Chapter 41: Jiraiya
Naruto didn't realize Sasuke was being two-faced. His mind simply didn't work that way. All he knew was: they were going home together. Like a persistent little bug, he jogged to catch up.
Sasuke glanced sideways at him, slightly speechless. Naruto had some leftover sauce at the corner of his mouth, probably from whatever he had just eaten.
With a frown of disapproval, Sasuke pulled a tissue from his pocket.
"Wipe your mouth."
Naruto blinked, took the tissue, wiped without much care, then noticed the sauce. He stuck out his tongue, licked around his lips a few times, and gave a goofy smile.
Sasuke rolled his eyes.
---
The sky began to darken.
Far away, in a hot spring town in the Land of Hot Water, news from Konohagakure had already reached the area.
Tsunade, who had just woken up from an all-night gambling binge, was about to eat before returning to the tables. She had barely sat down when she overheard a conversation from the next room.
Her expression changed. She immediately strode over and coldly asked, "What did you just say happened in Konoha?"
She hoped she had misheard.
But she hadn't.
The people confirmed it—the Third Hokage was dead. The Uchiha clan head had taken over.
Tsunade stood frozen in place.
Her sensei… was dead?
And on the very day she'd actually won a gamble.
"…I knew it. Every time I win, something bad happens," she muttered. "Why else would the heavens let me win?"
Shizune, who had been silently watching, looked at her mentor with concern, unsure how to offer comfort.
---
Meanwhile, in a small town in the Land of Bears, inside a women's bathhouse—
In a concealed corner of the changing room, a spiky-haired man peered from behind a screen. Several empty sake bottles lay beside him.
It was none other than Jiraiya, the Toad Sage.
He wore a pervy grin, mentally taking notes for his next manuscript. The young, beautiful women soaking in the hot spring were inspiring his "research."
Then he heard it.
"Hey, did you hear?"
"What now?"
A few older women started gossiping nearby.
Jiraiya's eye twitched. These old women were ruining his mood—and his material. Couldn't they take their chatter somewhere else?
Just as he tried to block them out, a particular line froze him in place.
"…I heard it from my sister's brother-in-law's cousin's husband—they say a Hokage died in Konoha!"
"What? A Hokage? Are you serious?"
"Completely! I heard it clear as day—it was the Third Hokage!"
"The Third?! That's one of the Five Kage! How did he die?"
"Rumors say it was an assassination. Supposedly, someone from the Uchiha clan killed him… and took the Hokage title for themselves!"
"My brother was thinking of moving his family to Konoha. I need to talk him out of it! Who knows how chaotic it is now!"
"Exactly. It's been peaceful for a while, but now? That's over."
Jiraiya's perverted grin vanished. He sat frozen, his eyes wide, mouth slightly open.
The Third Hokage… was dead?
His teacher? Hiruzen Sarutobi?
Dead?
That couldn't be. The old man was still strong when Jiraiya last saw him.
The mention of assassination made Jiraiya's stomach drop.
Even in his old age, Hiruzen wasn't someone easy to take down.
But when the gossip turned to the Uchiha, things clicked into place.
So it was the Uchiha Clan.
Had the long-standing tensions between Konoha and the Uchiha finally exploded?
Jiraiya had been gone from the village for years, but he had always known about the underlying friction. After his own student, Minato Namikaze, became the Fourth Hokage, things had briefly calmed. Minato's good relationship with Uchiha Fugaku had brought a period of peace.
But after Minato's death during the Nine-Tails' Attack, everything deteriorated.
The trust was gone.
And now, it had ended with Sarutobi-sensei being assassinated by the Uchiha.
Jiraiya's face turned cold.
If it had been Fugaku—the strongest Uchiha, known as "Fierce-Eyed Fugaku" during the Third Shinobi War—then perhaps the assassination was possible. Even if Sarutobi's strength had faded, it would have taken someone like Fugaku to pull it off.
Still… his teacher couldn't have just died like this.
Jiraiya's eyes sharpened.
In a flash, he disappeared from the bathhouse, rushed back to his inn, grabbed his things, and set off immediately for the Land of Fire.
He had to see things for himself.
If the opportunity arose, he would avenge his teacher.
But first—he needed the truth.
---
After a full day and night of travel, Jiraiya crossed into the Land of Fire.
Instead of heading straight to Konoha, he stopped at an underground black market on the outskirts. If the village was in chaos or under Uchiha control, rushing in blindly would be reckless.
He found a local information broker and paid handsomely for the latest intel on Konoha.
When Jiraiya read through the reports, his expression darkened.
He had expected civil unrest. Resistance. Riots.
But instead?
Nothing.
The village was calm.
Almost eerily so.
As if the Third Hokage's death meant nothing.
As if the entire village had accepted Uchiha Fugaku as the new Hokage without protest.
Jiraiya couldn't believe it.
Had the major clans all pledged loyalty to the Uchiha?
If so, then he… was an outsider now.
Alone.
His teacher's entire clan—the Sarutobi—was wiped out.
Danzo's Root was crushed.
Other prominent elders were reportedly dead as well.
And as Hiruzen's student, Jiraiya was surely considered an enemy to the new regime.
---