Chapter 447 — Jiraiya
Ever since leaving Konoha, Jiraiya had been tracking Orochimaru's movements.
At times, even he wasn't sure what he was really doing—whether he was truly chasing Orochimaru, or simply avoiding the tangled mess that Konoha had become.
The village was no longer the Konoha he remembered.
Things had improved recently, yes, but everything had changed. The people, the atmosphere—it was no longer the same.
Jiraiya was a nostalgic man. The reason he hadn't returned was simple: he didn't want to face that sense of loss. And besides… he had his own mission, didn't he?
Truthfully, even he had lost count of how many times he had nearly turned back.
About three years ago, when Konoha was struck by the Nine-Tails disaster, he had almost rushed back without hesitation.
He knew exactly how catastrophic it was for the Nine-Tails to appear in the village. Not just because of its destructive power, but because its jinchūriki was Kushina.
If a Tailed Beast escaped its host, the damage to the host was fatal.
No matter how strong Kushina's body was, losing the Nine-Tails meant death.
And Jiraiya understood better than anyone the bond between his student and Kushina.
If she had died, Minato—newly appointed as Hokage—would never have chosen to live on alone.
That kind of tragedy would have been immeasurable for Konoha.
But just a few days into his journey back, he received reliable news—
The Nine-Tails had been successfully sealed, thanks to Minato, Uchiha Kei, and Uchiha Fugaku.
The crisis was over.
Minato was safe.
Kushina was safe.
With the help of the two Uchiha, the family had come through it unharmed.
Jiraiya finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But then, another detail caught his attention.
According to the same intelligence, Kei had intercepted a mysterious Uchiha and even fought him.
Minato himself confirmed that the Nine-Tails had been deliberately released—and that the culprit was that very same mysterious Uchiha.
Jiraiya took this seriously.
Konoha kept the matter quiet, and he didn't spread it further either.
Instead, he made a decision.
He wouldn't return to Konoha—not yet.
There was no immediate danger, and his student was safe. Going back would serve no real purpose.
More importantly, he knew that if he did return, he'd likely be tied down with village affairs—things he had no interest in dealing with.
Better to remain outside.
To continue tracking Orochimaru.
And to investigate that mysterious Uchiha who had attacked Konoha and unleashed the Nine-Tails.
Fortunately—or perhaps inevitably—Jiraiya's luck held.
He discovered something.
Something interesting.
A few years ago, while tracking Orochimaru, he had found traces of him heading toward the Land of Water.
That alone puzzled him.
Orochimaru had left a deep mark of fear in Kirigakure. Why would he go there now? Wasn't he afraid of being surrounded and killed by the Mizukage?
Jiraiya hesitated.
Should he follow?
After some thought, he decided to act.
No matter what, Orochimaru had once been his comrade—his friend.
And since he was already tracking him, he could use that as an excuse. If Orochimaru were captured by Kirigakure, he could intervene.
But things didn't go as expected.
Before he could even reach the Land of Water, he was blocked.
The country was isolated offshore, cut off from the mainland. The only way in was by sea—and those routes had been sealed.
Standing on the shores near the Land of Whirlpools, Jiraiya found himself stuck.
Then—
a shocking piece of news spread across the shinobi world.
Kirigakure had been attacked.
The Third Mizukage was defeated.
The Three-Tails had been released.
The village suffered heavy losses.
Jiraiya was stunned.
And when he heard that the attacker was a mysterious Uchiha, his expression darkened.
Adding to that, Orochimaru had been in the Land of Water shortly before all this happened.
It felt like too much of a coincidence.
And Jiraiya didn't believe in coincidences.
From that moment on, he was determined to capture Orochimaru.
He had a strong feeling—
Orochimaru knew something.
Something important.
Orochimaru never acted without purpose. If he had gone to the Land of Water, it must have been connected to that mysterious group—the same one that had attacked Konoha.
With that in mind, Jiraiya intensified his pursuit.
But even so—
he couldn't catch him.
Because Orochimaru had done something unexpected.
He returned to the Land of Fire.
A perfect blind spot.
If not for the war between Kumo and Konoha, Jiraiya might not have picked up his trail again so quickly.
He had sensed the outbreak of war early on, but hesitated, choosing to observe first.
Still, he wasn't idle. He headed to the Land of Hot Water, the best vantage point to monitor both sides.
What he saw surprised him.
Konoha's strength… was overwhelming.
Especially Uchiha Fugaku.
Jiraiya had never expected that man to fight the Fourth Raikage—whose physical prowess and speed were monstrous—and not only keep up, but gain the upper hand.
If not for Konoha's limited forces, they might have already launched a counterattack.
Of course, Kumo had deployed the Eight-Tails jinchūriki as well, which was no small threat.
But knowing that his own teacher, the Third Hokage, was operating behind enemy lines reassured him somewhat.
Since the front lines were stable, Jiraiya decided to resume his pursuit of Orochimaru.
But not long after—
another battle broke out.
And this time, Konoha achieved a decisive victory.
Yet the victory came at a cost.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was gravely injured—his life hanging by a thread.
That news changed everything.
Jiraiya could no longer stay away.
Even if his relationship with his teacher had grown distant over the years, even if they had drifted apart—
that was still his teacher.
The man who had guided him, who had shaped him into the shinobi he was.
Now that man was in critical condition.
There was no way Jiraiya could remain indifferent.
Without hesitation, he turned back toward Konoha.
He refused to let anything happen to him.
Even if something had truly gone wrong, Jiraiya would rather be there in the end—if only to see his teacher off.
He slipped quietly into Konoha, confident that no one had noticed his return.
Everything in the village was etched into him, as if carved into his very soul. Every street, every path felt instinctively familiar.
He made his way to the medical division and finally saw his teacher.
The Third Hokage lay on the bed, an oxygen tube fixed in place. His aged face seemed to silently declare that time had long since caught up with him.
Jiraiya stood there, looking at the old man, and felt something stir deep within.
Right and wrong, merit and fault—those were things no one could fully judge. But to Jiraiya, this man had always been his teacher.
Whatever the past, that fact had never changed.
He stayed quietly in the medical ward for several days, gradually piecing together his teacher's condition.
The bad news was clear: Hiruzen had been gravely wounded by the enraged Eight-Tails jinchūriki. He was still unconscious, and no one could say when he would wake.
But there was good news as well.
He was no longer in danger of dying.
He had entered the recovery phase.
Knowing that was enough to ease Jiraiya's heart.
Yet what he hadn't expected was this—
when he stepped out of the medical ward and into the sunlight, he noticed something strange.
The atmosphere in Konoha felt… unusually lively.
At first, he thought it was simply because of good news from the front lines. But as he looked deeper, he realized something else had happened while he'd been away.
The village had undergone a reform.
A jōnin reform.
One that placed civilian shinobi and clan shinobi on equal footing, forcing them into the same system.
Jiraiya immediately understood both the benefits and the risks.
He was impressed by his student's courage—yet also worried about the pressure Minato must now be under.
But when he learned that Uchiha Kei had stood firmly at Minato's side during the reform, everything changed.
Kei's support had rallied civilian shinobi and even swayed many clan members.
That was what made the reform possible.
Only then did Jiraiya truly relax.
And he found himself looking at Kei in a new light.
"That kid may be young, but under his leadership the Police Force has only grown stronger. And within the Uchiha clan, his standing rivals even Fugaku's. With someone like him guiding them… perhaps that clan won't fall into tragedy."
Jiraiya felt a quiet sense of relief.
He had always known the tension between Konoha and the Uchiha. He knew how difficult it was for that clan to truly connect with others.
Policies and distance had kept them separated, unable to truly understand one another.
And the same was true for civilian and clan shinobi.
They existed on entirely different levels.
Without a system to bring them together, they would always remain worlds apart.
But now—
his student had found a path.
A dangerous one, where a single misstep could lead to ruin.
Yet a path that also held hope.
A path toward mutual understanding.
Minato hadn't forgotten.
Even as Hokage, he was still chasing the dream they once shared.
Jiraiya couldn't help but feel proud.
This trip back to Konoha had been worth it.
Even with the war ongoing, even though he had temporarily abandoned his pursuit of Orochimaru—
he had found something here.
An answer he had been searching for.
One that brought him a deep sense of peace.
He had come quietly, and he intended to leave the same way.
He had no desire to disturb his student. If Minato knew he was here, he would surely try to keep him—and burden him with responsibilities.
"You've grown," Jiraiya murmured softly as he departed. "You're a proper Hokage now. As for me… I'm just a wanderer."
And so he left Konoha, as silently as he had arrived, resuming his pursuit of Orochimaru.
Not long after, he picked up Orochimaru's trail again.
Perhaps it was coincidence. Or perhaps, after spending so many years together, Jiraiya had developed an instinct for anything related to snakes.
Or maybe it was his connection to his summoning beasts, who held an innate hostility toward them.
Whatever the reason—
he found him.
Relief surged through him, but so did unease.
Why had Orochimaru appeared in the Land of Fire… right when Konoha and Kumogakure were at war?
Then, another piece of information reached him.
At the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water—
the mysterious Uchiha had appeared again.
The same one who had attacked Konoha and Kirigakure.
This time, his appearance resulted in devastating consequences.
The Fourth Raikage was severely injured.
The Eight-Tails jinchūriki was nearly crippled.
And Kumogakure's eight-thousand-man force—
was annihilated by the aftermath of their battle, leaving fewer than a thousand survivors.
The sheer scale of it sent a chill down Jiraiya's spine.
And inevitably, he thought of someone.
Orochimaru.
He had been in Kirigakure when that incident happened.
And now—
he appeared again.
"Orochimaru… what exactly are you doing?"
Driven by that question, Jiraiya continued his search across the Land of Fire.
At last, he found him.
No matter how well Orochimaru disguised himself, decades of shared history made recognition instant.
Jiraiya followed him, silently, carefully, all the way to a tavern in a small town.
He was certain now.
Orochimaru had come here to meet someone.
So Jiraiya rented a room next door, disguising himself as a drunken wanderer.
And he waited.
For the right moment.
Finally, when everyone had gathered—
he made his move.
But reality, once again, played a cruel joke on him.
The moment he pushed the door open—
he froze.