Several days later.
A complete dossier lay open before Orochimaru. He had been staring at it, lost in thought, for a long time.
The file detailed a joint operation between Konoha's Root division and Amegakure, aimed at annihilating a resistance organization within the Land of Rain known as "Akatsuki." Although the dossier lacked photographs or other highly identifiable features, it did record the name of the leader of this so-called "Akatsuki"... Yahiko.
After all, in its initial stages, Akatsuki hadn't maintained strict secrecy; its members even considered themselves shinobi of Amegakure. Most who joined Akatsuki were very young ninja, their goal at the time being to bring peace and stability to the Land of Rain, a perpetual battlefield. Based on this principle, Akatsuki's activities were frequent, and their external contacts weren't few, leading to leaks of internal information.
They even maintained contact with Amegakure, the official military force of the Land of Rain, until their naive idealism met a starkly realistic betrayal. Akatsuki's rapid expansion and accumulated power had begun to seriously threaten the rule of Amegakure's leader, Hanzo the Salamander. Thus, Hanzo decided to eliminate them.
According to the intelligence Orochimaru now possessed, the mission was ultimately successful. Root and Amegakure eliminated Akatsuki's leader, but both sides suffered heavy casualties.
After this operation, the Akatsuki organization seemingly vanished without a trace.
"Vanished without a trace? Heh," Orochimaru chuckled involuntarily as he returned to his senses.
He was now fundamentally certain of the connection between the current Akatsuki and the original one. Therefore, he snorted contemptuously at the claim of the mission's success. The situation was quite the opposite. Since the core members of the current Akatsuki were now entrenched in Amegakure, it meant that the ninja known as the "Demigod" of Amegakure no longer existed.
The logic was simple. How could a mere "demigod" possibly contend with a true "god"?
In short, with the help of this dossier, the scattered fragments of memory in his mind finally clicked together.
"Jiraiya," Orochimaru murmured, his voice echoing in the dim underground space, "so that's why you stayed in the Land of Rain back then?"
Only now did he understand what Jiraiya had been up to all those years ago. Orochimaru knew well that Jiraiya was constantly searching for the so-called "Child of Prophecy." It was highly likely that over a decade ago, Jiraiya had already discovered the wielder of the Rinnegan.
Immediately following that thought, Orochimaru recalled a period when Jiraiya had been immersed in grief, the reason being the deaths of those students... Connecting that with the Root mission report, everything fell into place.
A flicker of regret crossed Orochimaru's mind. If he had discovered those Rinnegan back then, wouldn't things have been much simpler? Of course, it was only a fleeting regret. What was missed was missed; dwelling on it now wouldn't help matters.
So, what was the use of possessing this intelligence? Superficially, not much. Knowing these things didn't diminish the Akatsuki leader's overwhelming power; Orochimaru still wouldn't be his match.
However, grasping this information at least provided Orochimaru with a psychological advantage. The figure who once seemed profoundly mysterious had become significantly less so. The one calling himself "god" was, ultimately, just another mortal.
Not only had Orochimaru seen this "god" in a sorry state, but there was even a time when he possessed the ability to pinch this "god" to death with just two fingers.
"Heh... heheheh..."
A raspy laugh echoed persistently.
The problem, however, was that specious intelligence often only served to cloud one's judgment. Orochimaru now seemed to know Akatsuki's core secrets, but it was merely an appearance.
Objectively speaking, anyone attempting to move against Akatsuki without knowing the truth of the Six Paths of Pain was almost certainly committing suicide.
......
Meanwhile, back in Konoha, even the "seemingly omniscient but not quite omnipotent" Habara couldn't possibly know that Orochimaru, leveraging his excellent memory and intelligence-gathering skills, had deduced the origins of Yahiko, Konan, and the others.
If Habara had known, well… he probably would have offered a small nod of admiration for Orochimaru's deductive prowess, then promptly pretended nothing had happened. Given Orochimaru's current position, whether he intended to stir up trouble or not, he was bound to start doing so sooner or later.
After concluding the joint mission with Suna, with things quiet both inside and outside Konoha, Habara experienced a rare sense of peace. If nothing unexpected occurred, this relatively calm environment might even last for over a decade.
But, thinking about it, that sense of peace was undoubtedly an illusion, or perhaps everything was relative. No matter the era, Jonin were destined to live in tense environments thick with the scent of blood.
If Jonin were idle, one had to find something for them to do; otherwise, who knew what trouble they might get into? Many ninja who became rogue shinobi suffered partly from post-war syndrome, and partly because they simply had too much time on their hands, letting their thoughts run wild.
Addressing everyone's mental health issues was unrealistic. In that case, it was probably better to keep them continuously occupied along their established paths.
Upon returning to Konoha, Habara spent a few customary days in the hospital treating his injuries. After making a full recovery, he took further leave under the guise of recuperation, resting at home. As a standard 'office worker' in spirit, he naturally had to make full use of his work injury benefits.
For the next several days, he remained at home, doing little besides eating, drinking, and sleeping, thoroughly releasing the fatigue accumulated during the mission.
Covert schemes, power struggles, world-subverting conspiracies – all that could be put aside for now. That's just how people were; when it was time to slack off, one simply had to slack off.
One evening, Habara sat drowsily by his bedroom window, gazing absently at the brightly lit Konoha town beyond the high walls, looking slightly listless.
His drowsiness wasn't because he was preparing for sleep, but because he had just woken up. When a person relaxes and stays cooped up at home, even if that person is a ninja, it's inevitable that their sleep schedule might get flipped upside down.
Feeling a slight tickle in his throat, Habara coughed lightly, then picked up a glass of lukewarm water from beside him and downed it. Just then, the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs reached his ears.
An uninvited guest at this hour rarely brought good news.
Habara blinked hard, then sighed, "Don't tell me it's another urgent mission."
"Not an urgent mission," the visitor's voice paused, then continued, "It's… arguably worse than an urgent mission."
Rounding the corner of the staircase, the visitor revealed a face etched with helplessness. Clearly, certain events had dealt a blow to Tenzo's young psyche.
"Are you kidding me? Is there anything in Konoha worse than the various urgent missions…?" Habara chuckled, then added under his breath, "Assuming we exclude the Uchiha clan, of course."
Hmm, did I just throw some shade there?
Tenzo's arrival forced Habara to muster some alertness. He accepted the scroll Tenzo handed him. "Don't tell me it actually is related to the Uchiha?"
Tenzo shook his head. "It has nothing to do with the Uchiha, thankfully."
Habara took the scroll and casually placed it on the table beside him. Judging by Tenzo's current demeanor, Habara already knew this wasn't an emergency, but rather something… annoying.
"Give me the short version, Tenzo."
"Simply put," Tenzo began, "Konoha is planning to hold a personal competition event. The stated purpose is to maintain ninja combat readiness in this post-war era… Oh, more accurately, to maintain the combat readiness of the Jonin."
"Jonin?" Habara blinked, clearly surprised. He hadn't expected such an event. "Something like the Chunin Exams?"
"If you have to make a comparison," Tenzo elaborated, "it's probably closer to a public fighting tournament, except participation is limited to Jonin." No wonder he wore such a look of resignation earlier.
To most, such an event would surely seem pointless. Was a battle without the threat of death even a real battle? Even the Chunin Exams involved fatalities, yet Konoha couldn't possibly allow its high-end combat forces to deplete themselves through infighting in some chaotic event like this.
Habara thought for a moment and grasped the nature of the activity – Jonin team-building. Pointless, indeed.
He then asked two crucial questions. "First, and most importantly, this event isn't voluntary sign-up, right?"
Tenzo shook his head decisively. "It's definitely an assigned participation list from above."
The logic was simple. If it were voluntary, what idle ninja would bother participating? They were constantly busy; wouldn't they rather use any free time to rest properly?
"So, on this participation list… is it possible my name isn't on it?"
"Nope."
"..."
Obviously, Habara thought. Otherwise, why would Tenzo be here notifying him? Asking was just a futile grasp at wishful thinking.
"At the very least, you're quite famous and representative among the Jonin," Tenzo explained, basically outlining why the tall tree catches the wind. "After all, you hold both a Konoha Guardian Medal and a Senju of the Forest Medal."
"Second question," Habara pressed on. "This kind of wacky event… surely the Third Hokage didn't propose it? This doesn't seem like his style at all."
Tenzo's gaze towards Habara held a hint of sympathy. He didn't answer directly, merely posing a calm counter-question, "Who in the village do you think could propose such an idea, and then actually get it approved?"
These two conditions weren't specific on their own. But if you added the requirement of forcing a ninja like Habara to participate, the answer became blatantly obvious.
"Don't tell me it's…"
"Mm-hmm. It's exactly 'don't tell me'."
The person capable of orchestrating something like this could basically only be Habara's direct superior…
Kushina Uzumaki.
One shouldn't lack energy, Habara mused, that makes you seem decadent. But one also shouldn't have too much energy, or people might start questioning your sanity.