The Third Hokage listened blankly to Kakashi Hatake's mission report. The first half of the report was unexpectedly smooth. Mutual hostility and probing between ninjas from different villages were normal occurrences. Since neither side had suffered any casualties, it meant that both sides had been very restrained.
Afterward, Kakashi and his team had very smoothly completed the handover of the Three-Tails, and Kirigakure's strategic weapon was considered recovered... The slight roughness in the operation was negligible, and even Kakashi felt it wasn't worth mentioning to the Third Hokage. The Hokage was a busy man, handling countless affairs daily. As a mature Jonin, there was no reason to add extra burdens to the busy Hokage, especially mental burdens.
Compared to the smoothness of the first half of the mission, their return journey was incredibly fantastical.
"Kakashi, are you saying that during your return from the Land of Water, you were chased by the Fourth Mizukage? After a round of fighting, you realized that the Mizukage was being controlled by someone's genjutsu, and then you very kindly used a relatively simple and crude method to dispel the Mizukage's genjutsu?" The Third Hokage summarized Kakashi's words in a very concise manner.
"Yes," Kakashi nodded, thinking to himself that the Hokage was indeed the Hokage; his comprehension skills were truly exceptional.
The Third Hokage reached up and covered his forehead. If possible, he even wanted to cover his eyes... What the hell kind of mess was this? What was wrong with this world?
Clearly, the Third Hokage might need some targeted treatment at this point, like electroshock therapy.
After about three minutes of internal mental activity, the Third Hokage finally waved his hand and said to Kakashi, "I understand, Kakashi. You may leave."
Kakashi silently withdrew from the Hokage's office, then quietly let out a long breath. The Third Hokage hadn't doubted that he was telling a story, which showed how experienced and resilient the Hokage was.
In any case, the previous mission was considered completed, with a few scares but no real harm. After leaving the Hokage's office, Kakashi then reported the events of their return journey to Kushina Uzumaki. Compared to the brief report to the Hokage, Kakashi's report to Kushina was incredibly detailed, including the fact that Habara had used a special ninjutsu.
"A ninjutsu that can transform into an eight-headed, one-bodied giant serpent? If I'm not mistaken, that should be the village's forbidden jutsu, 'Yamata no Jutsu.' Only ninjas with immense chakra reserves and strong willpower can use such a ninjutsu."
After listening to Kakashi's description, Kushina Uzumaki quickly deduced the origin of the Yamata no Jutsu. This showed that she wasn't just doing random, pointless things all the time... She now had a fairly deep understanding of Konoha's secrets.
"Um, the point is, why would Habara know how to use Konoha's secret jutsu? He shouldn't have had access to it, so what does that mean?" Kakashi asked.
It meant that Habara's connection with Orochimaru was much deeper than expected. Shortly before Orochimaru left Konoha, Habara had maintained a special connection with Orochimaru... Kushina thought silently to herself.
Of course, Habara had no access to forbidden jutsu. But according to the intelligence obtained by the Third Hokage, Orochimaru had clearly stolen Konoha's forbidden jutsu, "Yamata no Jutsu."
But after thinking about it, Kushina still felt that Habara was probably fine. First, he had used this jutsu in public, rather than researching it in secret, which indicated that Habara might not even understand the significance of the Yamata no Jutsu. Second, regardless of what kind of connection Habara had with Orochimaru before, with Orochimaru's defection from the village, this connection must have been severed. And this severance was very physical, thus making it particularly decisive—because of Habara and Tenzo's interception, Orochimaru had lost his life, or at least, had been severely injured, not far from Konoha.
This showed that some women, when making judgments, tended to rely on their emotional biases. Because of her experiences during the Nine-Tails incident, Kushina had always had a very positive impression of Habara, and consequently, she tended to think about these things in a positive light.
At this moment, Kushina was considering the events of the past few years. Compared to Habara's rapid progress in strength, Kakashi's progress seemed insignificant... Although Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan was incredibly powerful, it couldn't be used as a regular combat method.
After careful consideration, Kushina ultimately decided to give something to Kakashi.
"Kakashi, as Minato's student, this is a jutsu he should have taught you, and you should try your best to learn it... No, considering your talent, you must learn this jutsu, because there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to."
As she spoke, Kushina Uzumaki handed a scroll to Kakashi.
"Kushina-sama, could this be...?"
When Kakashi received the scroll, he already had an idea of what jutsu Kushina was talking about. However, when he actually unrolled the scroll and saw the contents, he still felt immense pressure... Who could guarantee that they could learn such a jutsu with 100% certainty? Yet Kushina had made this unreasonable, mandatory requirement.
This showed that, although Kushina Uzumaki had a very good impression of Habara, she was still able to distinguish who her true, godson was.
A child with a mother was ultimately different from an orphan. ...... Two days later, Kushina Uzumaki held a small morning meeting in the small earthen building. The content of the meeting was very simple: to inform everyone that a new member had joined "Akakammuri."
The new member of Akakammuri was, naturally, Anko Mitarashi, the "abandoned disciple" left behind by Orochimaru, who had recently defected from Konoha.
Anko Mitarashi was now seen within the village as a remnant of Orochimaru's treachery, and her situation was very delicate. Although the Third Hokage had ruled that she had nothing to do with the defection, idle gossip wouldn't disappear because of it, and it was also difficult for her to be accepted by other departments.
Fortunately, there was a place in the village that welcomed everyone, and it accepted Anko, this refugee.
And during this small meeting, Anko Mitarashi surprisingly discovered a "familiar face"—a certain pervert on the street who had once caused a bit of a disturbance around her.
But this wasn't the time to talk about such things. After the meeting ended, Habara immediately pulled Kakashi and Tenzo away... Now that Orochimaru had defected from Konoha, he no longer cared about Anko, Mitarashi, or sweet potatoes.
"Senior Kakashi, Tenzo, I have a secret mission for you. It concerns the future development of our organization and even the entire village of Konoha. It could even be said to be a project of a century." After pulling Kakashi and Tenzo into his office, Habara spoke to them very seriously.
Kakashi and Tenzo exchanged a glance, and simultaneously had a very ominous premonition.
"Tell us the specifics," Kakashi said.
"The specifics? The specifics are that you two will dig a deep tunnel from Konoha to the Nameless Mountain, to lay out a special chakra energy pathway," Habara said.
"..."
"If I remember correctly, Konoha is a hundred kilometers from the Nameless Mountain, right?"
"It's a hundred kilometers."
"..."
"A hundred kilometers is nothing. For ninjas, running, it's very close."
Yes, running.
And digging?
Don't know, don't understand, not clear.