Naruto: My Progress in Konoha.

Chapter 1234 The Final Appearance and the Unexpected Person

For a moment, the room fell silent.

Inside the earthen wall, Uchiha Shisui and the others, who had not yet made a move, formed a circle, each holding their ninja tools and warily looking around, even though they could not see anything.

Tick ​​tock~tick tock~
The sound of ticking clock hands echoed in everyone's hearts.

Time passes minute by minute.

A few breaths later, with a loud "boom," an explosion suddenly came from outside the earthen wall formed by Yamato.
Everyone present was an elite, so they immediately recognized the source of the sound: a large number of explosive tags exploding at the same time.

This explosion acted as a fuse, and almost immediately, more explosions came from all directions.

Everyone felt the sand beneath their feet tremble, and then the four earthen walls formed by Qingming's 'Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall' were blasted open with huge holes.

Through these holes, the people could vaguely see the mangled snake carcass.

That's right, what was under those bulges just now was nothing but sand snakes burrowing into the ground.

At this time of day and in this location, the only person anyone could think of who could be associated with snakes was Orochimaru.

Clearly, Orochimaru had hidden explosive tags inside these sand snakes, intending to launch a sneak attack while they were being besieged.

Unfortunately, this plot was thwarted by Qingming and Yamato's respective use of 'Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall'.

However, this still made everyone realize the danger of this mission.

Without hesitation, everyone tightened their grip on their ninja tools once more.

Time continues to pass.

Soon, the dust kicked up by the shockwave of the explosion settled, and everyone looked around.

Suddenly, a soft shout came from within the ranks: "This way!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw two figures slowly approaching on the sand not far away.

They were all dressed in black robes with red cloud patterns and wore bamboo hats, making it impossible to see their faces clearly.

One of them seemed normal, but the other appeared to be crawling on the ground.

The others who witnessed this scene didn't think much of it, but they felt a little strange and became slightly more wary.

But Qingming was different; he recognized the man's identity at a glance.

If he wasn't mistaken, the figure that seemed to be crawling forward was none other than Sasori, the most talented puppeteer in the history of Sunagakure, known as "Sasori of the Red Sand".

His mastery of puppetry techniques allows him to perfectly replicate the strength of a ninja in life, even bloodline limits.

Furthermore, his 'Red Secret Technique: Hundred Machine Manipulation' allows him to control hundreds of puppets simultaneously in battle, making him a veritable army in one person.

just
How did these two end up together?

Qingming's gaze fell on the figure whose figure was still relatively normal.

Although I couldn't see the other person's face clearly, the unique cold and damp feeling emanating from him confirmed that it was Orochimaru without a doubt.

If he remembered correctly, Orochimaru and Sasori should have been enemies.

To this end, they even used Yakushi Kabuto as a pawn to carry out a campaign of planting and counter-planting spies.

However, after thinking deeply about the reasons for their enmity, Qingming felt relieved.

In another timeline, the reason they were hostile to each other was that they both coveted each other's unique skills and wanted to take advantage of them for free.

This naturally leads to conflict.

However, there is no problem that cannot be solved through the exchange of benefits.

Since they can be adversaries because of technology, they can also cooperate briefly because of technology and simply exchange technologies.

Even without exchanging technology, if Orochimaru were to reveal a little bit of information about their group, Sasori would most likely cooperate.

The reason is simple: just as Orochimaru's 'Impure World Reincarnation' requires the genes of excellent ninjas, Sasori's creation of puppets also craves the corpses of excellent ninjas. In fact, to some extent, his craving for the corpses of excellent ninjas even surpasses that of Orochimaru.

After all, Orochimaru only needed the genes, while he needed a complete corpse.

Therefore, there is a natural basis for cooperation.

As for why Orochimaru summoned Sasori?
There are only two reasons: either the other party is unable to avoid Sasori's watchful eyes during this period and has no choice but to cooperate, or they are afraid of his or Konoha's strength and want to find an ally or a scapegoat.

Compared to the former, Qingming prefers the latter.

After all, given Orochimaru's abilities, it wouldn't be difficult for him to avoid or lure Sasori away if he wanted to.

But if it is indeed the latter, it can only mean that he has a hidden agent of considerable status by Minato Namikaze's or Fugaku Uchiha's side.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible to know their strength clearly and call for Scorpion's assistance in advance.

At the same time, Sasori's appearance also resolved some of his doubts, namely how Orochimaru precisely mobilized the power of Sunagakure to ensure that they were only worn down in the end, rather than being beaten to it by others.

With Sasori, a native of Sunagakure and a rogue ninja, everything makes sense.

Qingming had not forgotten that in another timeline, when he and Deidara captured the One-Tailed Beast, they opened the gates of Sunagakure through a remote spy operation.

Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why some information could be passed on to mislead the Fourth Kazekage in making a decision.

'Human puppet?'

Qingming murmured to himself.

Finally, he turned his gaze to the two men's clothes; the black robes with red clouds were the symbol of official members of the Akatsuki organization.

Clearly, his other guess also came true: Orochimaru did indeed join the Akatsuki organization after leaving Konoha.

'I just don't understand why he joined this time.'

This thought flashed through my mind.

But soon, Qingming put it out of his mind.

Nothing more, it's not important to him.

Pulling his thoughts back, Qingming stopped thinking about it.

At that moment, Yamato leaped forward and said to Orochimaru, who was standing not far away, "Orochimaru-senpai, you should know the purpose of our trip. Can you tell me where the rest of Itachi's team are now?"

"Hehehe~"

"Itachi."

Upon hearing Yamato's question, Orochimaru let out a chilling laugh. He automatically ignored the fact that Yamato's mention of "Itachi's Team" didn't solely refer to Itachi Uchiha, and replied with interest, "Guess?"

This unbridled attitude made Yamato Mask's expression very unpleasant.

However, before he could ask any more questions, Orochimaru turned his gaze to Qingming, licked his lips, and said with a slightly solemn tone, "Qingming-kun, we meet again."

Upon hearing Orochimaru's words, the people around Qingming all looked surprised, seemingly not understanding why Orochimaru would greet him alone. Only Uchiha Shisui seemed to have thought of something and glanced at him subtly.

Qingming had no intention of explaining to the crowd's confusion and doubts. He looked at Orochimaru, shrugged, and said, "This mission was led by Captain Tenzo. I was just a henchman."

Qingming spoke casually, seemingly unconcerned about what others might think.

In fact, it is true.

As I said before, with his current abilities, he can do things as he pleases.

The members of their group reacted differently upon hearing his tone.

On the other side, Orochimaru looked thoughtful.

(End of this chapter)