"You're after the Nine-Tails inside Naruto...?"
Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly. He remembered something from a couple of days ago.
Back then, Jiraiya had come to see him.
After a brief chat, Jiraiya suggested taking over the duty of watching over Naruto.
"The Third Hokage assigned you to keep an eye on Naruto."
"That might sound like a reasonable choice, but what's coming next could be more than even you can handle."
Kakashi froze for a moment, a little confused.
"What exactly are you talking about?"
In fact, the whole setup of Team 7 was partly meant to keep an eye on Naruto.
Sasuke had the Sharingan, and Kakashi also had one Sharingan in his left eye.
If anything happened with the Nine-Tails, the two of them could work together to suppress it as much as possible.
As for Sakura, she was chosen because she was skilled enough and had some resistance to Genjutsu.
"After Orochimaru defected, I've always kept an eye out for him. It's certain that he'll come back for revenge."
"But during that time, I also found out that he had joined another group."
"Akatsuki."
Jiraiya leaned against the railing, propping his chin with one hand as he spoke thoughtfully.
"That group used to mostly deal with intelligence work, nothing too big on the surface."
"But I don't know all the details. It's made up of nine ninja."
"And every one of them is an S-rank missing-nin, including that Uchiha Itachi."
"With nine people like that gathered together, they're definitely not doing charity work."
"Now they're working in pairs, traveling the world and collecting things like Ninjutsu."
"At this point, you should have a rough idea."
Ninjutsu might just be the cover. What they're really after are the Tailed Beasts.
Up until now, they'd just been trading intel. But now… are they about to make their move?
Kakashi's gaze darkened. If that were the case, it really was beyond what he could handle.
Protecting Naruto from a group of S-rank missing-nin… he honestly wasn't sure he could pull it off.
Kakashi fell silent for a while. He wasn't the type to doubt Jiraiya—one of the Legendary Three. If things really were like this…
Then Naruto might actually be safer with Jiraiya than with him.
"And besides, you don't have the time to watch Naruto now, do you?"
"You still have to keep an eye on Sasuke, and you need to teach him how to properly use his Sharingan."
"For now, leave Naruto's training to me."
Back then, Kakashi already had a vague feeling that Itachi would be returning soon.
After all, Itachi used to be from Konoha. Him coming back to target the Nine-Tails actually made sense.
That's why when Kakashi sensed someone near the dango shop, he immediately assumed it was Uchiha Itachi.
"I know you're not the only ones who've made a move…"
"The group's name is 'Akatsuki,' isn't it?"
But at that time, Kakashi hadn't realized just how powerful Itachi had become.
Even with three of them against him, Itachi was still hard to deal with.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly, then lost his grip on the chakra keeping him above water, and fell headfirst into it.
…
"You're still wasting time with this nonsense?"
A hoarse, old voice came from behind Jiraiya.
He was crouched on a rooftop, holding a telescope, peeking at the suggestive scene below.
"Don't put it that way. I'm just gathering material."
The moment he heard the voice, Jiraiya already had a bad feeling. Trouble had found him.
Even one of the Legendary Three couldn't avoid getting caught like this when coming back to the village.
Jiraiya
Danzo hadn't really wanted to come with them. After all, there wasn't anyone more suitable left in the village.
His proposal to become Hokage had been completely rejected by both the village elders and the Daimyo.
Luckily, Jiraiya had returned at just the right time. Not long ago, he had even helped the Sand ninja and Konoha ninja deal with the giant snake that was summoned.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura quickly seized the chance and pushed Jiraiya forward as the next Hokage candidate.
The Daimyo was only the one to make the final call. He didn't really care what kind of mess Konoha created for itself.
Whoever became Hokage didn't matter much to him, as long as it didn't affect his revenue.
After thinking it over, Shimura Danzo decided that if he couldn't become Hokage himself, he still needed to interfere with the next Hokage's work.
So, he followed along to see how things would turn out.
"So it's you. The elders came to me—what do you want?"
Jiraiya paused for a moment. From Danzo's expression, he could pretty much guess it was about the Hokage.
"What else could it be? You should know without me saying."
Mitokado Homura stared at Jiraiya with some annoyance, and the mood instantly grew tense.
"Right now the village has many problems inside, and because our nation is weak, we also have to stay alert against other countries' moves."
"It's not just about Orochimaru—there are many other factors."
Jiraiya scratched his head and muttered lazily.
"You don't have to report all this to me. I still need to gather material for my work."
Shimura Danzo gave him a dark look and said,
"What the village needs right now is a strong leader."
"The bottom line is—Konoha needs a Fifth Hokage now."
What he meant was, Jiraiya didn't have to take the position himself, but he had to name a proper candidate. Otherwise, he would be forced to take it.
Danzo wasn't happy. These old geezers kept running around looking for a Hokage, yet the one they picked wasn't even interested in the job.
The thing he desperately wanted, he couldn't get. But when it was handed over to someone else, they didn't even want it.
How could anything feel more frustrating than that?
Jiraiya rocked his wooden clogs as he thought.
"I've got someone in mind. Not me—Tsunade."
"It doesn't have to be me anyway. She's very suitable for the Hokage role."
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu exchanged troubled looks.
"She does have the ability… but no one knows where she is right now."
Jiraiya put away his telescope and spoke in his usual carefree tone.
"If you're fine with her, then I'll just go find her."
"I won't run away halfway, so you don't need to send Anbu to follow me. The village is short on people as it is, right?"
"But I do want to bring someone along. I've found a very interesting newcomer."
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