I am the new Hokage of Konoha.

In the Land of Waterfalls, inside an unknown cave.

Sasori and Orochimaru, who had just finished using the Illusionary Body Technique, opened their eyes.

Orochimaru's pair of golden vertical lines looked at Hiruko beside him with amusement and said, "I didn't expect that you, Sasori, a rogue ninja, would have a spy in Konoha, and it sounds like he's of high status. I wonder who it is? Perhaps I know him too."

"Orochimaru, do you think I'd tell you?" Sasori said coldly, habitually pointing Hiruko's tail sting at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru shrugged, feigning ignorance, and said, "Why not? You know we're both members of Akatsuki, and incredibly close partners at that!"

Whoosh!

The sharp tail spikes quickly extended and pierced Orochimaru.

Orochimaru's figure vanished from the spot in an instant.

Manipulating Hiruko to turn to another part of the cave, Sasori, seeing Orochimaru reappear, said with murderous intent, unsurprised: "Orochimaru, don't pollute my ears with your disgusting words anymore. In my eyes, you are a rotten snake that has been in the sewers for a long time, and the stench on your body is nauseating. If you continue to test my patience, although I don't like to eat snake meat, I won't mind coming for a while now and then."

As for Sasori, he had always disliked Orochimaru.

This is not only because he is very clear that Orochimaru, who only schemes for his own benefit, is someone he can't trust at all.

Furthermore, it was because his ideas were seriously at odds with Orochimaru's.

Although both pursue immortality, their understanding and perception of immortality are completely different.

As the saying goes, heretics are more hateful than heretics.

Sasori had always wanted to kill Orochimaru, who had mocked his method of achieving immortality through puppetry.

However, the organization stipulates that members must not fight each other.

Furthermore, Orochimaru was slippery and unpredictable, easily thwarting his attempts to test Orochimaru. If Orochimaru were to get serious, Orochimaru wouldn't be entirely confident of capturing him.

Therefore, he could only temporarily suppress his murderous intent and do what the leader had instructed him to do: secretly monitor Orochimaru.

Although the latter had no loyalty whatsoever, it was still a formidable fighting force.

If waste can be reused, then this sharp knife is even more so.

Of course, if Orochimaru really angers him, he wouldn't mind going all out and having a big fight.

At this moment, Orochimaru showed no anger at all upon hearing Sasori's words.

Having long been accustomed to the other's words, he turned his gaze, which had been fixed on the experimental subject on the operating table, toward Scorpion and said with a smile, "Scorpion, if you want to eat my flesh, I don't mind giving you a little. But do you even have a sense of taste anymore? Human puppet... Heh, although I don't agree with your art, Scorpion, it's still better than my old classmate who fantasizes about becoming immortal through a magic technique."

"Don't compare me to that good-for-nothing, Biluhu. Besides, in my eyes, you and your classmate are just on the same level."

After saying this dismissively, Scorpion walked away on his own.

Orochimaru was about to follow when a cold blade was placed in front of him, and Sasori's warning voice rang out:

"I have to go carry out the mission entrusted to me by the leader now. Orochimaru, you don't need to come along. Go back to your filthy laboratory and continue researching your ridiculous immortality!"

Ridiculous immortality?

Watching Sasori's departing figure, Orochimaru shook his head with a sinister smile.

It has to be said that Scorpion has a very sharp tongue.

Now he understood how Scorpion had reacted when he mocked the path to immortality for puppets.

To be honest, setting aside those naturally long-lived beings, in the field of scientific research and the path to immortality, Sasori and Orochimaru are indeed at the forefront.

One transforms himself into a human puppet, no longer affected by the limited lifespan of cell division; while the other focuses on the realm of the soul, treating the physical body as a temporary residence, changing to a body of a different age when the time comes, thus ensuring his peak condition.

Although each path has its flaws, they can still be considered unprecedented feats of genius.

The two brilliant individuals, however, couldn't stand each other, each believing the other to be inferior and that they were on the right path.

'I really want to break this blockhead to pieces and see if he can still claim eternity then!'

Orochimaru's golden vertical hair was filled with cold killing intent.

But the allure of the Rinnegan was right in front of him.

Now is not the time!

Orochimaru quickly withdrew his killing intent and regained his calm and composed demeanor.

Noticing that Sasori had left in the direction of the Land of Fire, he smiled with interest again, thinking to himself:

"Who exactly is it?"

......

“I really didn’t expect that!”

Kabuto Yakushi, who was accompanying Nono on a journey to take in orphans throughout the Land of Fire, pushed up his glasses with a sigh.

He thought he was just an ordinary orphan, but he never imagined that his true identity was a foreign spy.

Moreover, the person he pledged allegiance to was not one of the four great ninja villages he had imagined, but rather Sasori, a defector from Sunagakure.

As he experienced a long-sealed memory resurface in his mind, Dou smiled slightly.

Now I'm back to my old profession!

If I were a normal ninja who grew up in Konoha, I would really listen to him without question.

What Sasori of the Red Sand didn't expect was that his experience over the years was incredibly rich.

Having roamed the four great ninja villages for many years without ever failing a mission and without ever being detected, he is undoubtedly a king among spies.

Having walked on the edge of a knife for so many years, his heart had been hardened beyond measure, and he was clear about his beliefs in life. How could he be influenced by old memories?

From the very beginning, Kabuto informed the Hokage about the changes in his memories.

The latter simply waved his hand casually, showing no concern whatsoever, and then readily signed the agreement to leave the village.

Based on his understanding of the Hokage, Kabuto had originally planned to work four times as much as possible after returning home to repay the Hokage's trust.

But now it seems we've received another great gift!

He opened the note that a stranger had casually slipped into his hand earlier, and his eyes darted around thoughtfully.

Although it was quite surprising that a rogue ninja had such an intelligence network, Kabuto, seeing the meeting place and time written on the note, knew that Konoha was currently dealing with the Akatsuki organization and decided not to let this opportunity slip by.

"Has anything unexpected happened?"

While wiping the face of a dirty child, Nono asked without turning her head, her face beaming with a loving smile.

Although she is now the orphanage director with a great reputation for kindness in the village, and the "mother" that all the orphans call her, as a former "walking shrine maiden," she is still very familiar with the actions that someone had secretly taken against Kabuto before.

She wasn't worried that Dou would collude with outsiders.

I was just thinking that I didn't want to delay the other person because of my own business.

"It was indeed a pleasant surprise," Dou said with a smile and a nod.

He didn't say it explicitly, but he didn't want Nono, who had already retired and was enjoying her life, to get involved again.

Nono didn't ask any further questions, but just looked over and smiled gently, saying, "In that case, go do your thing. I can handle things here by myself."

"No need for that." He walked over, took out a candy from his pocket, tore open the wrapper, and handed it to the child in front of Nono, whose eyes were full of surprise. He said, "I just need to deliver a message. Besides, I still need to stay with you normally from now on."

"Are the children in danger?" Nonou asked instinctively, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Don't worry, they're perfectly fine!" Kabuto Yakushi, who knew exactly what Nono was worried about, quickly assured her.

Seeing this, Nonou, relieved, nodded and said, "That's fine then."

Although she didn't want to get involved in fighting anymore, she knew that without the village's protection, there would be no children's laughter and joy, so she didn't object to Dou's sudden job offer.

As long as innocent people are not harmed, it's fine.

Afterwards, seeing Nonou again showing concern for the child beside her, Kabuto Yakushi smiled slightly, a fond memory flashing through his mind, then crumpled the paper in his hand and gazed into the distance.

A new storm has begun.

......

Konoha, Hokage's office.

Having just read the information sent back by Yakushi Kabuto, Yun Ting smiled knowingly.

Kabuto Yakushi, having known all along that he was originally a Sasori spy, was naturally not worried.

He even had plans to play the long game and catch bigger fish.

After all, if Sasori hadn't been defeated by Granny Chiyo and Sakura in the original work, he would have personally gone to Tenchi Bridge to meet with Kabuto Yakushi.

It remains to be seen whether Sasori will escape in disarray or be killed after falling into the trap set by Orochimaru and Kabuto.

Now that Yun Ting has become a fisherman, he naturally has this idea as well.

To his surprise, the fish took the bait so quickly as soon as it was laid.

It seems that the deaths of Kakuzu and Hidan have brought the Akatsuki's actions forward quite a bit.

That's fine too.

He was worried about how to eliminate the Akatsuki members, who were elusive in the ninja world and supported by the vast intelligence network of White Zetsu.

After all, it wasn't just Onoki and his ilk who recognized the potential threat posed by Akatsuki, a group of S-rank rogue ninjas from the ninja world.

Yun Ting also didn't want Xiao, who was powerful and difficult to control, to get involved and cause trouble when they were fighting the four major future nations.

Therefore, it's best to destroy it in advance.

He had originally considered whether to go to Amegakure and destroy Akatsuki's stronghold.

However, this would inevitably cause turmoil at the national level, and could even lead to a Fourth Shinobi World War, as the four great nations might just think that Konoha was going to invade the Land of Rain.

Although Konoha and the Land of Fire are prepared.

But time is ultimately on their side; the longer the war is delayed, the greater Konoha's advantage will be.

Therefore, directly invading Amegakure became Cloud Court's last resort.

Now, Scorpion's voluntary entry into the net has given him a new plan.

With proper planning, it's not impossible to seize this opportunity to achieve our goal.

We did it right away.

Yun Ting quickly summoned Nara Shikaku, the strategist of Konoha, and they closed the door to seriously plan together.