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Asahi turned his head to glance at Sakumo, and indeed, Sakumo's attention was also drawn to the Hidden Cloud Ninja.
The reason was simple: Asahi spotted a familiar face among the Hidden Cloud's Ninja.
Orochimaru, one of the Sannin of Konoha. Despite Orochimaru's excellent disguise, it couldn't escape the eyes of both Asahi and Sakumo.
Asahi didn't explicitly mention it; Orochimaru had his mission infiltrating the Hidden Cloud's Ninja. As a neutral party, Asahi couldn't favor either side.
Whatever happens later is a matter between Konoha and the Hidden Cloud.
As for Orochimaru's method of infiltrating the Hidden Cloud's team, Asahi chose not to delve into it.
In the ninja world, there were various methods—be it illusions or espionage—and a ninja of Orochimaru's caliber had plenty of ways to infiltrate the Hidden Cloud.
As Asahi and Sakumo gradually moved away, Orochimaru, blending in with the Hidden Cloud Ninja, turned to cast a glance at Asahi's group.
He didn't expect to encounter Asahi outside the Hidden Cloud Village.
From Asahi's appearance, it seemed he had just left the Hidden Cloud. Was the masked ninja beside him also affiliated with Ogami? It seemed quite difficult to discern his identity.
Orochimaru silently pondered. Honestly, when he first saw Asahi, there was some apprehension in his heart.
After all, this infiltration was crucial for him, and his experiments were at a critical juncture.
If Asahi had stopped him just now, the successful infiltration might have been jeopardized.
Fortunately, Asahi remained neutral and didn't show any favoritism towards the Hidden Cloud.
After giving Asahi a deep look, Orochimaru completely concealed himself among the Hidden Cloud ninjas, behaving like any other member.
.....
Seven days later, in the ninja world that had just celebrated the New Year, there lingered a joyful atmosphere.
Asahi, still in the Land of Lightning, experienced the lively scenes of an ordinary person's New Year for the first time.
Walking down the streets, Asahi originally intended to leave the Land of Lightning and head towards the Land of Earth.
However, the rumors that suddenly reached his ears captured the attention of Asahi and the group.
"Have you heard? The Eight-Tails seems to have gone berserk again."
"I heard it too. Luckily, it was subdued by Lord Raikage."
With the murmurs reaching their ears, Asahi's steps paused. The Eight-Tails went berserk.
Upon hearing this news, Asahi immediately thought of Orochimaru, who had infiltrated the Hidden Cloud.
It struck him that in the original story, the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki died due to Orochimaru's manipulation.
If his memory served him right, the Raikage also suffered serious injuries this time.
So, what would happen next? Asahi's mind quickly analyzed the possible events. The ninja world was on edge everywhere.
Although Asahi knew that the catalyst for the Third Great Ninja War was the disappearance of the Kazekage from the Sand Village.
It was merely the spark that ignited the full-scale war. Before that, the entire ninja world was in a state of small-scale skirmishes. Not all villages had committed their full strength at that time.
So, before these events unfolded, Asahi had no idea about the situation. Now, with the death of the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki and Raikage's severe injury.
The newly appointed Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer Bee, would undoubtedly struggle to quickly master the Tailed Beast's power.
Additionally, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito, taken away by Asahi, was still just a child. This resulted in an unprecedented weakness in the overall fighting strength of the Hidden Cloud Village.
If Asahi were an enemy of the Hidden Cloud, he would seize this opportunity to make them pay a heavy price.
Similarly, the leadership of the Hidden Cloud realized this. Therefore, on the day of the incident, they ordered the entire village to be sealed off, strictly prohibiting the leakage of information, awaiting the recovery of the Third Raikage.
The martial law in the Hidden Cloud Village directly led to Orochimaru, who had completed his mission, being trapped within the village.
Although the Hidden Cloud was unaware that the Eight-Tails' rampage was orchestrated, due to the current state of martial law, the likelihood of Orochimaru's exposure would significantly increase.
Once Orochimaru was discovered by the Hidden Cloud, not only would his situation be precarious, but even Konoha would come under the scrutiny of the Hidden Cloud.
Given the current situation in the ninja world, coupled with the Hidden Cloud's consistent approach, Orochimaru had no doubt that the Hidden Cloud would launch a direct attack on Konoha.
Under these conditions, Orochimaru had no choice but to cautiously evade the Hidden Cloud.
Fortunately, although the Hidden Cloud was under martial law, the internal investigation of the village was not as intensive.
Moreover, due to the presence of the Hidden Cloud's strong individuals, most of whom were protecting Killer Bee to prevent the Eight-Tails from rampaging again during the sealing process, Orochimaru could easily manage the situation.
Finally, on the second day of the Eight-Tails' rampage, the Eight-Tails was successfully resealed, and Killer Bee became the new Eight-Tails Jinchuriki.
This instantaneously eased the tension in the Hidden Cloud, and Orochimaru took this opportunity to successfully escape from the Hidden Cloud. No one in the entire Hidden Cloud Village noticed the absence of one person.
After all, despite the timely intervention by the Third Raikage to prevent further disaster, there were still significant casualties in the Eight-Tails' rampage. The truth about this Eight-Tails incident remained deeply buried in the annals of history.
Everyone would believe that the Eight-Tails' rampage was merely due to the insufficient ability of Blue Bee and the inability to control the Eight-Tails.
Even Blue Bee, who had already passed away, firmly believed in this narrative. Apart from Asahi and Orochimaru, no one knew the truth. Sakumo had his own speculation.
After all, Orochimaru's mission this time was entirely his own initiative and not assigned by Konoha.
Orochimaru, after leaving the Hidden Cloud Village, didn't return to Konoha immediately.
Instead, he began using genjutsu to spread rumors among the people about the Eight-Tails going berserk, the Jinchuriki's death, and the Raikage's severe injury.
This was why, even under the Hidden Cloud's news blockade, Asahi still heard the rumors.
Of course, Orochimaru knew that once the news spread, it would undoubtedly provoke attacks from other ninja villages against the Hidden Cloud.
Regardless of the attacking party, any nation would suffer heavy casualties, and innocent lives would be lost.
However, what did that have to do with Orochimaru? He was one of Konoha's legendary Sannin.
Even if it meant widespread suffering, it didn't matter to him as long as it benefited Konoha! In this matter, even if Hashirama Senju were here, he would make the same choice as Orochimaru.
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