As long as people are idle, they will always unconsciously think about some inexplicable things. People like Han who have been isolated from the ninja world for too long can no longer judge the correct situation. The conclusions drawn from random thoughts, coupled with preconceived prejudices, will only make him more dissatisfied with the actions of the Hidden Rock Village. Changes in mentality will naturally affect one's own thoughts and actions.

Tight defenses are often breached from the inside, and impeccable deployments can also reveal flaws, giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage.

…

In a small village in the southwest of the Land of Fire, near the Land of Rivers, Jiraiya untied the small note tied to the leg of the messenger eagle on his left arm, and then waved his left hand, and the messenger eagle took off, spread its huge wings, and flew back to the direction of Konoha Village. Then Jiraiya turned back to the room, opened the small note and read it.

After a long moment, Jiraiya sighed.

"It's not peaceful anywhere, but it's good that everything is alright."

The Chunin Exams ended successfully without any major problems. The top four places were taken by Konoha Village, and the Genin came to the fore. This should temporarily deter any hostile forces that are ready to make a move.

The only problem seemed to be that the village was exposed to internal discord, which made outsiders laugh. It was fine if they fabricated rumors to smear each other, but they even drew their swords against each other, which was really a difficult situation.

Although the village has never been peaceful, and there have always been open and covert fights, but apart from the Uchiha family's affairs, there are very few major events that are brought to the table. Even when the Uchiha family was exterminated, it was Uchiha Itachi who took the blame. Very few people knew about this, but the impact it caused was indeed far-reaching!

In addition, there were some other things that caught Jiraiya's attention.

"Uchiha Itachi, Rain Village?"

Jiraiya had met the former a few times, but they had always fought each other. As for the Rain Village, Jiraiya was reminded of the terrifying Salamander Hanzo and his three students who had died long ago.

It is such a pity that he died in the war despite having excellent talents and even had the Rinnegan.

The Rain Country has always been closed and self-contained, and now has no communication with the outside world, making it even more mysterious than the Water Country far away from the mainland. There has been no major war in the ninja world recently, and fewer people are paying attention to the strategic location of the Rain Country.

For a long time, the Land of Rain had always been in turmoil. Until now, not many people outside had figured out what was going on there. It was not surprising to Jiraiya that some rebellious ninja organizations were hiding there. However, with Uzumaki Naruto by his side, he had a heavy responsibility and could not leave Naruto behind to risk his life to investigate in such a place.

"Let's talk about it later!"

Since we are in a period of peace for the time being, we should not act rashly.

Seeing Jiraiya coming back, Uzumaki Naruto, who had been waiting in the room impatiently, suddenly started shouting.

"You lecherous immortal, you are so slow. Didn't you say you would teach me how to practice today? You always let me see some inexplicable things. And what the hell is this 'root nature'?"

"Literally! How many times have I told you to be more patient and perseverant!"

Jiraiya said with a headache.

"Let's not talk about that. I just got a piece of news. Your companion Uchiha Sasuke won the first place in the Chunin Exam and is now very famous!"

"Chūnin Exam? First place?"

Uzumaki Naruto was shocked.

"When did the Chunin Exams take place? How come I didn't know about it?"

"About half a month ago. I didn't tell you because it was for your own good. I wanted to prevent you from being distracted from your practice."

"You are so mean, lecherous sage. When I was away, you let Sasuke steal the show. This is bad. Sakura might be attracted to that stinking guy. No, I want to go back and challenge Sasuke!"

After saying this, Uzumaki Naruto couldn't wait to return to the village, but Jiraiya's big hand held his shoulder.

"Save your energy, Naruto. Sasuke is the strongest Genin who has defeated all the competitors in the ninja world. How can you possibly beat him if you are in your current state and don't even focus on your training? You will only be defeated when you go back, and you might even be looked down upon by others!"

"What should we do then?"

Naruto was a little depressed, pouting and complaining very dissatisfiedly.

"I don't know how many special moves Kakashi-sensei has taught him. He is really biased!"

"Don't worry, I, the Toad Sage, will teach you, and you will definitely be no worse than Sasuke! You should patiently read what I give you, and practice refining chakra and manipulating it..."

After much persuasion, Naruto was finally persuaded and Jiraiya finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's the competition from his peers that's more stressful and makes him work harder!"

Naruto has a poor foundation and needs to spend time to make up for it. He can only reach this level by relying on Rasengan and summoning. If he wants to go a step further, it is impossible to do it without a solid foundation.

After persuading Naruto, Jiraiya took out a pen and wrote a few words at the end of the small note of information he received. In a nutshell, it means one thing: calm down.

Then he summoned a small toad, rolled the note into a ball, sealed it, and stuffed it into the toad's mouth, letting it take it back to Tsunade.

Jiraiya, who was outside the situation, saw it more clearly. A little bit of conflict was actually unimportant, as long as no major problems arose.

There is no need to worry about the root cause of these problems in the village, but the solution is very simple.

"If there is no enemy outside the country, the country will always perish."

Now the external pressure is not a big threat to the village, so some minor things stand out. When the three-tailed beast is resurrected and the Akatsuki organization takes large-scale action again, it will be too late to unite against the outside world, so how can there be time to take care of these trivial matters?

It’s the last calm before the turmoil, so there’s no need to make too many changes. Just try to maintain and improve the village’s combat power.

Tsunade is indeed a qualified Hokage, but in terms of the overall situation, she may not be as far-sighted as Jiraiya. Why after the death of the Sandaime, the first candidate that everyone thought of was Jiraiya, rather than Tsunade, who has a more noble bloodline and a better reputation, there is a reason for this.

The blow of Orochimaru's defection to Jiraiya may not be less than that of Sasuke's defection to Naruto. The strong man, bound by the mental cage of his own construction, ultimately missed his dream of becoming Hokage.

…

In early spring in March, even though it was a step later than the warm Fire Country, the Taki Country to the north had also reached the season of revival. The Shuimu clone who was secretly following them waited until Fu and her companions returned to Taki Village, but did not see anyone attack them...