Calm before the storm

"Very well, Orochimaru. I agree to co-operate you then." The Third Kazekage agreed to Orochimaru's idea but not before adding, "However, not right now. We will be attacking after one year or so."

A look of understanding appeared over Orochimaru's face, "I see, you want to use Konoha to weaken Kumo and Iwa first. After destroying Konoha, that location would be split between the Four Great Villages. However, the portion acquired by a great village would depend on the strength of that Great Village. You want to show off to the other Great Villages that Suna is stronger than them due to the least casualties and attain the maximum benefit from this war."

The Third Kazekage frowned upon hearing Orochimaru speak his scheme so casually. Though it wasn't hard to guess, he still didn't like hearing it from Orochimaru's mouth.

"So, are you planning on keeping me here in this prison?" Orochimaru asked the Third Kazekage with that smirk on his face.

The Third Kazekage remained silent for some time before speaking, "What can you do if I free you?"

These were the words that Orochimaru had been waiting for…

He immediately replied, "I know quite a bit of Konoha's spies in Suna. I can assist you in finding them and dealing with them while not letting Konoha figure out anything."

"…Alright." The Third Kazekage nodded his head, understanding that this was already quite a good deal.

"You will work with Ishimoto Sadao. If I hear that you have been working against Suna, he will eliminate you, Orochimaru!"

"The One-Tailed Jinchuiriki? You really aren't taking any chances, Kazekage-dono." Even though he knew of this fact, Orochimaru's smile didn't vanish, it remained there as if he was happy of this fact.

"I don't mind working with the One-Tailed Jinchuirki but do tell him to not interfere in my experiments. I will be experimenting on any Konoha's spy I find in Suna, that's acceptable, right?" Orochimaru asked the Third Kazekage.

"Very well…"

With that, the Third Kazekage and Orochimaru got to work.

At this time, Jiraiya was returning to the Land of Fire. In the Land of Lightning, just as Araki had said, he had found Orochimaru's tracks and even followed him for some time, but the snake managed to slip away…

From the Land of Lightning… He had no idea where Orochimaru could have gone. For now, considering the location, he even believed that Orochimaru must have gone to Kiri.

Although he knew of this, Jiraiya felt that it wouldn't be worth it to enter Kiri and search for Orochimaru.

Knowing Orochimaru, he could once again slip away from his grasps. The war against Kumo and Iwa had also started. Jiraiya wanted to return to Konoha and start doing missions to assist Konoha in winning this war.

He did wonder what Araki had planned. The last he had heard from the Third Hokage, the old man had stated his utter dissatisfaction with the Senju Clan.

He mentioned how the Senju Clan Head didn't even turn up for the Emergency War Meeting. Jiraiya understood Araki's character quite a bit more than the Third Hokage.

This wasn't just to spite the Third Hokage, it seemed that Araki was displaying his intention of splitting the Senju Clan from Konoha.

The Third Hokage was not at all hesitating in sending out a message that the Senju Clan didn't care about what happened to Konoha. It seemed that he was getting anxious about the Senju Clan. He really wanted to put it down.

Moreover, he heard another piece of news. But this came from his spy network in Amegakure. It seemed that Araki had suddenly appeared in Ame and landed a blow on Hanzo. Moreover, Araki's attack was so strong that Hanzo was unconscious for three whole days.

Although Jiraiya was well aware of Araki's potential, he naturally knew that sooner or later Araki would come to surpass them all. But this… This was too soon. But this was not all he heard from his spy network.

It appeared that Araki had come to protect an organization named Akatsuki. The leader of this organization was none other than Yahiko.

He remembered teaching Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato near the end of the Second Shinobi War. He even held hope that Nagato was the child of prophecy who was destined to save the world.

Knowing that they were brought to Konoha from Ame, and they were even protected by Araki, Jiraiya couldn't help but let out a relieved breath.

At least he wouldn't need to be worried about their safety. With Araki's current strength, even the Third Hokage would find it challenging to harm the Akatsuki Members.

Moreover, one last thing was, Araki definitely knew of Orochimaru's current location. Once he finds out Orochimaru's current location, Jiraiya felt like he could plan further ahead.

After having returned, the first thing Jiraiya did was report all he found out to the Third Hokage.

Jiraiya explained how although Orochimaru had stayed in the Land of Lightning, he didn't try to contact the Third Raikage.

Hearing this, although the Third Hokage didn't show it, he was quite pleased. If Jiraiya did report that Orochimaru had colluded with the Third Raikage, the Third Hokage would be helpless and would be forced to put him in the bingo book with the status of dead or alive.

However, the situation hadn't degraded too much, this was what he believed at this point.

After having given all the information, Jiraiya took his leave.

A cold glint appeared in the Third Hokage's eyes as he saw Jiraiya leaving. He sent a few ANBU after Jiraiya… These were the ANBU members who were entirely loyal to himself. They immediately obeyed his instruction.

The reason behind the Thrid Hokage's current decision was naturally because he was aware of how Jiraiya's apprentice, Namikaze Minato was present during the time when Araki arrived to place Akatsuki under his protection.

Moreover, not just that, it seemed that even before Araki appeared, Minato was asking for an Uzumaki to come with him. He was with a Senju Clan member…

This all seemed awfully suspicious to him.

It appeared as if Minato and Jiraiya were closely related to the Senju Clan. He somewhat regretted sending good words about Minato to the Daimyo.

Perhaps he had been too hasty in his judgement.

A moment later, he took a deep breath and calmed down. No… The situation was still not entirely hopeless.

He just needed to deal with Kumo and Iwa first. As long as he had Ame as an ally, Iwa shouldn't be that big of a deal for Konoha.

The one who held the Third Hokage's main focus was Kumo, or more specifically, the Third Raikage.

Until now, although Kumo had sent their shinobi to the battlefield, most of them were merely genins. Or seemingly straight out of the Academy.

The Hokage didn't understand why Kumo needed to use such a tactic when they had the numerical advantage. Were they saving their elite shinobi for later?

He had a feeling that this was the calm before the storm.