When Hyuga Hinata was accepting the bows of numerous Branch House Ninjas after succeeding as the Clan Leader of the Main Family, Uehara Naraku was hiding in a small cave, and he sneezed loudly.
"I've offended so many people lately..."
Uehara Naraku wrapped himself in his black ninja attire and quietly sighed, "After cutting down a batch of Konoha's green leaves, I need to act more discreetly in the future. Constantly getting scolded is unbearable."
Uehara Naraku guessed correctly, indeed someone was cursing him.
Land of Fire, on Short Scroll Street.
Jiraiya and Uzumaki Naruto finally found Tsunade and informed her about the chaos in Konoha, the death of Sarutobi Hiruzen, and invited her to take the position of the Fifth Hokage.
Tsunade's attention quickly focused on the killer of Sarutobi Hiruzen. She crushed her cup in anger: "Wait... the guy who conspired with Orochimaru to create the chaos in Konoha and killed the old man, is he called Uehara Naraku?"
She remembered this name vividly!
These past years, whenever Tsunade lost everything in gambling, she'd miss that young Rain Village ninja who used to give her money. They had so much fun back then!
She never expected that when she heard this name again, the once somewhat shy kid had become an accomplice to Orochimaru, creating chaos in Konoha!
Tsunade slammed her fist onto the table, gritting her silver teeth: "I should have killed him back then! No wonder I kept winning at the gambling table with him, fate was warning me to kill that brat then!"
Judging from Jiraiya's words, that little fellow called Uehara Naraku had an amazing growth rate, to the point where he could now fight against a Sannin-level Jiraiya.
If she had killed Uehara Naraku back then, Konoha might not have suffered such great losses, and Sarutobi Hiruzen might not have lost his life.
"Uh..."
Jiraiya sighed, speaking up to defend Uehara Naraku: "Actually, he probably had no other choice! After all, that little guy also acted on Hanzo's orders..."
This occasion wasn't suitable to go into detail here.
When they were alone, Jiraiya told Tsunade about the dirty dealings of Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, the two old men.
The blond female ninja was so furious that she punched Jiraiya away: "The current Konoha is a mess, and you want me to be the Fifth Hokage?"
"There's no better choice than you."
Jiraiya sighed deeply, rubbed his chest, and solemnly explained: "Even if I became the Hokage, Konoha still faces the danger of falling apart... Tsunade, only you are the most suitable person."
Because Tsunade was the granddaughter of the First Hokage and Second Hokage, and she was a highly esteemed medical ninja in the Ninja World. Except for being a bit unserious, she was undoubtedly the most suitable person to become Hokage.
"Alright!"
Tsunade suddenly threw out two dice, smiling lightly: "As long as you lose to me, I'll agree to your request!"
"..."
Jiraiya didn't engage her in conversation.
Tsunade frowned, crushing the dice into powder with one hand, mumbling unhappily: "Even that brat Uehara Naraku had more courage... it's such a pity to lose a gambling friend, the next meeting will be as enemies!"
"Don't worry about it."
Jiraiya interrupted Tsunade, speaking solemnly: "If nothing unexpected happens, you'll never meet again!"
Uehara Naraku had no knowledge that Tsunade and Jiraiya were talking about him.
While Uehara Naraku was hiding in a small cave lamenting the hardships of life, his ring received a communication, and Nagato sent him an alert: "Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku have returned, Konan wants to talk to you, she seems very angry right now, I can't stop her."
"Lord Nagato, I'm in a cave."
Uehara Naraku stroked the ring in his hand, and after inputting chakra into it, he whispered, "The signal here is not very good, can the chakra be transmitted?"
However, soon Nagato fell silent.
After a while, Konan's suppressed angry voice came from the ring: "Naraku, where are you now? Return to the village immediately!"
"Teacher, I still have some things to handle here..."
"Don't say those useless perfunctory words, you've become bolder as you grew up, daring to conspire with Orochimaru to assassinate the Third Hokage of Konoha!"
Konan didn't listen to his explanation at all. Even across a great distance, Uehara Naraku could imagine the cold look on Konan's face, seemingly indifferent to everything.
And this was precisely when she was the angriest.
"Teacher..."
Uehara Naraku lowered his head, sighed, and told a small lie: "If I didn't assassinate the Third Hokage, I wouldn't have been able to see the mastermind behind the Chunin Examination chaos, Shimura Danzo. Just before, I saw Shimura Danzo and killed him."
Shimura Danzo was considered missing in Konoha.
Such matters could be fabricated by Uehara Naraku as he pleased.
After hearing these words from the other side of the ring, there was instant silence, clearly Nagato or Konan were a little shocked by this news.
Konan's voice sounded much calmer, she said softly: "Naraku, come back first! The outside world is too dangerous for you now. Even though Konoha is temporarily in trouble and has no time to hunt you down, once they recover, they won't easily let go of the killer of the Hokage."
"Teacher, but I have a bit of a problem on my side."
Uehara Naraku explained solemnly: "Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame failed to capture the Nine-Tail in Konoha, Akatsuki's information might have leaked out to Konoha..."
Konan heard the heaviness in Uehara Naraku's words, and softly consoled her disciple: "There can't forever be an organization hiding in the shadows, let alone the business of Akatsuki. We will handle it, what you need to do right now is return to the Land of Rain immediately."