūnin Exams had always been a subtle way for villages to size each other up. It was very possible that this was a ploy to wear down Konoha's next generation.
Even so, this was also a chance—for Konoha to show off its strength to the entire ninja world.
After all, the participants would be genin. No village would be foolish enough to sneak in higher-ranked shinobi, as being exposed would give Konoha full justification to retaliate.
And Yagura becoming the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki wasn't news to Orochimaru. He knew Yagura likely wanted to use this event to prove his own strength as well.
"Then, what are everyone's thoughts?" Orochimaru asked. "Should Konoha participate or not?"
Uchiha Fugaku immediately voiced his support. "I say we participate. It's a perfect opportunity for Konoha to demonstrate its power."
The others quickly agreed. With Konoha at its peak, few regarded the other villages as real threats.
Seeing the general consensus, Orochimaru nodded. "Very well, I agree. Now then, any recommendations for participants?"
Most of the outstanding genin from the war had already been promoted to Chūnin, making it difficult to select suitable candidates.
Kazane, however, already had some people in mind.
"Orochimaru-sensei, I'd like to recommend Genin Maruboshi Kosuke," Kazane said. "Also Jiriku, who recently joined the village. And I'd like to nominate Might Duy's son—Might Guy."
At the mention of Maruboshi Kosuke, Hiruzen opened his eyes fully and muttered, "Kosuke…"
Orochimaru was unfamiliar with the name, but seeing Hiruzen's reaction, he asked, "You know him, Sensei?"
Hiruzen nodded solemnly. "Kosuke was once a trusted subordinate of the Second Hokage—an elite jōnin."
"But over twenty years ago, he made a poor judgment during a mission, which cost the lives of two comrades. Since then, he swore an oath to the Second Hokage that he would forever remain a genin. He's a shinobi of great integrity and strong Will of Fire."
"Still, I fear he may not accept. He's the kind who shoulders responsibility and seeks redemption."
Kazane interjected, "I believe he'll step forward for the village's sake. And it's a waste of talent for someone like him to remain a genin forever. If he doesn't wish to become a team leader, I suggest we offer him a teaching position at the Academy—let him pass on ninjutsu and taijutsu to the next generation. It'd be a fair outcome."
Orochimaru nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you, Sensei. If he refuses, don't force him."
"Kazane, wasn't Jiriku the monk you brought back from the Daimyō's court? When did he join the village?"
Despite being neck-deep in experiments, Orochimaru still remembered Jiriku.
Especially that time when a giant Senju phantom appeared behind the mountains, followed by Tsunade's furious roar and a massive quake. Orochimaru had been conducting experiments there and remembered it well.
Not to mention he still had blood samples from Jiriku taken during his hospitalization.
Kazane flashed a bright smile. "Jiriku wasn't a Konoha shinobi before today—but starting now, he is."
The bandit-like tone made everyone glance at Kazane, but knowing Jiriku's strength, they all tacitly approved.
Orochimaru accepted the explanation and turned back to the others. "Any more candidates?"
Uchiha Fugaku thought for a moment. Since he had proposed participating, sending just three people felt insufficient.
"I nominate three from the police force: Uchiha Jitou, Uchiha Hōi, and Uchiha Zan."
Orochimaru gave a slight nod. "Very well. Now, who should lead the team?"
Kazane had been waiting for this moment. With nothing to do in the village, he was growing restless.
"I'll go," he volunteered. "If I'm there, even if they're plotting something, they won't get far."
Orochimaru hesitated. His soul-transfer experiments were reaching a critical point—he didn't want to leave Konoha now.
Kazane's offer allowed him to stay, but Kazane wasn't exactly diplomatic. If provoked, he might very well cut someone down on the spot.
So Orochimaru turned to Hiruzen. "Sensei, my research is at a delicate phase. Would you go with Kazane this time?"
That request caught everyone's attention. The Chūnin Exams were momentarily forgotten.
Everyone here knew Orochimaru's real pursuit—immortality.
And now, it sounded like he had made progress.
Aside from Kazane, who knew Orochimaru's method involved body-swapping and wasn't interested, everyone else was visibly shaken.
Orochimaru smirked at their reactions.
"Sensei? Sensei?" he prompted again.
Hiruzen snapped out of it, flustered. "Oh, yes. Of course. I'll accompany Kazane."
No one paid attention to Hiruzen's nervous response—their minds were still reeling.
Immortality—a concept even legends never achieved—was within Orochimaru's grasp?
Even the Sage of Six Paths, who created ninshū, hadn't accomplished that.
Could Orochimaru be the one to finally make it real?
He smiled silently, knowing full well: once his jutsu succeeded, the first one to seek him out… would be the very teacher who once opposed all human experimentation.
---
Back Mountain – Small Grove
After the meeting, Kazane immediately wanted to share the good news with Jiriku.
Normally, at this time, Jiriku trained in the back mountain with Might Duy and Might Guy.
But after searching for a while, Kazane didn't see them anywhere.
Instead, he unexpectedly came across Kakashi sparring with Uchiha Itachi…