A slightly immature voice suddenly rang out from beside the three people in the firelight.
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki and Kaguya Yakura, wearing Leaf Village headbands, appeared like specters in front of the Iwagakure three-man team.
The three people in the firelight were startled by the sudden appearance of Ghost Lantern Mitsuki and Kaguya Yakura.
Three ninjas whose strength was already close to Jonin level were completely unaware of when these two wearing Leaf Village headbands had approached them.
Although part of the reason was that their attention was drawn to the red-haired little girl opposite them, even so, under normal circumstances, they shouldn't be so weak as to not even sense the movement of two small children getting close.
Since it wasn't because the three of them were too weak, it could only mean that the two guys who suddenly appeared were too strong.
"Hey, hey, Iwagakure friends, it's very rude to ignore people when they greet you!"
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki bared his sharp teeth and gave the three of them a smile even more malicious and creepy than theirs.
Daishi, who was naturally steady, saw Ghost Lantern Mitsuki's appearance and his heart skipped a beat. He stepped forward, shielding Huoguang and the youngest, Moli, behind him, and looked at the two powerful little brats in front of him with a solemn expression.
"This appearance and attire..."
There was no doubt about this little guy with shark teeth and an arrogant expression. Apart from the infamous Bloody Mist Village, there was no other place in the ninja world where ninjas would look like this.
The shorter little guy next to him, although his physique and appearance didn't reveal his origin, the coral staff behind him, almost as tall as his body, unmistakably exposed his identity.
The mysterious Third Mizukage of Kirigakure, legend has it, had a disciple who was skilled in Water Style and Coral Palm. This must be him, right?
A disciple of the Mizukage, plus a troublemaker who obviously wasn't easy to deal with. This combination made Daishi have to take them seriously.
"You guys..."
"You should be ninjas from Kirigakure, right? Why are you wearing Leaf Village headbands?"
Upon hearing Daishi's question, Kaguya Yakura glanced at him and didn't reply, silently retreating behind Ghost Lantern Mitsuki.
Although their relationship was good before, their current identities were worlds apart.
He was a subordinate of Lord Orochimaru, while Ghost Lantern Mitsuki was Lord Orochimaru's personal disciple.
"Good eyes!"
Seeing Kaguya Yakura's attitude, a barely perceptible trace of disappointment flashed in Ghost Lantern Mitsuki's eyes. Then, as if nothing had happened, he put one hand on his hip, pointed to the polished Leaf ninja headband on his head, and praised him.
"Let's put aside the matter of wearing Leaf headbands for now. I have a proposal, would you three like to hear it?"
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki said, leaning mysteriously towards Daishi and whispering.
"I just went to gather some intelligence, especially about Leaf ninjas..."
"First-hand intelligence, absolutely true and effective!"
Daishi's heart stirred, and he immediately put aside the matter of the headbands.
Ninja headbands were just headbands. As long as they didn't have a scratch on them, and as long as they weren't Iwagakure's, anyone could wear them however they pleased. Anyway, it wouldn't be him who would be in trouble.
With this thought, Daishi forced a fake smile and nodded at Ghost Lantern Mitsuki with a look of goodwill.
"As long as it doesn't involve the secrets of each ninja village and can help us achieve excellent results in the selection, we three participants are naturally interested in intelligence about other contestants."
"So... what is your proposal?"
Seeing that this Iwagakure guy didn't take the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot and directly asked for intelligence on Leaf ninjas, a hint of regret flashed in Ghost Lantern Mitsuki's eyes.
"What a pity, I wanted to find an excuse to trick this kid, but I didn't expect him to be so cautious!"
"He's quite a good material for a ninja!"
Collecting dirt on Iwa and then complaining to his teacher Orochimaru later, even if he couldn't avenge his grandfather Ghost Lantern Gengetsu, he could at least ensure that Kirigakure would be firmly above Iwagakure in future ninja alliances.
Since the first plan didn't succeed, then...
Then forget it!
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki let out a cold laugh in his heart, but on the surface, he enthusiastically chatted with Daishi.
"Confidential news, Leaf Village, in order to showcase the strength of its new generation of ninjas to the ninja world, has secretly altered the drawing rules commonly used by the ninja villages."
"The original system of randomly selecting two ninjas to fight through a draw has been changed to a system where the Leaf ninjas, as hosts, set up arenas, and the promotion to Chunin will be decided through a series of continuous battles."
Hearing this, Daishi and the other two were overjoyed, exchanged glances, and felt that this news had come at the perfect time.
Noticing the change in their expressions, Ghost Lantern Mitsuki chuckled inwardly and continued to narrate vividly.
"There are a total of five arenas. The first three arenas will be presided over by three disciples of the legendary Sannin, Lord Orochimaru."
"See those three over there?"
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki pointed towards where Kushina and the others were standing, with a look of disdain.
"The evil woman with red hair is Uzumaki Kushina. She has great strength, her weakness is fear of genjutsu; the yellow-haired one is Namikaze Minato. His projectile ninjutsu is very powerful, but his weakness is being too slow; and the big傻 guy next to him is Nawaki..."
After rambling on, Ghost Lantern Mitsuki lowered his voice and whispered.
"Don't be fooled by his傻 look, he might be the strongest of the three."
"You should have heard about the incident of the Senju clan grounds, Nawaki, that caused such a stir in the ninja world a few days ago, right? He did it!"
"According to our Mizukage, this Nawaki has likely awakened the Wood Style of the ninja god who pacified the Warring States period!"
"So, if you want to defeat the disciples of the Sannin, you should avoid that Nawaki, understood?"
The Iwagakure three-man team's hearts tightened, and they slowly nodded.
"It seems that the intelligence this kid has gathered is quite helpful."
"The matter of Wood Style was all over the place some time ago. Combined with the positioning of those Leaf ninjas, it's likely that this competition is indeed a series of continuous battles."
Daishi pondered silently, temporarily accepting the intelligence provided by this guy whose name he didn't even know.
"There are five arenas, right? Since these three guys are disciples of the Sannin, they must be very strong!"
"Why can't we challenge the champions of the fourth and fifth arenas? This way, we can avoid strong enemies and not damage the harmony between Leaf and Rock. Wouldn't that be better?"
"Brother from Kirigakure, what do you say?"
Daishi narrowed his eyes, like a fox that had stolen a chicken, and casually dismissed Ghost Lantern Mitsuki's suggestion with a single sentence.
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki chuckled, gave a thumbs up to the headband on his head, and said proudly.
"Heh heh..."
"This relates to the proposal I mentioned earlier..."
"Allow me to introduce myself, Ghost Lantern Mitsuki of the Ghost Lantern clan of Kirigakure."
"Lord Ghost Lantern Gengetsu, who defeated the Second Tsuchikage Mu of Iwagakure, is my grandfather."
"And this one..."
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki looked at the Iwagakure trio, whose expressions had suddenly changed, and pointed at Kaguya Yakura standing behind him, with a deep, sinister chuckle.
"This one is my grandfather's grand-disciple, a disciple of the Third Mizukage, Kaguya Yakura."
"Thanks to Lord Third Mizukage, we two will temporarily abandon our identities as Kirigakure ninjas and act as champions of the fourth and fifth arenas, replacing the other Leaf ninjas."
"Other village ninjas are one thing, but if any of you Iwagakure ninjas dare to challenge us two..."
"Heh!"
"You'll die!"
Ghost Lantern Mitsuki grinned at the three, his sharp teeth gleaming menacingly, seeming to carry a threat. After striking a pose, Mitsuki suddenly unleashed the chakra he had borrowed from Isōfu.
Leaving behind a creepy smile, Ghost Lantern Mitsuki, under the horrified gaze of the three Iwagakure ninjas, along with Kaguya Yakura, who had been expressionless beside him, suddenly transformed into a splash of water and disappeared.
All that remained were three young Iwagakure ninjas who were so scared they almost lost their souls by the chakra suddenly unleashed by Ghost Lantern Mitsuki.