The Village's Arrangement
Two hours later.
"Swish!"
Lin Ke, looking somewhat weary after using the Mystical Palm Technique several times, had just returned home from the hospital when an Anbu appeared outside his door. They knocked politely and said, "Chunin Lin Ke, the Third Hokage wishes to see you."
Helpless, he had to go. Anyway, aside from being tired, he was perfectly fine. He had been using the Mystical Palm Technique on himself for a long time, so his health was definitely above par.
He followed the Anbu to the Hokage Office. As soon as he entered, he saw the Third Hokage wearing his hat and sitting behind his desk, with two elderly figures of about the same age sitting beside him.
The two advisors?
Lin Ke thought to himself, and after the Anbu closed the door and left, he bowed and said, "Third Hokage."
The Third Hokage smiled and nodded kindly. "Sit down, Lin Ke."
"Chunin Lin Ke, I am Advisor Mitokado Homura. Please tell us about your mission this time." After he sat down, the first to speak was the old man with glasses, his voice steady and his tone quite gentle.
"Yes." Lin Ke bowed slightly again, then slowly recounted receiving the mission, carrying it out, the doubts that arose during the mission, and the subsequent battle and confrontation with Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto.
Of course, he made the details of the battle as vague as possible, simply using phrases like "used secret techniques to stall until reinforcements arrived."
The two advisors and the Third Hokage didn't question how they managed to hold out for so long in the battle. The matter of secret techniques was best left as secret techniques; digging too deep would be inappropriate.
The old woman beside him, Utatane Koharu, seemed to explode when she heard the enemy's name, her tone icy as she said, "Chunin Lin Ke, are you saying that the Jonin Nara Yan Shui referred to the enemy as 'Orochimaru,' is that correct?"
"Yes," Lin Ke replied in a deep voice.
His account was quite objective and restrained, simply recounting what he had seen and heard, with a slight mention of the Sand Ninja Village ninjas' probing in the Land of Wind to add some personal bias, giving the impression that the Sand Ninja Village ninjas were not good people. The rest was all information that his two companions and Nara Yan Shui knew.
Utatane Koharu said nothing more, and Mitokado Homura's expression also changed slightly. The two of them looked at the Third Hokage in unison. As the main figure, the Third Hokage's smile paused for a moment, then returned, saying, "Orochimaru was once my student, and now he... is a rogue ninja of the village."
Such a straightforward introduction caused Utatane Koharu to frown slightly in dissatisfaction. For the Hokage to openly admit to a Chunin that his former student had become a rogue ninja was somewhat detrimental to the image of the Hokage.
The Third Hokage seemed not to notice his old friend's expression, but simply composed himself, sighed, and said, "In that case, Lin Ke, stay in the village for a while. The village will arrange for your two subordinates to join other teams."
He didn't say how long "a while" was, nor did he mention the issue of the mission's failure, let alone the pressure from the Land of Fire's higher-ups.
Yuan Wei and Xia...
Lin Ke was stunned for a moment before lowering his head and saying, "Yes."
The arrangement of Genin was just a matter of a word for the Hokage. He knew that separating his two companions was both to protect him and to protect them, but suddenly having to rest and losing his meat shields made him feel a little unaccustomed.
However, he quickly composed himself. Staying in the village meant he would have more time to train, rather than wasting a lot of time on missions, which was a good thing in any case.
Mitokado Homura seemed to want to say something, but the Third Hokage stopped him with a look, then said, "Lin Ke, you've worked hard too. Go back and get some rest."
Some political considerations didn't need to be known by the village's seedlings so early.
"Yes." Lin Ke bowed slightly to the three elders and turned to leave the Hokage Office.
As he left the Hokage Building, he encountered Team 7—
They must have been there to complete a mission and collect their reward. Hatake Kakashi was originally reading a book, but when he saw him coming down, he closed it and greeted him proactively, "Yo."
"Good afternoon," Lin Ke greeted, a little more formally.
The usually listless Uzumaki Naruto stood behind him, clenched his fists slightly, and greeted him with a big smile, "Lin Ke, good afternoon!"
Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura both looked over with surprise.
They didn't know that Naruto actually knew this short genius.
"Good afternoon." Lin Ke theoretically should have tried to build a relationship with Uzumaki Naruto. As a disciple of a Jonin squad leader, he was qualified to build a good relationship with the future nuclear weapon of the village and the nuclear weapon launcher: the Uchiha orphan. Even the Hokage wouldn't say much about it.
His plan definitely included having a certain relationship with the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki so he could use him as a power bank. If he wanted to become a Hokage, he would need his help...
But at this moment, for some reason—
He was completely in no mood, just calmly responded, and then turned and left alone.
"That guy looks like he's in a bad mood..." Haruno Sakura muttered, "Speaking of which, where are his teammates?"
Uzumaki Naruto, the usually carefree guy, keenly understood that it wasn't just a bad mood, but something called 'loneliness.'
He watched Lin Ke's back for a long time, until it disappeared at the end of the street.
--Hokage Office.
"Orochimaru..."
Utatane Koharu's expression was a bit heavy. "That guy definitely has some kind of conspiracy!" Her words were assertive, as if she had already seen the conspiracy appear before her.
She had never liked Orochimaru, or rather, she purely hated him.
As an elder who watched the village grow bit by bit, from the initial gathering of various ninja clans, to the slow emergence of ordinary ninja families, to the current prosperity of ninjas and ordinary people living together, the village was almost her life, her everything.
What did Orochimaru do? He secretly used his companions in the village for human experiments.
No matter how much that guy had contributed to the village in the past, whether he had left any results in human experiments, now he jumped out to covet the village's genius, and also destroyed an A-Rank Mission, killing a wealthy merchant from the Land of Fire...
He was a traitor who should be directly destroyed.
But she had to admit that that guy almost never acted rashly, jumping out without warning, making the most direct judgment based on her past experience.
There must be a conspiracy.
Mitokado Homura did not agree with his old friend, his face was calm as he asked, "Hiruzen, what do you think of Orochimaru's words, 'I will come back to you'?"
The meaning of this sentence was—
If Orochimaru appears, what should you do as the 'Hokage'? He should have been killed before that guy became a rogue ninja last time. After letting him go, he jumped out again. As the person who let Orochimaru go once, you need to make a decision.
The Third Hokage's eyes did not change in any way, he just said in a deep voice: "If Orochimaru appears..."
"I will kill him with my own hands."
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