Chapter 109: Tobirama's Memoirs
Jiraiya led the three-man team toward the location where Asuma's team was carrying out their mission, the Land of Hot Water.
Informing Asuma of the Third Hokage's death was important, yes, but it wasn't a difficult task. There was no need for Jiraiya to go by himself; sending any random ANBU would've been enough.
However, over the past few days, Jiraiya had been following the future, adult Sasuke. After interacting with him and having several conversations, Jiraiya could tell that this future Sasuke was much gentler in personality than the current young Sasuke.
Aside from seeming a bit awkward in interpersonal interactions, he was almost on par with Minato.
Someone like that would never kill the Third Hokage, no matter the reason.
As for Boruto?
Even if Boruto launched a sneak attack, with his level of strength, it would still be impossible for him to kill the Third Hokage silently.
In fact, even Jiraiya himself, or Orochimaru, couldn't pull that off.
That meant only the "Ōtsutsuki" Tsunade had mentioned could possibly have done it.
Jiraiya suspected that the Ōtsutsuki had already arrived in this era, but was choosing to remain hidden, first eliminating Naruto's surrounding combat power before finally making a move against Naruto himself.
To draw the Ōtsutsuki out, and to prevent them from attacking anyone else in Konoha, Jiraiya made this decision.
Using the mission to notify Asuma of the Third Hokage's death as a pretext, he took Naruto and Boruto out of the village.
As for Konohamaru?
He was brought along incidentally.
Only taking those two would've made the intention far too obvious.
—
The Land of Hot Water.
As the name suggested, "hot water" referred to hot springs.
The Land of Hot Water was filled with them.
Asuma's team had been sent here on a mission assigned by the Third Hokage, to investigate a so-called Jashin cult active in the area.
Unfortunately, after several days of investigation, they hadn't uncovered anything at all.
Instead, they'd soaked in hot springs every day to the point where it felt more like a vacation.
"Ino's got it rough, she is stuck in the village training every day…"
Chōji reclined half-submerged in the hot spring, a tray floating in front of him, piled with various foods.
"The hot spring services in the Land of Hot Water really are top-tier in the ninja world. Konoha's bathhouses don't even come close."
Shikamaru was in a nearby smaller pool, playing shōgi on the water's surface with someone.
"Konoha? You're from Konoha Village?"
The young man playing shōgi with Shikamaru lit up the moment he heard the conversation between Shikamaru and Chōji.
"Yeah. Why?"
Shikamaru answered casually, but inwardly sighed in annoyance. 'What a pain… should've kept my mouth shut.'
"Hey, this, this right here."
The man pulled out a book from behind him and asked excitedly, "The author of this book is Hatake Kakashi from your village. So… are the things inside real?"
"'Buff Man Strategy Guide'? This thing is already on sale? And why… Did the cover change too?"
Shikamaru froze for a moment when he saw the title.
Wasn't this the "Book of Answers" Shiromo had handed him during the Chūnin Exams?
He'd only read a small part of it. After bringing it home, his dad had swiped it.
"Changed cover? No way. It's been like this since it was released… wait, don't tell me you read the unreleased version?"
Halfway through his sentence, the man suddenly grabbed Shikamaru's hand, his face full of envy.
"Man, if only I were a Konoha villager. So close to the source."
"Uh… haha."
Shikamaru let out an awkward laugh.
"So are the stories inside real?"
The man pressed again, asking the question Shikamaru hadn't answered.
"More or less. After my dad read it, he said the stories really are adapted from real events."
Shikamaru nodded.
"Then is this real too?"
The man flipped open the first page. Inside was a photograph and a block of text.
"You're reading a book in a hot spring, aren't you afraid it'll get soaked?"
Shikamaru complained.
"Not a problem. This is the collector's edition. It's waterproof."
"Waterproof… What is this, an explosive tag?"
"Forget about that stuff. Come on, little brother, take a look."
"…Fine."
Shikamaru shifted his gaze to the page.
"The Second Hokage?"
"That's really the Second Hokage?!"
Shikamaru's low exclamation confirmed it for the man.
The photo was real.
Shikamaru felt completely confused.
In the photo, standing front and center was the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. Behind him, it looked like the First and Third Hokage were also there, along with Orochimaru.
Wasn't this from what happened a few days ago, during Orochimaru and Sunagakure Village's invasion?
It was said that Orochimaru had used the forbidden technique Impure World Reincarnation to summon the deceased First and Second Hokage.
Did Kakashi just happen to go take photos?
Or was it Jiraiya who helped Kakashi take them?
Next to the photo was a note:
['Part Five is based on firsthand narration by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, who was summoned via Impure World Reincarnation. It's authentic and reliable.']
"Part Five written based on the Second Hokage's narration? And it's an expanded edition too? That's not right… was there even time for that?"
Shikamaru scratched his head, feeling something was off. "Uh, have you finished reading Part Five? What's it about?"
"The story is pretty intense. You're still young, are you sure you want to know?"
Hearing Shikamaru ask, the man suddenly hesitated.
"Stop stalling, just tell us already!"
"Yeah! We're bored soaking here anyway, hurry up!"
Urging voices came from nearby.
It turned out their conversation had long since attracted the attention of others in the hot spring.
Soaking in a hot spring while someone told stories, what a wonderful thing.
"Didn't I already say it? I've even read the unreleased version. What are you afraid of?"
Shikamaru curled his lip.
The content of 'Buff Man Paradise' was a bit abstract, sure, but was it really 'that' bad?
"Alright, then I'll start."
"According to the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama's recollections, back then, Uchiha Madara's younger brother, Uchiha Izuna, wasn't actually killed by him."
"At the time, Tobirama used a Flying Thunder God Slash, but it only cut off one of Izuna's… 'bars'."
"What no one could've expected was that it was already chained together with 'interlocking iron rings'! The young Tobirama suffered a massive psychological shock."
"When Madara, who was fighting the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, saw his brother's secret exposed, he immediately retreated with Izuna."
"Later, when Tobirama asked Madara how 'Izuna' was doing, it was to confirm whether Madara had truly gone insane, whether he had cruelly tortured Izuna even while he was gravely injured."
"After learning that Izuna had passed away, Senju Tobirama was overcome with grief, and became even more convinced that beneath Madara's cold exterior lurked beastly behavior."
"And that was why Tobirama later targeted the Uchiha clan."
"Unless he could confirm that a particular Uchiha was heterosexual, only then would he choose to acknowledge them, such as Uchiha Kagami, who was on his team."
"Later on, Tobirama recalled his final battle, the meeting with the Kumogakure Village, where he was killed by the Gold and Silver Brothers."
"It was said that the Gold and Silver Brothers had once been swallowed by the Nine-Tails, gnawed on its flesh, and thus obtained its chakra."
"But in that battle, Senju Tobirama learned an earth-shattering secret."
"It turned out that when the Gold and Silver Brothers were swallowed by the Nine-Tails, they saw things inside its belly other than stomach acid. At the time, the Nine-Tails flew into a rage and ordered them to shut up, and then, very suspiciously, declared that this had nothing to do with Uchiha Madara."
"Upon learning that Madara not only did unspeakable things to his own brother, but hadn't even spared the Nine-Tails, Tobirama was completely shaken. That was why he failed to use Flying Thunder God in time, and was killed in a single strike by the Gold and Silver Brothers."
(End of this chapter)