"What's going on here?" Jiraiya asked, approaching the massive wooden block and addressing the two squads of Konoha Anbu ninja who had already started their "investigation" earlier.
He had spotted these ninja from a distance, and naturally, they had sensed his arrival in advance—it was the Land of Fire after all, so Jiraiya didn't have to move around secretly.
Everyone was from Konoha. Jiraiya held a revered position, while the Anbu answered directly to the Third Hokage. There was no reason for conflict between them.
"Jiraiya-sama, this is just a small part of the traces left from the recent battle that occurred in Konoha," one of the Anbu ninja explained.
Still, despite facing Jiraiya, they couldn't divulge many specific details. All they could offer was a general explanation—they were supposed to provide at least this much information.
But even this vague explanation left Jiraiya somewhat confused. "A battle in Konoha? Did the fight go all the way from the village to this place?"
It was far too distant from Konoha. If it had truly been dragged here during combat, the surrounding area wouldn't look like this—there was a huge object present, yet only a single crater existed with very limited dragging marks. No sign of actual fighting surrounded the site.
"In fact, this thing was thrown here... Jiraiya-sama, don't ask—just accept it as a meteorite or natural disaster." Because of Senju's secrecy directive, the Anbu couldn't explain what really happened to Jiraiya. Everything would become clear once he returned to Konoha.
Once back, he'd immediately gain access to all classified intelligence.
Besides, the Anbu weren't entirely sure what was going on either—they were just as confused by the situation.
"Then are you planning to conduct a thorough investigation before bringing this back to the village?" Without pushing them further, Jiraiya continued asking.
"No, actually—we've been ordered to burn it right here." The Anbu muttered under his breath, "Although it looks just like a piece of wood, it's surprisingly hard to set on fire… Who knows why those similar objects near the village burned so easily."
The Anbu let out a reluctant sigh, muttering under his breath—a classic case of forced overtime service.
"Then count me in—I'll help you get this done."
Jiraiya was a master of Fire Release techniques. Joining forces with several other Anbu who wielded Fire Release jutsu, they unleashed wave after wave of flames until, after much effort, the colossal wooden block finally caught fire.
The Anbu had to stay until the object turned completely into ashes—that was their mission. As for Jiraiya, after lending a hand to start the fire, he resumed his journey back to Konoha. He felt increasingly concerned about the situation happening within the village.
Later, as he approached Konoha, he first noticed a vast forest area blackened by flames. Even disregarding the darkened landscape itself, the terrain outside Konoha simply wasn't like this originally, and the vegetation density was nowhere near this thick before.
Although this vast expanse of dense "jungle" had now turned into charcoal. Anyway, if these charcoals could still be used as fuel, it seemed like Konoha wouldn't need additional firewood for at least a few years.
Further ahead, numerous Earth Release ninjas were helping unearth the half-buried remnants of Konoha's outer walls. They transported excess dirt to fill up the front trenches, simultaneously either restoring the original walls upright or dismantling and rebuilding them completely.
Yet all that paled compared to the awe inspired by the still-standing Earth Release statue. Jiraiya blinked his eyes... Hmm, it was a statue of a goddess. Despite its large size, overall it looked delicate—body proportions, fabric folds, facial expression—every detail was meticulously done. It definitely counted as a very beautifully crafted "sculpture."
Wait, Jiraiya immediately interrupted his own "professional thoughts." What did it matter whether the thing looked nice or not? Right now, the key question was exactly what had happened to Konoha.
For some unknown reason, whenever he saw something so drastically out of place with the ninja world's style yet exaggeratedly grand, Jiraiya couldn't help but subconsciously imagine someone's figure in his mind.
However, such a mental habit was biased. Without any evidence, he couldn't recklessly guess or wrongly accuse people... Everything must be based on facts.
Jiraiya gathered his focus and immediately sped toward Konoha's main gate.
At this time, some Konoha ninjas were also trying to dismantle this giant figurine. The problem, however, lay in just how hard it was to bring down—after all, Haseo had used the majority of his Sage Chakra to create this thing, so the craftsmanship definitely came with some quality assurance.
It was just damn tough!
...
Right now, Konoha was handling the aftermath caused by the Senju, and there was no need to say much about eliminating the radical faction—the majority of involved Senju members had been dealt with the same night, while only a few "escaping fish" were still being tracked.
Other tasks, like calming the civilian population and finding a suitable explanation for the previous unrest... These information-control operations fell within the responsibilities of the village's public affairs office.
The remaining job involved dealing with the damage left from the battle.
Now, no one could protect the Senju anymore.
If Nawaki fell into the Anbu's hands, absolutely nobody could save him... Everything required logic; Konoha was a village of ninja, and Nawaki was a rebel "leader." For instance, how could Tsunade possibly get her younger brother cleared?
Currently, there was only one last-resort method—not really even a proper solution—that being the use of force.
On another note, during this commotion, certain ninjas began reflecting upon their own lack of strength. If they had more power, perhaps they could have prevented more disasters... Take young Minato, for example.
He realized human strength had its limits, so... No, actually, he realized regular Ninjutsu techniques had limitations too. For a ninja to fully develop, knowledge learned merely at school wasn't sufficient.
At the very least, he'd need a top-tier sensei.
"Learning ninjutsu?"
Lord Haseo indeed possesses immense strength. He might already be the strongest ninja in Konoha. However, recently his mood hasn't been too good. And... I'm not trying to badmouth Lord Haseo or anything, but he tends to lack patience when teaching boys, and his methods are extremely brutal.
You wouldn't believe it—he once really scared a young boy named Kakashi when he was only three or four...
In short, Lord Haseo prefers female apprentices. You might want to consider posing as a girl... After all, for knowledge and power, shedding a little blood isn't too high a price." Kushina was giving Minato Namikaze some information regarding Haseo.
Although she insisted she wasn't saying anything bad, she was clearly badmouthing Lord Haseo.
"Heh... Well, I think Lord Haseo isn't exactly like how you described. I believe there must be some misunderstanding," Minato Namikaze, usually cheerful, could only respond with an awkward chuckle.
Even though Kushina had offered him a golden opportunity, he turned it down flat—without even showing a bit of gratitude.
Minato had always been unusually mature for his age. Ever since elementary school graduation, he'd become much harder to fool.
"Hmm, now that I think about it, it does seem somewhat inappropriate," Kushina reconsidered momentarily before speaking again. "Minato, you're particularly skilled at taijutsu and excel in speed. How about this? I'll introduce you to Sakumo Hatake first. Sakumo is also very powerful, and... well, definitely more reliable than Lord Haseo."
Kushina was being considerate, choosing not to say more against Lord Haseo.
"Besides, I also know that Lord Haseo has an incredibly powerful ninjutsu sealed away, but since he can't learn it himself, it's just gathering dust in the secret vaults... Let me see if I can fish it out for you.
If you personally wanted something like that, it's not entirely impossible to succeed—but beforehand you would certainly suffer greatly. If it were me instead, however, perhaps simply acting cute would let me acquire it easily enough."
"Kushina, no matter what happens, thank you very much."
Rather than responding with unnecessary pleasantries, Minato accepted directly and sincerely, his gaze toward Kushina softening—
They locked eyes—and yeah, he totally knew how to work the charm to get what he wanted.
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