By the time Yūto and Ranmaru arrived in Konoha, the Chunin Exams had already begun, and even the third preliminary round had finished.
It wasn't difficult to find out this information; the Chunin Exams were such a big event that you could just ask anyone and they would know.
However, Yūto didn't care, as they weren't here specifically to watch the matches anyway.
Yūto seemed quite interested in the legendary Ichiraku Ramen, so he casually found a Konoha resident and asked for directions.
Yūto then took Ranmaru to where Ichiraku Ramen was located, as, after all, they might not get to eat it again in the future.
It was a very ordinary small shop, and the entire ramen shop wasn't very big. When Yūto brought Ranmaru into Ichiraku Ramen, he found that there wasn't a single customer in the shop.
"Boss, two bowls of your specialty, please."
Yūto said to the Boss of Ichiraku Ramen with a gentle smile on his face.
"Alright, guests," the Boss of the ramen shop quickly replied.
Not long after, two steaming hot bowls of ramen appeared before Yūto and Ranmaru.
After taking a bite, Yūto's eyes lit up. He had to admit that although this ramen shop wasn't as delicious as he had imagined, it was still quite good.
"Yūto-sama, this ramen is so delicious!"
Ranmaru, sitting beside Yūto, had a satisfied expression on his small face and began to eat with big bites.
Ring, ring, ring—
The curtain of the Ichiraku Ramen shop was pulled open again, and a slightly thin Ninja wearing glasses walked in.
"Boss, I'll also have a bowl of ramen."
Yakushi Kabuto said to the Boss of Ichiraku Ramen with a gentle smile on his face.
"Coming right up!" the Boss of Ichiraku Ramen said again.
After briefly looking around, Yakushi Kabuto's gaze fell on Yūto and Ranmaru, as they were the only two people in the entire Ichiraku Ramen shop.
His gaze lingered on Ranmaru for a moment, and a hint of confusion flashed in Yakushi Kabuto's eyes, as if he didn't understand why there would be a kid there.
Yakushi Kabuto walked over and sat down next to Yūto, pushed up his glasses, and spoke in a low voice:
"Orochimaru-sama would like to invite the two of you to come over."
After speaking, Yakushi Kabuto waited for a while, but found that Yūto was still eating his ramen, as if he hadn't heard what he said at all.
"Ahem, Orochimaru-sama asked me to invite the two of you to come over."
Yakushi Kabuto cleared his throat and spoke again, but this time his voice was slightly louder.
"It seems that guy Orochimaru didn't tell you who I am," Yūto said indifferently without lifting his head.
Yakushi Kabuto was stunned and was about to speak again, when Ranmaru, who was sitting on the other side, suddenly looked up with a simple-minded expression and said to Yakushi Kabuto:
"Big Brother, if you're not going to eat your ramen, can Ranmaru have it?"
Hearing Ranmaru's words, Yakushi Kabuto suddenly couldn't help but tremble, and stiffly turned his head to look at the kid.
For some reason, this kid suddenly gave him a feeling of extreme danger.
"Y-yes... you can," Yakushi Kabuto said with a stiff tone.
"Go back and tell Orochimaru that he doesn't need to worry about me; he can just follow his own plan."
A faint voice entered Yakushi Kabuto's ears, causing a layer of cold sweat to appear on his forehead.
Yakushi Kabuto slowly exited Ichiraku Ramen, took a deep look at the two figures hunched over the table eating ramen, turned around, and quickly left the spot.
Yūto had guessed some of Orochimaru's little schemes, but the current Orochimaru was no longer of much use to Yūto.
Orochimaru's biggest role had been completed, which was to draw the Sand Ninja Village into the situation. As for the remaining role, in Yūto's opinion, it was just to tie down some of Konoha's forces.
As for whether Orochimaru had any other hidden motives, Yūto didn't care at all.
"Speaking of which, Jiraiya should have arrived by now, right? Is he going to start interacting with Naruto?"
Yūto said softly with a faint smile on his face.
Unfortunately, Kinoshita Yoshiro had already planted a seed in Naruto's heart beforehand, so it would likely be much harder for Jiraiya to touch that part of Naruto's heart than before.
Unless Jiraiya still took Naruto out to train like he did in the original story, it would be possible to have enough time to completely change Naruto.
But, is there really still that opportunity?
—
In a long corridor, the chirping of birds sounded around, giving a sense of tranquility.
"It's really quiet here, no, I should say this country is too peaceful. You know, other countries are busy expanding their military forces right now."
Orochimaru said in a low voice, leaning against a mahogany pillar.
Tap—tap—
Light footsteps sounded, and Yakushi Kabuto appeared before Orochimaru, respectfully saying, "Orochimaru-sama!"
"Oh, you came back alive?"
Orochimaru glanced at Yakushi Kabuto and licked his lips.
Yakushi Kabuto was stunned for a moment, lowered his head, and showed a wry smile.
Remembering what Yūto had said to him, Yakushi Kabuto asked with a hint of doubt in his tone, "Who was that adult?"
"You should be glad you don't know that person's name, otherwise, what would appear before me would be a corpse."
Orochimaru let out a low, cold laugh, his tone serious.
Surprise flashed in Yakushi Kabuto's eyes. Just from Orochimaru's few words, Yakushi Kabuto analyzed that Orochimaru seemed to be somewhat afraid of that young man.
"That person told Orochimaru-sama to proceed with his own plan and not to worry about him."
Yakushi Kabuto pushed up his glasses and told Orochimaru what Yūto had told him.
"That's expected, but speaking of which, I wonder if there's any point in taking off that old man's head," Orochimaru said with a cold smile on his face.
"Is Orochimaru-sama hesitating? Although I don't know what will happen next, I feel that Konoha will likely face big trouble."
"Orochimaru-sama, are you making yourself the fuse to draw out certain things?"
Yakushi Kabuto straightened up and spoke softly.
Hearing Yakushi Kabuto's words, Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly, and a faint killing intent suddenly emanated from him, enveloping Yakushi Kabuto. He said indifferently, "You see too clearly, which makes me a little unhappy."
Feeling the killing intent emanating from Orochimaru, Yakushi Kabuto showed no sign of nervousness on his face; instead, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
For Orochimaru-sama, as long as he still possessed sufficiently high value, Orochimaru-sama would definitely not kill him now.
Killing the Third Hokage, taking the descendant of the Uchiha Clan named Sasuke, and so on, these were definitely not Orochimaru-sama's true goals.
Therefore, this was the place that Yakushi Kabuto was truly curious about until now: what was Orochimaru-sama's purpose? Or what did he want to draw out?
"There are many secrets hidden in Konoha that even I don't know."
Orochimaru looked in the direction of the Hokage Rock, his brown snake-like eyes flickering slightly.