Jiraiya the Accomplice

The matter settled, Rinto and the others left the teacher's office.

In the school hallway, Rinto brought Jiraiya over and stopped Hiruzen Sarutobi and little Tsunade, who were about to leave.

"Lord Sarutobi, thanks to you this time, I was able to clear my name!" Rinto said with a smile.

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head with a wry smile and sighed. "I barely said two words. It wouldn't have mattered whether I came or not."

"That's not true."

"If you hadn't come, I definitely wouldn't have made this much." Rinto leaned close to Hiruzen Sarutobi and lowered his voice.

"Just by standing in that office, even without saying anything, you ensured that justice would be served."

With that, Rinto pulled out a thick stack of bills. It was part of the compensation Kagami Uchiha had paid on Uchiha Ryota's behalf, a full two hundred thousand ryo.

He pulled out half and stuffed it into Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands.

"This is for your trouble. Sorry to make you come all this way."

At that sight, Tsunade's beautiful eyes narrowed. This guy! Was he openly bribing Uncle Hiruzen Sarutobi?!

Without a second thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi pushed Rinto's hand away.

"It's my duty. I can't accept money for it."

Rinto's little face immediately hardened, and he shoved the money back again.

"I know you were just doing your duty, but if good people aren't rewarded, who will still stand up for justice in the future?

"So you have to take it!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi froze at those words.

Good people had to be rewarded in order to uphold justice?!

Good grief, this twisted logic actually sounded seventy percent convincing.

While Hiruzen Sarutobi was stunned, Rinto swiftly stuffed the stack of bills into his chest, a full one hundred thousand ryo.

After doing that, Rinto turned to little Tsunade, whose expression was rather strange.

"Classmate Tsunade, please accept these one hundred thousand ryo."

He did not dare stuff the money directly into Tsunade's chest. She was Konoha's princess, after all.

Feeling up a princess sounded exciting, but this girl did not have anything to feel up yet!

Tsunade blanked out for a moment, then her eyes lit up. She immediately accepted the bills openly and generously.

One hundred thousand ryo was not much to her, but it was still the first money she had earned independently.

Upholding justice required rewards. Only then would there be more people willing to uphold justice, and the more people upheld justice, the better the atmosphere would become.

It was a very simple principle.

Rinto quite liked Konoha and was willing to make a small contribution to its atmosphere. Besides, it was not his money, so he did not feel bad spending it.

Seeing the two accept, Rinto finally breathed a sigh of relief. He threw an arm around Jiraiya's shoulders and laughed loudly.

"Jiraiya, let's split the remaining eight hundred thousand ryo between us."

When Jiraiya saw that Rinto wanted to share the money with him, he hurriedly shook his head and waved his hands.

"No, no, no! I don't want it. You earned this yourself. How could I take it?!"

Rinto's face immediately darkened at those words.

"What do you mean, you can't take it? Did you get beaten up for nothing? Idiot!"

Then he leaned close to Jiraiya's ear and whispered.

"Besides, I already didn't like that guy. This was the perfect chance to extort him. Come to think of it, Jiraiya, you're my accomplice too, aren't you?!"

"Huh? Wh-what?!!"

Jiraiya's face changed drastically. Then, as if he had thought of something, he kept shaking his head.

"Rinto, I know you want me to accept it, but I still can't."

Seeing Jiraiya hemming and hawing so endlessly, two veins suddenly bulged on Rinto's forehead. He grabbed Jiraiya by the collar.

"You bastard, Jiraiya! You're dawdling like a woman. You should come to class in a dress!

"Classmate Tsunade, lend little sister Jiraiya a skirt!"

"Huh?"

Jiraiya was so furious that smoke practically came out of his nostrils. He grabbed Rinto's collar in return.

"You bastard! I got beaten up by seven people last night and didn't make a sound. How dare you look down on me?"

Before he could finish, Rinto's fist smashed into his uninjured left eye.

"Look at how proud you are. You got beaten up by seven people and still have the nerve to say it out loud? If it were me, I'd have taken at least one of them down even while getting ganged up on!"

"Damn it, Rinto, that's exactly what I did! Ow! You sucker-punched me! Fuck! I'm fighting you!"

As he watched the two children clutch each other's necks and roll around on the floor, both of them gritting their teeth furiously, Hiruzen Sarutobi found it both amusing and touching.

Setting aside this ridiculous scene, Rinto-kun had finally formed new Bonds in Konoha.

As for Tsunade, the delighted little face she had worn after receiving the money darkened.

You bastard, Rinto. You're making fun of me again. Just wait. One day, I'll make you parade through Konoha in a dress!

Rinto and Jiraiya's brawl continued.

Just as they were about to drag themselves over the hallway floor until it was shiny enough to use as a mirror, the fight finally ended with Rinto proving more skilled.

Jiraiya could only accept the humiliating decision to split the eight hundred thousand ryo equally between them.

After settling their disagreement, the two children, now looking like mud monkeys, supported each other as they climbed to their feet. Ignoring the dumbfounded Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade nearby, they left the hallway.

Watching the two bruised and battered boys walk away with their arms around each other's shoulders, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"D-do they always settle disagreements like this?"

Tsunade, her face dark, nodded silently beside him. "Always. Just not this embarrassing."

At the corner of the hallway, Kagami Uchiha had seen everything that had happened.

Sakuta Rinto was practically a monster.

He understood social conduct and could read people's hearts. Even the smallest matters were handled flawlessly.

When Kagami thought about himself at seven or eight years old, he had accepted help from his clan, family, and friends as a matter of course. He had never considered giving anything back to those who helped him.

But Rinto found ways to ensure that those who had helped him received gifts and rewards in return. Over time, his friends might even compete to help him!

At the same time, Kagami deeply envied Rinto and Jiraiya's friendship.

More than that, he did not feel even the slightest hatred in his heart.

That was not strange. Although Kagami Uchiha was a member of the Uchiha Clan, the village clearly held a higher place in his heart.

As Tobirama Senju's personal disciple, Kagami Uchiha had a deep understanding of the Will of Fire.

At the same time, that was the source of his pain.

If there was anyone who desperately hoped that the Uchiha Clan could truly integrate into the village, it was him.

And just when he had been at his most lost, Sakuta Rinto had appeared.

If... if Rinto, who was best at reading people's hearts, learned of the Uchiha's predicament, perhaps he could offer some good advice.

With that thought, Kagami Uchiha silently made up his mind.

He would start with himself and change the relationship between Rinto and the Uchiha.

The bell rang. The Ninja School was dismissed.

With a thick bundle of bills in her pocket, Tsunade skipped happily home. The high ponytail behind her head bounced cheerfully, just like her mood.

"Grandma!"

The moment she entered the house, Tsunade started shouting like a chirping little sparrow.

The wooden sliding door opened, and Mito Uzumaki emerged from the tea room with a smile on her face.

Tsunade immediately ran over and threw herself into Mito's embrace. After clinging to her for a while, Tsunade pulled out a whole stack of thousand-ryo bills from her pocket.

"Grandma, Grandma, look what this is!"

As she spoke, she raised the stack of bills high with both hands.

"It's money. Did my little Tsunade win a bet today? What wonderful luck~" Mito teased.

"Oh, Grandma! I came straight home after school today." Tsunade clung to Mito stubbornly.

Only with Mito could she act spoiled as freely as a real little girl.

"Alright, alright. Little Tsunade is the most well-behaved. Now tell Grandma, what happened?"

Only then did Tsunade happily begin counting the bills as she excitedly recounted everything that had happened that day.

Before long, she had finished telling the story.

Mito Uzumaki stroked Tsunade's head and smiled.

"So little Tsunade is already a grown-up girl. You even know how to earn money for the household now."

"Of course!" Tsunade said proudly, then chirped away about how hateful and crafty Rinto was, and how he had scared Uchiha Ryota into wetting his pants.

Seeing her granddaughter's delighted expression, Mito Uzumaki smiled warmly.

She had been through it before. She knew what it meant when a girl kept a boy's name on her lips all day.

Besides, disliking someone now did not mean she would dislike him later.

After all, she herself had once been a young girl.

Happy times always passed quickly. After Mito Uzumaki and Tsunade finished dinner, they happily went to train.

Mito sat in the tea room, her gaze shifting faintly as though she were considering something.

As Hashirama Senju's wife, she had never cared much about family status. She would not object if Tsunade's future husband was not from a prestigious clan, but there were some things Tobirama still needed to know.

With that thought, Mito Uzumaki waved toward the door.

The next second, an Anbu wearing a fox mask appeared outside.

"Lady Mito, what are your orders?" a woman's hoarse voice asked.

"Please make a trip to Tobirama and tell him about little Tsunade's recent situation."

The Anbu nodded and immediately vanished.

In the Hokage's Office, Tobirama Senju leaned back in his chair, frowning at the scroll in his hand.

Something so major had happened during the day. As the Hokage, how could he possibly not know about it?

What gave him the greatest headache and anger was not Rinto, but Uchiha Ryota openly trying to kill a fellow villager.

In his view, this was absolutely unforgivable!

Even if Rinto was not a fellow villager and was an infiltrator, outsiders did not know his identity. Was that not equivalent to attacking one's own comrades in the village?!

He truly wanted to ask those Uchiha elders exactly how they educated the Uchiha children.

If this continued, the village his elder brother had sacrificed so much to build would be destroyed by those bastards.

But when he considered the Uchiha Clan's influence, Tobirama Senju could not help blaming Hashirama Senju again.

Back then, to set an example, Hashirama Senju had endured immense pressure and issued an order as both clan leader and the First Hokage.

Other than clan members who had already inherited the surname, all newborns of the Senju Clan would no longer inherit it.

This move not only shocked the major clans that had joined Konoha, but also allowed the Senju bloodline to completely merge into Konoha.

It could be said that although the Senju Clan had disappeared, countless families with Senju blood had been born in Konoha.

Fortunately, most members of the Senju Clan had been able to accept this order.

Between surname and bloodline, the Senju Clan chose bloodline.

What they did not know was that decades later, their mortal enemies, the Uchiha Clan, would choose their surname and their pride, only to lose most of their bloodline—and have it erased by their own people.

After doing his best to calm himself, Tobirama Senju slowly closed the scroll before him and lightly tapped the desk.

"Tell Kagami that this child will be placed under his guidance from now on. Attacking fellow villagers must never happen again!

"Also, put some pressure on the Uchiha Clan. Mm. Have them quickly hand over the remaining eight hundred thousand ryo to Sakuta Rinto.

"Oh, and reject the Konoha Military Police Force's request to expand by four patrol squads. They may add only one."

If Rinto had been present, he would definitely have cursed Tobirama Senju as an old schemer.

The conflict between Rinto and the Uchiha Clan had already become severe. Now the Second Hokage, acting as the village chief, was getting involved as well. Although this would ensure Rinto's safety in the short term, in the long run, the conflict would inevitably escalate into hatred.

After temporarily dealing with the Uchiha Clan issue, Tobirama Senju thought of Rinto, that troublesome fellow, again.

Letting Rinto enter the Ninja School had been his decision. That also meant Rinto would make friends and form Bonds.

But Tobirama Senju had no desire for his elder brother's granddaughter to have any contact with Rinto.

That boy was too dangerous. He was not suited to being around a pure child like little Tsunade.

With that thought, an idea came to Tobirama Senju.

The following evening, after handling government affairs, Tobirama Senju returned home early.

Though it was early, little Tsunade had already finished dinner.

When Tsunade saw Tobirama Senju return, she immediately put away the scroll in her hands and walked prettily over to him from where she had been training in the open courtyard.

"Second Grandfather!"

The corners of Tobirama Senju's stiff mouth lifted almost imperceptibly. It was clear that he wanted to wear a kind smile, but unfortunately, he failed.

He nodded expressionlessly and walked over to sit by the wooden corridor in the courtyard.

"Little Tsunade, what have you been learning at the Ninja School lately?"

"Second Grandfather, we learned the Substitution Technique, the Transformation Jutsu, and the Ninja Code." Tsunade stood straight and answered seriously.

"Mm. Then let Second Grandfather test you. What are the Ninja Code rules?"

Tsunade pondered for a moment, then began counting on her fingers.

"First, close-quarters combat is foolish behavior under all circumstances.

"Second, missions are sometimes more important than one's life, so never abandon a mission.

"Third, keep secrets. Before committing suicide, do not forget to destroy your face.

"..."

Listening to Tsunade's fluent answer, Tobirama Senju nodded in satisfaction.

"Very good. Little Tsunade, you remember them well. Tell Second Grandfather, can little Tsunade keep a secret?"

Hearing this, Tsunade thought Tobirama Senju was going to teach her some powerful forbidden technique. She immediately nodded excitedly.

"Good. Grandfather wants little Tsunade to stay away from Sakuta Rinto."

Tsunade instantly froze at those words and instinctively asked, "Why, Second Grandfather?"

Though she was young, she was no fool. On the contrary, Tsunade was very clever.

Anyone whom Naruto Tobirama Senju personally warned her about had to be hiding some unspeakable secret.

Tsunade's curiosity immediately flared.

Seeing Tsunade ask, Tobirama Senju did not hide anything.

This was an idea he had come up with after careful consideration—simple and direct, telling Little Tsunade the truth.

Little Tsunade was his brother Hashirama's granddaughter and his own blood relative. Tobirama Senju had no intention of concealing this from his family.

Most importantly, although Tsunade was still young, her stubborn temperament was exactly like her eldest brother's. If he secretly used certain methods, it would only provoke the little girl's rebelliousness and do more harm than good.

So, while Rinto and Tsunade had not interacted much yet, he might as well lay out the facts for Tsunade plainly.

With that thought, Tobirama Senju slowly began to speak, telling Tsunade everything about Rinto's background and origins.

When she heard that Rinto had originally been an Amegakure spy sent to Konoha, Tsunade's young, adorable face was first filled with shock. Then anger appeared between her brows.

"Second Grandfather, why don't we capture this guy? Why keep him instead?"

Seeing Little Tsunade question him, Tobirama Senju sighed inwardly and answered,

"Sakuta Rinto. Keeping him is more beneficial to the peace of the western border."

"Why? Isn't he a spy from Amegakure in the west?" Tsunade demanded angrily.

"Through Sakuta Rinto, we can secretly influence the leader of the Rain Village, Hanzo of the Salamander, thereby restraining Sunagakure and Iwagakure.

That way, the defensive pressure at the border will lessen, and the chances of our village comrades dying in battle will also be greatly reduced."

Hearing this, Tsunade ground her little milk teeth until they creaked.

Hmph! Once I grow up, I'll definitely punch that bullshit Hanzo of the Salamander into the sky, then drive Sakuta Rinto out of our village!

Having secretly made up her mind, Tsunade put on a stern little face and looked seriously at Tobirama Senju.

"Second Grandfather, can we make sure Sakuta Rinto obeys?"

Hearing that, Tobirama Senju let out a heavy sigh inwardly. There was no absolute certainty. After all, no one knew whether this monster's so-called Bonds were real!

Though he felt somewhat pessimistic inside, Tobirama Senju still nodded calmly on the surface.

"We can. But Little Tsunade, you must understand that he is different from you. Since childhood, he has received spy training.

And spies are the most heartless of all. So Second Grandfather wants you to stay away from that dangerous fellow. Don't make Grandma Mito worry, all right?"

At those words, Tsunade nodded heavily.

"Don't worry, Second Grandfather. I absolutely won't say another word to Sakuta Rinto. A-and I'll keep an eye on him for the village."