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Throughout the history of the shinobi world, the relationship between Konohagakure and Sunagakure had never been built on trust so much as necessity. The two villages had fought wars in generations past, shinobi from both sides falling before interests shifted and yesterday's enemy became today's ally. Peace between the Great Villages had not erased history; it merely meant that their current interests outweighed the reasons that had once driven them to take up arms.
That was why, when Konoha welcomed the Sand shinobi to participate in the Chūnin Exams, there was nothing strange about the Kazekage sitting beside the Hokage while the children of their villages competed below. Yet over the past several volumes, the manga had revealed that this future peace concealed something else: Sunagakure and the Sound Village had formed an alliance to target Konoha, with Orochimaru standing at the heart of it.
Hiruzen and Danzō knew that now. Orochimaru knew that his future counterpart commanded the Sound Village and was using the alliance with the Sand to pursue greater goals. He also knew perfectly well that Kabuto was his spy—the man who had chosen to stand at his side. So the question inside the Art Store was no longer whether there was a conspiracy, nor who the target was.
The question that had remained throughout the last several chapters was far simpler.
When would it begin?
[— Manga Scene —]
The sphere of sand cracked apart.
Gaara staggered out of it, one hand pressed against his shoulder as blood ran between his fingers.
Temari's eyes widened.
"He's injured… His shell was breached before he could complete the transformation!!"
Sasuke watched Gaara, but something else occupied his thoughts.
'No… those weren't his eyes.'
For a moment, he remembered what he had seen inside the shell.
'What the hell was that thing I saw earlier…?'
Silence settled over the arena for several moments.
Somewhere among the spectators, a masked figure raised two fingers before his face.
White feathers began to fall.
One… then another.
Gai turned sharply.
"Kakashi! This is…!"
Kakashi answered:
"Yeah… Genjutsu!!"
One spectator after another began falling asleep.
Kakashi and Gai formed hand seals.
"Kai! Release!!"
Sakura raised her hands as well.
"What's going on?!"
"Kai! Release!!"
Among the crowd, the genjutsu user remained concealed behind his mask.
'Leave it to Konoha's elite… They'll notice it and dispel the genjutsu.'
Baki, meanwhile, immediately realized what was happening.
'Genjutsu! Kabuto's already making his move?'
His eyes narrowed.
'Then… it's almost time.'
Four shinobi moved around the Kazekage's platform.
The Kazekage raised his head toward Hiruzen.
"Shall we begin?"
And in the next instant—
BOOM!!
A smoke bomb exploded over the platform.
Kakashi turned.
Gai's eyes widened.
Sasuke froze.
Naruto, meanwhile, had already fallen asleep under the genjutsu.
And at that same moment, the order was given.
"Commence the operation!!"
[— End Scene —]
There wasn't a sound in the section where Hiruzen sat.
The words "Commence the operation" did not surprise him. From the previous chapters, he already knew that the future Konoha was being targeted by an alliance between the Sand and Sound, and he knew that Baki had killed a Konoha jōnin to prevent him from exposing that plan.
But knowing the attack would happen…
Was completely different from seeing the moment it began.
Hiruzen's fingers stopped against the page.
'So… this is it.'
The battle between Sasuke and Gaara had never been the end of the Chūnin Exams.
It was the countdown to zero.
…
Danzō sat beside him without any change in expression, though his eye moved rapidly across the pages.
Kabuto initiates the genjutsu.
Baki recognizes the signal.
The Sand shinobi begin moving.
The Kazekage asks whether the time has come.
Then the operation begins.
"Organized."
Danzō said it simply.
Hiruzen looked at him.
"That's the first thing that came to mind?"
"Would you prefer that I pretend to be surprised by an attack we already know is coming?"
Danzō returned his gaze to the page.
"I'm interested in how it's being executed."
Hiruzen didn't argue.
Because this time, Danzō was right.
…
Danzō pointed toward the feathers falling over the stands.
"The genjutsu isn't the attack."
Hiruzen immediately understood what he meant.
"It's clearing the field."
Danzō nodded.
The civilians, nobles, and spectators incapable of resisting fell immediately. The experienced shinobi would recognize the illusion and break it, but they would suddenly find themselves inside a stadium filled with thousands of sleeping people they now had to protect.
"They turned the spectators into a burden for Konoha's defenders."
Danzō said it without hesitation.
Hiruzen didn't like the phrasing.
But it was accurate.
And worse still, Kabuto hadn't needed to defeat a single person to accomplish it.
…
Far from them, Jiraiya had completely forgotten his usual lazy posture.
He sat upright, the volume open between his hands.
"Finally."
Tsunade looked at him.
"You were waiting for this?"
"Ever since we learned about the Sand–Sound alliance? Of course."
Jiraiya flipped back a page.
"I wanted to know how they would begin."
He pointed toward the feathers.
"Now we know."
Tsunade wasn't looking at the feathers.
She was looking at Gaara.
…
"Not just that."
She spoke quietly.
Jiraiya looked toward her.
She pointed to the injured Gaara, then to Temari's words.
His shell was breached before he could complete the transformation.
Then she returned to the previous chapter.
The plan.
The signal.
Baki's concern.
Gaara beginning the technique too early.
"We already knew he was part of the plan."
Tsunade said.
"Now we have something clearer about his role."
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed.
"The transformation."
"At the very least, he was supposed to complete it."
Tsunade went no further than what the pages had revealed.
But that alone was enough.
Gaara hadn't entered the Exams merely as a powerful genin meant to help Suna achieve good results.
They were expecting something from him.
…
Orochimaru, meanwhile, sat alone.
No one tried to approach him, and yet a few eyes were inevitably drawn toward him from time to time. His presence alone in that quiet corner was enough to make the space around him emptier than it should have been.
But Orochimaru paid no attention to anyone.
His eyes were on Kabuto.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"So you're the one who starts it…"
Neither the name nor the role was new to him.
Kabuto was his spy.
The man working at his side, possessing enough intelligence and ambition to make him far more interesting than a mere subordinate who blindly followed orders.
And Orochimaru already knew that.
…
He stopped at the scene containing Kabuto's thoughts:
'Leave it to Konoha's elite… They'll notice it and dispel the genjutsu.'
Orochimaru's smile widened slightly.
Even while carrying out his role, Kabuto was already calculating the opposition's response.
He never expected the genjutsu to keep Kakashi and Gai under its control.
It didn't need to.
'Beautiful.'
His future counterpart had entrusted Kabuto with a sensitive role at the very moment the entire operation began.
Orochimaru didn't find that strange.
On the contrary.
It suited him perfectly.
…
But his gaze changed slightly as he moved to the following pages.
The Kazekage.
Hiruzen.
The smoke bomb.
Four shinobi moving around the platform.
Orochimaru didn't need to ask who stood behind the attack.
He knew.
His counterpart.
And that was precisely what made reading it so fascinating.
Ever since learning about his future self's objectives, Orochimaru had never viewed them as instructions he should follow simply because they were his future actions. He wanted to understand how that man had reached this point—and what he truly intended to accomplish through an alliance between two entire villages.
Because one thing about him had not changed.
Orochimaru did not like being a pawn.
And he didn't believe his future counterpart would go this far merely to become a pawn in Sunagakure's plan.
…
Jiraiya noticed his smile from across the store.
He stared at him for two seconds.
Then said:
"I don't like his face."
Tsunade glanced toward Orochimaru.
"That's nothing new."
"No. I mean that smile specifically."
Tsunade didn't answer.
She knew Orochimaru well enough to understand the difference.
He wasn't watching his future plan with pride.
He was studying it.
As though he were trying to uncover the secrets of another man who happened to bear his face and name.
…
Hiruzen returned his attention to Gaara.
Over the past chapters, the boy had worried him for obvious reasons. His power, his mental state, the thing sealed inside him, and the way he spoke to "Mother."
But the picture was different now.
Gaara wasn't simply a danger that had gone out of control during the operation.
He was a danger that was supposed to be used as part of it.
And that detail was worse.
"Danzō."
"Hmm?"
"If Sasuke hadn't breached the shell…"
Hiruzen stopped.
Danzō finished for him.
"The transformation would have been completed."
Silence followed.
They still didn't know what would happen once it was complete.
So neither of them added anything else.
…
Tsunade reached the same question.
Her fingers remained over the image of blood running from Gaara's shoulder.
"Sasuke didn't just win the match."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.
"The match isn't over."
"I know."
She looked at him.
"I'm saying the Chidori may have done something far more important than simply injuring his opponent."
Jiraiya returned to Temari's words.
His shell was breached before he could complete the transformation.
Then he looked at Gaara.
"He stopped something that was part of the operation."
"Or disrupted it."
Tsunade corrected him.
"We don't know if he stopped it."
Jiraiya smiled faintly.
"You're still annoying."
"And you're still an idiot."
For one brief moment, their conversation returned to its usual tone.
Then Jiraiya turned the page.
And his smile disappeared again.
…
Baki was the next thing to catch Danzō's attention.
Not because Baki knew about the plan; that was no longer new.
But because he recognized the moment.
Kabuto's already making his move?
"There's direct coordination."
Danzō said.
Hiruzen nodded slowly.
"Between the Sound and the Sand."
"More than we had seen before."
The alliance was already known.
But the manga was now beginning to reveal how it functioned.
Kabuto played his role.
Baki recognized it.
The forces waited.
Then came the signal.
Danzō committed every detail to memory.
This time, he wasn't searching for the enemy.
He was studying how the enemy moved.
As for Orochimaru, his smile widened slightly.
It had really begun.
____________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 248: Because the Third Hokage Will Die Here!
Chapter 249: Who Is Orochimaru?
Chapter 250: Enemy of Konoha!
Chapter 251: I Want to Set the Wheel in Motion!
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Hey guys, I am BlackStar_BH… I've missed you! It's been over five months, but I'm finally back to the One Piece book. ❤️
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