Before this, the Third Hokage had not yet settled on who would serve as the Proctor for the Final Round. Now, he had made up his mind. The so-called decision of the village's upper ranks was really just a thought he had come up with on the spot.
Serving as the Proctor for the Final Round of the Chunin Exams under the eyes of the entire crowd was, in itself, part of one's qualifications. The Third Hokage intended to cultivate Kaede Kitahara and add to his record.
Kaede Kitahara only thought it over briefly before agreeing.
"All right. Go get some rest for now. Someone will notify you when there's more news."
The Third Hokage said.
At the same time, at the place where the Sunagakure delegation was staying, Kankuro and Temari were half-kneeling as they spoke to the Kazekage before them.
"You're saying someone from Konoha glanced at Gaara with Genjutsu and put him to sleep, but the One-Tail's Chakra didn't leak out, and the Tailed Beast's true form didn't appear?"
The Kazekage seated above them looked down at Kankuro and Temari, a strange meaning hidden in his eyes.
At this moment, Kankuro and Temari had no idea that the person before them was no longer their father, Sunagakure's Fourth Kazekage.
He had already been quietly replaced by Orochimaru, one of the Sannin.
"Yes. It was very strange. We were both terrified at the time," Temari said quickly.
She really had almost been scared half to death, because she knew all too well what a terrifying scene it would be if Gaara fell asleep.
The One-Tail's seal was different from the seals on other Tailed Beasts. It was clearly much cruder. So compared with other Jinchuriki, Gaara had suffered far more torment. He had really been put through hell.
Even sleep had become a luxury. Once he fell asleep, the One-Tail, which he had been suppressing, would immediately break free.
A Ninjutsu had even been developed specifically around that trait, called the Playing Possum Jutsu.
Of course, if the Playing Possum Jutsu was used, what came out would be the One-Tail's true body, not a puppet with Gaara acting as its substitute.
And the Playing Possum Jutsu lasted a very long time. It was easy to imagine. Someone who had barely slept properly in his entire life, once he finally fell asleep, would naturally sleep like the dead before waking up.
So at that moment, Temari had almost thought the One-Tail was about to emerge. Who would have thought that this time, not only had Gaara fallen asleep, but even the One-Tail was very quiet, as if it had fallen asleep too. All the One-Tail's Chakra that had seeped into Gaara's mental world had somehow been cleaned away completely.
"Someone can hypnotize both a Jinchuriki and a Tailed Beast at the same time? Konoha still has a Genjutsu expert like that?"
Orochimaru paused. He carefully searched through his memories, but he could not remember Konoha having such a person. Based on the description, this did not sound like any Genjutsu expert Konoha was known to possess.
After all, a Jinchuriki like this was practically impossible to catch in Genjutsu to begin with, because there was another will inside their body. The moment they fell under Genjutsu, it would be broken.
So Genjutsu was basically useless against Jinchuriki.
And yet this Genjutsu had even controlled the Tailed Beast too. Just how absurd was that level of mastery?
Even among the Uchiha Clan back then, probably only Uchiha Itachi had reached such a level.
The moment Orochimaru thought of Uchiha Itachi, his entire mood soured. Honestly, it was unbearable.
Being defeated by Uchiha Itachi in a single move had practically become the nightmare of his life.
Orochimaru had roamed the world for so many years and earned the title of Sannin. When had he ever suffered such a huge loss?
But with Uchiha Itachi, he had truly taken a brutal fall.
If Uchiha Itachi had not been wary of committing a massacre within the Akatsuki Organization back then, he probably would have executed Orochimaru on the spot.
However, Orochimaru did not know that Kaede Kitahara had not used Genjutsu to hypnotize Gaara and the One-Tail. He had simply used ocular power to clean away the mental energy and Chakra that the One-Tail had leaked out through the seal. Without that Chakra harassing him, Gaara's mind no longer had to force itself to stay awake, and he had fallen asleep immediately.
To forcibly control a Tailed Beast, the ocular power of a Three Tomoe Sharingan alone was not enough. Even though Kaede Kitahara's ocular power could already be considered the ceiling beneath the Mangekyo Sharingan, it still was not enough.
If Kaede Kitahara awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, controlling the One-Tail would only take an instant. There would be no need to go through so much trouble.
It had to be said, the Sharingan's ability to control Tailed Beasts was truly absurd.
It was complete suppression. Especially once it reached the Mangekyo level, controlling Tailed Beasts became almost as simple as eating and drinking.
Just look at the Nine-Tails. How many times had it been controlled, again and again?
Aside from that, Wood Release also had a special effect when it came to controlling Tailed Beasts. And that itself came from the God Tree. The source of everything was the God Tree.
This was merely one of the many mysteries of the God Tree.
Based on the currently revealed plot, the Sharingan was probably a brand-new variant that had evolved from the native people of the Shinobi World.
In contrast, the Rinnegan, the Byakugan, and even the Jogan had all appeared before among the main family of the Otsutsuki.
Because Orochimaru did not know that Kaede Kitahara had the Sharingan, a blind spot appeared in his thinking. He simply assumed that Kaede Kitahara's Genjutsu mastery had reached an outrageously high level.
His heart immediately grew wary.
After suffering such a huge loss at Uchiha Itachi's hands, how could he not know where his own weakness lay?
His resistance to Genjutsu had a massive problem. Now that Konoha had suddenly produced a ninja with astonishing mastery of Genjutsu, that could very well become a huge hidden danger to him.
He had to figure it out ahead of time. If possible, he needed to assassinate that person before anything else happened.
He could not allow the later Konoha Crush Plan to be affected.
"Enough. I understand the situation now. You two may leave. Take good care of Gaara and monitor him the entire time. If there is any abnormal movement, inform me immediately!"
Orochimaru waved his hand and dismissed Temari and Kankuro.
Only after they had completely left did he speak to the area around him. "Tayuya, go tell Yakushi Kabuto to gather information about what happened this time. Find out exactly which Konoha ninja it was. I've been away for so long, and I didn't expect Konoha to produce a strong fighter I don't even know."
"Yes!"
Beside Orochimaru, a member of the Kazekage's Kage Guard stepped out and answered.
Orochimaru had already killed the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa. This Kazekage did not even get a chance to appear. During the Invasion of Konoha, before he could be summoned from the Pure Land / Underworld, he was stopped by the Third Hokage.
Not only Rasa himself, but even the members of his Kage Guard had all been replaced by Orochimaru's Sound Ninja forces.
All of it had been done without anyone noticing. Even Sunagakure, which was cooperating with him, had not discovered anything from beginning to end.
After all, who could have imagined that Orochimaru would do something as ridiculous as ambushing his own ally?