Seeing Ranmaru's nervousness, Itachi and Kisame's expressions remained unchanged throughout.
If an outsider had witnessed this scene, they might have thought these two were bullying a child, but unfortunately, no one in the small shop wanted to meddle.
Itachi still looked at Ranmaru, his tone cold as he continued, "Purpose."
"Th-that… there's something very important on this, take this."
Ranmaru took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, his small face serious, and spoke with a grave tone.
Perhaps because it had been in his pocket, the entire piece of paper was somewhat wrinkled.
Seeing the paper in Ranmaru's hand, Itachi frowned and did not reach out to take it.
Kisame, on the other hand, watched the scene with interest.
Just then, a faint sound of footsteps came from the other side.
A figure dressed in a plain robe appeared before Kisame and Itachi.
"Senior Haku."
Seeing the sudden appearance of this figure, Ranmaru quickly turned around, hid the paper behind his back, and respectfully said to Haku.
"Ranmaru, so you're here. We should go."
Haku said softly to Ranmaru, and at the same time, looked up at Kisame and Itachi, a hint of apology on his face:
"If Ranmaru was presumptuous just now, I hope you two will forgive him."
Hearing Haku's words, Ranmaru casually threw the paper he had been hiding behind his back onto the ground and scurried over to Haku.
Haku smiled gently, holding Ranmaru's hand with one hand and opening an umbrella with the other, walking out of the small shop.
The rain was still falling outside, and within a few breaths, Haku and Ranmaru's figures had disappeared into the misty drizzle.
"Both of them are Ninja."
Looking in the direction where the two had disappeared, Itachi frowned and said.
"They don't have headbands, so I don't know if they're from other Ninja Villages or the Kirigakure."
A flicker of interest crossed Kisame's eyes, and he continued thoughtfully:
"This place is on the border of the Land of Water, so it's normal to have Ninja from other Ninja Villages."
"Speaking of which, you should have used genjutsu on that kid just now. Did you get anything useful?"
Kisame turned his head, glanced at the paper Ranmaru had thrown on the ground earlier, and chuckled at Itachi.
"Nothing at all."
Itachi said indifferently, his tone cold.
If he hadn't felt a considerable amount of Chakra on Ranmaru, Itachi probably wouldn't have even thought of using genjutsu.
Seeing Itachi's cold expression, Kisame shrugged. Compared to Itachi, he was rather intrigued.
He reached for Samehada, which was hanging on his back, and lightly flicked it forward; the folded paper landed in Kisame's hand.
Opening the folded paper, the entire sheet had only two messy symbols drawn on it, as if sketched casually.
But Kisame's pupils suddenly contracted, though in an instant, his expression returned to normal.
"What's wrong?"
As if sensing something, Itachi looked up at Kisame.
"Nothing, I just suddenly feel that kid is a bit interesting."
Kisame grinned, narrowing his eyes as he spoke.
In the drizzle.
Haku, holding Ranmaru's hand, looked at him curiously and asked:
"Lord Yūto, why did you ask me to come with you?"
Before coming, Haku had no idea what his purpose was here. Lord Yūto had only told him to assist Ranmaru.
Ranmaru, who had been cheerful, suddenly heard Haku's words and said somewhat awkwardly:
"Ranmaru doesn't know either. Lord Yūto just told Ranmaru that if I met someone wearing a black robe with red clouds, and one of them had a shark-like face, I just needed to give them the paper."
Seeing Ranmaru's bewildered expression, Haku couldn't help but find it amusing. Two people on a mission didn't even know what the mission was about…
However, recalling the scratches on the headbands of those two people just now, and one of them being a rogue Ninja from Kirigakure, Haku had a slight guess.
Perhaps this was also why Lord Yūto had Ranmaru carry out this mission.
——
Time passed quickly.
Before they knew it, the Chunin Exams had arrived, and during this period, the Sand Ninja Village, led by the Fourth Kazekage, also entered Konoha one after another.
At the same time, the Kirigakure, which had been in a tense atmosphere with Konoha, also quieted down as the Sand Ninja Village entered Konoha. The entire Ninja World temporarily returned to its original calm.
However, this so-called calm was merely the calm before the storm for some people.
Hidden Stone Village.
Ōnoki stood on a rooftop, pacing back and forth, his expression somewhat agitated.
For some reason, Ōnoki always felt isolated from the other four Ninja Villages.
And the entire Ninja World, though seemingly very calm, Ōnoki felt a sense of oppression. This feeling had not appeared for a long time since the Third Ninja World War.
"Wen Ya!" Ōnoki suddenly spoke in a low, deep voice.
Whoosh!
Accompanied by a whooshing sound, a Ninja with a serious expression appeared behind Ōnoki.
"Have there been any suspicious movements from other Ninja Villages recently?"
Ōnoki looked down at the entire Hidden Stone Village, asking without turning his head.
"Konoha and the Sand Ninja are about to hold the Chunin Exams soon. The Kazekage should be in Konoha now. As for the Kirigakure, they have been somewhat quiet recently and haven't made any moves."
At this point, Wen Ya paused, then continued:
"The Cloud Ninja have been frequently mobilizing their Ninja for some unknown reason recently. The exact cause has not yet been determined."
Ōnoki nodded slightly, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes. After a while, he waved his hand to Wen Ya behind him.
Wen Ya respectfully nodded, turned, and disappeared.
"Akatsuchi, tell Kitsuchi to come over."
Ōnoki looked at Akatsuchi, who was standing not far away, and instructed in a low voice.
Akatsuchi was slightly startled, then turned and quickly left.
Not long after, a burly middle-aged Ninja with a full beard appeared in Ōnoki's sight with Akatsuchi.
Kitsuchi looked at Ōnoki with some confusion, clearly not understanding why the old man had suddenly called him over.
"You two will lead two Ninja squads, respectively, to the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Lightning, and the border between the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire. And this must be done discreetly."
Without waiting for the two to ask, Ōnoki spoke directly.
Lead Ninja squads?
Surprised expressions appeared on both Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi's faces simultaneously.