If you were to ask who was the most embarrassed right now, the answer would undoubtedly be Uchiha Hayashi and Mikoto.
Not only did they have to endure the strange looks from the surrounding ninja, they also had to witness the Uchiha clan ninja acting in such a foolish way that it made them wish they could melt into the ground.
At this moment, Hayashi felt especially aware of the bright red scarf on his chest, and the fan strapped to his back seemed even more vibrant in everyone's eyes.
He felt somewhat relieved that he was wearing his jounin vest as cover; otherwise, he might have used Earth Release to bury himself underground.
Still, Hayashi was not entirely happy.
"Nawaki, do I have flowers on my face?" he asked nervously.
Nawaki clicked his tongue and said, "No, but I have a question for you. Is the person at the very front the right hand of your clan head, Uchiha Yama? My eyesight is not very good. Could you help me confirm?"
He pointed toward the ninja at the front speaking with Orochimaru, emphasizing the word "Uchiha."
Hayashi was stunned. "He is not my lackey, how would I know! And you shorty, stop staring at me so much."
"Hey, you even dared to jump up and hit my knee," Nawaki said, his face turning red as he explained to the others around him.
"Don't listen to his nonsense, I am only one centimeter shorter than him," he protested.
While the two of them were arguing, the ninja at the front had already begun the formal reception.
"Congratulations, Orochimaru Sama, congratulations, Jiraiya San," said the ninja wearing an ANBU fox mask. He bowed and continued in a formal tone.
"By order of the Hokage Sama, we ANBU and the remaining ninja from the village are here as the reception unit at the border of the Land of Fire."
"Of course, we are also responsible for the safety of the prisoners brought back from the Land of Wind."
Orochimaru sneered silently. With thousands of ninja present, was this really necessary? Could they not guard the Third Kazekage? If these escorts truly wanted to be responsible, they should have come from the Land of Rivers. Now, within the Land of Fire, they were doing ceremonial work instead.
Their conduct was too pretentious.
"Where is the Third Hokage Sama's hand-written order with his stamp?" Orochimaru asked calmly.
"Here," the ANBU replied.
Of course they came prepared; they were eager to get their piece of recognition. Soon, the leading ANBU produced a letter of appointment stamped with the Hokage's official seal.
Orochimaru glanced at it. The Third Hokage had already explained the composition of the reception unit during their previous intelligence exchange.
As previously mentioned, Mito Kadomatsu, who had been promoted to leader, could not control Root. In truth, the Third Hokage was only putting on a show. It was not long before Danzo's removed authority was restored again.
At the same time, the Uchiha clan, who had been blocking trade between Sunagakure and merchants at the Daimyo's mansion, was also back in action.
No matter how powerful a tiger is when raised in a cage, its ferocity diminishes. That phrase applied well to the Uchiha clan. It was regrettable that they had not gained much advantage from the Sand Ninja campaign.
Thus, Uchiha Yama, eager for influence, set his sights on this reception mission, or rather, he came to obtain his portion of glory under Danzo's suggestion.
Though it may sound ironic, there was now a sort of honeymoon period between Danzo and the Uchiha clan. This was shown when Uchiha Yama temporarily handed over control of the Police Force to Danzo.
However, alliances never last forever. As long as there were benefits to be had, even Danzo would occasionally help the Uchiha clan. In the end, everyone simply gained what they needed.
"With all that said, are you truly the Hokage's direct ANBU, and not some miscellaneous unit?" Orochimaru asked in a hoarse voice, as if he were joking.
"The ANBU are under the unified jurisdiction of the Hokage Sama. How could there be any other group? You must be jesting," the leading ANBU said, tone light but confident.
There was nothing technically wrong with that explanation. Root was also nominally part of the ANBU. What surprised Orochimaru was how the Root members could now fake a smile so convincingly.
While the two were speaking, the jounin nearby had already understood what was happening.
It was nothing more than some ninja clans in the village who were unwilling to be left out, wanting to grab a spoonful of the rewards of victory.
Although these feelings of indignation were strong, they were still ninja of the same village and held the Hokage's written order, so they could not act against it.
Moreover, internal conflict like this was a matter for the upper echelons of Konoha. As tools of the village, the frontline ninja were not qualified to care about such politics.
Even so, this attitude of engaging in internal squabbles before even returning to the village truly disheartened those ninja who had fought for their lives on the battlefield.
The problem was that this kind of unsavory matter was being shoved aside by the leading ANBU.
After all, Konoha's ANBU answered directly to the Hokage Sama. Only those who understood the ANBU deeply were aware of Root's existence.
But that did not prevent other ninja from glaring at the ANBU, including the Uchiha clan ninja.
"So the prisoners, including the Third Kazekage, will be under our responsibility?" someone asked.
"Yes," the ANBU confirmed.
Orochimaru merely chuckled and agreed readily.
"We are all Konoha ninja, after all. Let us be considerate of each other," he said.
"That is correct. It is truly wonderful that Orochimaru Sama is so reasonable. In that case, let us not delay. The border of the Land of Fire is not truly safe. We will probably need five more days to reach Konoha, so let us proceed quickly."
Originally the ANBU had prepared to be difficult, but they did not expect it to be this simple. It was almost like trying to refuse a membership from a hair salon — unexpectedly easy.
At this time, Jiraiya, standing behind, remained silent. He now understood why Orochimaru had devised this plan.
From his perspective, he certainly did not want his good friend to do anything that would harm the village's ninja, but before that, the larger premise was that he, Jiraiya, was also a student of the Third Hokage.
Konoha's upper ranks were already divided into factions. At the top was the Third Hokage, but below him were Root within the ANBU, the Konoha Elder Council, and various ninja clans, large and small.
Otherwise, why would people say that dealing with others is more exhausting than fighting battles?
Konoha's greatest enemies were not outside the village but within. The other four great nations were insignificant in comparison.
Jiraiya could voice objections, but he could not stop it. As Orochimaru said, even the Third Hokage had tacitly approved the plan. What else could he do?
Persuade these ninja to return?
He was not naive enough to believe that would work.
He just felt tired. Suddenly Jiraiya found himself missing his life in the Land of Rain. Perhaps it was time for a spontaneous journey.
While Jiraiya wavered between staying and leaving, the leading ANBU ordered most of the Uchiha ninja and ANBU to gather around the Kazekage's cage, while a few others were posted near Iwakura.
As the unit began to advance, the Root ninja at the forefront felt relieved. As long as they were part of the team, they would receive their share of merit, even if it was small. That was enough for their Root leader to gain advantage in future dealings with the Hokage.
As for the Uchiha clan, they may have gained benefits, but they were sure to be resented by more ninja, after all, they were without masks.
Who could say whether this gain was worth the loss?
As their pace increased, two days later the entire unit was less than half a day from Konoha.
Just as everyone began looking forward to seeing the village again, the cage engraved with intricate sealing jutsu formulas emitted a faint, almost imperceptible glow. The light was so weak that even the Uchiha ninja closest to it did not notice.
Immediately after, the special scroll sealing the lock quietly lifted at one corner.
It had taken nearly four days in total. The Third Kazekage, imprisoned in the cage, had used his only movable right hand to painstakingly draw counter-sealing jutsu formulas little by little.
He was now on the verge of completing his salvation, about to successfully break free.
The moment the seal was broken, the Third Kazekage felt exhilaration. The small amount of chakra he had retained began to surge again. After waiting quietly for a while, that fuzzy sensation finally dissipated.
Now he felt good once more, except for his still somewhat low chakra, there was no difference from before.
So what should he do next?
Should he forgive the Konoha ninja like a kindly old father?
The Third Kazekage shook his head. Forgiveness was impossible. His great blade felt thirsty for blood.
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