The Golden Finger's Anomaly

"Not entirely out of enmity... Lord Hokage, you should ask Jiraiya-sama. He seems to be that Rinnegan user's teacher."

Uchiha Shūichi spoke calmly. As his words fell, he saw the Third Hokage's pipe tremble slightly, a look of astonishment crossing his face:

"Jiraiya... he's connected to that Rinnegan user?!"

"Yes, it seems he once taught that Rinnegan user ninjutsu for a time, and the other called him teacher."

The Third Hokage tightened his grip on his pipe, his expression unreadable. Then Uchiha Shūichi continued:

"By the way, the Rinnegan user also has some grudges with Root. It appears the organization he once founded was wiped out by Root."

"What?! Root has fought the Rinnegan user before?!"

The Third Hokage felt a surge of frustration. How did he know nothing of this?! What had his subordinates been hiding from him, the Hokage?

Jiraiya was his student, Shimura Danzō his old comrade—both had met the Rinnegan user, yet neither had reported it to him!

What were they thinking? Did they truly not take the village leader seriously?! In the end, he was the last to learn about the Rinnegan user... How could he run Konoha Village with these insects around!?

A storm raged in the Third Hokage's heart, but his face remained gentle, betraying no Negative Emotion. He tapped his pipe and said calmly:

"Alright, Shūichi Jonin, you've worked hard. Go rest for now."

"Understood, Lord Hokage!"

Uchiha Shūichi slowly pushed the door open and left. Once he was completely gone, the Third Hokage's gentle expression gradually faded, replaced by an indescribable gloom. With a crack, his treasured pipe now bore faint fissures.

Seeing the cracks, the Third Hokage snapped back to reality. He took a deep breath, pressed lightly on the desk, and with a rustling sound, several Anbu appeared in the room.

"Summon Jiraiya and Shimura Danzō. Now. I want to see them immediately."

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

The Anbu vanished instantly. The Third Hokage sighed helplessly, reaching for another puff of his pipe, but seeing the cracks, he wordlessly tossed it onto the desk.

Uchiha Shūichi didn't know what happened in the Hokage's office afterward, but he could guess. No matter the Third Hokage's personality, he must be seething with rage.

Yet so what? The Third Hokage could neither deal with Shimura Danzō nor punish Jiraiya—at most, he'd give them a thorough scolding.

After that, they'd carry on as before, still withholding reports from the Third Hokage.

In the end, even the seemingly mild Jiraiya had his own ideals and goals, never fully acting as the Third Hokage's subordinate.

That was the Third Hokage's headache, not Uchiha Shūichi's concern.

Speaking of this operation, he had gained something: using Kotoamatsukami to control Konan, planting a solid spy beside Nagato Uzumaki.

Beyond that, the Akatsuki Organization's Demonic Statue of the Outer Path being exposed would make collecting the Tailed Beasts harder. Uchiha Shūichi had done all this to delay Kaguya Otsutsuki's emergence.

At least until he knew what his Golden Finger was, he could decide his stance on the Otsutsuki Clan.

Speaking of the Golden Finger, that blurry orb of light still hadn't fully formed. But faintly, he could see a white space shaped like a box.

By his estimate, it might take three more years to truly know its full form. With no threat of the massacre night for now, Uchiha Shūichi believed he could wait for it to appear.

"But is it my imagination? That space seems to have a figure sitting on the ground?"

Uchiha Shūichi was slightly startled. As the orb grew clearer, he indeed saw a figure in that space, sitting cross-legged and motionless, with what looked like a rod-shaped object on its knees.

Unfortunately, the image was too blurry. No matter how he focused, he couldn't make it out. After a moment, he gave up.

"It's only three years anyway. I'll see it then... I hope the person in that space is reasonable."

This uncertainty troubled Uchiha Shūichi, but he had no other choice.

What this so-called Golden Finger really was, even he didn't know. He couldn't even confirm if it was a Golden Finger, so he couldn't control the situation.

"For now... I'll just have to wait."

Night fell slowly. As Uchiha Shūichi sank into sleep, he vaguely felt himself descend into a strange space.

It was a pure white space, about the size of a small plaza. In the center, a faintly glowing orb rotated gently.

Beneath the glowing orb sat a cross-legged figure, casting a long shadow in the light behind it.

"Is this... the space inside my Golden Finger? How did I suddenly enter here?"

Uchiha Shūichi tensed slightly, looking at the seated figure. But the next second, his mouth twitched.

From a distance, the figure seemed imposing, but on closer look, it was just a shriveled corpse.

Perhaps due to the space's unique environment, the corpse hadn't rotted but had dried into a mummy. On closer inspection, black traces of blood could be seen at its seven orifices.

And Uchiha Shūichi could sense that this was purely a dried corpse, no different from an ordinary one.

A powerful enough expert, even as a corpse, was entirely different from a common person.

In the Naruto world, an Otsutsuki's corpse, even after death, still contained immense Chakra, remaining undecayed for millennia.

This corpse had dried up with no energy aura, meaning that before death, the living person's strength hadn't reached that level.