Chapter 181

The second reason was Sarutobi's hope that having an extra Kage would serve as a deterrent for Orochimaru's planned invasion. Given the information provided by Jiraiya, Orochimaru's sudden appearance and subsequent marking and attempted marking of Sasuke and Naruto respectfully, as well as his own knowledge on his student, he knew that Orochimaru would not have shown himself unless he was planning to take action against his former home.

A beep on his desk alerted him to a call from a secretary. Pressing a button on the intercom he spoke, "What is it?"

"The Raikage of Kumogakure is here to see you sir."

"Very well, send him in," Sarutobi straightened in his chair and despite his age, presented himself with a strong image.

The door opened and in walked a very tall and muscular dark skinned man wearing the Kage robes and hat of Kumo and no shirt underneath. As the man stepped into the office he closed the door and removed his hat revealing yellowish white hair and eyebrows with a pointed Goatee.

"Hokage-dono," The man greeted in a gruff voice.

"Raikage-dono," Sarutobi greeted, his voice polite and not betraying any emotions. "Would you like to take a seat?"

"I am fine, thank you."

"I understand," Sarutobi looked at the man. "Though you may want to get a little more comfortable. I had not been able to send a message for fear it would be intercepted, however something has come to my attention that I feel you may wish to know before the Chunin Exams begin."

The Raikage raised an eyebrow, interested yet also weary of what the much older and experienced Kage wanted to tell him.

It was a beautiful day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun was shining down upon the village; children were playing in the streets as they made their way to their classes, while a gentle breeze ruffled the many trees in the village. Over all of this the sounds of cheering could be heard as people from all over gathered at the Stadium for the Chunin Exams to begin. People from all stations of life, from shinobi, to civilians, nobles and Daimyos all had come to watch the Finals.

From his place in the arena Naruto watched as people cheered, crowed and placed bets on who they thought would win. Many he knew were here to cheer on his teammate to win, something that caused him to scowl a bit. Why people would think that just because Sasuke was the last of his clan made him invincible was incomprehensible to him.

He sighed to himself as he pulled the large straw hat he was wearing down further to hide his face in shadow, I wonder where the teme is? It's not like him to miss this.

'Who knows Naruto-kun' Kyuubi piped up as looked at the crowd through Naruto's eyes. She was thankful that unlike the seals her previous containers had used to hold her in, this one actually let her see what was going on. 'Hatake is likely going to make the prick late. We both know how bad he is about being on time.'

'I guess. Still you'd think for something this important he would make sure the teme was on time,' Naruto looked around at the other participants from under his hat. 'I guess the teme feels confident that he won't be disqualified because of his heritage.'

Kyuubi scoffed, 'Just another reason to dislike humans in my book. They always did place too much stock on clans and heritage. It was this way thousands of years ago as well, when the ninja world was just starting out.'

'That…actually sounds kind of interesting. Think you could tell me about it after I kick ass here?' Naruto could almost feel Kyuubi's smirk through the seal.

If you do well I might.'

Up in the Kage booth Sarutobi Hiruzen was looking down at the contestants, frowning when he noticed that Uchiha Sasuke was missing, I swear if Kakashi makes Sasuke late for an event such as this…

"Sir, there is still no sign of Uchiha Sasuke," One of his Jonin bodyguards said. "We have a few squads searching for him, but so far no luck. Sir, do you think it's possible that Orochimaru already got to him?"

The Sandaime scowled at the thought, but before he could comment on it he caught sight of his two guests.

"Ah, Kazekage-dono, Raikage-dono, good to see you both," The elderly Hokage gave them a friendly smile.

"Yo," The Raikage greeted, taking his seat on Sarutobi's left.

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