Somewhere in the Land of Flowers, the Shinobi of Otogakure gathered in a small village.
"Guren-sama, Kyo and the others who were sent to intercept Konoha's reinforcements today have not come back yet, and there is also no news from them. On the contrary, someone from the Daimyo's Mansion in the Land of Flowers sent some information back, saying that three Konoha's Shinobi had entered the Daimyo's Mansion. At the same time, these three Konoha's Shinobi also brought a Shinobi wearing Kyo's clothes with them. It should be him."
The one this Shinobi is talking to, is Guren who is wearing green clothes and has dark blue hair.
At this time, Guren is completely different from the Guren that Kakashi had seen in Otogakure before. She has grown up, and looked very cold.
Her pair of eyes emits cold light.
"Oh? It seems that that trash Kyo not only failed to intercept Konoha's Shinobi, but his team were also completely wiped out by the other party. He sure is useless." Guren said coldly.
"Guren-sama is right." The Shinobi muttered.
"Guren, now is not to say these things. Orochimaru-sama will be here soon, but we haven't found the whereabouts of the Kusanagi Sword. If this continued, it won't be easy to explain it to Orochimaru-sama." Sakon said coldly.
"Hmph, I don't need you to tell me those things." Guren said while snorting coldly.
"Guren! Orochimaru-sama chooses you to be the leader this time. If this continued, when Orochimaru-sama arrives, I'm afraid that you will be the first one he scold." Tayuya said with a sneer.
"You guys are my subordinate right now, so you just need to obediently do what I say, and that's it. If you are not convinced, you can complain about it to Orochimaru-sama."
Guren said coldly. She then turned and left.
"Damn it! That woman is getting more and more arrogant!" said Kidōmaru.
"After Kimimaro was taken away for secret training by Orochimaru-sama, this woman relied on the trust of Orochimaru-sama to order us around. It is too much!" Tayuya said angrily
She and Guren are both women, and Tayuya also thinks that she is not inferior to Guren, she may be even stronger than Guren. But Orochimaru favors Guren more, which makes Tayuya feels very unhappy.
In fact, it's not just her, the other Sound Four is also very unhappy about this.
"Well, Tayuya, Kidōmaru, that Guren is in position of power, so it makes no sense for us to fight her right now. If we messed up Orochimaru-sama's plan, we will be the one who's gonna be unlucky. Right now, what we need to do is to find the Kusanagi Sword in advance and show Orochimaru-sama our ability. At that time, we will also get Orochimaru-sama's attention!" Sakon said calmly.
Although Sakon is usually hot-tempered, but at critical moments, he has a different calmness.
"Sakon is right, but the information about this Kusanagi Sword is still unclear, and the information about the third village has not been found yet." Tayuya muttered.
At this time, Sakon revealed a smile and said: "Actually, I already found the third village yesterday, and I took some people to destroy it."
"What! You already found it? Why didn't you tell us about it?" Kidōmaru was stunned.
"If too many people know about it, Guren will definitely know. Now that I have the third clue, coupled with the previous two, we can already set out to look for the Kusanagi Sword. Orochimaru-sama should arrive tomorrow afternoon. So we still have time to find it ourselves. Let's go together. We will be the one who find the Kusanagi Sword!" Sakon said excitedly.
Tayuya, Kidōmaru, and Jirōbō were all a little excited when they heard this. In their opinion, if they get the Kusanagi Sword earlier than Guren, they would get more trust from Orochimaru. At that time, they don't have to continue as Guren's subordinate anymore.
"Good job! Sakon, we will set off when it gets dark. We must not let Guren find out about it!"
"Of course. I have already prepared." Sakon said with a smile.
What the four of them didn't notice was that not far from their location, Guren is hiding her presence, listening to all of this quietly.
"Those four are really idiots. Did they think that I really didn't know that Sakon went to destroy the third village? Since you are so enthusiastic, you can go first. When the time comes, I will be the one who will get the Kusanagi Sword. Yeah, I am the only person that Orochimaru-sama will favor. You guys are only my stepping stones."
Guren sneered and left that place.
In Daimyo's Mansion, Kakashi and the other three met the other members of Team 9.
"Kakashi-nii!"
As soon as Karin saw Kakashi, she quickly rushed over. But she seemed to think of something, and didn't hug Kakashi directly like before, but said embarrassedly: "Kakashi-nii, it's been a long time since I last saw you."
Kakashi was taken aback. Seeing Karin's restraint, he couldn't help feeling that it is a bit funny.
'This girl seems to have grown up, and now she has the reservedness of a girl, and she won't climb onto my body as she did before.'
Seeing such a change, Kakashi is somewhat lost, but he felt more gratified.
Kakashi stepped forward and patted Karin's head. He then said, "It looks like you have grown up, Karin."
"Of course! Kakashi-nii, I am amazing now!" Karin who really enjoys being spoiled by Kakashi said proudly.
Kakashi smiled and said nothing.
And at this time Jūgo also stepped forward and said: "Kakashi-nii, is everything going well?"
"Jūgo, I am back. Of course everything went well." Kakashi said with a smile.
At this time, Jūgo is 1.90 meters tall, taller than Kakashi, so Kakashi has to look up to see Jūgo's face.
"That's great." Jūgo smiled, and then he said apologetically: "Kakashi-nii, there is something I need to apologize to you."
Kakashi was taken aback, and said, "What's wrong?"
"Back then, you said that you hope that after you come back, you can see that we all become Jōnin, but we have not done it, I'm sorry!"
Jūgo bowed deeply towards Kakashi, expressing his apology.
Hearing this, Karin, Sasuke and Sakura also remembered about that, and they were all a little ashamed.
Therefore, the three also bowed towards Kakashi at the same time and said: "I'm sorry! Kakashi-sensei (Kakashi-nii)."
Hearing this, Uchiha Houten who is on the side was dumbfounded. 'What the hell is that, three years from Genin to Jōnin?'
'That target is too crazy.'
When Kakashi saw this, he didn't know whether to cry or laugh and then said: "It's okay, back then, I told you that I will be back in three years. There is still one year left, so you don't need to be ashamed about it. For now, let's talk about mission first."
Shikaku smiled and said: "Well, I have already told you that Kakashi will not blame you."
The four of them were relieved when they heard this.
They care so much about this because they have a deep affection for Kakashi.
To not live up to Kakashi's expectations is the most uncomfortable thing for them.