"Look at the mess you two have made!"
"Can't you go a single day without causing trouble for me!?"
Inside the Hokage's Office, the two cult leaders were currently standing and being lectured by Tsunade.
Before this, the two of them had already been punished by cleaning the village for a week.
As for the two white-haired figures standing nearby, due to their poor supervision, they had already been thoroughly disciplined by Tsunade.
Jiraiya was leaning on a crutch and his right arm was in a sling.
And Kakashi...
Apart from a pair of panda eyes, there was nothing wrong with him.
Jiraiya couldn't help but feel it was unfair, extremely unfair.
'We had all been beaten up together, so how come Kakashi only got off with superficial injuries?'
In response to this, Kakashi explained that while his injuries had been just as severe as Jiraiya's at the time, thanks to his usual habit of eating Naruto's special steak to recover, his wounds had healed about 70% by the next day.
Even the dark circles under his eyes were drawn on.
After all, if he showed up completely unharmed, Tsunade would definitely beat him up again.
Facing Tsunade's reprimand, Naruto's eyes were dull and his thoughts were wandering.
Anyone could tell he was spacing out just by looking at him.
His attitude was basically: 'Go ahead and yell, but what I did wasn't that big of a deal anyway.'
After all, in a way, he had managed to reform the muscular trend of Sunagakure.
Even though he might have accidentally created the Cult Mechanicus, it can't be denied that he had fixed the problem he was asked to fix.
Compared to Naruto, Sakura was much more well-behaved. She lowered her head and admitted her mistakes repeatedly.
She kept saying things like, This won't happen again, and so on.
"Still thinking about bringing that cult back?!"
"Don't you see how out of control things have gotten!?"
"Have you two not realized that you're the biggest troublemakers here!?"
"Look at Sasuke!"
"Since leaving the village, has he caused even a single bit of trouble?"
Thankfully, Sasuke hadn't stirred up any major incidents outside the village.
Otherwise, Tsunade felt like it would be better to just destroy the Shinobi World.
Whoever wants to be the savior can be the savior, she won't care anyway.
Tsunade's throat was dry from yelling, and she finally sighed, no longer in the mood to continue berating them.
"Alright, I don't want to say anything else."
"Fortunately, this time it didn't cause too much impact on the Shinobi World."
"Jiraiya, take Naruto to Mount Myoboku."
Tsunade waved her hand, signaling Jiraiya to take Naruto away to the Holy Land for forced labor.
That way, she wouldn't have to see this yellow-haired delinquent every day and get a headache.
Upon hearing that he was going to learn Senjutsu, Naruto dutifully helped his teacher out of the office.
When Kurama in the sealed space heard the word 'Senjutsu', his eyes suddenly snapped open.
His pupils darted around and no one knew what he was thinking.
After watching the two leave, Tsunade turned her gaze to Kakashi and Sakura.
After thinking for a while, she continued.
"Kakashi, go back and reflect on this."
"How could you nearly get taken down by some no-name cult?"
"As for Sakura..."
"Stop all your research. From now on, you'll focus on studying Medical Ninjutsu under me."
The moment Sakura heard she had to stop her research, she felt even more upset than if she were killed. She immediately opened her mouth to protest, hoping Tsunade would reconsider.
Seeing that the girl was about to cause more trouble, Kakashi quickly grabbed her, fearing that whatever Sakura said next would get him beaten up again.
Tsunade didn't notice their little exchange. Rubbing her temples, she shooed them away.
That's all for today."
"Sakura, come see me tomorrow."
"Now get out."
"Yes... Hokage-sama."
Kakashi bowed in response, then pulled Sakura with him and headed out the door.
After seeing that all the troublemakers were dealt with, Tsunade leaned back in her chair, took out a bottle of sake from her drawer, and started drinking it.
"Ahhh…"
"Perfect!"
Slamming the bottle on the desk, Tsunade let out a satisfied sigh.
Even though she had just finished lecturing them, her mood was far better than it had been in days.
Thinking back to the chaos Naruto and Sakura had caused a few days ago, Tsunade couldn't help but sigh at how tough her job was.
'It's really not easy...'
'Thanks to my relentless efforts, the Shinobi World had finally returned to peace.'
However, what Tsunade didn't know was that the 'peace' she imagined was nothing more than wishful thinking...
…
The Land of Grass
The Cult Mechanicus' missionary team had arrived and set up a secret base.
However, this time, Gaara did not send out people from Sunagakure. These missionary missions were assigned to the outer believers from the Land of Wind.
In this way, even if they were exposed, he could still tell Chiyo that it had nothing to do with him.
After all, Sunagakure's Shinobi are now honest and obedient.
How could they possibly be involved in something like this?
"Damn it!"
"Those Shinobi from Konoha Village are just too much!"
"Just because they're strong, they think they can steal people from our village!?"
A Kusagakure's Shinobi clenched his fists tightly, his mind filled with the image of the red-haired girl.
After losing this 'Medical-nin', they had suffered greatly recently.
Back then, all they had to do was bite her, and their wounds would heal rapidly.
But now...
They had to spend a fortune just to find Medical-nin to come the Land of Grass to treat their injuries.
"Damn those Konoha's Shinobi!"
"Boss, let's find a way to stake out outside Konoha."
"I refuse to believe Karin will hide in that village forever!"
The group eagerly offered suggestions to their leader, all thinking of various ways to take back the 'blood bag' that should have belonged to them.
But at this moment, a group of guys wearing hooded black cloaks appeared in front of and behind the Kusagakure's Shinobi.
This made everyone nervous instantly.
Some people even reached for the Ninja Tool Pouches on their waists, ready to take action immediately if anything went wrong.
But what happened next left the Kusagakure's Shinobi utterly bewildered...
"Brother, care to learn about our new faith?"
"Want to improve your strength?"
"Do you want to punch Uchiha Madara in the face and kick Senju Hashirama to the ground?"
"Then join the embrace of the Cult Mechanicus!"
The followers of the Cult Mechanicus enthusiastically handed out flyers to the Kusagakure's Shinobi.
The leading Shinobi glanced down at the flyer's contents and his expression became a little strange.
[Nightly passionate gatherings... Fiery, devout followers... Thrilling new experiences...]
[All waiting for you in the Cult Mechanicus!]
If they hadn't seen what the other party had said before about some religion, they would have thought they had encountered someone from a brothel soliciting customers.
"Sorry... Not interested."
The leading Shinobi hesitated for a moment and finally declined politely.
Meanwhile, at the rear of their group, the Scientific Truth Society's followers also began their pitch.
"Brother! Do you want to uncover the mysteries of the world?"
"Do you want to bring peace to this world that has suffered so much?"
"What are you waiting for? Come join the Scientific Truth Society now!"
Since both groups wore similar outfits, the two cults ended up mixing up their own members in the confusion.
In the end, the Kusagakure's Shinobi took advantage of the chaos to escape the scene, while the Cult Mechanicus and the Scientific Truth Society unexpectedly received each other's leaflets.
"Scientific Truth Society?!"
"Cult Mechanicus!?"
It was not until they saw the unfamiliar flyers in their hands that the two groups realized something was wrong, and at the same time, the same thought flashed through their minds...
'Oh no!!'
'We've run into competitors!!'