065 Naruto Mobile Game

"Hmph! Has Sarutobi finally died?!"

In Iwagakure, Ōnoki was in quite a pleasant mood. After all, Sarutobi Hiruzen had always counted as his lifelong enemy.

In the storyline, Hiruzen's death was undoubtedly a heavy blow to Konoha. As an old rival throughout the Ninja World Wars, it was normal for Ōnoki to be happy.

But after thinking of the First Hokage and Second Hokage that Orochimaru summoned through Edo Tensei…

Even though Ōnoki was only experiencing the story as a player, he still felt a chill.

"What a terrifying forbidden technique!"

He rarely used the word "terrifying."

But he truly couldn't imagine if the First and Second Tsuchikage were ever summoned someday, and he had to fight them.

When that time came, what would he do?

Thinking that, he couldn't help but admire Sarutobi Hiruzen.

After all, Hiruzen really did defeat the First and Second Hokage and protected Konoha.

No one would ever doubt how determined a Kage could be when their village faced danger.

Ōnoki shook his head. Forget it—things had already happened, and there was no real need to celebrate too much. It wasn't the real Sarutobi Hiruzen who died anyway.

He picked up his phone and queued into a Ranked Match.

Whether it was age or something else, his experience in the Duel Arena had never been very good.

Match found. Entered the battle screen. Ōnoki lifted his eyelids and looked at the opponent's lineup.

"Uchiha Itachi, Deidara, Konan..."

Seeing Deidara, his brow tightened, and he forcibly swallowed the curse that almost escaped.

That brat! Wearing Iwagakure's missing-nin forehead protector and appearing on the screen—what a disgrace!

If he couldn't drag Deidara back to the village, then at least in the Duel Arena, he'd make that brat taste pain!

Compared to the gloomy atmosphere in Konoha at this moment, the other villages—such as Iwagakure and Kumogakure—were quite happy.

But Sunagakure couldn't be happy at all.

Anyone with eyes could tell that in the storyline's Konoha Crush Plan, Sunagakure had been completely used as a gun by Orochimaru.

Damn it, that beast Orochimaru even killed the Fourth Kazekage! And pretended to be the Fourth Kazekage!

This was the real humiliation!

"Sure enough, attacking Konoha was too impulsive. We didn't consider things thoroughly."

"The key issue is Lord Kazekage… otherwise, we wouldn't have lost the initiative."

"Damn Orochimaru! Why didn't he die together with the Third Hokage?!"

"Otogakure—Orochimaru is there!"

Inside Sunagakure's senior council chamber, everyone was talking angrily and noisily, unable to hide their fury.

Rasa sat with his fingers crossed under his chin, eyes deep and flickering, saying nothing.

Was he angry? Of course. But the humiliation was undeniable.

A dignified Fourth Kazekage, killed silently, and they only discovered the body after it had already begun to rot.

How was he supposed to face the previous Kazekage now?

And then there was Gaara…

Thinking of Gaara, Rasa became irritated.

According to the original Konoha Crush Plan, Gaara should have gone berserk inside Konoha, causing destruction.

But that useless kid actually failed, was chased down by Konoha genin, and even defeated.

As expected, Gaara had no value as a Jinchūriki at all…

...

"Will… I also end up like that."

At home, Gaara lowered his head, staring at his phone.

On the screen, Naruto was covered in blood. Even though his body was already weak, he still tried to crawl forward to continue the fight.

That unbelievable willpower, that overwhelming desire to protect his comrades—Gaara had never experienced anything like it.

Maybe it was because the story personally involved him, but Gaara felt a stronger emotional connection to the plot than usual.

"Gaara, Father wants to see you." Temari gently pushed open the door, her expression complicated.

"Mm." Gaara stood up.

As he passed Temari—his biological elder sister—he suddenly stopped walking.

"Organization… can I join it?"

What?!

Temari's eyes widened instantly, full of disbelief.

That was Sunagakure's First Organization, which included their father, the Kazekage, and several elite shinobi.

The Organization feature had existed for a long time, yet Gaara had never shown any desire to join—he had completely ignored the Organization gameplay.

But today, he asked on his own.

This strange feeling—this behavior and speech that broke all expectations… it felt like a change that appeared ever since Ninja Mobile Game came into existence.

Seeing Gaara calmly looking at her, Temari took a deep breath and said seriously,

"I will tell Father."

Gaara nodded and left.

Temari watched her younger brother's back, her expression shifting multiple times before finally settling into firm resolve.

…

At this time, the members of Akatsuki gathered again.

Apparently, they were really bored. With the version update released, they were once again pulling together to draw ninjas.

"Mm, one ten-pull… two groups of Pain with one shard each, three groups of Orochimaru with one shard each, two groups of Konan… not bad." Hidan muttered to himself.

"What?!" Kakuzu's pupils trembled beside him.

Seeing that he only got one shard of Orochimaru from his own ten-pull, he began to suspect whether Hidan had sucked all the shards out of the pool…

After finishing his pulls, Hidan looked up and noticed Kakuzu sitting far, far away.

"What are you doing over there, Kakuzu? Why so far?"

"Shut up!"

Kakuzu believed that the shard pool for banner ninjas was limited—if Hidan pulled them, then his own would naturally decrease. So keeping distance felt safer.

Another ten-pull… one Pain shard.

Mm. Done.

"Hidan, remember to pay back the Gold Coin money you borrowed. Earn your own money next time."

"What?! No, Kakuzu! Don't be so cruel—I'll let you play on my account, okay? Kaaakuuuuzuuuu~~"

Kakuzu didn't seem to hear. He ignored Hidan's desperate pleading, turned, and walked away—his silhouette full of ruthless coldness.

Actually, the Gold Coins Hidan used to draw ninjas earlier were borrowed from Kakuzu.

He never earned money normally. If he wanted to draw ninjas, he could only borrow. So he borrowed a sum from Kakuzu, promising to repay ten times the amount.

As a result, Kakuzu had now cut off his funding.

"Uh… hey, you're an artist, so you must have money, right?" Hidan approached Deidara.

"Huh? I'm a fleeting artist—what do you think I do, sell clay figurines for cash? Hmph!" Deidara complained.

"Don't be like that—you definitely have Gold Coins on your account, right? But that means your money is useless, isn't it?"

"Hm? And your Gold Coins?"

"Used them all. Seeing them lying there annoys me—I spend them the moment I get them!"

"…Get lost!!"

Hidan then turned and approached Sasori, who wasn't far away.

Sasori had emerged from the puppet Hiruko; his real body was holding a phone, staring at the screen with a focused expression.

Hidan quietly tiptoed closer—only to discover Sasori was in the practice field, playing… himself.

Mm. Sasori playing as [Sasori].

Hidan didn't care what Sasori was doing. He leaned close and spoke in the gentlest tone he could muster.

"Sasori, you're different from Deidara. Your Eternal Art—your puppets—those can definitely be sold for money, right?"

"How about this: give me one puppet, I'll help you sell it, and we split the money fifty–fifty."

"No, no—seventy–thirty. I get seventy, you get thirty. How's that? Great deal, right?"

Sasori slowly turned his head, giving Hidan a single glance from emotionless, utterly murderous eyes.

Hidan's entire body broke into goosebumps. He leaped several meters backward in an instant.

Only after Sasori turned back to his screen did Hidan breathe out in relief.

"Seriously… always calling themselves artists—two washed-up artists who can't even sell their own work!" Hidan whispered under his breath.

It wasn't even fear—he wasn't afraid of Pain, so why would he fear Sasori? He just suspected Sasori was about to snap and kill him on the spot.

That wasn't fear. That was emergency evasive movement!

Hidan looked around, searching for his next target.

It was an Akatsuki gathering, but not an official one—Pain, Konan, Zetsu, and Tobi weren't present.

Itachi also hadn't come, but Kisame had.

"Kisame, hey, let's talk… don't misunderstand, I'm not here to borrow money!"