Advancing Toward Otsutsuki Hamura

"So you used this method to get Orochimaru to take the bait?"

Inside an inn in the Land of Hot Water, Kitagawa Gen and Jiraiya packed their things while discussing what had happened this time.

Only after Kitagawa Gen finished listening to Jiraiya's account, his expression became extremely strange. He was having trouble figuring out what was going on with these two.

"Tch, this sage has plenty of tricks up his sleeve."

Jiraiya snorted twice, but under Kitagawa Gen's gaze, he finally smiled and shook his head.

"All right, don't look at me like that. I know that guy Orochimaru was most likely doing it on purpose.

"He might have wanted me to back off, or maybe he wanted to divert my attention. After all, Itachi Uchiha was in there too.

"That means this organization is both dangerous and troublesome, but this time, my target is that organization!"

Jiraiya's goal was very clear. Although he also regretted that he could not make further progress on the matter of Orochimaru.

But with such a dangerous organization, and two Uchiha with Mangekyo among them, even Jiraiya had to recognize what took priority.

Besides, in his view, investigating this organization was the same as investigating Orochimaru. No big problem!

"Still, this situation is a little troublesome."

Jiraiya rubbed his chin, his expression somewhat troubled.

"Orochimaru and the others' mysterious organization has been hired by the Mizukage. That's very disadvantageous for us."

"Hah, it is."

Kitagawa Gen smiled somewhat speechlessly. He could only follow the topic and say,

"But Kirigakure's internal strife isn't exactly a bad thing, is it? Anyway, I've heard that in past Ninja Wars, Kirigakure was always causing trouble for us."

"That's true, but having the Mizukage protecting them will obviously affect our investigation."

Jiraiya rubbed his chin, seeming to think about what to do.

"Looks like I'll have to go back and discuss it properly with the old man."

"Indeed."

Kitagawa Gen nodded, though even now he still felt that the whole thing was a bit too fantastical.

He could tell now. Jiraiya and Orochimaru, this pair of fellow disciples, were most likely fishing for each other!

Jiraiya did understand Orochimaru well enough. It was just that he did not know Orochimaru had long since left the Akatsuki. This was basically leading him straight toward the Akatsuki.

And Orochimaru was outrageous too. Maybe relying on his understanding of the Akatsuki, as well as his own grasp of Kirigakure's intelligence.

He had randomly cooked up an excuse and reason, but those just so happened to roughly overlap with Kitagawa Gen's memories, because their final target all pointed straight at the Mizukage!

"Was this a happy accident, and now everyone has a bright future?"

Kitagawa Gen did not know what to say. Everything seemed wrong, yet somehow, it all seemed right too?

All he could say was that everything was heading in a good direction.

"All right, kid, take your time packing."

Just as Kitagawa Gen was silently roasting all these messy and bizarre matters, Jiraiya suddenly let out a faint sigh.

"We're about to leave this beautiful Land of Hot Water. What a pity..."

"You're pitying the fact that Konoha doesn't have red-light districts as bustling as the ones here, right?"

Listening to Jiraiya's words, Kitagawa Gen could not help rolling his eyes, while Jiraiya looked disgusted.

"Nonsense! Is this sage the kind of man to linger over such things? Besides, this is merely the human instinct to love beautiful things.

"This sage is simply appreciating a touch of brightness amid the humdrum years, the riot of colors in this long mortal world!

"You brat, you don't know shit."

"Tch."

Kitagawa Gen did not pay him any mind at all. He made it sound so poetic and elegant, but the result was a place minors were not even allowed to enter?

And he had the nerve to say he was just appreciating it?

"All right, pack up by yourself. This sage has business."

As he spoke, Jiraiya stood and walked outside, which made Kitagawa Gen a little anxious.

"No, in broad daylight? And after you just fought earlier? You—"

"What are you thinking?"

Jiraiya shook his head, then sighed.

"I'm going to that izakaya from before. That waitress's husband died at Orochimaru's hands. Although this doesn't really have anything to do with us, still..."

At this point, Jiraiya gave a bitter smile.

"I can't quite get over it, and her family circumstances aren't good either. Since we ran into it, I'll help if I can.

"All right, wait for me here. Don't wander around. I'll be back soon."

Listening to Jiraiya's words, Kitagawa Gen also fell a little silent. Although this was somewhat sentimental, weren't people sentimental creatures to begin with?

However, Kitagawa Gen frowned again. He had a vague feeling he was being taken advantage of.

"Oh right, want me to bring you some oranges? I saw some being sold on the street earlier. They're very sweet."

Just as he was thinking, Jiraiya suddenly turned back and asked.

"..."

"Also, change your clothes. They're all tattered and ragged like a beggar's. Don't embarrass this sage."

Jiraiya waved his hand, and only then did he leave.

"Tch..."

Kitagawa Gen swallowed the loss in silence. He simply lowered his head and looked at his clothes.

Looking at the scratches and tears on them, his mood finally improved quite a bit.

"Didn't expect this time to go pretty smoothly after all."

This operation had indeed gone quite smoothly. Although the infiltration had failed, in the end, everyone had gained a "bright future."

In Kitagawa Gen's fight against Kimimaro and Jugo, he had been suppressing the other side, but he did not have the Sharingan, so naturally, it was impossible for him to come out completely unscathed.

Getting grazed by Kimimaro's bones, or taking one or two punches when Jugo pincer-attacked him, were all normal.

Especially at the end, when Kimimaro unleashed all the Chakra in his body and pulled out a Dance of the Larch.

Even though Kitagawa Gen used Purple Lightning to defend while cutting through many bones, he inevitably still got stabbed.

Only...

"The mission was successfully completed, and after obtaining Kimimaro's Yang Release, there were actually changes like this?"

After obtaining that Yang Release power, this Chakra instantly spread through his entire body, and immediately, he felt as if his body had undergone slight changes!

Under the effect of this Chakra volume, although the Chakra reaction was unremarkable, his speed and strength seemed to be steadily increasing.

But these were not the most important things. The most important thing was his recovery ability!

Driven by this power, the wounds on his body had truly stopped bleeding and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

And before Jiraiya found him, they had already fully recovered!

"What an incredible power..."

Kitagawa Gen could now be considered to have experienced Hashirama Senju's joy. In his fights with Madara Uchiha, when had Hashirama not been covered in wounds? But every time, he could quickly recover from them...

Such formidable recovery ability practically turned him into a perpetual motion machine on the battlefield. Even Madara Uchiha could only helplessly say, "On the battlefield, no one can kill Hashirama."

Kitagawa Gen naturally could not reach that level, but for him, this was completely enough!

"After all, the power is still being slowly developed and adapted to. Besides..."

Slightly clenching his fist, Kitagawa Gen felt that his bones also seemed to be faintly absorbing his own Chakra!

It was almost the same as his eyes, as if something was being nurtured, except the progress in his bones was slower than in his eyes, and the amount absorbed was smaller too.

"This is enough. After all, time is on my side."

Kitagawa Gen took off his clothes, which were full of holes, then pulled out a new set.

Only, just as he had put them on, he suddenly realized something.

"Crap. I'm advancing toward Otsutsuki Hamura."

A new month. Please favorite, please keep reading, please vote with monthly tickets. Thank you, everyone. Onz