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Orochimaru desired Naruto, but Jiraiya's presence beside him left him helpless.
Given his current physical condition, even if he brought all his subordinates, including Kimimaro, who had just been snatched from the jaws of death, they wouldn't be enough for Jiraiya to wipe out in one fell swoop.
Unless he could reanimate two unparalleled experts through Impure World Reincarnation, he wouldn't be able to snatch the boy from Jiraiya's side. But unparalleled experts weren't so easy to find.
And even if he had unparalleled experts, they couldn't stop Jiraiya from taking Naruto away, let alone Naruto's teleportation ability.
So, he wouldn't take action until he had absolute certainty.
But that didn't stop him from posting an order on the black market.
Order requirements: Snatch a blond-haired boy from Jiraiya's side. If you can't snatch him, obtain his chakra.
If they succeeded, it would be a huge profit. If they failed, he wouldn't have to pay, just a small handling fee.
Soon after, ding, your order has been accepted.
There really were some idiots who took the order.
Although Jiraiya peeped at women's bathhouses during the day and prowled around widows' villages at night, his strength was recognized as being among the strongest in the ninja world. Even the Akatsuki didn't dare to take action easily.
The Akatsuki definitely had intelligence on Naruto and Jiraiya's whereabouts. With the White Zetsu, the ten million-strong European general of Kaguya, it was too easy to find out where these two were. After all, the White Zetsu could even find the hidden routes of the Five Great Nations' Allied Shinobi Forces, let alone two people walking around in the open.
Why didn't the Akatsuki take action? It was because Jiraiya was too strong; no team could guarantee they could capture the Nine-Tailed Jinchuriki while beside Jiraiya.
The Akatsuki feared Jiraiya, one of the Sannin, but some foolhardy organizations didn't care. "Don't just say one of the Sannin, we've taken on the Sannin Tsunade and the Fourth Raikage together!"
After accepting the mission, the organization began to formulate a plan. A direct confrontation was impossible; they had to approach it strategically. First, they had to find an ambush location, which meant they had to find a good route and predict where they were going next.
These two were too easy to find. Not only did Naruto leave a trail of iron scrapes, but Jiraiya didn't even bother to hide.
After several days of reconnaissance, the organization collectively fell silent as they looked at the crude, child-like route map on the wall. Where were they going?
Finally, the organization's most skilled calculator threw his pen down in anger, slumped back in his chair, and said, "Screw it, I'm not calculating anymore!"
Was this a path that a human could walk?
But since they had accepted the mission, they had to try their best to complete it; they couldn't give up easily, otherwise it would affect their reputation. So, they began to look for opportunities to strike.
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It had been a month since the mission to pick up Sasuke.
While passing not far from a certain town, Jiraiya had Naruto deliver "Shunfeng" to the Land of Snow. He wasn't going to let the dog lead the way; he had some business to take care of in the town.
Once Naruto delivered "Shunfeng" to the cave in the Land of Snow, he didn't care anymore. He wasn't worried about it freezing; could the Siberian weather of the Land of Snow freeze a Siberian Husky? No way!
"Xiao Lingtong, come⌠follow me." Naruto called out the new name he had given to the ferret.
When Naruto was naming the ferret, he thought that since the dog was named Shunfeng, the ferret should be named Yuantong. But Yuantong sounded like a monk, so after seeing the diamond-shaped mark on the little ferret's head, he had a flash of inspiration and changed it to Lingtong.
Because it was the smallest, he called it Xiao Lingtong (Little Lingtong). This ferret's name was already set: real name Uchiha-Itachi, also known as Uchiha-Ferret, nickname Xiao Lingtong.
At the moment, Naruto was walking Xiao Lingtong. He knew the power of his passive ability, "Orangification" â whatever he raised got fat, even the Nine-Tails and Ido couldn't resist it. Other pets were fine; if they got fat, they got fat. But Xiao Lingtong was someone he had high hopes for, someone who would eventually go head-to-head with Uchiha Itachi. He couldn't let it get fat.
So, Naruto planned to let it exercise more, burn its calories, so that he could effectively slow down the "Orangification" process and keep it that way for a few more years. He couldn't pull out a pale yellow pig when he encountered Itachi and ask him to guess what it was.
The master and disciple walked towards the town, each carrying a cat. Xiao Lingtong followed alongside them, its slender body, pale yellow color, and four black paws making it extremely beautiful as it ran.
The town, even though the weather was slightly chilly, was bustling with people, looking like a town similar to Tanzaku Street.
Whenever he saw something selling snacks, Naruto would buy a portion and pack it into a special insulated box, which was for Hinata. Seeing Naruto buy more and more, Jiraiya complained, "I said, brat, are you done yet? You've bought over thirty kinds. That's enough. How can a little girl eat so much?"
Naruto rolled his eyes at him. "Is this a lot? Let me tell you, it's only because the Hyuga family is rich and my wife hasn't been reduced to eating dirt. Otherwise, we'd all be floating in space right now."
After buying a few dozen more portions, Naruto carried the box and teleported to Hinata's boudoir. Hinata wasn't home; he didn't know where she had gone.
The room wasn't big, with a faint fragrance. It was very simple. There was an oil lamp on the wall, and some of Hinata's ikebana practice works on the windowsill. He put down the box and teleported away without daring to stay for even a second.
If he was seen sneaking into the clan grounds, he would lose a layer of skin even if he didn't die. The one who would attack would be his furious father-in-law, with his veins popping out.
A dozen seconds after Naruto left, a panting little loli ran into the room. Hanabi had been practicing her Byakugan and happened to see a certain blondie's actions. She opened the box, tasted a bit of everything, and finally grabbed a bag with several identical snacks and ran off. Before leaving, she cleaned up the traces.
The little loli did everything flawlessly; Hinata wouldn't be able to discover anything. However... could Naruto's things be eaten so easily?
On the other side, Jiraiya brought Naruto to a bookstore, which was an affiliated bookstore of the publishing house he worked with. He was there to deliver the manuscript for his new book. Since he had Ido, Jiraiya's inspiration had exploded. In less than a month, he had written a book.
Ido had previously unilaterally cut him off because Jiraiya's behavior was like going to a brothel, but after Jiraiya listened to Naruto's suggestion to pat him on the head, he was able to come back online. Forcefully online (physically). After Ido succumbed and obeyed, Jiraiya wrote this new book, Make-Out Paradise Fantasy Series 1: My Virtual Girlfriends.
The person working at the bookstore recognized Jiraiya. "Jiraiya-sama, you've arrived."
"Is your boss here? I have another new book that needs to be published."
"Please, you two, feel free to look around. I'll go find our boss." After saying that, he ran out of the bookstore, looking like he was going to find the boss.
Naruto, entering a ninja world bookstore for the first time, curiously observed the surrounding books. He randomly took a book titled The Legend Collection of the Ninja World from the bookshelf, the cover featuring the Gold and Silver Brothers, and began to read it.
There were so many legends inside that even Naruto, who had watched the entire Naruto series, was shocked. Even legends about some minor figures from the Five Great Villages were included in this book. Even the fact that the Tsuchikage had a bad back and Tsunade didn't wear a bra were recorded as legends.
How much free time and how much of a gossip someone must have to investigate so many things! How wasn't he beaten to death?
Closing the book, he looked at the author's name and asked, "Old man, do you know someone with the pen name 'Snake Eye Descends'?" Judging by the name, had this gossip even gossiped with Longdi Cave?
"Yes, I've even had conversations with him," Jiraiya said.
"Is he strong?" Naruto asked. He must be pretty strong to have gotten away with investigating so many things without getting beaten to death. Why hadn't he seen him in the original series?
"Hmm, very strong. His ability to escape is the strongest I've ever seen. Even I can't catch him."
"..."
"The boss is here, I'll go over there first." Naruto, impressed by the number of goofballs in the ninja world, picked up another novel to read.
A sound of footsteps came, and Naruto looked up. An unfamiliar person wanted to pass by him. Naruto shifted position to let him pass. The passerby was a skinny middle-aged man with slightly curly hair and glasses. Passing by Naruto, he saw the novel in his hand and asked in surprise, "You like this novel too, young man?"
"Yeah." Naruto didn't like talking to people, but it was impolite not to reply when someone asked a question, so he generally replied with a concise "yeah."
"This book is very niche. I didn't expect to meet someone here who shares my interests."
"Yeah."
"Since we have shared interests, why don't we get to know each other? My name is Tomihiro Bokken."
Inside the sealed space, Kurama put down his cola cup and carefully observed this person through Naruto.
Naruto was stunned. The big fox actually put down his cola?
Outside, since the other person had introduced himself, it was impolite for Naruto not to reply. But could he casually reveal his real name to a random person he met outside in the ninja world? No.
"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo."
Inside the sealed space, after seeing a distinct characteristic on this person's body, Kurama slammed down his cola cup with a crack and made a move to get up. Naruto was shocked. The fox spirit was actually going to take action.
Thud. Kurama failed to get up and crashed against the wall again.
"Kid, go kill him!"
"Uh⌠do you two have a grudge?" This person didn't seem like someone who could provoke Kurama.
"He dared to put my favorite series on hiatus for two years! I must kill him!" Kurama said angrily. Last month, he had been so angered by this person putting a series on hiatus that he had drunk cola for a whole day. He hadn't expected to meet him today.
"Calm down, big fox, calm downâŚ" Naruto quickly persuaded him. Killing someone just because they put a series on hiatus wasn't something a normal person would do. He wasn't a murderer. But Naruto couldn't say that to the fox spirit, which would make the fox spirit look down on him. He continued to persuade him, "Big fox, think about it carefully⌠if you kill him, who will continue updating it?"
"Doesn't that guy Orochimaru have the Impure World Reincarnation technique to control the dead? Kill him, then pull him back and control him to continue updating. That way, he won't put it on hiatus again!"
Even in death, he has to update!?
The spark of a mangaka within Naruto instantly turned ice cold.
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