Exchanging Information
After exchanging information for more than an hour, at the original site of Orochimaru's base.
"Tap."
Lin Ke stopped, looking at the completely collapsed base, and let his shadows spread out to search the area.
Did Orochimaru come here? Or did someone else come and destroy the base?
As he was thinking, his shadow alerted him that someone was approaching stealthily.
"Snap!" The sound of a twig breaking echoed, and three shadows attempting to subdue the newcomer were instantly ensnared by white hair. Immediately afterward, the shadows dissolved into two dimensions and flowed onto the ground, awaiting orders to return to the darkness.
"Jiraiya-sama," Lin Ke said, standing on a tree and looking down at one of the Three Ninja who had landed. "What's the matter?"
His tone was relatively polite, considering Jiraiya was a candidate for the next Hokage, although he highly doubted the man would accept the position.
As expected, it's a very strange technique. The Nara Clan's secret techniques definitely can't achieve this level.
Jiraiya pondered, then said, "You've come for Orochimaru as well, haven't you?" He phrased it as a question, but his tone was certain.
He was someone who collected information regularly, and he had heard rumors of Lin Ke traveling with the Daimyo's Son.
Coming here after the mission was clearly not the direct route back to the village, so it could only be Orochimaru's base, which had been attracting a lot of attention in the Land of Rivers recently.
"To be precise, I was the first outsider to arrive at this base," Lin Ke corrected. "I came here and captured Orochimaru's subordinate, Yakushi Kabuto, but I encountered members of the Akatsuki Organization and lost him."
"I see," Jiraiya said. "I noticed some time ago that Orochimaru had left that organization."
"Also, do you know their purpose in coming to the Land of Rivers?"
Akatsuki, huh? All of its members are S-rank missing-nin with serious issues. He sensed something ominous.
"They destroyed the Capital of the Land of Rivers," Lin Ke answered. "They also seemed to want to attack me and the Jinchuriki, but they were defeated and fled."
"That's quite something," Jiraiya's expression changed slightly. Although he had heard that Lin Ke had repelled Orochimaru, he was still a bit surprised to hear that this kid had defeated members of Akatsuki. "However, I've been paying attention to Akatsuki for a long time. They haven't seemed to be making any major moves, just doing some intelligence-gathering activities."
"Destroying the Capital of the Land of Rivers is quite bold."
His expression turned serious. It wasn't a good sign that missing-nin like Orochimaru were suddenly making big moves, first attacking a Special Jonin of Konoha Village, then destroying the Capital of a country.
But this didn't quite match the information he had. According to what he knew, Akatsuki shouldn't start capturing the Tailed Beasts for another three or four years...
Their sudden activity might be due to other factors.
Has the plot changed?
Lin Ke thought to himself. Theoretically, his appearance shouldn't have had a major impact on the Akatsuki Organization, since most of what he had done had affected Konoha and Orochimaru—
Wait.
Would Akatsuki allow a powerful Konoha to exist? Even if the organization's goals were divided into several layers, in practice, before Shippuden began, they were gathering information on the Jinchuriki, waiting to capture the Tailed Beasts all at once.
Konoha Village's almost unscathed victory over Sand Ninja Village, the capture of Sand Ninja Village's high-ranking officials and the Jinchuriki, was an unacceptable outcome for the other three great nations, as well as for Akatsuki, who coveted the Tailed Beasts and wanted to achieve various goals.
Seeing Konoha's recent prominence, he feared that undercurrents were already stirring internationally. If not handled properly, a war might break out.
A Fourth Shinobi World War not led by Akatsuki.
"This place has been completely destroyed. Orochimaru probably won't be back," Jiraiya said, unaware of what the kid above him was thinking. "If Akatsuki has targeted you, leave the Land of Rivers as soon as possible. I'll gather more information."
"Okay," Lin Ke nodded in agreement and left. Jiraiya had probably been here for quite some time, and if there were any clues, he would have already scoured the place clean.
Don't underestimate Jiraiya's pursuit of Orochimaru.
...
—That night, at the hotel.
"Sha~" The sound of sand was extremely faint as it crept in through the crack in the door.
"Click~" The door opened.
The light from the hallway quietly pierced the darkness, and a short figure stood in the doorway. Without taking a step, it slid inside.
"Click."
The shadow turned on the light, and Lin Ke sat on the bed, yawning. "Gaara, why are you coming here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
"Also, knock before entering next time. Don't just use Ninjutsu to open other people's doors..."
He felt so tired teaching this kid.
From a very young age, he had been used as a weapon for assassination. If it weren't for the leaked power of Shukaku and his mother's love, he would have died long ago. They even used real assassination tools like Exploding Tags.
With basically no one to guide him, Gaara was severely lacking in common sense related to positive emotions. It was normal for him to not understand anything.
After all, even relatives like Kankuro or superiors like Maki treated Gaara as a monster or a weapon.
If this were the manga, this kid would probably go to the other extreme after being brought back by Naruto, willingly giving everything for the village that once tried to assassinate him and treated him like a weapon...
It's more like he shared Naruto's ideals.
[Should I find someone to teach him about many common sense things related to positive emotions when I have time? Anyway, the Tailed Beast's power has been resealed.]
Lin Ke muttered, as this thought popped into his head.
"I understand," Gaara said, standing expressionlessly in the room. "I can't sleep."
"You didn't just sleep all day after checking in, did you?" Lin Ke asked, knowing that was likely the case. He said, "If you can't sleep, find something to do. Don't bother me while I'm sleeping."
Gaara stood there for a while, then suddenly turned and left.
His shadow closed the light and the door behind him.
[What is this feeling?] He was very confused, confused by his strange emotions.
Many messy, incomprehensible emotions surged, and what was even stranger was that he didn't feel pain, nor did he feel a headache.
He didn't understand, but he was very interested and found it very interesting.
Gaara closed the door and stood in the hallway. His eyes, which had always been devoid of emotion, sparkled. Then, he quietly came to Kankuro's door. Just as he was about to open the door with sand, he suddenly remembered Lin Ke's words and reached out to knock.
"Knock, knock, knock~"
Kankuro opened the door with a slightly sleepy expression. When he saw Gaara, he immediately perked up and said, "Are we leaving?"
He thought they were leaving in the middle of the night to return to Konoha Village.
Gaara shook his head. "I just went to see Lin Ke Teacher."
Huh?
Kankuro was a little confused at first. Am I still dreaming?
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