In the early morning, a thin mist shrouded the land. Konoha was just waking up from the night.
At the main gate, the two men known as the Konoha Gate Gods, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, were already on duty. Kotetsu yawned, and Izumo stretched, clearly still a bit sleepy.
"I only slept for three hours yesterday, I'm so tired." Izumo said.
"Me too. Ever since the Third Hokage passed away, there's been so much going on in the village, I'm busy every day. I hope the new Hokage takes office soon." Kotetsu replied.
"I heard that Jiraiya-sama has already set off to find Tsunade-sama. If nothing unexpected happens, the Fifth Hokage should be Tsunade-sama."
"Really? That's great! Tsunade-sama is the legendary strongest medical ninja. If she can become the Fifth Hokage, we ninjas will definitely have better medical care when we're on missions."
The two were chatting excitedly, dispelling the sleepiness of early rising.
But at this moment, they suddenly felt a bit dazed, and the sleepiness that was about to dissipate suddenly surged up again.
This process was very fast, and it was over in less than ten seconds. It was so fast that they didn't even notice anything wrong. After all, they hadn't been getting enough sleep these days.
And in those ten seconds, two people swaggered through the gate and into Konoha Village.
The two figures were one large and one small, but both were wearing black robes with red clouds and hats that could cover their faces.
They were members of the Akatsuki organization, Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki.
"Mr. Itachi, is this the village you grew up in? It's really different from Kirigakure." Kisame, with his shark-like face, looked around with interest.
"Let's go, Kisame." Itachi looked at the familiar streets, but didn't have much nostalgia.
According to the plan, he shouldn't have come to Konoha at this time.
But the death of the Third Hokage forced him to come back.
After his deal with the Konoha elders, the Third Hokage was an important figure in ensuring Sasuke's safety, but now that the Third Hokage was gone, he needed to come back and check on Sasuke's situation.
At the same time, find an opportunity to intimidate the Konoha elders and make them remember their promise not to harm Sasuke.
Having dealt with the Konoha elders for so many years, Itachi knew very well that these people only responded to force.
There was no more effective method than intimidation through force.
And not long after they passed through the Konoha gate, Kimimaro also arrived.
There was a barrier around Konoha Village, which could prevent other ninjas from spying and sneaking in.
The gate was the only entrance and exit.
Outside the village, even the Byakugan couldn't use its telescopic vision to see what was inside.
"Excuse me, who are you? What business do you have in Konoha?" Kotetsu asked Kimimaro, starting his routine questioning.
"I'm Kurosaki from Karakura Town, here to post a mission. I wonder if Konoha is still accepting missions?"
Kimimaro was quite familiar with pretending to be a civilian posting a mission.
"Of course we are, please follow me."
What followed was the same operation as in Kumogakure.
After posting the mission, Kimimaro gained the right to move freely.
Of course, the Anbu in the shadows would keep an eye on this outsider.
Kimimaro wasn't surprised by this.
He just needed to find an opportunity to create a shadow clone to distract them.
He had already used this trick in Kumogakure.
It didn't matter if the trick was old, as long as it worked.
"That's..."
On the way, Kimimaro was looking for an inn to stay in when he suddenly saw the eye-catching Akatsuki uniform.
"Itachi and Kisame are really blatantly wandering around the streets of Konoha, as if they're afraid of not being seen by acquaintances."
Itachi had worked in the Anbu for two years, and there were quite a few Anbu members who knew him.
Even with the hat covering his face, it was easy to expose his identity.
Moreover, it would be strange if such an unusual outfit didn't attract the attention of the Anbu.
Itachi's actions were similar to Kaito Kid wearing a white suit to steal things in the dark night.
As if sensing Kimimaro's gaze, Itachi also looked over.
Their eyes met, and the two passed each other.
"This person..."
In that instant, Itachi sensed something unusual about Kimimaro.
This person was definitely not ordinary.
And Kimimaro was secretly delighted.
"Fate is really helping me. I actually came at the same time as Itachi. This way, once Itachi attracts Konoha's attention, the defenses in other areas will weaken, which is perfect for me to act."
Kimimaro, who was originally a bit worried about this operation, suddenly felt much more relaxed.
Thanks to Itachi for the assist.
"Mr. Itachi, is there something wrong with that person?" Kisame was curious when he saw Itachi staring at someone.
"That person looks quite formidable, possibly a spy sent from another village. Konoha is really in a precarious situation. At this time, I don't know how many people have infiltrated."
Itachi's expression was indifferent as he stopped and looked at a shop on the side.
It was a sweet shop selling three-colored dumplings.
"Let's get something to eat, I'm hungry."
After Itachi finished speaking, he walked in without waiting for Kisame's response.
"A sweet shop? Mr. Itachi has such a hobby."
The seemingly cold and aloof Itachi actually had a fondness for sweets, which surprised Kisame.
It didn't match his image.
Not to mention Itachi's side, Kimimaro found a hidden place, created a shadow clone, and then his real body headed towards the Mask Storage Temple.
The Mask Storage Temple was located about three hundred meters behind the Hokage Rock.
After the Konoha Crush plan, the higher-ups not only didn't reduce the number of missions, but they actually took on a large number of missions. Their goal was to show the ninja world that the village hadn't suffered from a lack of combat power due to this incident and could still complete missions.
It was a typical bluff.
But it could also make outsiders uncertain about the true situation.
Of course, such an approach would lead to a shortage of manpower within the village.
So this Mask Storage Temple, which originally not many people knew about, didn't even have a ninja guarding it.
This made things much easier for Kimimaro.
He quietly entered the Mask Storage Temple and saw the masks covering the entire wall.
Each mask had slightly different features.
Obviously, these masks had different uses.
But it was also possible that only one of them was useful, and the other twenty-six were just there to confuse people.
Kimimaro didn't know which one was the mask for the Reaper Death Seal, so he took all of them.
"Mission accomplished."
After getting what he wanted, Kimimaro didn't retreat immediately.
He activated his Kagura Mind's Eye!
Kimimaro quickly locked onto Itachi's location.
A brief encounter was enough for him to sense Itachi and Kisame's chakra.
And beside them was another familiar chakra.
"It seems Kakashi has discovered Itachi. Once they start fighting, it will be the best time for me to escape."