It's normal to get a kaleidoscope as a first deposit of six yuan, right?

……

Not long after, a disheveled Root member carrying Danzo, whose body was completely mangled, ran into Konoha's hospital.

Within the Land of Wind…

Zhi Xue had already walked up to the dragon vein seal of Loulan. Because she was near the battlefield, there were not many people left in Loulan, but that was none of her business.

Everyone has their own destiny; just mind your own business.

Looking at the solid seal in front of her, Zhixue scratched her head in distress.

It seems she was responsible for the leak of the future dragon vein, but going back to Sasuke now is clearly not the right choice.

Because of her knowledge of the Five Elements Seal, Zhixue quickly found the key point of the seal and tore open a gap.

"System, please adjust the time for me. I need to go back now."

Ding! Host, would you like to return to the previous timeline?

"Of course, I bet Scorpion is still waiting there. If I go back now, I should still be able to see him..." Zhi Xue said after a moment of thought.

Ding! Please relax, host. The system will now use the chakra of the dragon vein to transfer you to the original timeline.

Zhi Xue followed the system's instructions, relaxed her mind and body, and let the dragon vein chakra within the seal pull her in.

Zhi Xue felt as if she were a beam of light drifting through a colorful shuttle track. Because of her awakening of the Triple Hell, Zhi Xue was extremely sensitive to space. However, strangely, in her perception, the space here seemed to be distorted into thin lines along with time.

A premonition told her that if she used her first level of ability here, the consequences would be very serious.

Just as Zhixue noticed that the passage in front of her was finally lit up, the teleportation suddenly stopped.

Zhi Xue regained her form and stood on a platform emitting a blue-purple light. Somewhat puzzled, she asked the system, "System, why did you stop?"

Ding, something seems off at the end of the road. Please wait a moment, host…

Chapter 207, Pillar of Light

In the 60th year of Konoha, the Rain Ninja, who were playing cards in a group in the desert of the Land of Wind, frowned as they looked at the gloomy sky.

"Isn't this a desert? Why does it look like it's about to rain?"

"Who cares? We'd be better off if it rained. I don't know how the people of the Land of Wind can stand this awful weather."

"That's true. Let's just wait until the day after tomorrow to go back to Amegakure for our shift change. Anyway, there shouldn't be any problems with the seal."

Just as the Rain Ninjas were unaware of the strange place, the dragon vein, which had been isolated by the barrier, suddenly burst out with purple light, broke through the central barrier, and pierced through the entire ceiling, like a pillar of light piercing straight through the dark clouds in the sky.

The rumbling thunder and crimson lightning that rose into the sky added a touch of terror to this extreme weather.

Upon noticing the anomaly and hearing the commotion, the Rain Ninja put down their deck of cards and ran towards the area where the Dragon Vein was located.

"Wait... why did this have to happen while I'm at work?!"

"Quickly report the situation here to the angels and gods!"

Watching the dragon vein chakra continue to expand, several Rain Ninja returned to their detention center and channeled chakra energy into a black rod.

Pain, who was also in Amegakure, sitting in the palm of the Gedo Mazo with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes. He then gathered his chakra, linked with the puppet far away in Loulan, and looked at the purple pillar of light that was surrounded by hurricanes and thunder.

"It seems the situation is indeed quite serious?" Payne withdrew his gaze, then stood up from his palm and vanished from the spot in an instant.

……

Loulan, 12:40 PM.

What should have been the scorching morning sun in the desert, the most unbearable time of day, was instead a chilling cold for the Rain Ninja who remained there.

The hurricane that erupted from the pillar of light blew nearby buildings away, and the barrier that had been preventing the leakage of Loulan chakra was now in ruins.

Distorted space emerged from the bottom of the Loulan seal. A faint emerald light peeked out from within, shooting into the sky like an arrow and disappearing into the clouds like a shooting star.

At the same time, Gaara, who was still at the Western Desert Academy, also received an envelope from his father, Rasa, about holding the Chunin Exams with Konoha.

"Does this mean they want me to team up with the other Sand Ninja to compete in the Chunin Exams against Konoha?" Gaara carefully examined the contents of the envelope.

Although it's just the Chunin Exams, quite a few villages are participating. Besides the two major villages, Sunagakure and Konoha, the neighboring villages of Kusagakure, Takigakure, and the newly established Otogakure all have spots.

"Konoha? Maybe we should go and take a look. My master is from the Uchiha clan. He's been missing for so long. Why didn't I think of going there to see him?" Gaara said after a moment of contemplation, placing the envelope on the table.

Gaara has not seen his master since she left six years ago. In recent years, he has sent people to search for her all over the world, but there has been no news. Now that he is going to Konoha, he may be able to find out something.

"Yashamaru, for the next two weeks, I'll probably be leaving the school in your care. I can't let the things my master left behind go to waste."

"Don't worry, I will definitely manage the academy well and wait for Lord Gaara to return."

Seeing Yashamaru's smile, Gaara breathed a sigh of relief, then packed his things and headed towards Sunagakure.

Because Rasa had experienced the terror of Susanoo splitting a mountain many years ago, he had left Gaara to his own devices and didn't have any particular thoughts about him even after Shisei disappeared.

The Chunin Exams are just a formality to get Gaara to come and help out.

Konoha...

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat down at the Hokage's desk, took a sip of tea, and frowned as he looked at the envelope sent from Sunagakure.

The Chunin Exams? Could it be that Rasa wants to use this opportunity to observe the current strength of Konoha? Fine, he won't come. While Konoha isn't exactly strong right now, it's not exactly weak either.

The new generation of ninjas from the Ino-Shika-Cho clan are all quite good. The Hyuga clan has Hyuga Neji, and the second son of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Sasuke, although his talent is not as strong as his brother Uchiha Itachi, is still quite good. There are no outstanding geniuses among the commoners for the time being, but they should be more than capable of handling the Chunin Exams.

Just a few years later, given the barren land of Sunagakure, it's likely that they had designs on Konoha but lacked the ability to do so.

"Lord Hokage, it's not surprising that Sunagakure brought up the Chunin Exams this time, since they've held them several times before. But we should still be wary of the smaller ninja villages nearby. Otogakure, which was only established a few years ago, hasn't established diplomatic relations with Konoha yet. Their sudden intervention at this time might not be for pure purposes."

Upon hearing Nara Shikaku's suggestion, Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head and offered a different opinion.

"The past is the past, and the present is the present. Although the Sound Village is not familiar with Konoha, this is a good opportunity to test them. Perhaps we can use them to restrain the Cloud Village. As for any unreasonable thoughts, Konoha has not declined to the point where even small countries can bully us."

Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's differing opinions, Shikaku felt there was some merit to them, but a specific implementation plan still needed to be formulated. After all, the Chunin Exams were to be held inside Konoha Village, and if some rats with unknown intentions were to infiltrate this chaotic setting, it could cause some trouble for Konoha.

"More than a decade has passed since the Third Shinobi World War. I hope the other four nations don't harbor any inappropriate thoughts."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up and looked out the window toward the Hokage Rock, feeling somewhat melancholy.

Danzo has been gone for quite some time now. I'll go to his grave in a few days and have a good chat with him. Maybe I'll gain some new insights into the situation in the ninja world.

"The Chunin Exams will be held at the beginning of next month. Go and instruct the ninja below to prepare the venue and assign personnel. Also, go and inform the Jonin leading the teams in Konoha Village."

"Yes, Hokage-sama..."

Chapter 208, Orochimaru's Plan

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey... Where am I?" Zhi Xue, who had just woken up, got up from the sand and spat out the few grains of sand that had been buried in her mouth. She was still a little confused as she looked at the endless desert around her.

She remembered that she had landed on an unknown platform in the Ninja World space-time, and then the system said that the dragon vein chakra at the destination seemed to have been tampered with, and she needed to find a breakthrough, but the breakthrough seemed to be a bit bumpy.

Ding! This is the eastern region of the Land of Wind. Thirty miles further east is the territory of Amegakure.

"So I'm back already?" Standing up from the sand, Zhixue lifted her robe and brushed the sand off her body.

Luckily, I wore leggings when I came back, otherwise it would have been quite uncomfortable if sand had gotten inside.

Ding, there seems to be a problem. The Dragon Vein's timeline regarding the future is too chaotic. The host is currently in Konoha Year 60, which is almost six years later than the original time. Actually, the result is not bad. At least the destination has not deviated too much.

"Wh-what?"

When Zhi Xue heard the system mention Konoha 60 years ago, her mind went blank.

If that's the case, she's been missing for a full six years. She hasn't gone home to see her brother, and he must be worried sick.

Just as Zhixue was about to return to the Dragon Vein to consider whether to transmigrate again, she sensed a familiar figure in the distance that made her pause in surprise.

In the dusty desert, a figure wearing a straw hat looked in the direction of Zhixue. The wide Akatsuki robe and the faint purple light emanating from his eyes were none other than Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki organization.

"So that's why the dragon vein erupted?" Payne glanced at Zhixue and then walked to her side, saying.

"Chief, what are you doing here?"

"The barrier guarding the dragon vein was breached, so I came to check it out. I didn't expect it to be you who came back. So there's no need to worry about that place anymore."

"Look, guarding the dragon vein?" Zhi Xue scratched her head, feeling a little confused.

Is it reasonable for the Akatsuki organization to guard the dragon vein? No, it's not.

“You abandoned your teammates and ran in alone. Sasori waited for you for seven days that day and didn’t see you come out before returning to Amegakure and telling me about it. If no one had been watching over the area and someone had blocked it, would you have been able to come back?”

Hearing the slightly accusatory tone in Payne's voice, Zhixue smiled awkwardly.

Although you've been guarding the dragon vein for several years, it seems to be blocked. I don't know which dog tampered with the dragon vein, which is why she was delayed by six years before she could return.

"Alright, now that you're back, let's go back to the organization first. I'll go and completely seal off the leaked dragon vein to prevent future troubles."

This time, Nagato unusually sent Pain to handle the situation personally. Spacetime is indeed too dangerous. If it weren't for the fact that Shiki still needed it to return, he would have sealed it away long ago.

"Hey, wait... I still need that place." Seeing Payne about to leave, Zhixue blocked his way again and said.

"Alright, you've had your fun. That place isn't a good place. The plan is about to begin, and this world will face the judgment of a new god. True peace requires the strength of every member of Akatsuki to make the great powers feel pain," Pain said, walking past Shizuka beside her.

He wouldn't have minded if Xiaoxue slacked off before, when it was just about raising funds. But now that the plan is about to begin and we're at a critical juncture, the Akatsuki needs strength and manpower. If Xiaoxue disappears again, it will be a real problem. Besides, that kind of power is far too dangerous.

"Sigh." Looking at Payne who wouldn't listen to her, Zhixue scratched her head in frustration.

"This is difficult..."

According to the system, the dragon vein has been tampered with, so it's unlikely that I'll be able to return to that time period even if I time-travel again.

……

Sound Village...

Orochimaru, who had just delivered a secret message to Rasa, arrived at the laboratory inside the Sound Village and looked at the group of people standing neatly in front of him with his arms crossed.

Kidomaru, Sakon, Ukon, Tayuya, Jirobo, and her trump card—Kaguya Kimimaro.

These are all children she carefully selected, more than capable of handling the Chunin Exams. Now that her Reanimation Jutsu is completely perfect except for the soul aspect, it's time to show the old man the results of her experiments.

The decaying village of Konoha would never understand how groundbreaking her experiment was. Of course, there was also an even more important objective: the body of an Uchiha. Although her body had just undergone reincarnation, it was time to capture an Uchiha to prepare for her reincarnation three years later.

"Lord Orochimaru."

Seeing the five people bowing to her, Orochimaru sneered twice. After making some arrangements, he dismissed the four people except Kimimaro.

"Does Lord Orochimaru have any orders?"

"Hehe, Kimimaro, I want you to stay because I have a special mission for you in next month's Konoha Crush plan."