Half a month later, the Forest of Death.
"What are you doing?! Such a huge snake passed right by you, and you just didn't see it, huh?"
"Didn't see it?"
"Can you see my One Thousand Years of Death or not?"
"Take my One Thousand Years of Death!"
Furious voices echoed through the forest without pause.
Ever since Danzo fled, Gekko Chizan felt that the Anbu needed extra training!
After all, such a big person leaving the village and no one noticed at all—how was that acceptable?
So, over the past half month, all Anbu members were trained in batches by Gekko Chizan. The training content was very simple!
Practice observation skills and eyesight! Absolutely no enemy could be missed!
...
"Sensei, the Hokage-sama wants you to come over."
Gekko Chizan, who was in the middle of training, was stopped by his disciple Kakashi, who also brought news from the Hokage.
"Why? Is there news about Danzo?"
"No, it seems people from Amegakure and Takigakure have arrived."
"Oh, got it."
It wasn't news about Danzo, which made Gekko Chizan a little unhappy.
During this period, he had been flying around nonstop just to search for Danzo's whereabouts, but that bastard seemed to have evaporated from the shinobi world—there was no trace of him at all.
To find Danzo, he even went to Ryūchi Cave to ask the White Snake Sage, but what he got was a mouthful of thick smoke and a teasing remark.
The White Snake Sage said this:
"Chizan, although you are a sage arts practitioner of Ryūchi Cave, that doesn't mean this old woman has to help you, right?"
"If there's something you want to do, you have to do it yourself."
"Many things lose a lot of their meaning if you don't do them yourself."
Great! If you didn't want to tell him, you could've just said so! Dragging in all that other nonsense really left Gekko Chizan speechless.
As for Amegakure and Takigakure coming to Konoha, that was also under his instruction.
Since Danzo was no longer in Konoha, cooperating with Konoha was the most suitable choice for both Amegakure and Takigakure.
That way, an alliance among the three villages was established. On top of that, with the Land of Iron—where Gekko Chizan had a very good relationship—supporting him behind the scenes, he already had four countries backing him. He was completely at ease!
"Kakashi, by the way, how are things going over at the Daimyo's residence?"
"Is that Kazuma guy still not cooperating?"
The Daimyo's residence had refused to cooperate with the investigation into the cause of death of the previous Daimyo, forcibly suppressing the matter.
Gekko Chizan heard that the relationship between Konoha and the Daimyo's residence was now extremely tense.
Although he didn't personally intervene, the one in charge was Fugaku, and that guy had complained quite a lot.
"Yeah, they're completely uncooperative. They've even refused to have any contact with us now."
"Even the funding is being allocated from banks outside the Daimyo's residence, and the amount keeps getting smaller."
The Daimyo's residence had now been completely brainwashed by the Guardian Shinobi organization. Who knew what kind of bewitching potion Kazuma had fed the Daimyo?
The Daimyo trusted Kazuma just like Minato Namikaze trusted Gekko Chizan—full support in every way.
"Alright then, let's go. Let's meet the representatives from Amegakure and Takigakure."
Grabbing Kakashi by the shoulder, the Flying Thunder God took off.
...
When they landed, they were already outside the Hokage Building, just in time to run into the representatives of the two villages.
Naturally, they were familiar faces. The representative of Amegakure was Konan, and the representative of Takigakure was Yahiko.
"Yo, aren't these Village Head Konan and Village Head Yahiko?"
Gekko Chizan smiled as he looked at the two of them.
Konan and Yahiko also greeted Gekko Chizan with smiles when they saw him.
They had met more than once before, so there was nothing awkward about exchanging greetings.
After that, they walked together into the Hokage Building. As soon as they entered, Minato Namikaze was already waiting with everyone.
For a long time, Konoha had stood alone, rarely interacting with other ninja villages.
In fact, whenever war broke out, Konoha was usually the one being besieged.
Now, with Amegakure's change in leadership and Takigakure stepping onto the stage, Konoha finally had hope of breaking this deadlock.
So Minato Namikaze placed great importance on meeting with Amegakure and Takigakure.
"Welcome, everyone from Amegakure and Takigakure."
Minato Namikaze greeted them with a smile. Standing behind him were Konoha's high-level figures, such as the three advisors, Nara Shikaku, Uchiha Fugaku, and others.
At the very back of the crowd, there were even two more people standing there.
"Jiraiya, your two disciples have really made something of themselves."
"One is the Village Head of Amegakure, and the other is the Village Head of Takigakure."
"Tsk tsk, it's just a pity there's one less. That Rinnegan from back then has already gone to stand against us."
Jiraiya didn't say a word. He simply looked at the disciples he had once taught, a trace of relief flashing in his eyes.
As for the other one, all he could do was let out a helpless sigh.
"Tsunade, I just got back and you're already taking jabs at me."
"But I really didn't expect them to become the Village Heads of Amegakure and Takigakure."
"The world really is unpredictable."
"As for Nagato... I've already gathered some information. He went to the Land of Water. I suspect the Mist Village's closed-door policy is probably related to him as well."
Jiraiya had accepted Minato's mission and begun investigating Nagato and the Akatsuki organization.
As the investigation deepened, all clues pointed to the Land of Water's Kirigakure, and the resistance to the investigation grew stronger and stronger.
"Jiraiya, putting it that way, Minato and those two should count as fellow disciples, right?"
"Hahahaha, you're something else. But compared to Gekko Chizan, your three disciples are still a bit lacking."
"Look at that little bastard Gekko Chizan—he's doing so well."
The conversation was getting a bit heavy, so Tsunade immediately changed the subject.
She shifted the topic to the younger generation.
Jiraiya spotted Gekko Chizan through the crowd and couldn't help but smile.
"Him? Yeah, he's really doing well. Konoha's Twin Stars are far more impressive than the three of us were back then."
"Hahahaha."
Amid laughter and conversation, Minato Namikaze had already led Konan, Yahiko, and the others into the conference room.
Gekko Chizan couldn't care less about that. He directly pushed through the crowd and went to Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-sama, long time no see."
"Yo, Tsunade's here too. Not bad. What do you say—shall we find a place to have a drink? My treat!"
Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged glances, each seeing a flash of surprise in the other's eyes.
Gekko Chizan treating?
Something was off. Very off.
"Sure! Let's go—drink, drink!"
"Alright! Let's go, you two."
The Hokage Building was holding a big meeting, while Gekko Chizan dragged Tsunade and Jiraiya off to hold a small one.
It had to be said, these Konoha Twin Stars were something else—even their meetings were scheduled on the same day.