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====
The ground was covered in sand and dust.
Under the Edo Tensei, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, first glanced at the puppet master, Sasori, who had just fought him, clearly recognizing the techniques of a Sand Village puppet master. Then, turning his gaze to the nearby Orochimaru, his eyes filled with murderous intent, he roared:
"Orochimaru!!!"
Like the Third Kazekage, he had died in a rather humiliating manner. After all, he never expected his ally Orochimaru to stab him in the back.
Even in death, he couldn't understand Orochimaru's motives.
"Long time no see, Fourth Kazekage," Orochimaru greeted his old acquaintance with a smile.
Thanks to Kabuto's desperate efforts to block them and the labyrinth-like layout of the underground base, Orochimaru had successfully completed his Living Corpse Reincarnation before the Akatsuki members arrived.
Although he hadn't obtained Sasuke's body, he had regained a certain level of combat power to deal with the current trouble from the Akatsuki.
Today's events had taken him by surprise.
It seemed as if an invisible hand had disrupted all his plans.
Orochimaru's golden slit-pupil eyes were filled with cold light.
He swore! He would investigate who was behind this and make them pay!
"Where is this place?"
Another voice interrupted.
Apart from the Fourth Kazekage, another person had been summoned.
Looking around with confusion, Reto asked, "Where is this?"
As a person from the Sand Village, Rasa quickly recognized Reto's identity and spoke respectfully, "First Kazekage-sama, this is the living world. We were summoned by the Edo Tensei."
"Edo Tensei..." Reto muttered.
The true fame of the Edo Tensei technique spread in the ninja world after Hashirama's death, during the reign of the unrestrained Tobirama.
In that era, the Kage from various ninja villages had encountered the Second Hokage. Reto's lack of knowledge was understandable.
Just as he was about to ask more questions, Orochimaru intervened:
"Alright, every time we summon someone, the old folks always have a chat. Let's end it here."
"Given the lesson from Gensou last time, we can't repeat the same mistake."
With that, Orochimaru formed a hand seal, intending to fully control the bodies of the First and Fourth Kazekage.
"Hagoromo Gensou? Why mention him suddenly?" Reto was taken aback. After so many years, he didn't expect to hear the name of someone who had left a deep impression on him from a younger.
But time was limited. Before he could learn more, Orochimaru wiped his consciousness away.
The brief journey of the First Kazekage in the living world ended.
"Now, it's time for a Sand Ninja battle," Orochimaru said with a malicious grin toward Sasori.
The First Kazekage, Reto, and the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, quickly charged at him.
"How boring."
Having turned the Third Kazekage into a human puppet long ago, Sasori was indifferent to the so-called Sand Ninja, ignoring Orochimaru's "goodwill" as he joined the fight.
The battle between the Akatsuki and Orochimaru resumed.
Unaware that an old friend had briefly returned to the living world, Gensou led Sasuke across the ninja world.
There were many countries in the ninja world.
Besides the well-known Five Great Nations and occasionally mentioned countries like the Land of Waves, the Land of Hot Water, the Land of Fields, the Land of Snow, and others, there were many tiny countries that didn't even appear on maps.
Even a place the size of a village could be called a country. Even if the daimyo of such a country lived no better than an ordinary rich person, they were still referred to as daimyo.
Sasori's so-called feat of destroying a country was actually about these small countries.
The place Gensou was taking Sasuke to was also one of these small countries.
The Land of Spoon.
A country unknown to the general public but quite famous among rogue ninjas, bounty hunters, and black market merchants.
The reason for its fame was a ninja organization called the Village of Locks that sold information.
"I've been here before!"
After two days of travel, far from the Land of Fire, Sasuke recognized the steel bridge spanning the cliffs ahead.
It was from a mission he had undertaken with Kakashi, Naruto, Sakura, and other Leaf Village ninjas to exchange prisoners.
He recalled that the Leaf's prisoner was a woman named Hanare, who had ties to Kakashi.
"Is that so?"
Gensou didn't pay much attention to this and led Sasuke to the bridgehead.
There, a group of people was waiting.
Soon, they met.
Upon seeing Gensou, the leader of the group became extremely emotional and exclaimed:
"It's you! It's really you! You look exactly like I remember! Clan Leader, it's so good to see you again!"
The old man burst into tears, kneeling and paying great respect to Gensou, who appeared to be of his grandson's age.
The people behind the old man followed suit, full of reverence.
Gensou stepped forward, helped the old man up, and gestured for the others to rise. He sighed slightly, "Muteni, long time no see."
The snot-nosed kid from back then had turned into a weathered old man.
Seeing the old man's wrinkled face, Gensou could vaguely make out his childhood features.
Watching this touching scene, Sasuke couldn't shake a strange feeling.
If Gensou and the old man switched places, it might be a scene more in line with what people expected.
Moreover, having witnessed this, Sasuke was now deeply aware that the person he was following had lived through two lifetimes, having been resurrected.
Still young with a long future ahead, Sasuke was shocked but not as envious as others might be.
Disinterested in the touching reunion, Sasuke turned his attention to the people present.
He had identified the old man.
During the prisoner exchange, this man, the leader of the Village of Locks, had come to negotiate on this very bridge.
A battle broke out, and he, Naruto, and Sakura had cornered the escaping leader, ready to make him surrender, only for the leader to choose self-destruction.
Reflecting on it now, they had been incredibly naive.
The old man had clearly deceived them, faking his death with an apparent self-destruction while actually escaping.
"Indeed, the Leaf's ninja games only waste one's future."
With this thought, Sasuke continued to survey the group.
Soon, he spotted a striking woman among them.
"You're not dead?" Sasuke couldn't help but ask.
The woman, with a tear mole under her right eye, looked quite charming. Upon hearing him, she turned and, after a brief pause, smiled brightly:
"You're... Kakashi's student, Uchiha Sasuke, right? Long time no see. Do you remember my name?"
"Hanare."
Sasuke replied as memories of that past mission surfaced in his mind.
(End of Chapter)
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====
Although Sasuke bore deep-seated hatred, his life was not devoid of warmth.
Naruto, Sakura, and his peers need no further mention.
He also had some memorable experiences with Kakashi.
For example, together with Naruto and Sakura, they tried every possible method to see what Kakashi looked like under his mask, which always ended in chaos and no results.
Another was that the perennial bachelor Kakashi seemed to have a woman he liked.
Yes, it was the woman in front of him, Hanare.
Looking at the woman who was said to have stolen a lot of Konoha's secrets, Sasuke said:
"Kakashi said you were dead."
"Is that what Kakashi reported? He went to such lengths," Hanare, with a tear mole that added to her allure, stepped closer to Sasuke, smiling at the young man she vaguely remembered.
Sasuke knew Kakashi's character.
He wasn't the type to prioritize beauty over the village's interests.
It was Sasuke himself who insisted Hanare couldn't be let go, and Kakashi had pursued her alone.
Given Hanare's skills, escaping Kakashi's pursuit was unlikely.
Yet here she was.
There was only one possibility: Hanare had successfully deceived Kakashi.
She had made Kakashi believe she was no longer a threat to Konoha, prompting him to let her go and report her death.
This was indeed the case.
Hanare had sincerely expressed to Kakashi her weariness of the spy life and her desire to start anew, living quietly.
Perhaps she genuinely felt that way at the time.
But Kakashi, a perpetual bachelor who relied on "Icha-Icha Paradise" as his emotional sustenance, didn't understand one thing about women.
"Living for espionage is my destiny."
Hanare gently brushed the dust off Sasuke's shoulder, her eyes reflecting a hint of nostalgia, and said: "I once told Kakashi the same thing. So, while I regret deceiving him, I don't apologize."
"Besides..."
Noticing Gensou had finished his conversation with Elder Muteni and was looking their way, Hanare bowed respectfully before giving Sasuke a heartfelt warning, "The prettier the woman, the less you can trust her words. Remember that, Sasuke."
"I don't need women," Sasuke scoffed, turning his head disdainfully.
He now believed in having no women in his heart, and his sword would naturally be divine.
"It seems you two had a good conversation. That's a great start for integration," said Gensou, approaching Sasuke and Hanare.
"Clan Leader," Hanare said with admiration in her eyes, addressing Gensou.
Muteni, who had also come along, introduced, "This is Hanare, the best intelligence operative of the Village of Locks. Thanks to her, we obtained much crucial and secret information from Konoha."
"Well done."
Since he needed to learn more about Konoha's internal affairs, Gensou nodded at Hanare.
Seeing that Hanare and Sasuke clearly knew each other, it was evident she also appeared in the original series.
However, Gensou had little impression of her.
After all, Naruto was a long series, especially with various flashbacks and side stories. He remembered mainly the frequently appearing characters.
Later, led by Muteni, Hanare, and others, Gensou brought Sasuke to the Village of Locks.
It looked no different from villages in the outside world, but as the name implied, each house in the village had a thick lock on the door, symbolizing their determination to protect information at all costs.
Additionally, because the Village of Locks was a front for the Hagoromo clan, it also symbolized the need to safeguard their true identity.
Aside from the dark lines spread across various ninja villages and those without ninja abilities living as ordinary people, most of the Hagoromo clan's strength was concentrated here.
In a way, the Village of Locks was the headquarters of the Hagoromo clan today.
After Hanare, whose real name was Hagoromo Hanare, showed Sasuke around the village, Gensou, under Muteni's introduction, met with the Hagoromo clan members in the village.
The process didn't need much elaboration.
Just as Hashirama was to the Senju clan and Madara was to the Uchiha clan... well, maybe not that last one.
Gensou was a symbol of faith for the Hagoromo clan.
Especially after miraculously living a second life, the clan's admiration for Gensou had only grown.
"After all these decades, it seems the Hagoromo clan has been doing well," Gensou sighed after meeting the last clan member.
Coming to this world, he had mostly treated life as a game, but since becoming the clan leader, he had also taken on responsibilities.
After almost losing everything, his primary worry had been the fate of the Hagoromo clan.
Seeing them now reassured him greatly.
Listening to this, Muteni felt full of guilt and said, "I'm sorry, Clan Leader. The Hagoromo clan is not as prosperous as it was decades ago."
Gensou waved his hand dismissively, "Rise and fall, ebb and flow, it's the natural order of things. Compared to the now-extinct Uzumaki clan, the Kaguya clan, the Yuki clan, the Senju clan with only its name left, and the Uchiha clan, the Hagoromo clan is doing quite well."
Satisfaction comes from comparison.
Gensou had noticed that while many clan members came to pay respects, their power varied greatly, with only five or six having chakra levels of a jonin.
Though not all had come, it was still a stark contrast to the Hagoromo clan of the Warring States period.
This prompted Muteni's self-blame.
After all, he had experienced the peak of the Hagoromo clan.
Gensou understood this well.
Fragmentation, scattering seemed like a good idea and indeed prevented extermination.
But it came at a high cost.
Once a millennium-old foundation was scattered, restoration to its former glory was impossible.
Additionally, ninja training required substantial resources, making it difficult for the Hagoromo clan to nurture elite members as before.
Decades of dispersion naturally weakened the clan's overall strength.
If Gensou returned to find the Hagoromo clan powerful enough to challenge the Five Great Ninja Villages, that would be abnormal.
Given their current state, he was already quite satisfied.
Moreover, his return was timely.
Had it been another decade or so, the dispersed members might have abandoned the clan name entirely.
For decades, the Hagoromo clan hadn't elected a new leader, with elders taking charge instead.
Despite the official explanations, Gensou understood the deeper meaning.
(End of Chapter)
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