“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about this.”
Inside an inn in a small town in the Land of Waves, an elderly man examined Kakashi’s condition before speaking helplessly.
“I’m not a shinobi, after all, and his injuries aren’t merely superficial…”
“It’s all right. Thank you for your help.”
Jiraiya seemed to have expected this.
He nodded and escorted the old man out.
“Looks like you’ll have to return to Konoha for proper treatment. It’s a shame Tsunade is nowhere to be found. Things would be much easier with her around.”
After seeing the old man off, Jiraiya returned to the room and looked at Kakashi lying on the bed.
His usual carefree expression had already returned.
“But it’s nothing to worry about. You don’t look as bad as I expected. Once you get back, you’ll be fine.”
“Thank you, Jiraiya-sama…”
Kakashi still looked somewhat weak.
He had been hit by Uchiha Itachi’s Tsukuyomi.
Even though Gen Hoshino had disrupted it halfway through, his mind had still suffered considerable damage.
A condition like this could probably only be properly treated after returning to Konoha.
After all, putting everything else in the shinobi world aside, when it came to medical ninja, Konoha was undoubtedly the strongest!
Moreover, after seeing Jiraiya, Kakashi’s nerves weren’t nearly as tense.
Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Jūzō had left, but there was no telling whether they might come back.
With Jiraiya here, however, the situation was completely different.
“All right, enough with the thanks. You should get some proper rest.”
Jiraiya shrugged, completely unconcerned.
“You two really are lucky.
I happened to be nearby investigating Orochimaru’s whereabouts, and then I saw your signal flare.
“But kid…”
As he spoke, Jiraiya turned toward Gen Hoshino.
“You really are bold. You actually tried to fool them like that. Weren’t you afraid they’d see through you?”
With Uchiha Itachi being a double agent, they probably wouldn’t have…
Gen Hoshino muttered inwardly before shaking his head.
“Jiraiya-sama, they’re missing-nin. They definitely don’t want to run into ANBU, so there was no harm in giving it a try, right?”
“That’s true, but it was still far too risky under those circumstances.”
Jiraiya pursed his lips.
He couldn’t help feeling that this kid was a lot like Tsunade.
They both seemed to enjoy taking gambles.
Fortunately, this kid had gotten lucky and won this time.
“Forget it. You got away with it in the end. But kid, you’ve only got one life. Don’t take unnecessary risks so easily in the future.”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
Gen Hoshino nodded repeatedly.
He had no intention of arguing with Jiraiya.
And he certainly didn’t want to listen to another lecture, so he quickly changed the subject.
“Jiraiya-sama, what are you planning to do next?”
“Me? Naturally, I’ll continue investigating Orochimaru’s whereabouts.”
Jiraiya didn’t mind the question.
His mission was hardly a secret, and besides, Gen was Kakashi’s student.
Naturally, he wasn’t going to brush him off.
He stroked his chin and seemed to fall into thought.
“Come to think of it, something strange happened while I was tracking Orochimaru.
“It’s really hard to imagine that guy making such a decision. Truly unbelievable…”
What’s so unbelievable about that?
Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Jūzō had once been members of the same organization as Orochimaru!
Of course, Orochimaru had already been kicked out by then…
Gen Hoshino chuckled inwardly without saying anything.
He knew all too well how dangerous conventional thinking could be.
Powerful missing-nin were difficult to bring together.
For one thing, when everyone had previously served under different villages, wars could easily have left them with grudges against one another.
Then there was the fact that shinobi naturally competed with one another.
A group of powerful missing-nin would inevitably be prone to internal conflict.
Especially someone like Orochimaru.
How could a man like him willingly submit to anyone?
Unless there was an even greater power capable of suppressing everyone else.
That was also why there was only one organization like the Akatsuki in the entire shinobi world.
Besides, Jiraiya’s investigation was inevitably somewhat behind the actual events.
Gen remembered that when Jiraiya later asked Kakashi to take responsibility for Naruto, he had said that Orochimaru had only recently left the Akatsuki.
That alone explained quite a lot.
But it was perfectly normal.
The members of the Akatsuki were all extremely capable.
And since they hadn’t yet reached the stage of openly capturing the Tailed Beasts, concealing themselves wasn’t particularly difficult.
As for the rumor that Orochimaru was in the Land of Waves, there was a good chance he had traveled to the Land of Water or was returning from there.
His target was naturally Kimimaro.
[New Side Quest Acquired]
Just as Gen was thinking about all this, his system suddenly flashed again!
[Jiraiya-san, the Cherry Blossoms of Your Hometown Are in Bloom]
[Bring Jiraiya back to Konoha]
“…”
Gen Hoshino froze when he saw the ridiculous quest.
A moment later, he felt a headache coming on.
At least he was somewhat relieved that this time he hadn’t received some completely absurd quest like:
[Make Jiraiya and Pain Smoke Together in the Ruins of Konoha]
But getting Jiraiya to return to Konoha wasn’t exactly going to be easy!
Especially when Jiraiya still had an investigation into Orochimaru to pursue…
“But if the reward comes from Jiraiya…”
Gen Hoshino fell into thought.
In the end, he decided to give it a try.
After all, he possessed a little… informational advantage.
After thinking for a while about how he should proceed, Gen finally spoke.
“Oh, I see… Jiraiya-sama.”
His expression immediately fell.
He sighed.
“I thought you were going to return to Konoha with us.”
“Hey, hey, hey! Why would I return to Konoha? Don’t drag me into this!”
Jiraiya’s eyes widened immediately. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
In a sense, Konoha was a place filled with painful memories for him.
Unless absolutely necessary, he genuinely didn’t want to return.
And even if he did go back, would he be able to leave so easily afterward?
“After all, Kakashi-sensei is in this condition. If we run into another missing-nin like Uchiha Itachi, I’m afraid we…”
Gen glanced at Kakashi lying on the bed before turning his eyes toward Jiraiya.
“But Jiraiya-sama has a more important mission, so naturally we can’t force you.
“We can only hope we don’t run into another accident.
“Actually, even if something does happen, it won’t be Jiraiya-sama’s fault. We can only blame our terrible luck…”
“…”
Jiraiya’s expression stiffened.
He suddenly felt as though he’d been taken hostage.
Why is this kid’s mouth so vicious?
“All right, Gen. I’m fine.”
Fortunately, Kakashi quickly stepped in to smooth things over and change the subject.
“Jiraiya-sama, let’s talk about Orochimaru instead. That way, I’ll at least have something to report when I return.”
“No problem!”
Gen Hoshino said nothing.
He merely raised his eyebrows slightly.
Jiraiya, meanwhile, visibly relaxed.
After thinking for a moment, he finally spoke with an unusually serious expression.
“To be honest, I’ve already told you most of what I know.
“The most important thing is that organization.
“They’ve hidden themselves extremely well.
I don’t know who their members are, and I don’t even know what the organization is called.
“But an organization capable of making Orochimaru willing to join certainly isn’t ordinary.
“And some time ago, I received another piece of information.
“Someone apparently spotted him near a port in the Land of Waves.
“That’s everything I know at the moment.”
“It’s really that mysterious?”
Kakashi frowned.
If even Jiraiya couldn’t uncover any more information, one could imagine just how troublesome the organization was.
“Again, the Land of Waves.”
Gen Hoshino suddenly spoke at what seemed like an opportune moment.
“Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Jūzō were also in the Land of Waves.
“And if I remember correctly, during the Third Shinobi World War, the Uchiha fought the Mist shinobi in the Land of Whirlpool.”
“Hm?”
Gen’s words immediately made both men freeze.
In the next moment, their expressions became somewhat peculiar.
“It’s really incredible that those two can work together.”
Seeing their reactions, Gen Hoshino stopped pretending.
“And they’re both ruthless, proud individuals.
“One was a former prodigy who slaughtered his entire clan.
“The other was once one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist…”
“If even those two can be put together, doesn’t that mean other people could be brought together as well?”