Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 141 The Reunion of the Three Legendary Sannin

(Bonus chapter 6/6, please subscribe)

Just as the Fourth Kazekage approached the secret base.

A burst of violent and evil chakra erupted from the secret base of Sunagakure. The Sunagakure ninja guarding the base fled desperately, while a fat tanuki chased after them frantically.

The Fourth Kazekage cursed, "Damn it, it's out of control again!"

He waved his hand, and golden sand rushed towards Shukaku, who retaliated with pale yellow sand. The two powerful sand manipulators engaged in a fierce battle.

In the end, the Fourth Kazekage emerged victorious, resealing the One-Tailed Shukaku, which had been sealed away for a long time and suppressed by Gaara.

Rasa, a strong contender for the weakest Kage-level ninja, was so exhausted that he couldn't even stand up and could only lie flat in the golden sand, waiting for the Kazekage's guards to rescue him.

In despair, he thought: [Forget it, I'll give up and just leave it at that.]

Even if Konoha Village is strong, it's none of my business anymore. If I don't provoke the Hokage, what can he do to me, his ally?

Kirigakure, well, Kirigakure is still embroiled in internal strife.

The Fourth Mizukage's brutal rule continues, and his response time to external intelligence is practically zero.

The Hidden Mist ninjas knew nothing and continued their frenzied slaughter in the Hidden Mist Village and the Land of Water, with clan ninjas killing civilian ninjas and civilian ninjas killing members of the clan ninjas.

Throughout the entire Water Kingdom, apart from a few people around Master Yuan, no one felt safe at all.

After arranging accommodations for Orochimaru in Konoha, Xia Zuo generously allowed him to roam freely.

During this pursuit, he truly realized that Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya were all the same; their so-called carefree life was a result of the Third Hokage's deliberate indulgence.

First, after mobilizing the ninjas of the Inu, Aburame, and Hyuga clans, finding Orochimaru's whereabouts was not difficult at all.

Secondly, while there may be few Konoha ninjas who can defeat Orochimaru, he would have a hard time dealing with seven or eight Konoha Jonin together.

When Uchiha Shisui led the team, a squad of six Jonin, Orochimaru didn't even have the thought of resisting until he was cornered at the largest and most important base.

Finally, Orochimaru built a vast and powerful Otogakure, boasting numerous talented young people and comprehensive facilities.

This doesn't mean that it's impossible to build up wealth from scratch in ten years, but rather that it's impossible to build it up silently.

Only a powerful force like Konoha Village, with its extensive resources, could silently support such a large operation.

Now that he has seized all of Orochimaru's assets, Xia Zuo not only does not feel threatened by Orochimaru, but is not even worried that he will escape again.

If you keep running away, you'll really end up like Himiko, holed up in the wilderness, lacking food and clothing for decades, unable to even complete a single research project.

Orochimaru can definitely endure hunger, but he absolutely cannot stand a life without experimental facilities; he would go crazy.

Now free, Orochimaru took the initiative to settle his children, and he had some affection for them.

After all, he was a genius that had been painstakingly collected and patiently nurtured for so many years. Even a group of kittens would become close to him, let alone a human cub that trusts and depends on him wholeheartedly.

Moreover, Orochimaru truly felt Xia Zuo's magnanimity and his joy at these children joining Konoha. He believed that these children would not be treated differently by Xia Zuo, but rather as one of Konoha's own ninjas.

Therefore, the achievements of these children in Konoha Village in the future will be related to their future influence in Konoha Village.

He had no choice but to take it seriously.

After settling the children in, Orochimaru didn't return to his "home." Instead, he leisurely strolled to the tavern and entered a private room inconspicuously.

The two people in the private room were already quite drunk.

Orochimaru sighed, "Tsunade, Jiraiya, I arrived fifteen minutes early. When exactly did you two start drinking?"

Jiraiya, his eyes glazed over with drunkenness, mumbled, "Well, it wasn't long. We started drinking after breakfast."

Orochimaru: "So you mean you've been drinking ever since you finished breakfast—and now it's time for dinner."

Tsunade laughed heartily: "So it's already time for dinner?"

"Perfect, now that I'm full, I can go home and sleep."

She looked up, asking curiously, "Orochimaru, were you also captured by the Fifth Hokage?"

Orochimaru chuckled and said helplessly, "The Fifth Hokage is very powerful. I don't want to die, so I have no choice but to obey his orders and return to Konoha."

For some reason, Tsunade was touched by Orochimaru's words and sighed, "Yes, the Fifth Hokage, Lord Natsuza, is very powerful."

Her face flushed slightly, but no one noticed because of her drunkenness.

Jiraiya laughed loudly, "The Fifth Hokage is amazing! Now we can all rest assured."

Orochimaru sat down, poured himself a glass of wine for the first time ever, toasted his two old classmates, and then drank it all in one gulp.

He then crushed the glass and placed it on the table to indicate that he would no longer drink.

Orochimaru glanced at his two classmates and said seriously, "Tsunade, it seems you've decided to settle down in the village from now on?"

Tsunade put down her wine glass, propped her right elbow on the table, rested her chin on her hand, and said frankly, "You said it yourself, the Fifth Hokage is powerful, I can't beat him, and I can feel his determination to kill me, so of course I have to obey orders."

Orochimaru nodded: "I felt it too. Lord Xia Zuo's domineering attitude of 'die if you don't submit' is like the feeling of the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha combined."

Jiraiya said in surprise, "Why do you all say that? I don't think he's that fierce at all."

Orochimaru looked at Jiraiya, who remained nonchalant, and said worriedly, "That's the problem. Didn't the Fifth Hokage speak with you?"

Jiraiya was taken aback, and after thinking for a moment, he replied, "It seems so. I've been back for quite some time now, and the Fifth Hokage has never met with me alone."

"Aside from the Konoha Jonin Tournament, I haven't met him."

"We've never met, and of course we've never spoken."

At this point, even a political idiot like Jiraiya realized the problem.

Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, who had left the village, was persuaded to return by the Fifth Hokage.

Orochimaru, an S-rank rogue ninja who defected from the village, was forcefully suppressed by the Fifth Hokage and brought back to Konoha.

The Fifth Hokage refused to even meet with Jiraiya, who was considered to have always served Konoha. No matter how you look at it, the signal this sent was extremely dangerous.

Orochimaru suddenly spoke up, asking, "Tsunade, Jiraiya, where are your headbands?"

Tsunade paused for a moment, then reached into her robes and pulled out her Konoha ninja headband, asking, "Here? What happened?"

Jiraiya pointed to the character for "oil" on his forehead and said, "Haven't I always worn it on my head?"

Orochimaru sighed, "Ah, I know what's going on."

Orochimaru was groomed to be the Fourth Hokage for a long time. Among the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, his abilities and status were higher than those of Tsunade and Jiraiya.

When he said he knew what had happened, Tsunade immediately stopped thinking and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Orochimaru pointed to the "oil" character headband on Jiraiya's head and said, "That's the identification mark of Mount Myōboku. How can the Fifth Hokage think of Jiraiya wearing someone else's headband like that?"

"They must think that Jiraiya no longer considers himself a Konoha ninja."

Jiraiya looked completely bewildered: "I'm a Konoha Jonin. I just don't wear the Konoha headband to avoid getting myself into trouble."

Orochimaru hissed coldly: "If you want to avoid trouble, just do what Tsunade and I do and don't wear headbands. Why do you insist on wearing the headbands from Mount Myōboku?"

Jiraiya: "—Um, I...I don't know."

Orochimaru & Tsunade: "————"

Orochimaru said helplessly, "In short, if you keep wearing a headband that doesn't belong to Konoha, don't expect the Fifth Hokage to accept you. This isn't the era of Sarutobi-sensei being Hokage anymore."

Jiraiya laughed nonchalantly: "Haha, it's alright. With such a powerful Fifth Hokage in Konoha, they don't need my help anymore. I can now focus all my energy on finding the Chosen One."

That's where things stand, that's where death comes in.

Jiraiya and Tsunade had little understanding of politics and were used to the Third Hokage's indulgence, so they thought it was no big deal.

Orochimaru, however, knew that the Fifth Hokage was no ordinary man.

On his way back, he learned from his conversation with Kakashi Hatake that Xia Zuo had reorganized Konoha Village as soon as he took office.

Through reorganization, the Fifth Hokage seemingly distributed the power of the Hokage, but by binding power and responsibility and balancing power, he seized all personnel power and became a super Hokage with real power.

Furthermore, he also eliminated the influence of the Third Hokage and subtly marginalized Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.

After doing all this, Xia Zuo immediately stopped Tsunade from leaving the village and forced her to return to Konoha.

Then, they drove Orochimaru into a corner, and through a battle of gods, they completely defeated Orochimaru and forced him back to the village.

Would the Fifth Hokage, Natsume, allow Jiraiya to continue wandering around?

Orochimaru didn't believe it at all.

That was a monster who could fight the First Hokage with Wood Release techniques, a battle so fierce it felt like Mars colliding with Earth. He was also a ruthless person who could talk eloquently about politics and the balance of power with the Second Hokage.

Orochimaru did not try to persuade Jiraiya again.

We're all 48 years old now, and we've long since developed our own ways of dealing with people. How can we possibly persuade each other with words?

Although Orochimaru didn't know how Tsunade was persuaded, he knew how he was persuaded.

So he decided to let Jiraiya experience the Fifth Hokage's ruthlessness, hoping it might bring this brainwashed fool from Mount Myōboku back to his senses.

The three legendary Sannin of Konoha gathered together, and after a banquet, Tsunade and Jiraiya were both completely drunk.

The next morning, after sobering up, Jiraiya packed his things as if nothing had happened and walked toward the walls of Konoha Village.

But to his surprise, he found that there were more than a dozen Konoha ninjas surrounding the gap in the barrier he often entered and exited, all of whom were wearing the barrier team insignia.

Led by a Jonin and a Chunin, they demonstrated to the other young Konoha Genin how to detect and repair vulnerabilities in the barrier.

Jiraiya stared in disbelief, then asked blankly, "Why are you starting to repair the barrier?"

Among the ninjas in the barrier team, the Jonin was a middle-aged man who was noticeably older. Upon seeing Jiraiya, he greeted him with a smile: "Lord Jiraiya."

"After the Fifth Hokage took office, our Barrier Team finally received normal funding and manpower. Look, these are all the young graduates newly assigned to our Barrier Team."

The Chunin from the Barrier Team chimed in, "With enough money and new recruits, we should certainly speed up the maintenance of the barrier that has been delayed for decades."

"Otherwise, we would be letting down the Fifth Hokage's trust and support."

What could Jiraiya possibly say? Could he admit that he came here illegally?

He could only awkwardly say, "Okay, okay, it's so good to have money and connections, haha."

"You guys go ahead with your work, I'll go take a look around somewhere else."

Without waiting for a response from the barrier team's ninjas, Jiraiya ran away in a flash.

He circled around Konoha Village and was horrified to find that all the known flaws in the barrier had been repaired, or were crowded with barrier ninjas maintaining them.

Finally, after much difficulty, a loophole was found, but there were ninjas from the Inu clan standing guard.

Jiraiya stared at the leader, Ryo, for a long time until the other man sensed his presence from thin air, at which point he had no choice but to leave.

Jiraiya walked somewhat bewildered through the streets of Konoha Village, unsure of what to do.

He could certainly leave through the main gate, but any Konoha ninja passing through there would need the appropriate procedures and documents.

These documents, which used to require the Third Hokage to issue, are now handled by the Ninja Management Department.

Logically speaking, this should make the difficulty lower, but Jiraiya doesn't know how to submit his application. Should he leave the village to search for the chosen one?

Some things, if you don't weigh them, they're nothing, but once you do, they're incredibly heavy.

Jiraiya, a Konoha ninja, a Jonin of Konoha, and one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, actually left Konoha Village to carry out a mission at Mount Myōboku.

When the Third Hokage was not only indifferent but also helped cover for them, everyone could turn a blind eye.

However, the Fifth Hokage had just taken office and was making a big show of reorganizing Konoha's administration. If he were to investigate this, it would be a clear case of Jiraiya betraying the village.

Even if Jiraiya was carefree, he wouldn't be so foolish as to leave Konoha Village through the main gate with such a reason.

He didn't want to become a rogue ninja of Konoha.

That's why Jiraiya wanted to follow the old path and leave unnoticed through the loophole in the barrier, leaving no trace behind.

Without solid evidence, the Fifth Hokage couldn't do anything to him.

After all, Jiraiya was one of the Legendary Sannin, a hero of two wars in Konoha, and a disciple of the Third Hokage; he still had that much influence.

He subconsciously forgot that Tsunade and Orochimaru had been completely conquered by the Fifth Hokage, and he also forgot about Hiruzen Sarutobi's mysterious drowning in the courtyard.

Jiraiya wandered aimlessly through the streets, gradually taking in the changes that had taken place in Konoha Village.