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On the road to find Orochimaru, Kagaya and his companions were in no particular hurry. For now, Kagaya didn't know if Sasuke had already fled to Orochimaru. If he arrived too early and Sasuke wasn't there, he would naturally be unable to prevent Orochimaru from taking over Sasuke's body. Besides, Kagaya couldn't very well just loiter around Orochimaru's hideout indefinitely.
Moreover, although Kagaya had accepted Itachi's request, he wasn't the least bit anxious about it. Based on his understanding of Itachi, when it came to matters concerning Sasuke, Itachi would undoubtedly be extremely cautious. It was absolutely impossible for Itachi to have left Kagaya as his only contingency plan; there were certainly other safeguards in place to prevent Orochimaru from seizing Sasuke's body. Therefore, Kagaya felt no urgency.
"Hey! You... what kind of people are you?"
Suddenly, a boy who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old appeared before Kagaya and his group. Gripping a sword, he addressed them.
Kagaya replied, "What kind of people? Let me think... you can consider us travelers passing through."
As for this boy, Kagaya and the others had noticed him earlier. Not far away, a few people had gathered, seemingly carrying several boxes on their backs. Kagaya had originally intended to ignore them, simply planning to pass by their side. Unexpectedly, this group had actually sent someone to intercept them.
This inevitably piqued Kagaya's interest. Why were these people so sensitive?
The boy holding the sword, upon hearing Kagaya's answer, spoke again, "Then please leave quickly."
Kagaya, however, refused. "No. You asked me a question, so now it's my turn to ask you one. Who are you people?"
The boy tightened his grip on the sword. "That's none of your business."
Kagaya smiled faintly. "But you just asked me the same question, and I answered you. Now it's my turn to ask. Why refuse?"
The boy gritted his teeth. "We're just an ordinary merchant caravan. If you have no business here, leave quickly!"
A look of suspicion appeared in Kagaya's eyes. "An ordinary merchant caravan? But you don't even have carts. Do you mean you transport goods relying solely on manpower? That seems terribly inefficient."
The boy stubbornly insisted, "That's just how it is. Whether you believe it or not, that's the truth!"
Kagaya fell silent for a moment. Then, he chuckled softly, muttering to himself, "Might as well pass the time during this boring journey."
With that, he began walking toward the spot where the few people were gathered behind the boy.
"Swish!"
However, seeing Kagaya about to pass by, the boy actually swung his sword directly at Kagaya.
Kagaya couldn't help but frown slightly. It wasn't that he resented the boy for attacking him—after all, he was the one forcibly trying to uncover their secret, so the boy's attack was reasonable. What caught Kagaya's attention was that this person's sword-swinging motion was incredibly clumsy, as if he had never practiced before.
Logically, a merchant caravan should have specialized guard ninja or warriors.
During his time in the Akatsuki organization, Kagaya had carried out numerous missions related to merchant caravans, mostly involving tasks like assassination and arson, so he had a certain understanding of caravan defense mechanisms.
But this boy who had stepped forward swung his sword so awkwardly. Clearly, he was definitely not a guard. And since only he had come forward, it meant this so-called "merchant caravan" had no guards at all.
This made Kagaya even more curious. A merchant caravan without guards?
Casually knocking the sword from the boy's hand, Kagaya continued walking toward the gathering place of the others.
The boy, meanwhile, wore an expression of shock. He had just swung his sword, and then, without seeing anything, a sharp pain shot through his wrist, followed by his sword flying away.
Yet, in the boy's field of vision, the person who had just walked past him had never laid a hand on him!
Of course, this was only natural. Kagaya's speed was far beyond what an ordinary person's eyes could perceive.
"Dammit, we shouldn't have believed that kid!"
"Let's get out of here!"
"What do you mean 'we'? From now on, we're strangers!"
"Tch!"
Just as Kagaya approached the gathering place, a commotion broke out among the people there. In the next second, they all fled.
Kagaya was somewhat bewildered. He hadn't done anything yet.
The boy behind him lowered his head helplessly. "Failed again..."
Kagaya turned to look at the despondent boy. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Araki Mumei." (Note: "Mumei" literally means "no name" or "nameless" in Japanese, indicating the boy likely has no formal surname or is withholding it.)
***
After spending some time simply sorting out the chaotic administrative affairs of Konoha, leaving Jiraiya to mind the village, Tsunade selected a few jonin and set out with them.
Tsunade's destination was the location of the Fire Daimyo. Konoha was just a ninja village, and ninja were essentially military personnel, while the Fire Daimyo was equivalent to the national leader. When a military organization changed its general, it certainly had to report to and obtain consent from the Fire Daimyo. When Tsunade took office, Jiraiya, in his capacity as temporary proxy, had obtained the Fire Daimyo's consent for Tsunade to assume the role of Hokage via written correspondence.
However, that had been done out of necessity at the time. Back then, Konoha couldn't afford for Tsunade and Jiraiya to leave, so they had no choice but to communicate with the Fire Daimyo through letters. Now that Tsunade had sorted out Konoha's affairs, according to custom, she definitely had to personally pay a visit to the Fire Daimyo. Only then would she become the Hokage in the truest sense.
Before paying her respects to the Fire Daimyo, Tsunade was merely a Hokage appointed via "written correspondence," not formally inaugurated.
Therefore, this procedure of visiting the Fire Daimyo still had to be observed. In a word, protocol could not be broken.
When rest time came, Tsunade and her group set up camp to rest. The journey to see the Daimyo naturally couldn't be completed in a single day. If the distance were that short, Tsunade wouldn't have needed to wait until she had free time to go see him.
After instructing the jonin on various precautions, Tsunade entered her own tent and began pondering some matters.
Although this visit to the Daimyo was a necessary procedure, strictly speaking, it was just a formality. Tsunade wasn't particularly worried about it.
In recent years, the power of the ninja villages had grown increasingly strong. Although the Daimyo of the various countries still held considerable control over the villages, compared to the past, that control had gradually diminished. At times, the Daimyo couldn't even intervene in the villages' actions at all. For the Fire Daimyo she was about to meet, Tsunade held a certain degree of respect, but she had no desire for excessive contact. The respect was due to his status as Daimyo; beyond that, Tsunade didn't much care. As long as this Daimyo didn't excessively obstruct her, they could maintain an amicable distance, leaving each other be without interference.
What Tsunade was more concerned about now was an organization—the Akatsuki.