Mitokado Homura shifted his gaze between Jiraiya and Naraku, his expression troubled as he carefully considered his next words. "That may be true," he said with obvious hesitation, "but if we conduct the training here within the village, we would have the advantage of Wood Style users and Naraku's presence. Surely with such powerful backup, the Nine-Tails shouldn't pose any serious threat to our people or infrastructure."
Naraku's response was direct and uncompromising. "I simply don't have that much free time to constantly watch over Uzumaki Naruto," he stated matter-of-factly.
Tsunade quickly reinforced his position, adding her own perspective to the discussion. "Naraku serves as the village's senior advisor, which means he handles countless important responsibilities every single day. If we were to assign him to nothing but Naruto supervision duty, it would be a tremendous waste of his talents and reputation as the strongest ninja in the world."
As she spoke these words, Tsunade raised her eyebrows and shot a meaningful look in Naraku's direction, her expression carrying an obvious undertone of playful teasing that didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room.
With Tsunade, Shihouin Naraku, and Jiraiya all united on the same side of this debate, even the combined opposition of Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura couldn't prevent Uzumaki Naruto's departure from the village. The political mathematics were simply against them.
The decision was finally settled in favor of the training journey.
However, Naraku felt compelled to offer one final piece of advice before the meeting concluded. "Jiraiya-sensei," he said, his tone carrying both respect and concern, "while everyone here hopes that Naruto can master the Nine-Tails' chakra as quickly as possible, please don't forget that his fundamental ninja skills are embarrassingly weak. When you're out there training with him, remember to help him address these basic deficiencies as well."
Jiraiya nodded confidently, his characteristic grin spreading across his weathered features. "Leave everything to me," he declared with the assurance of someone who had trained countless students over the decades.
With the main issue resolved to everyone's satisfaction, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura gathered their documents and departed from the meeting room, their displeasure still evident in their rigid postures and tight expressions.
Once the two elder advisors had left the office, Tsunade allowed the diplomatic smile to fade completely from her face, replaced by a much more serious and focused expression.
Now that only Shihouin Naraku and Jiraiya remained in the office—the two people she trusted most in the entire world—Tsunade felt comfortable sharing the sensitive intelligence information that Uchiha Itachi had secretly passed to her. She held nothing back, revealing every detail of their clandestine communication.
"This is..." Jiraiya began, his voice trailing off in shock.
"Incredible..." Naraku murmured, though he was careful to hide his prior knowledge behind a convincing mask of surprise.
Although Naraku already possessed this information through his own channels, he performed the role of someone hearing these revelations for the first time, displaying exactly the right amount of astonishment and concern.
"So Uchiha Itachi has been working as a spy all this time..." he said slowly, as if processing this earth-shattering news.
"The Akatsuki Organization!" Jiraiya exclaimed, recognition dawning in his eyes.
For someone who had spent many years traveling abroad and gathering intelligence, this wasn't the first time Jiraiya had encountered references to this mysterious group. His investigations into Orochimaru's activities had led him to discover that his former teammate had somehow become affiliated with this shadowy organization.
However, despite his repeated attempts to gather more information, Jiraiya had never been able to uncover the specific details about the organization's structure, goals, or membership.
Now, finally, he understood why his investigations had proven so frustratingly fruitless. The Akatsuki organization was far more powerful and well-connected than he had ever imagined, having secretly recruited numerous S-rank missing-nin from villages across the entire shinobi world. No wonder even his extensive intelligence network had failed to penetrate their operations.
"So they're based in the Land of Rain?" Jiraiya asked, his thoughts immediately turning to more personal concerns.
The mention of that war-torn country brought back powerful memories of the three students he had once taken under his wing and trained with such care and dedication. According to the reports he had received, all three had tragically died during the brutal civil war that had consumed the Hidden Rain Village.
The memory was particularly painful when he thought about Nagato, the child who had possessed the same mysterious Rinnegan eyes as the legendary Sage of Six Paths. Perhaps this upcoming journey would provide an opportunity to visit the Land of Rain and pay his respects at their graves.
"Bang!"
The sound of a pen striking the desk snapped Jiraiya out of his melancholy reverie. Tsunade had thrown the writing instrument directly at him to regain his attention.
She pointed an accusatory finger in his direction and delivered a stern warning. "I'm sharing this classified information with you so that you can remain alert and prepared during your travels. If you actually encounter members of this organization, you'll at least know what you're dealing with and can react appropriately."
"I'm absolutely not telling you this so that you'll go out of your way to investigate them directly!" she continued, her voice rising with each word.
"Especially since you'll be traveling with Naruto this time, if anything happens to him under your supervision, you know exactly what the consequences will be... don't you?"
To emphasize her point, Tsunade held up both hands where Jiraiya could see them clearly, then suddenly clenched them into tight fists. The ominous cracking sound of her knuckles made Jiraiya instinctively jump backward, his survival instincts screaming warnings about the devastating power contained in those deceptively delicate-looking hands.
"I... I understand completely," Jiraiya stammered, already backing toward the office door. "I have several other important matters to attend to, so I'll go take care of those right away..."
Without waiting for a response, Jiraiya yanked open the door and rushed out of the office at full speed, nearly colliding with Shizune, who was approaching with an armload of official documents. In the blink of an eye, he had completely disappeared from sight.
"That man..." Tsunade muttered, shaking her head with a mixture of exasperation and genuine concern.
She found herself genuinely worried that Jiraiya's natural curiosity and sense of justice might override his common sense, leading him to actively seek out confrontations with the Akatsuki organization despite her explicit warnings.
Setting aside her immediate concerns about Jiraiya's impulsive tendencies for the moment, Tsunade gestured for Shizune to enter the office and place the stack of documents on her desk. After her assistant had departed and closed the door behind her, Tsunade turned her attention back to discussing other sensitive matters with Naraku.
"Naraku," she began, her voice dropping to a more confidential tone, "do you truly believe that Uchiha Itachi's loyalty to Konoha is genuine?"
Despite receiving valuable intelligence information from Uchiha Itachi, Tsunade couldn't shake her deep-seated reservations about trusting someone with such a dark and violent history.
After all, how could anyone feel completely comfortable placing their faith in someone who had demonstrated the capacity to murder his own parents with his own hands, regardless of what hidden circumstances might have motivated such extreme actions?
Shihouin Naraku harbored no doubts whatsoever about Uchiha Itachi's unwavering loyalty to Konoha. The evidence was overwhelming when one considered that even on his deathbed, Itachi had made arrangements to leave behind Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan as a safeguard to prevent his younger brother Sasuke from ever attacking their home village. His plan to use the Distinguished Heavenly Gods technique to alter Sasuke's mindset if necessary demonstrated the lengths he was willing to go to protect Konoha.
When someone like Uchiha Itachi had gone to such extraordinary lengths to ensure his village's safety, even beyond his own death, there was simply no rational reason to question his dedication and loyalty.
Therefore, Naraku answered with complete confidence. "Uchiha Itachi's trust in Konoha is absolute, and his willingness to share this critical information with us demonstrates his genuine commitment to the village's welfare."
"Based on my previous combat encounter with Uchiha Itachi, I could sense that he's suffering from more than just physical ailments," Naraku continued, his expression growing more somber. "He's clearly carrying enormous psychological burdens as well. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he harbors a genuine death wish deep in his heart."
"Uchiha Itachi is patiently waiting for Sasuke to grow strong enough to face him in battle, and he's actually looking forward to the day when he dies at his younger brother's hands."
"Oh my..." Tsunade sighed heavily, the weight of this revelation settling over her like a dark cloud.
"Why did the Third Hokage and Danzo force such terrible choices upon him? They were all supposed to be loyal to Konoha and working toward the same goals..."
The tragedy of the entire situation seemed to weigh heavily on Tsunade's shoulders as she contemplated the devastating consequences of past decisions.
At this point in the conversation, Tsunade suddenly scratched her head in obvious embarrassment, her expression shifting to one of guilt and frustration. "You know, Uchiha Itachi had just finished providing us with all that valuable intelligence information, but then almost immediately afterward, Orochimaru managed to successfully recruit Uchiha Sasuke and take him away from the village."
"I genuinely wanted to bring Sasuke back home safely," she continued, her voice filled with regret, "but when Uchiha Sasuke voluntarily chose to follow Orochimaru and abandon everything he had known, there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop him at that critical moment."
"Don't worry about it," Naraku said, waving his hand dismissively to indicate that Tsunade shouldn't burden herself with unnecessary guilt. "Orochimaru has recently acquired a new host body, which means that according to my calculations and understanding of his techniques, he won't be physically capable of attempting to take over Uchiha Sasuke's body for at least three years."
"That is genuinely good news," Tsunade replied, nodding with visible relief.
This information meant that she would have a reasonable explanation to offer Uchiha Itachi when they next communicated, and it provided hope that Sasuke might eventually return to the village of his own accord.
In reality, if one wanted to be completely accurate about the situation, Orochimaru possessed a realistic chance of successfully taking over the body of virtually any ninja in the entire shinobi world. However, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke represented the only two individuals whose bodies he could never successfully claim, regardless of his power or techniques.
Setting aside the powerful Ashura and Indra chakra that flowed through Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke respectively, the presence of the Sage of Six Paths watching over events from the Pure Land meant that any attempt by Orochimaru to interfere with these particular individuals would likely result in immediate and overwhelming retaliation.
The Sage of Six Paths had demonstrated that he wouldn't intervene if his two spiritual sons chose to fight each other to the death. After all, they were both his biological offspring, and he had no desire to favor one over the other in their eternal conflict.
However, when it came to an outsider like Orochimaru attempting to steal the bodies of his sons' chakra reincarnations, Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo would undoubtedly respond with swift and decisive action. The legendary figure would essentially ask, "Who do you think you are? Do you believe you can simply steal the bodies that house my sons' reincarnated chakra? Are you completely tired of existing?"
While many people believed that the Sage of Six Paths was dead and powerless to affect events in the physical world, this assumption could only fool the most naive and uninformed individuals.
Therefore, Shihouin Naraku felt absolutely no concern about the possibility of Orochimaru successfully taking over Sasuke's body and disrupting the natural course of future events. Such an outcome was simply impossible given the cosmic forces at play.
Even if the full three-year period passed without incident, Orochimaru's attempts would still be doomed to failure.
When one considered that Orochimaru would likely spare no expense or effort in training Uchiha Sasuke over the next three years, investing tremendous resources in developing his abilities and techniques, the entire arrangement actually offered significant advantages for everyone involved.
There were many complex details and cosmic implications that Naraku couldn't possibly explain to Tsunade without revealing knowledge he shouldn't possess. However, the intelligence information available to him clearly indicated that Sasuke would remain safe for the foreseeable future, and that assurance was sufficient for their current needs.
The two leaders continued their discussion of various other village matters for quite some time, covering everything from resource allocation to diplomatic concerns, before Naraku finally turned and departed from the office.
The following morning, while the dawn dew still clung to the grass and had not yet been dried by the warming sun, Jiraiya and Uzumaki Naruto had already completed their travel preparations and stepped through the gates of Konoha to begin their extended training journey.
Only three people had gathered to see them off on this momentous departure: Tsunade, Shihouin Naraku, and Hatake Kakashi. The small group stood silently as the two travelers disappeared into the distance, each lost in their own thoughts about what the future might hold.
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