I just returned to Konoha and found that my entire clan was gone.

"Look at the so-called fair promotion. Chunin is just a matter of a word from the higher-ups, while Jonin can be promoted as long as they are not particularly bad, as long as someone with power recommends them."

Ye Lan peeled back the layers of Konoha's inner workings little by little. He always felt that he couldn't truly integrate into Konoha because this unhealthy system was something that someone who had received a formal education couldn't accept.

"Didn't many of you laugh at Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage?"

Seeing Sasuke's somewhat confused expression, Ye Lan decided to tell him one more thing.

"I'm telling you, Naruto has a very good chance of becoming Hokage!"

"Don't look at me like that. Naruto became Hokage, and his hard work cannot be denied, but we must not ignore his background."

Ye Lan ignored Sasuke's questioning gaze and said.

"You should know that Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki of the village, but what you don't know is that Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

"How is that possible? If he's the Fourth Hokage's son, then what Naruto went through as a child..."

Sasuke's voice gradually subsided as he thought about how other villages treated Jinchuriki and what the Konoha leadership might have thought at the time.

"Have you figured it out yet? Why would the son of the Hokage turn out like this? Because Naruto never treated him as a human being from the beginning. He always treated him as a weapon. Naruto said that when he was a child, there were only two adults who were kind to him: one was Ichiraku Ramen Shop owner, and the other was Hiruzen Sarutobi."

Sasuke felt like he'd never used his brain cells like this before; they were practically smoking from the effort. It turned out that everyone was secretly plotting behind his back; you can't judge a book by its cover.

"Going back to the previous Hokage elections, the First Hokage was Hashirama Senju, the Second Hokage was Tobirama Senju, and the Third Hokage was Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was personally appointed by Tobirama as his student. The Fourth Hokage was Minato Namikaze, who came from a commoner background, but his teacher Jiraiya was Hiruzen Sarutobi's student, and he also married Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki at the time. As for the Fifth Hokage, it goes without saying that the choice was between Tsunade and Jiraiya."

Therefore, the so-called fair competition was actually decided from the beginning, and Naruto's status made it very likely that he would become Hokage.

Sasuke's mind was in turmoil. After being assigned to a team, he noticed something was wrong with Naruto during his first mission in the Land of Waves. His exaggerated chakra and strange self-control abilities made him seem inhuman, especially considering he was the son of the Hokage.

"Power makes people lose themselves. Wasn't the Uchiha clan the same? Shisui's ideals could not stop the desires of others. The destruction of the Uchiha was a script written by the Konoha higher-ups from the very beginning."

Hearing Ye Lan's sigh, Sasuke pondered for a moment before finally speaking.

"So that's why you said the Uchiha clan left Konoha, right?"

“That’s right, we can’t stay in Konoha any longer, not just because of the Konoha high-ranking officials who are hostile to us, but also because of the system. I believe that under these rules, only one tragedy after another will be born, unless…”

Sasuke perked up, eager to hear what Ye Lan had to say next, but Ye Lan abruptly stopped.

I didn't expect that the backup plan I left behind would be used so soon. Ye Lan has already sensed a mark he left behind, which is not far away.

Chapter 119 An Unexpected Meeting (Part 1)

What's going on?

Seeing that Ye Lan was no longer explaining, Sasuke asked softly.

“During your Chunin Exams last time, I placed some marks on the Amegakure ninjas. I can sense them as long as they are not far away.”

Ye Lan began to act, quickly heading towards the location she had sensed.

Before long, they saw the panda summoned by Hydrangea resisting the attacks of several ninjas. Her teammates who had taken the exam with her had been hit by several kunai and were clearly dead.

She was the only one left struggling to hold on.

The person who attacked her was also wearing a headband from Amegakure. It was unclear what had happened, but the ninjas from the same village were fighting each other so fiercely. However, Hydrangea's enemies did not seem to be very strong, consisting of only two ordinary Jonin and a few Chunin.

However, it was still too difficult for Ayaka, who had just been promoted to Chunin.

"Sasuke resolved the matter quickly; I have some questions for her."

As soon as Ye Lan finished speaking, he made his move. It seemed that this girl, whom he had met once before, wouldn't last much longer.

"who is it?"

Just as he felt a hurricane sweep across his face, the Jonin opposite him realized the danger, but before he could utter a word, everything went black.

Reaching down to touch his neck, he felt only warmth, and a large amount of blood gushed out. He had killed the opponent's strongest fighter with a single strike.

Who are you?

The other ninjas were terrified by Ye Lan, but their only response was a blue flash. The sound of Chidori rang out again, and the cold blade precisely shattered each enemy.

Ye Lan nodded slightly. Sasuke had grown a lot since he activated the Mangekyou Sharingan. Even without using the Mangekyou Sharingan, his ordinary ninjutsu had already surpassed that of most Jonin.

The panda watched Ye Lan warily. Although it was exhausted and its body was riddled with holes, it still held the hydrangea tightly behind it.

"Don't worry, I mean no harm. If I were to make a move, you would all be dead already."

Ye Lan's words gradually lowered the panda's guard, and it slowly revealed its delicate hydrangea form. Apart from some dust, there were no obvious wounds on its body, but it had already fainted.

Ye Lan went forward to check and found the panda was a little nervous. At that time, it didn't have any good ideas other than protecting the hydrangea.

After observing for a while, Ye Lan realized that it was caused by excessive use of chakra. There were indeed some bruises on his body, but nothing serious.

"Sasuke, give me some soldier rations."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke casually pulled out the prepared soldier's ration pills, but paused for a moment when he held them in his hand.

"Sasuke-kun, you must be careful when you are carrying out a mission in the Anbu alone. This is a special soldier's ration pill that I made. Please take it and keep it as a backup."

The voice of that cherry blossom-like girl faintly echoed in his ears. Sasuke shook his head and, without further hesitation, tossed the soldier's ration pill to Ye Lan.

Ye Lan didn't notice Sasuke's pause. After taking the pill, she directly fed it to Ziyanghua with water.

As the hydrangea's breathing gradually calmed and her face stopped turning pale, the panda finally lowered its guard.

Can you speak human language?

Ye Lan asked the panda, who could understand human language but not human language, and quickly shook his head.

"Why are you fighting with ninjas from your own village? Have you betrayed the village?"

After hearing this, the panda quickly waved its upper limbs and began to gesture, but Ye Lan couldn't understand what it meant for a long time.

"Forget it, let the professionals handle the professional matters, or rather, let the cat do it."

Ye Lan used a summoning technique, which came in handy for Naraku, whom she had previously sponsored with the cat clan. After all, pandas are cats too, so their languages ​​should be similar.

"Ye Lan, you've finally unlocked my spiritual power! Let me see where I am."

Naraku jumped out of the smoke and said excitedly.

"Please help me with the translation."

Ye Lan pointed at the panda. Naraku looked around and was a little disappointed to find that they weren't in a bustling town, but it was still happy to help Ye Lan since she needed its assistance.

"Ask whatever you want."

Naraku glanced at the panda, unconcerned. He could understand even a dog's words, let alone a panda.

"Just ask them for me why they are fighting against the village's ninjas."

After listening, Naraku started communicating with the panda. It's really hard to understand how they communicated, one meowing and the other roaring.

Soon after, Naraku walked over with cat-like steps and spoke directly.

"I've already asked him. The fat guy said he came with his master on a mission, but it failed. He said he would probably have died if you hadn't come, and asked me to thank you."

Seeing that Ye Lan had received thanks, the panda began to clasp its paws together and repeatedly bow to Ye Lan in gratitude. Its chubby appearance was quite comical.

A mission? There are at least two Jonin-level ninjas on the other side. Why would they send a bunch of newly promoted Chunin to carry out this mission? The person who issued this mission must be out of their mind.

Ye Lan was speechless. He never expected things to turn out this way. He had just told Sasuke that lower-ranking people had to carry out missions issued by Konoha. It seemed that this situation was the same no matter which village it was.

"Hmm~"

After a while, the hydrangea let out a groan, then struggled for a moment before opening its eyes.

"Who are you...?"

When Ziyanghua groggily opened her eyes, she saw Yelan, whom she had met once before. She remembered that he was a Jonin from Konoha, and immediately became wary.

He pulled out something resembling a talisman from behind his back, placed it in front of him, and said loudly.

"What business do the ninjas from Konoha have with Amegakure?"

"Well, I think you need to figure out the situation first. It was Sasuke and I who saved you."

Ye Lan pointed to herself and Sasuke. Sasuke, upon seeing the hydrangea, had his hand on the hilt of his sword, his Sharingan eyes still open, ready to strike at any moment.

Hydrangea looked around and found that besides her companions, there were also the corpses of the targets she had been tasked with.

At this moment, the panda, carrying its heavy body, ran to her side, pointed at Ye Lan, and began to roar.

"Yes, yes, he really saved me. I understand now. Thank you for your hard work."

Ye Lan was surprised that this ordinary child could understand the words of the spirit beast. She then released the spirit beast and put away her weapon.

"Although I don't know your purpose, I still thank you for saving me. However, I will not reveal any information about Amegakure!"

Ziyanghua raised her little face. Counting the last time Ye Lan had saved her twice, it was impossible for her to betray Yuyin.

Haven't you heard any news from the ninja world lately?

Upon hearing Ye Lan's words, Zi Yanghua shook her head.

"No wonder. Sasuke and I have already left Konoha. We came to Amegakure to meet your leader, Hanzo."

To find out information about Akatsuki, one must go through Hanzo. According to the information left by Danzo, he and Hanzo cooperated during the Second Shinobi World War and dealt blows to the Akatsuki organization.

It is said that the Akatsuki organization was also born at that time, so Ye Lan suspects that the Akatsuki organization may be hiding in Amegakure.

"Lord Hanzo? I've never seen him before. We usually get orders from Lord Angel. And you've defected from Konoha? Have you become rogue ninja?"

Hydrangea became vigilant once again, realizing that there was no such thing as leaving the village; all that existed were rogue ninja.

"Angels? What are those? Don't worry about the details of our departure from Konoha. We're just asking a few questions and then we're leaving. Just report back to the person you're in contact with."

Ziyanghua bit her lip, unsure whether to agree or not. Then she remembered that the other party had saved her twice, and she was just passing on a message.

"Let me state this in advance: I will only inform the angel. As for the god who resides in the very center of Amegakure, whether he sees you or not is beyond my control."

Ziyanghua finally sighed and agreed.

god?

Ye Lan suddenly found it interesting. Hanzo had always been called a demigod, but he had never used that title before.

The presence of angels and gods made him think a bit. He had encountered someone with such titles before, and he was starting to look forward to his upcoming meeting with the leader of Rain Village.

Chapter 120 An Unexpected Meeting (Part Two)

"This rain..."