A Man in Konoha: Starting by Slapping White Fang — Chapter 19

Yahiko wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

Konan could not stop tears from rolling down her cheeks either.

Nagato did not speak, but the way he bit down hard on his lower lip had already exposed his feelings.

"Let's go."

Genetsu parted his lips slightly and spoke two words.

"We'll meet again someday."

Jiraiya left his final words for his three disciples.

Then he vanished into the distance alongside Genetsu.

"You're actually taking part in a mission? This is the first time since you were six, isn't it?"

The two Kage-level shinobi raced along the road from the Land of Rain to the Land of Wind. Jiraiya voiced the same confusion Tsunade had.

After more than twenty years, Genetsu had actually gone into action again.

There had to be some special reason for it.

"My foolish brother got himself into some trouble. I had no choice but to come out and wipe his ass."

Jiraiya was baffled by the answer and was about to ask more when Genetsu continued:

"I hate explaining the same thing too many times. Once you return to the village, just ask any Leaf Ninja about the details. Still, it's pretty funny. An ultra-S-rank mission has stirred up such a huge commotion..."

Noticing the mockery in Genetsu's expression, Jiraiya frowned and quietly became more wary.

Two days later.

They said that ninety percent of the Land of Wind was covered in yellow sand.

But when Genetsu and Jiraiya arrived, they felt that was an understatement.

At least ninety-five percent of the country was desert.

The kind where not even a single plant could grow.

The Land of Wind seemed to have the largest territory among the Five Great Nations, but in reality, it was the smallest.

"No wonder neither Ninja War saw any country take the initiative to attack the Land of Wind. I wouldn't want this dump even if someone gave it to me."

Genetsu laughed.

"And it's precisely because of that that the Land of Wind keeps taking the initiative to start wars, hoping to expand outward."

Jiraiya, the messenger of peace, began lamenting again.

Genetsu could not be bothered to discuss that with him and quickly got to the point.

"Further ahead, there'll be Sunagakure Shinobi guards. Have you come up with a suitable assassination plan?"

"No. I'm not good at that sort of thing."

Jiraiya answered bluntly.

As if you could come up with anything useful anyway.

Genetsu wore an expression of complete unsurprise and rested his chin on his hand as he began to think.

Like Konoha, every ninja village had its own distinct barrier around it.

The moment unfamiliar Chakra entered, they could immediately detect it.

In the original story, that brat Sasori had arranged for an insider beforehand, allowing him to enter without causing any disturbance.

"Well? Have you got a plan?"

After several minutes of seeing Genetsu remain silent, Jiraiya could not help speaking first.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Genetsu put his sandproof conical hat back on.

Sunagakure.

Sand dunes rose behind it and on both sides, while a massive earthen embankment nearly a hundred meters high had been built in front. Only a long ravine had been left in the middle, serving as the village's sole entrance and exit.

Anyone entering or leaving the village would inevitably be spotted by the guard shinobi stationed on either side of the embankment.

If they resisted, the guards holding the high ground above would immediately bombard them with ninjutsu.

Two figures stood atop a tall rock roughly a kilometer from the entrance.

Jiraiya raised his right hand to shield his brow as he gazed at Sunagakure in the distance and sighed, "It won't be easy to climb over such a high embankment and sneak into the village."

Then Jiraiya turned to Genetsu beside him. "So? What's your method?"

Genetsu suddenly smiled at Jiraiya, and a sense of foreboding instantly rose in Jiraiya's heart.

Whenever this guy smiled like that, nothing good ever came of it.

The next instant, Genetsu seized Jiraiya by the back of his collar and hurled him toward Sunagakure's front entrance like a baseball.

At the same time, he gathered Chakra in his throat and roared with an eardrum-shattering voice:

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!! It's Jiraiya of Konoha!!!"

"Huh!?"

Jiraiya, flying toward Sunagakure, stared with his eyes wide as saucers and cursed, "You set me up, Genetsu!!!"

"The main gate! There's an extremely powerful Chakra signature!"

Inside Sunagakure's barrier detection division.

The sensory shinobi in charge of controlling the barrier shouted in panic:

"Number of targets: one. Estimated strength... Kage-level!"

The moment those words fell, the other Sunagakure Shinobi around him leaped from their seats.

Just then, a Sunagakure shinobi passing outside the barrier division shouted:

"Jiraiya, one of the Three Ninja of Konoha, has launched a surprise attack! Everyone, go reinforce the front!"

"Jiraiya!?"

The expressions of the other Sunagakure Shinobi changed dramatically.

Aside from Konoha's White Fang, the ones who had become famous during the Second Shinobi World War were the Three Ninja of Konoha.

All of them possessed Kage-level strength.

It was enough to make the other ninja villages burn with envy.

Konoha truly was a cradle for geniuses.

"Is Jiraiya really alone? Are there any other ambushers nearby?"

A young Sunagakure shinobi with fiery red hair similar to that of the Uzumaki Clan, though darker in color, and around the same age as Senju Nawaki, hurried toward the village entrance while asking another Sunagakure shinobi beside him.

His name was Rasa, and he was one of the few shinobi in the village who had mastered the Magnet Release: Sand Manipulation Technique.

Though he was not as outstanding as the other Sunagakure shinobi capable of controlling black sand, he was still fairly capable.

"According to the Military Police Force, no other Leaf Ninja have been spotted. And if there were too many of them, the border patrols shouldn't have missed them. There's a ninety percent chance he really came alone."

"Daring to barge into Sunagakure alone... Even as one of the Sannin, that's far too arrogant."

Rasa gritted his teeth.

Honestly, this guy was quite something.

Putting aside the fact that he sealed a Tailed Beast inside his own son.

He repeatedly tried to assassinate his son, then finally sent his own brother-in-law to kill him.

That drove Gaara completely into darkness.

Even Genetsu, who had been a reader in his previous life, had been stunned by Rasa's outrageous moves.

Genetsu could not help wondering whether Rasa had been cuckolded and Gaara was not really his biological son.

Sunagakure's main entrance.

A giant toad not much smaller than a Tailed Beast swung a Wakizashi and Tachi, desperately holding back the endless stream of Sunagakure Shinobi surging toward it.

"What the hell is this, Jiraiya!? You always summon me when you're in trouble!"

Gamabunta cursed loudly.

"Genetsu set me up. Anyway, I'm counting on you to buy me some time."

Jiraiya wore a bitter expression.

He had not expected Genetsu's plan to be so simple and brutal.

Wasn't it just having him draw the fire while Genetsu went to assassinate the Second Kazekage?

"Sand Shower!"

A massive rain of quicksand suddenly poured down from directly overhead.

Jiraiya looked up. "Is that the rumored Magnet Release?!"

"Bunta!"

Jiraiya shouted down at Gamabunta beneath his feet, his hands already rapidly forming seals.

"Got it, what a pain!"

Gamabunta complained, but the sides of his bumpy cheeks quickly swelled as well.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

"Toad Oil!"

Combination Jutsu: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!!!

A vast torrent of violent flames instantly swallowed the rain of quicksand whole.

Using a wall of sand as cover.

Rasa fell to the ground in a somewhat disheveled state. Fortunately, he had not suffered serious injuries. He said bitterly, "One of the Sannin is indeed not easy to deal with!"

"Jiraiya is the only one!?"

In the Kazekage's Office of Sunagakure's Administrative Building, Saimon, the bald Second Kazekage with dragon-pattern tattoos on his face, received the report and his expression abruptly changed.