Chapter 92

Hokage's office.

“Don’t worry so much about Sasuke, everything will be fine, Iruka,” Hiruzen smiled reassuringly at Iruka standing in front of the table.

To which he nodded understandingly, although the previous concern had not gone away, he turned around and left the Hokage’s Office.

“Well, come in now that you’ve come,” Hiruzen sighed helplessly, taking several drags from his pipe in the silence of the empty office.

“Long time no see, old man,” after that Jiraiya jumped into the office window with an energetic cry.

– How long have you been in the village, two weeks? And he deigned to look at the old man only now... – Hiruzen turned his head slightly and grinned wryly, not at all surprised by the Sannin’s appearance.

“I solved Sasuke’s problem, but only temporarily... Orochimaru had a hand in this!” – carefreely ruffling his white hair, Jiraiya suddenly became serious and got down to business.

- By the way, is there a reason, or did you deign to return for once on a simple whim? – Hiruzen asked, frowning.

- Yes, nothing special, I just decided to look home. Yes, you yourself are probably already aware of Orochimaru’s penetration into Konoha... - Jiraiya began casually, thoughtfully stroking his chin and remembering the ominous prediction of the Great Toad Sage.

After these words, he looked at the Third Hokage's face.

And indeed, the old man’s wrinkled face distorted into a gloomy and angry grimace at the mention of his former student.

Then Jiraiya himself let out a heavy sigh, and rage flashed in his eyes: “Orochimaru, blame yourself if you are the one who plunges Konoha into the flames of war!”

“I think Orochimaru is hiding among the participants in the Chūnin Exams.” There are too many participants, and the beginning of an active check will not go unnoticed and will scare away this sly one! – Hiruzen seriously shook his head, the secret search for the Anbu had not yet yielded any results.

“Old man, you better be well prepared, I think our village may face big problems...” after a long and difficult silence, Jiraiya reminded Hiruzen, who was sitting at the table.

The old man was taken aback by the student's words, but then his heavy gaze brightened a little.

Knock! Knock!

And a moment later there was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” the Third Hokage said calmly.

Having received permission, Hatake Kakashi walked inside.

- Kakashi? – Seeing this, Hiruzen raised his eyebrows animatedly, because Kakashi had been unconscious in the hospital all these days.

“Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-san... I just woke up, and I have something to tell you...” Kakashi grabbed his head with his hand and said painfully, but very seriously, looking at Jiraiya and Hiruzen.

After Jounin's statement, a heavy atmosphere hung in the office.

– Really... do you have doubts about Kiri’s actions? – Hiruzen narrowed his eyes sharply, and there were notes of concern in his voice.

“I still don’t understand the motives, but one thing I can say for sure: the fog is planning something!” – Kakashi nodded and blurted out ominously.

“Damn, I knew it...” Hiruzen whispered gloomily, finally taking a couple of drags and putting the smoking pipe on the table.

After that, Kakashi politely bowed to the Hokage, also said goodbye to Jiraiya and silently left the office.

“Jiraiya, I trust you with the protection of Konoha during the third stage of the Chuunin Exams,” after thinking a little, Hiruzen turned to the thoughtful Sannin.

At first he was quite surprised, but then he nodded seriously and was about to leave the office.

“Wait, I think it’s worth giving you something for safekeeping,” Hiruzen suddenly called out to the departing Jiraiya, having made some decision.

Soon, news of Gekko Hayate's death spread throughout Konoha.

What happened shook the top, and members of the Anbu began to scour Konoha with might and main. And now even ordinary people noticed from time to time the flashing figures of shinobi in Anbu masks.

Gradually, tension grew in noisy Konoha.

It is also worth noting that Hiruzen placed a restriction on Root's actions shortly after Kakashi's awakening, but it was meaningless because the secret Anbu squad was completely subservient to Danzo.

But when the news reached the Root Leader that the returned Jiraiya had taken over the responsibilities of protecting Konoha, he first went into a real rage, and then hid in anticipation of a good show.

Killing Hayate was Suna's sign to Orochimaru and Yudao.

And while everyone was acting in the shadows, Yudao was carefree walking around Konoha with Ranmaru.

But it cannot be said that they were just chilling these few days. In fact, the First Mizukage calmly examined the general situation and the barrier ninjutsu enveloping Konoha.

Somewhere on the border of the Country of Fire.

"Waaaah!" – there was a painful cry.

Then Kimimaro, with a slight movement of his hand, pulled out the bone blade from the body of the Konoha shinobi and, carelessly throwing it to the ground, moved on.

Phew!

But just at that moment, the sound of cutting air came from behind, and another Konoha shinobi quickly rushed towards Kimimaro from the branch of a large tree, intending to slash him with a kunai blade right on the neck.

But the last of the Kaguya Clan both walked forward and continued to walk calmly, completely ignoring the sudden attack of the enemy.

And when the Konoha shinobi was about to cut Kimimaro’s neck, a human silhouette jumped out of an inconspicuous puddle under his feet.

Bang!

Suigetsu, who appeared, raised his ax with lightning speed and hit the back side with Kabutowari's hammer, splashing a lot of blood mixed with pieces of flesh and even bones in all directions.

Kabutowari's ax broke all the ribs at once and pierced through the chest of the shocked Konoha shinobi, and this, I must say, was an extremely bloody sight.

- Tsk, there are a lot of Konokhovskys here, don’t you think? – Suigetsu grinned wryly, looking around with interest.

But both during the enemy’s surprise attack and now, Kimimaro continued to silently walk forward with an indifferent expression on his face.

“What kind of boredom...” – Hozuki sighed helplessly and quietly whispered under his breath, following the back of the descendant of the Kaguya Clan.

Soon, after a short walk, several waiting Kiri shinobi appeared before their eyes.

There were Momochi Zabuza, Ringo Ameyuri, Haku, Choujuro and a still lazy Utakata on the branch of a large tree nearby.

- You’re delayed! – Zabuza spat out displeasedly through his teeth.