Courage

After leaving the Hatake Clan, he used Transparent Release to conceal his presence. Only after putting enough distance between them did he dispel his invisibility in an unnoticed corner and step out.

Baiye walked slowly along the edge of the shadows cast by the trees, as though he were in a different world from the bustling streets around him.

Telling Kakashi the truth was risky.

Even though the village's attention had shifted to the Third Kazekage, Kakashi was still White Fang's son. People could easily notice his every move.

Whether he could keep it to himself was still uncertain.

Under those circumstances, Baiye had decided to tell him the truth early not only because Kakashi's search was growing increasingly aggressive, but for another reason as well.

Tonight, he planned to end his six years as an auditing student at Shin'ō Academy.

That could very well have unforeseen consequences, and the worst possible outcome was that he might die.

He hoped this was just his persecution complex acting up, but the strange signs he had seen at Shin'ō Academy lately kept him from counting on luck.

So he prepared for the worst, making some arrangements and settling a few matters.

Coming clean to Kakashi was only one of them.

He turned a corner and saw someone staggering toward him beneath a streetlamp. The man was tall and white-haired, with a red overcoat hanging crookedly from his shoulders and a sake flask in his hand. Baiye could smell the alcohol from more than ten paces away.

It was Jiraiya.

And it had to be now... To keep his hard-won resolve from wavering, he planned to take a detour and avoid him.

But things did not go as he wished. Jiraiya had already spotted him.

"Yo! If it isn't the Hayate Clan kid!" Jiraiya's eyes lit up. He strode over and threw an arm around Baiye's shoulders. "Out wandering this late? Perfect, perfect! Come have a drink with me!"

"Lord Jiraiya, I—"

"Cut the chatter! Come on, come on!"

Baiye was dragged into an izakaya.

The place was small, and the few tables were empty. The owner was wiping a glass behind the counter and merely gave Jiraiya an accustomed nod when he entered. Clearly, this member of the Sannin was a regular here.

Jiraiya took a seat in a corner and ordered a flask of sake. With no other choice, Baiye ordered himself a glass of water.

"You're too serious, kid. Even Minato would have a drink with me now and then when he was your age. Forget it, forget it. I can drink by myself."

He poured a cup of sake, tipped his head back and downed it, then let out a satisfied breath. Baiye took a sip of water in turn.

It wasn't that he had anything against alcohol. He wasn't really a child, and with a ninja's physique, drinking a little wouldn't do him much harm.

But he was still reluctant to drink. He had too many things he couldn't tell anyone, and he didn't dare let his guard down.

"Lord Jiraiya, isn't it a bit much to be out drinking so late?"

"What's wrong with it? I just got back from a mission. What's wrong with relaxing a little?" Jiraiya poured another cup. "What about you, kid? Why are you wandering around in the middle of the night instead of going home?"

"I have something to do."

"Something to do?" Jiraiya set down his cup and studied him drunkenly. "You're just like Tsunade said, kid—you never let anything slip. You're only thirteen, but you live like an old man. Come on, tell me what's on your mind."

"You're worrying too much, Lord Jiraiya."

"Ah."

Jiraiya picked up his cup, then set it down again. The drunkenness had vanished from his voice. "Baiye, the first time I saw you, I knew you were someone carrying a lot on your mind."

Baiye's fingers stopped at the rim of his glass.

He looked up and saw that although Jiraiya's face was still a little flushed, his eyes were no longer glazed.

"Keeping things bottled up inside... sooner or later, you won't be able to bear it."

"Aren't you the same, Lord Jiraiya? No matter how much you drink, you don't dare let yourself get properly drunk, do you?"

"You kid... No wonder you're friends with Minato. If you didn't still have that youthful look about you, I'd think you were the same age as him."

Baiye said nothing. Jiraiya did not press him further either.

He downed the rest of the sake in his cup and poured himself another.

"At your age, you're still just a child... Yet even a child like you has been forced to act like an adult. The world shouldn't be this way..."

"Is that why the Child of Prophecy is needed?"

Jiraiya's hand paused. "Haha, you've heard about that too?"

"Only a little."

"Haha, that's right. Only the Child of Prophecy can end the wars and bring true peace to the Shinobi World. And my mission as the Toad Sage is to find that Child of Prophecy."

"Have you found him?"

"...I thought I had." Jiraiya set down his cup, his gaze falling on the puddle of spilled sake on the table. "A child with a special gift. His personality was a bit like yours, though. He was the sort who kept everything to himself. Luckily, he had two friends he could confide in."

At that, Jiraiya's eyes reddened despite himself. "If only I hadn't had to return to Konoha for a mission and leave them there... Later, I heard that misfortune had befallen them."

"My condolences."

Baiye knew, of course, that Nagato was still alive. Not only was he alive, but in a few years, that "Child of Prophecy" would reign over Amegakure under the name Pain.

But he did not say so. After the Second Shinobi World War, relations between Konoha and Amegakure had become delicate. Even Jiraiya did not dare enter the Land of Rain without authorization—what reason would a Konoha Chunin like him have to know about an organization that had only recently emerged in the Land of Rain in pursuit of peace?

"Haha, that's all in the past." Jiraiya deliberately laughed aloud, suppressing his sadness. "Now I think Minato is the real Child of Prophecy. Unfortunately, the Great Toad Sage wakes up for too short a time, and what he says is always too vague."

"The Great Toad Sage?"

"He's been alive for a full thousand years... Haha, I like you, kid. When I get back, I'll ask the two elder sages and see if you can sign a Summoning Contract with Mount Myōboku too."

"Mount Myōboku? Has Minato already signed one?"

"Yeah. Minato is the most talented ninja I've ever met. Even Orochimaru probably can't compare."

Talking about Minato put Jiraiya in high spirits again.

This was a man who had truly made finding the Child of Prophecy his goal in life. As things stood, the stronger Minato became, the more hope there was for that goal.

"Is it worth staking your entire life on finding an uncertain future?"

Baiye spoke so softly that it would have been easy to mistake it for a murmur to himself.

"If it really can bring this age of chaos to an end, of course it's worth it."

Jiraiya heard him and answered without hesitation.

Baiye looked at the white-haired man before him—the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku, one of the Sannin. Each disciple he had trained was more outstanding than the last, yet he had lost them one after another.

In the end, he had even died in a bottomless abyss where no one could find him.

Yet he had never wavered.

"Even if you have to stake your life?"

"Haha, you really are just like Tsunade, always asking that kind of question." Jiraiya raised his cup and took a long drink. "What's staking my life? As long as that day really comes, dying on the way will be worth it."

He hiccuped, his voice growing increasingly slurred. His head drooped lower and lower until he finally slumped over the table. His cup slipped from his fingers, rolled twice, and came to rest beside Baiye's glass of water.

"...Hoo..."

He began to snore.

Baiye finished the last of his water, called the owner over to settle the bill, and stood up.

Unexpectedly, this chance encounter had given him quite a bit of courage.

Back home, Baiye changed out of his shoes and went to his room without disturbing anyone.

He took a deep breath and opened the system panel.

Ever since he had used Sode no Shirayuki in his fight with Pakura, a new section had appeared in the shop interface alongside the Zankensoki experience available for exchange.

But the section was shrouded in thick black fog. He could not select it or view its details. There was only a line of small text beneath it:

[Unlocks after auditing at Shin'ō Academy ends]

As an auditing student, Baiye did not actually need to take any graduation exam. He could not join the Gotei 13 after graduating anyway—for a Soul Reaper, Shin'ō Academy was the starting point for becoming a full-fledged Soul Reaper, but for him, it was only a six-year illusion.

That did not mean he could not apply to graduate early. Once he did, the system would recognize his auditing at Shin'ō Academy as complete, and he would be able to unlock more abilities.

His Soul Reaper abilities had made little progress for a long time.

With the Third Shinobi World War about to break out, any improvement was urgently needed.

Many of the seeds that bore bitter fruit had been sown during the Third Shinobi World War, but without enough strength, he had no way to stop any of it from happening.

One step behind meant falling behind at every step.

Although he could still scrape by thanks to his foreknowledge, that would also mean losing many people he did not want to lose.

Could he accept that? Impossible.

After everything, how could he accept such an outcome?

Baiye placed the lengthy letters he had written to Hayate, Minato, Tsunade and the others at the bottom of his wardrobe.

If he failed to cross that wall tonight, those letters would change some things in his place.

Baiye was not being pessimistic.

He knew who he was going to face.

Sōsuke Aizen.

Even if he was an "imitation" created by the system.

Baiye looked down at the Zanpakuto at his waist. Within its sheath, the energy of its Shikai flowed steadily.

He laid the sword across his knees and closed his eyes.

"Enter."

Darkness surged in like a tide, then swiftly receded.

He opened his eyes, standing in the middle of a classroom at Shin'ō Academy. An unfamiliar teacher stood at the front, calling the roll. The students' faces were blurry as always, and the classroom smelled the same as ever. But Baiye did not go to his seat and sit down as he usually did.

He stood in the middle of the classroom and raised his hand.

"I want to apply for early graduation."