In the white rain curtain, there was a person standing there. Through the hazy and blurry rain curtain, a faint dark red color could be seen.

Even though the heavy rain turned into a curtain, Ye Zi could feel the gaze that was coming.

"Oh…"

He sneered softly and drowned in the sound of rain.

Strong wind, thunder, heavy rain. This storm that had been brewing for a day was not accidental or hasty. When was that person here and what was thinking about at this moment, he didn't want to know.

The raindrops pressed towards his body in clusters. Ye Zi strode out and saw clearly the person standing in the rain curtain and staring at him in a few breaths.

He did not stop, nor looked at the girl, and passed by her in the heavy rain and thunder.

Jiuyuna ignored the rain that had flowed down her hairline and tried to stare at Ye Zi's dark eyes, but until the figure strode past her, she could only see a deep darkness and the indifferent light.

The moment she passed by, she clearly felt that the usual vague aura of refusal was infinitely loud in the cold rain. She was so cold that her bones shivered and penetrated to the edge of her heart.

He seemed to tell her in this way: Stop.

She bit her lip, her eyelids drooping slightly, covering up the gloom that had just emerged.

The doubts that arise after that night will always emerge from my mind from time to time.

What happened? Why did he become so suddenly? It became so inexplicable that he was even more puzzled in the rain at this moment.

After more than a year of getting along, I thought I knew enough, but in the end I realized that he might not be him.

Suddenly, Jiuxiaona turned around, her eyes passed through the curtain of rain, her mouth slightly opened, but suddenly there was a thorn in her throat. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't say it, so she could only watch the figure disappearing into the rain.

The eyes that opened were finally unable to resist the raging rains, and the eyes were blurred.

It seemed that the person who always brought Beixingye to knock on the door was fake and as fragile as a bubble.

"Why do you come to save me instead?" The low voice was swallowed by the sound of wind and rain in an instant.

The look of sitting on the trunk of a tree, hanging its head, and covered in blood had long been deeply engraved in Kuyukina's mind, and perhaps it would not be erased in the future.

She stood alone in the rain, holding her shoulders with her hands. Even if the heavy rain helped to cover it up, she tried hard not to let the tears fall.

She just didn't understand, and didn't understand how Ye Zi became like this.

When I first came to Konoha, everything was strange.

Stranger people, strange environment.

Not only that, there is also malice for no reason.

So she began to deliberately ignore everything around her and gradually resisted all of this.

Until, people who value it began to be valued.

However, this very precious existence to her seemed to be losing for no reason, but she didn't know the reason.

Rumble...

The sound of wind and rain is loud.

The sound of rain filled my ears.

The raindrops that kept falling toward her head suddenly broke, and an umbrella that was still tough in such rain covered her heavy rain.

Jiu Xingna looked up in confusion and saw only the umbrella. She suddenly felt warm in her heart. She turned her head and looked at the person holding the umbrella. What she saw was the gentle face that she once hated.

Not him.

Minato silently held the umbrella, just staring at Kuyukina with concern.

"No one told you, are you so gentle like a woman?" Kuyukina whispered. The big umbrella that blocked the rain finally blocked the coldness that slowly eroded the heart.

Amid the huge sound of rain, Water Gate actually heard all the low sounds into his ears. He could only smile gently and say nothing.

At this time, he was looking at Jiu Xingna and thinking about Ye Zi.

He was also puzzled, just as puzzled as Bei Xingye and Kuyukina.

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After the Second Ninja World War, small-scale disputes showed no signs of ending. The vassals had countless small countries and blood families among the five major countries. They were weak and could not shake the big countries, but they could turn their attention to the same weak existence.

Eat, plunder, or pure desire.

No matter what the reason is, the disputes between small countries have never stopped. They seem to be transformed into creatures in nature and still survive.

The big countries and ninja villages that have begun to focus on cultivation and restoration are sitting on the verge of collisions between small countries. They do not interfere on the surface, but secretly let the ninja village take tasks from them to make profits. Konoha is naturally no exception. Most of the tasks with higher difficulty are taken from small countries, including tasks that assassinate the Lord of a country.

Naruto Office.

The third generation Naruto slowly knocked on a piece of paper on the table with his index finger. He looked up at the team in front of him. The team led his proud disciple Orochimaru. Although Orochimaru's team performed extremely well during this period, it was still extremely risky to perform tasks that were nearly S-level. He was not worried about Orochimaru, but worried about the younger generation who had grown up a lot.

When everything is in trouble, new blood is crucial.

There are many beautiful people in this generation, led by Ye Zi, Minato and Kuyukina. These are Konoha's precious talents. Although Konoha urgently needs to take on tasks to make profits, it also needs to focus on the preservation of talents.

After thinking for a long time, the third generation of Naruto decided not to let Orochimaru team receive this task. After all, there are two geniuses in this team, one of which is the Nine-Tailed Tsukiriki.

"Orochimaru, this mission is not suitable for your team." The third generation of Naruto said slowly.

A trace of mockery flashed deep in Orochimaru's eyes and said coldly: "Ye Zi is good at assassination, Kuyukina has excellent perception ability, Beixingye's ears can catch wind and shadows, and with me leading the team, where isn't suitable?"

The third generation of Naruto was stunned and looked at Orochimaru with a cold expression, rubbing his forehead with a helpless look on his face.

Orochimaru knew that the third generation of Naruto focused on talents. Compared with the profit of a task, the preservation of talents is the most important thing. However, in the eyes of Orochimaru, who grew up in the war since childhood, if even a task that is not necessarily dead cannot be performed, then can such an existence be called a talent?

Death means failure.

Life is value.

"Third-generation Naruto, I'm afraid you still underestimated them." Orochimaru smiled coldly.

The third generation of Naruto glanced at Ye Zi and the others, then looked at Orochimaru and said seriously: "Orochimaru, are you serious?"

"Of course." Orochimaru said immediately.

“Um…”

The third generation of Naruto pondered, and his index finger suddenly stopped, his eyes slowly became stern. He stared at Orochimaru and said in a deep voice: "I agree to you accept this task."

He didn't say the following words because he knew Orochimaru would understand.

Orochimaru's mouth curled slightly, and after receiving the relevant task instructions, he took Ye Zi and the others out of the office.

The third generation of Hokage watched Orochimaru and the others leave, and sighed softly.

Will the man who has no students survived since he led the team, be serious this time?

Risk is always accompanied by profit. If a ninja wants to grow rapidly, war is the fastest shortcut, and the risk of death is also the highest.

"Don't let me down..."

The third generation of Naruto murmured softly. During this period, the difficulty of the tasks collected by Orochimaru team gradually increased. He also noticed that in the dark, he seemed to have some expectations in Orochimaru, who was indifferent, and that expectation... was probably the child who looked very similar to Orochimaru when he was a child.

"Will he be the second Orochimaru?"

The third generation of Naruto shook his head slightly, and thought of another genius, Hatsuki Mizuno...

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Ye Zi and the others had no objection to Orochimaru's task of receiving extremely difficult tasks, because Orochimaru had already been angry with them before.

Perhaps out of trust in Orochimaru's strength, even Bei Xingye did not feel any fear of this mission.

In fact, in many missions, Bei Xingye himself did not discover that he was no longer the same person he used to be.

"The mission is to assassinate the king of the Ashes Country. Let's talk about related matters on the way, and now we will prepare to set off immediately."

Orochimaru looked at the three of them and said coldly.

Ye Zi immediately turned around and walked towards the direction of the residence. On the other hand, the same was true for JiuXiangna and Bei Xingye. They knew in advance that they would receive a more difficult task, but they did not know that it was an assassination mission to go to another country.

As a qualified ninja, geography knowledge is one of the conditions that must be mastered.

The Kingdom of Ash is in the gap between the Kingdom of Fire and the Kingdom of Earth. It is said to be a gap, but in fact it is not very small compared to the plates on the map. Moreover, there are many small countries in such an area.

This time, the mission was issued to the Grass Country, which was opposite to the Grass Country. Since Grass Country has been suppressed by the Grass Country, its disadvantages have become increasingly obvious in many battles. When it was in danger, Grass Country spent all its remaining funds to go to Konoha Village to issue missions, hoping to win the war by assassinating the king of the Grass Country.

Generally speaking, assassinating the kingdom does not lead to victory in the war. However, for the current Kingdom of Gray, if the king is successfully assassinated, it is indeed very likely that the Kingdom of Gray will win, because the Lord of the Kingdom of Gray is a very outstanding person.

After preparing for a long journey, Orochimaru team walked out of the gate of Konoha Village.

Along the way, Orochimaru detailed the simple information provided by the publisher. The more useful information was that there were many ninjas under the command of the Kingdom of Grey, and the Lord of the Kingdom of Grey himself had considerable strength.

This information alone can indicate the difficulty of this mission.

The Kingdom of Grass is located in the gap between the Kingdom of Fire and the Kingdom of Earth. It is a territory not included in the five major countries. The adjacent one is the Kingdom of Grass. The two countries are adjacent to each other. The battle has never ended since the founding of the country. Affected by the Second Ninja World War, the national strength of both countries has been greatly weakened.

It feels not good to be sandwiched between major powers. If you want to break through this shackle, you can only annex and grow, and strive to have the power to compete with the five major powers one day.

The Second Ninja World War brought disaster and opportunities.

When a big country has no spare energy, it is the best time for a small country to annex and grow.

After a dull long-distance raid, Orochimaru team arrived at the Grass Country warning area surrounded by many plants in the evening.

A ninja wearing a forehead guard appeared from the afterglow of dusk and shouted at Orochimaru and others who stopped, "Stop!"
To be continued...