Chapter 320: Tsunade: I've Already Foreseen Jiraiya's Future, and There's Only Death
Amamiya Kenichi saw no reaction at all.
Death was the fate of a ninja. More importantly, the Third Hokage had always said that wherever Konoha danced, the fire would continue to burn. Their sacrifices were not meaningless.
Amamiya Kenichi's mouth twitched.
He knew very well that persuading people was difficult these days. Fortunately, this was still the Ninja World, a place where information had not yet exploded. If it were his previous life, trying to convince someone would have been even harder.
"My goal is to create a world without war, a peaceful world where ninja no longer have to kill each other, where even the most ordinary genin can live peacefully and happily." Amamiya Kenichi decided to throw out his ultimate bait directly.
"A peaceful world?" Yayoi froze for a moment, then looked at Amamiya Kenichi with a strange expression.
He had once dreamed of such a thing when he was very young. Later, he gave up on it, because he understood that it was impossible.
Amamiya Kenichi looked at Yayoi, took a deep breath, and immediately realized that Yayoi had never seriously thought about such things. Or rather, he probably did not even understand what peace truly meant.
"Great dreams are often treated as jokes by people who cannot understand them." Amamiya Kenichi sighed.
He was not surprised.
Looking at Yayoi Yuuken's age, he probably had never been to war, nor had he experienced the cruelty of a battlefield. People who had never seen war's brutality often had a habit of romanticizing it.
On top of that, Konoha's propaganda had always focused on promoting the glory and greatness of Konoha ninja. Naturally, those who had never truly seen war would not understand the value of peace.
That was probably the biggest difference between Nagato and Naruto.
After all, after Naruto was born, the Ninja World entered a temporary period of peace. There were small conflicts, yes, but no true large scale war.
"Are your parents still alive?" Amamiya Kenichi looked at Yayoi. He still did not want to waste the effort. If he could mold Yayoi into the sort of person who could spread his ideas for him, that would naturally be best.
"They're alive. Both of them are doing fine. They said they were in charge of transporting supplies during the war." Yayoi nodded blankly, not understanding why Amamiya Kenichi was asking that.
Amamiya Kenichi rubbed his face.
Good heavens, this guy's mental defenses were really on full lockdown.
"Now then, with a Mangekyo ability like Amaterasu, how long do you need to rest after using it once?" Amamiya Kenichi gave up on pressing that line of thought and turned back to business.
It did not matter if Yayoi could not understand yet. There was still plenty of time. Since he could not kill himself, he would understand eventually.
Still, perhaps he really should think of a way to contact Nagato and see if he could lure him over. After all, only someone like Nagato, who had experienced war firsthand, could truly understand the preciousness of peace.
If he could get Nagato onto his side, Nagato would make an excellent spokesman. Even if Nagato refused, there was still Konan.
Although, knowing Konan's personality, she might stab someone while giving them ideological education.
"One day. But if I force myself to use it again the next day, my eyes will go blind for a while." Yayoi Yuuken seemed to have completely given up now. He answered honestly, without hiding anything.
Amamiya Kenichi nodded thoughtfully.
It seemed his theory had been correct. The awakening and use of the Sharingan was indeed limited by age and physical condition.
This was not to say that the Sharingan cared about seniority. Rather, the body needed to be strong enough to support it.
It was like putting a supercar engine into a baby stroller. The stroller would obviously not be able to withstand it.
"All right. You can go." Amamiya Kenichi pinched the bridge of his nose. Today's data collection was over.
For the time being, Yayoi physical state was stable. No obvious problems had appeared.
If there was any issue, it was that activating the Mangekyo Sharingan placed an enormous burden on his body. Even using it once carried certain risks. Still, as his physique and chakra reserves grew stronger, that situation would likely improve.
The problem was that the ninja of the Land of Snow who had received pasasite eggs this time were mostly seasoned adults in their twenties, thirties, or even forties.
There was no helping it. Resources in the Land of Snow were scarce, and training ninja was too expensive.
That was why there were fewer ninja here. The advantage, however, was that the ones who did exist were often relatively strong. Of course, that was only true for some of them. Others had only mediocre talent.
"To activate the Sharingan in all of them, I'll have to use the parasites to guide their minds and push their eyes down a single route of development." Amamiya Kenichi wrote down his thoughts in the experimental log.
At that point, if he waved his hand, a group of ninja could step forward and unleash Amaterasu together.
Or with another wave, they could all use Kotoamatsukami and alter other people's thoughts.
Just thinking about it was exhilarating.
And if that happened, the front lines would become almost unstoppable, unless they ran into true monsters among the ninja. But ordinary geniuses would still have a hard time dealing with a whole group of people using Susanoo.
Of course, if the enemy was someone on the level of the First Hokage or Madara, then that was a different matter. Such monsters would naturally require equally powerful people to deal with them.
"But it still takes time for the eggs to develop and successfully parasitize the host." Amamiya Kenichi sighed, feeling somewhat bored. He might as well spend some time researching his side quests in the meantime.
After thinking it over for a moment, Amamiya Kenichi decided that the current linear mission, the Eight Inner Gates Formation, was still a long term project and not something he could resolve quickly. As for things like rocket launchers, however, those could already be put on the agenda. The issue of gunpowder had already been solved...
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He turned and walked straight back into the laboratory.
"Cough, cough, cough."
Inside the Hokage's office in Konoha, Hiruzen sat in his chair with a frown, reading the intelligence report in his hand.
He was in a poor mood, and he could not help coughing repeatedly.
"Old man, I already told you to smoke less." Tsunade glared at him irritably.
She had told him again and again not to smoke, yet he insisted on doing it anyway. If not for their old teacher and student bond, she genuinely would not have wanted to bother with him.
"As I get older, this is the only hobby I have left." Hiruzen reluctantly set his pipe aside, then picked up a pen and wrote his opinion on the report. After stamping it, he placed the intelligence aside.
Tsunade looked at the aged figure before her and could not help sighing. Her expression softened somewhat.
Her teacher really had grown old.
The powerful man who once shook the Ninja World and earned the title of Professor had now become an old man with a bent back.
But when her eyes fell on the medical information in her hand, her expression hardened again.
"Old man, I'm afraid you really won't be able to smoke anymore this time." Tsunade spoke seriously.
Seeing how solemn his student looked, Hiruzen immediately realized this was no joke.
"What happened?" Hiruzen asked, a trace of unease in his eyes.
Tsunade might be hot tempered and loud, but she was not someone who failed to distinguish what was important. If she looked this serious, then something was truly wrong.
"There are some... strange things growing in your lungs. I don't really know how to describe them." Tsunade frowned.
She had been a medical ninja for many years now, but honestly, this was the first time she had ever seen something so strange.
Hiruzen could no longer remain calm. He put down the papers in his hand and hurried closer.
"This thing... how should I put it? It isn't a toxin. It's more like a part of your own body, but its existence is constantly plundering nutrients from the surrounding tissues, and then..." Tsunade gave him a brief explanation of the general situation inside his body.
Hiruzen listened in confusion, but after hearing enough, he roughly understood.
"So... can it be removed?" Hiruzen asked.
According to Tsunade, there was something abnormal growing inside his body. Could it be cut out?
"I don't know." Tsunade scratched her head.
She really was not sure.
But it was precisely because it was not a normal disease that it had piqued her interest.
"What I can confirm is that your cough is related to this thing. And I strongly suspect it was caused by smoking." Tsunade glared at him again.
Hiruzen's face darkened.
Did he really have to quit smoking now?
But that was truly his only remaining hobby...
"No. Asuma smokes too. Do you think he might..." Hiruzen suddenly thought of another crucial issue.
His useless son.
Under his influence, Asuma had also become a heavy smoker. If he did not smoke every day, he felt uncomfortable all over and spent a great deal of money on cigarettes. Hiruzen had never said anything about it before, because he himself smoked too.
But now that his own body had developed problems, what about Asuma?
"…Possibly." Tsunade fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Bring Asuma back so I can examine him too. I still need to look more closely at whatever this thing is inside you."
If Amamiya Kenichi had been here, he would have immediately told Tsunade that this was the dreaded disease that made countless people in his previous life tremble with fear.
He just did not know whether Tsunade would be able to develop a medical ninjutsu specifically targeting it. If she could, then she truly would go down in history.
"All right. I'll arrange it." Hiruzen slowly stood up. "Take a look at this report too."
Tsunade accepted the intelligence file.
"Jiraiya and Orochimaru? Those two idiots are fighting again." A slight smile appeared on Tsunade's face at first, but the moment she saw the report's lower section, even she fell silent.
"No... is this real?" Tsunade could not help asking.
"I don't know. This is exactly how the report from the Hidden Cloud Village was written." Thinking of what he had just read, even Hiruzen's expression grew strange.
Tsunade looked down at the paper in her hand, wondering whether the Hidden Cloud Village had sent serious intelligence or whether they were just stirring trouble. But either way, the person who dared do this was undoubtedly a rare talent.
"…An Anbu ninja from the Village went missing after coming into contact with Orochimaru. The body could not be recovered. While organizing his belongings, it was discovered that he appeared to be deeply obsessed with the novel [The Story of Me and Princess Orochi], and had purchased a large number of black and white stockings. We currently suspect this incident is related to Jiraiya and Orochimaru of your Village."
These were originally two separate pieces of intelligence, but they had been processed together as one case. The paper itself even had visible creases, as if the person who wrote it had experienced extremely complicated emotions while reading it.
So what in the world was [The Story of Me and Princess Orochi]?
Did that idiot Jiraiya really write it?
Thinking about it that way, Tsunade suddenly found it very easy to understand why Orochimaru and Jiraiya had fought so fiercely before.
"Jiraiya, that idiot really..." Tsunade laughed in anger.
Although she had heard rumors before that Orochimaru was now in a female body, she had never taken it seriously. Orochimaru was still Orochimaru.
A man.
"Sigh. Deal with this first. I'm going to get someone to bring Asuma in." Hiruzen shook his head and walked out with his hands behind his back.
But halfway there, he turned into a bookstore.
When he came out again, there was an extra plastic bag in his hand.
A sealed, opaque plastic bag.
Bookstores in the Ninja World were actually quite considerate. To spare customers embarrassment when buying certain books, they used opaque bags, so no one could see what had been purchased.
It was a truly convenient arrangement for many people.
And Hiruzen only wanted to see what exactly Jiraiya had written.
Not long after he left, Tsunade also walked into the same bookstore...
Then the bookstore collapsed.
Tsunade had smashed it.
"Jiraiya! I'm going to kill you, you bastard!!!"
Tsunade's furious roar echoed across most of Konoha, and the enraged Heavenly Foot she unleashed turned the entire bookstore into ruins.
"Huh? Did some old hag go berserk outside?" Little Naruto shivered in fright.
The bottle of milk in his hand nearly slipped from his fingers, but he quickly caught it and wiped it off with a pained expression.
"This is the most nutritious thing I've got this week. If I don't drink it, I won't grow any taller..." Naruto swallowed.
It was only one week past the expiration date.
It should still be fine, right?
Yeah.
It should be fine.
.....
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