Hearing Hoshiyomi ask this question, Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged glances, both appearing unsure where to begin.
"Well… how should I put it? A lot has indeed changed in the shinobi world during the three years you were gone. The journey back is long, so we'll tell you one thing at a time."
And so, on the entire journey back, Hoshiyomi quietly listened as Tsunade and Jiraiya described the changes that had taken place in the slhinobi world over the past three years.
By the time they entered the Land of Fire, the two had finally finished recounting everything that had happened.
The first major event involved the enormous upheaval in Kumogakure.
According to Tsunade and Jiraiya, the past three years had been a roller-coaster for Kumogakure.
To start, the Fourth Raikage, A, finally managed to recover from the injuries he sustained years ago from Minato's Rasenshuriken.
Once fully healed, A returned to the position of Raikage. The entire village was greatly encouraged, and they were preparing to make a strong comeback and once again challenge for the title of the strongest ninja village.
But at that moment, something strange happened—Killer B, the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, who had always been like a blood brother to A, suddenly broke ties with him.
After a fierce battle between the two in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning, Killer B was defeated and fled, disappearing entirely. Feeling guilty toward his younger brother, the Fourth Raikage sent large numbers of shinobi to search for him everywhere.
Over the past three years, Kumogakure caused plenty of trouble while searching, even invading several smaller villages aggressively, yet they still never found a trace of Killer B.
The breakup of the AB combo—something unheard of even in the original story—left Hoshiyomi feeling deeply shocked. He suspected that Black Zetsu was likely involved in some way.
But that was only speculation. Without directly interacting with the Fourth Raikage, he couldn't be certain what truly happened.
Aside from Kumogakure, the other villages—Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure—had also gone through major events over these years.
In Sunagakure, Monk Bunpuku, after enduring for so many years, finally passed away last year due to his old injuries flaring up again. Because of Bunpuku's death, the One-Tail broke free of its seal and rampaged, sending Sunagakure—after years of peaceful recovery—straight back into chaos.
It was only thanks to the desperate efforts of the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, that the One-Tail was barely sealed into his youngest son, Gaara.
As for Iwagakure, Roshi—the Four-Tails jinchūriki who had been severely injured by Hoshiyomi—was attacked by a mysterious enemy while training near the village. By the time Ōnoki arrived, Roshi had already vanished without a trace.
Ōnoki sent many shinobi to search for him and even hired underground mercenaries, but they found nothing.
Kirigakure also had a rough time. Over the past three years, factions within the village secretly plotted a coup.
Using the excuse that Yagura had failed to protect Kirigakure and allowed it to become a subordinate to Konoha, these conspirators—many of them powerful members of bloodline clans—attempted to overthrow the Fourth Mizukage and seize power.
Because the situation erupted suddenly, Konoha's stationed forces in Kirigakure couldn't react in time. By the time they arrived, the entire village was already in chaos.
In this coup, there were no winners. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, and several powerful bloodline shinobi fought each other to mutual ruin. Yagura died, and the bloodline warriors suffered heavy casualties.
The few who survived disappeared, and with Kiri shinobi already overwhelmed handling the Three-Tails, they had no energy left to pursue them.
After finally sealing the Three-Tails, Kirigakure split into two factions. One side, led by Genji, supported maintaining close ties with Konoha and preserving the current situation.
One faction—led by the old Seven Ninja Swordsmen and a small number of bloodline clans—formed the Independent Faction, intent on overthrowing the current leadership and establishing a bloody, iron-fisted Hidden Mist.
The two sides despised each other. Rumors from the Iron-Blood Faction claimed that the Pro-Konoha Faction, in order to curry favor with Konoha, had kidnapped or even assassinated many Kekkei Genkai shinobi from their side. The Pro-Konoha Faction denied everything, calling it complete nonsense.
The two sides fought bitterly for over a year, causing heavy casualties without any decisive outcome. It wasn't until the year before last, when Sakumo went to Kirigakure and killed a large number of Iron-Blood elites, that the rebellion was barely suppressed. Even so, resentment still runs deep within Kirigakure, and they have not been able to choose a suitable new Mizukage to this day.
After talking about the four major villages, the last one to discuss was, of course, Konoha.
During the first year of Hoshiyomi's disappearance, Konoha remained peaceful without any major incidents—until trouble suddenly broke out while Sakumo was away leading forces to suppress the Iron-Blood faction in Kirigakure.
When Sakumo finished quelling the rebellion, Kushina was already nine months pregnant and about to give birth.
On the night Kushina went into labor, a mysterious man attacked Konoha. He ambushed Kushina, disrupted her seal, and released the Nine-Tails.
The Nine-Tails, controlled by the mysterious man's Mangekyō Sharingan, rampaged violently through Konoha. Fortunately, thanks to the groundwork Hoshiyomi had laid over the years, Konoha had many powerful shinobi on hand.
Orochimaru, Nawaki, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and others led the Konoha shinobi in holding off the Nine-Tails. They resisted until Kuugetsu and Minato arrived with a large group of Uzumaki clansmen. With Kuugetsu's Mangekyō Sharingan and Minato's Flying Thunder God Second Stage, they finally subdued the Nine-Tails.
Because Kushina was extremely weakened from childbirth, Minato had no choice but to seal the Nine-Tails into their newborn son, Naruto.
Kushina, having had the Nine-Tails extracted, should have died—but at the critical moment, the small Nine-Tails clone that Hoshiyomi had separated years ago played a huge role.
At the last moment, the little Nine-Tails gave up its freedom and returned to Kushina's body. Using its limited Nine-Tails chakra to sustain her, it managed to preserve her life.
This seemingly playful idea Hoshiyomi once had ended up saving Kushina during the most crucial moment, preventing Naruto from repeating the tragedy in the original story and allowing him to have a complete childhood.
However, even though Minato and Kuugetsu sealed the Nine-Tails, that didn't mean Konoha escaped unharmed. In this battle, Hoshiyomi's teacher, Akimichi Torifu, and Might Duy both died while trying to stop the Nine-Tails' advance.
Even Hiruzen suffered serious injuries, though thanks to Konoha's powerful medical system, his life was saved. After a year of recovery, he is now mostly fine.
These are the major events that occurred across the shinobi world over the past three years. After listening to Tsunade and Jiraiya's explanations, Hoshiyomi couldn't help but take a deep breath.
As he processed the information, he sorted through which incidents might have been created by White Zetsu, by Danzo, or by others. It felt like a massive flood of information filled his mind, leaving his thoughts in chaos.
During these three years he was gone, countless major events had taken place in the shinobi world.
And upon closer inspection, Hoshiyomi felt many of them likely had Black Zetsu's fingerprints all over them.
Black Zetsu had certainly not wasted these three years of development. Many of the things he orchestrated were beyond Hoshiyomi's expectations.
However, most of these were only setups—although they strengthened the power of Black Zetsu and the Akatsuki, the collection of the tailed beasts had still not progressed very far. Now that Hoshiyomi had returned, continuing the plan would no longer be so easy for Black Zetsu.