In Leaf Village: Starting Off by Slapping White Fang

Today, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the Hokage's Office as usual.

One hand pinched his pipe while the other examined the intelligence reports sent back from the border regions.

After Leaf Village and Sunagakure officially signed the Ceasefire Agreement,

the Second Shinobi World War was finally declared over.

He could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The only regret was probably the incident involving his eldest son.

But had it really been an accident?

Lately, he had been spending more and more time in the office.

After all, because of his eldest son's affair, his wife Biwako had not shown him a pleasant face lately.

His second son, Asuma, did not know the inside story,

but he had already begun showing disagreements with his father.

His subordinates were clamoring outside, while chaos reigned at home.

That was how Hiruzen Sarutobi felt now.

Fortunately, the war was over. Otherwise, it really would have worried him to death.

"Strange. Why is Getsuei taking so long to get back?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned inwardly.

After Minato Namikaze became Jiraiya's disciple and temporarily resigned from the Anbu, as well as the mission of monitoring Hatake Gengetsu,

Minato Namikaze assigned one of the current Anbu Squad Leaders, Gekko Getsuei, the head of the Hayate Clan, to replace him.

He possessed the secret Secreting Skill and excelled at concealment and reconnaissance missions.

Moreover, the Hayate Clan had supported Hiruzen Sarutobi back when he first assumed the position of Hokage.

That was why Hiruzen Sarutobi had always regarded Gekko Getsuei as a trusted subordinate.

Unfortunately, despite his exceptional reconnaissance abilities,

his strength was somewhat lacking, preventing him from being promoted to commander.

But honestly, if he had been too strong, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not have trusted him either.

He feared that the man might threaten his position.

Hatake Sakumo was the perfect example.

It was like Wu Dalang opening a shop—even Yao Ming would not be allowed in.

That was exactly the situation.

Suddenly, the doors to the Hokage's Office were violently shoved open, slamming into the wall behind them with a loud bang.

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi was startled.

When he saw who it was, his increasingly white brows rose. "Jiraiya?"

"Waiting for Gekko Getsuei?"

Jiraiya asked with an utterly impassive face.

For someone who usually grinned and joked around, such an expression was equivalent to fury.

"Hmm?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow furrowed even deeper.

How did Jiraiya know?

But before he could ask,

Jiraiya suddenly reached behind his back, pulled something out, and flung it at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Hiruzen Sarutobi instinctively caught it.

He lowered his eyes.

A bloodstained... corner of an Anbu vest?

"Jiraiya, this is..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head again and looked at this sole direct disciple with whom he still shared a bond of master and student, utterly confused.

"The scraps left over from Gengetsu's Ninja Hounds' lunch."

Jiraiya snorted.

If merely witnessing that bloody scene at noon had not been enough to make Jiraiya completely lose his composure,

then seeing Gekko Nin, who had lost her husband, and the infant who had just been born only to suffer the pain of losing his father, named "Gekko Hayate," after he returned to Leaf Village with Minato Namikaze,

caused the reason in the softhearted Jiraiya's mind to collapse.

He could not be bothered with the grudges between Gengetsu and old man Sarutobi.

But he could not tolerate innocent people being dragged into their feud.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils suddenly contracted.

From Jiraiya's simple words, he had already guessed what had happened.

"That bastard is getting far too arrogant, isn't he?!"

Danzo, who had been eavesdropping outside as usual, entered through the open doorway and snorted coldly.

"He even dared to kill Anbu! Sarutobi, it seems it's time to issue an arrest warrant!"

His Root monitored all of Leaf Village around the clock.

When his subordinates reported that Jiraiya had headed toward the Administrative Building with an angry expression,

Danzo knew that something had probably happened.

He had arrived just in time to hear about this matter.

"Enough! Can you stop attacking your own people?!"

Danzo naturally had his own confidence in saying that.

Though not yet fifty, he still barely maintained Kage-level strength.

Hearing Danzo's cold order, Jiraiya could no longer suppress the fury in his heart and shouted, "The enemies outside are stirring, yet instead of thinking about how to deal with them, you're busy plotting against your own people?!"

If you hadn't stupidly sent people to monitor Gengetsu, would so much trouble have happened?

"What do you mean, Jiraiya?"

Danzo coldly turned to face him. "You can't possibly have failed to notice that Sarutobi Shinnosuke's death had nothing to do with Hatake Gengetsu, can you?"

"Or were you involved in it too?"

Danzo asked again.

"Danzo!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned and rebuked him.

Danzo had indeed gone too far with that remark.

"...So even you suspect me?"

Jiraiya laughed in fury, turned, and walked away. "Fine. Do whatever you want."

Indeed, because of his position, Jiraiya had not spoken too plainly about Gengetsu and Sarutobi Shinnosuke's affair.

But what Jiraiya had never expected

was that Danzo would actually suspect him as well.

Jiraiya was good-tempered, but he was not some soft target for others to bully.

Early the next morning,

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the Hokage's Office, staring silently at a letter on his desk for a long time.

Jiraiya had left it behind.

In the letter, Jiraiya said that he wished to take Minato Namikaze on a journey through the nations to train.

They had already left.

In other words, Jiraiya had acted first and reported afterward to his teacher.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could more or less guess Jiraiya's intentions.

But he did not show much anger.

Because he was not worried that Minato Namikaze could leave his faction.

Tap, tap~

Hiruzen Sarutobi lightly tapped the desk twice with his fingers.

The next instant, an Anbu member appeared before Hiruzen Sarutobi, kneeling on one knee.

"Lord Hokage!"

"How is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki doing?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

"Yes, she remains under Anbu surveillance. If there is any sign of her going berserk, we will stop her immediately."

The Anbu member replied with his head lowered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded in satisfaction.

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki.

How could Hiruzen Sarutobi not know about her relationship with Minato Namikaze?

As long as he kept Kushina in his grasp, Minato Namikaze would remain firmly tied to his chariot.

If he wanted to travel and train, then let him go.

Train Minato Namikaze, that civilian genius, well—ideally, train him until he was even stronger than Hatake Gengetsu!

"Oh, right. Light seems to be highly accomplished in the Body Flicker Technique."

Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly recalled something else and asked the Anbu member before him.

"Uh? Y-yes."

"Go retrieve the Scroll of Seals. Later, help me deliver something to Kushina Uzumaki."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

Minato Namikaze valued feelings deeply. He might as well grant him a favor first.

Outside Leaf Village, beside Gengetsu's small farmhouse amid the fields.

"Going off to train, huh~"

Hearing Jiraiya's words, Gengetsu, surrounded by Ninja Hounds at his side, could not help thinking of the future training journey Jiraiya would take with Naruto.