Mikoto: Qingshui Is Excellent

"Jiraiya, we were set up this time. But if you really dare to harm my subordinates, I'll never forgive you."

Before leaving, Hanzo left them with a threat.

It seemed that only this could preserve his dignity as a "demigod."

Jiraiya wasn't concerned by Hanzo's warning.

He had always pursued peace in the Ninja World. How could he possibly do something like that?

What concerned him more now was the identity of the person behind the scenes, pulling the strings in this incident.

They had completely manipulated both him and Amegakure.

"Could it have been Iwagakure?"

Jiraiya guessed.

In his view, only the other four of the Five Great Ninja Villages, which stood alongside Konoha, had the power to orchestrate this incident.

The Land of Rain lay between the three great nations of the Land of Fire, Land of Earth, and Land of Wind, so the most likely suspects were undoubtedly Iwagakure and Sunagakure.

But Sunagakure was relatively weak among the Five Great Ninja Villages, and the war had ended only recently. They should have been looking for ways to recover their strength as quickly as possible.

Iwagakure, on the other hand, was not much weaker overall than Konoha, aside from having fewer prodigies.

Moreover, Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki had always liked targeting Konoha because of what he'd experienced in his youth. That was why Jiraiya considered Iwagakure the most likely suspect.

"..."

Qingshui heard Jiraiya's muttering and merely shook his head slightly.

Go on, keep guessing. You're wrong either way.

If he didn't have memories from his previous life and know that Uchiha Madara was still alive, he would have thought Jiraiya's guess made sense too.

Leaving Jiraiya to speculate about who was behind everything, Qingshui turned to Mikoto and asked with concern, "Mikoto, are you still feeling unwell anywhere? I can treat you."

"I'm fine now. It's just that we'll have to stay in the Land of Rain for a few more days before we can return to Konoha."

Mikoto had been badly injured in her fight with Hanzo. She needed time to recuperate before she could fully recover.

Jiraiya was in the same situation.

"That's great. Not only do you get to take time off, you'll also have a beautiful woman keeping you company every day."

As he spoke, Qingshui brushed a stray lock of Mikoto's hair behind her ear.

Jiraiya happened to see the gesture.

"It's nice to be young."

Hearing that, Qingshui wanted to ask if Jiraiya thought he was old.

He was only in his twenties, after all, not the fifty-something old man he'd become in the future.

As for Mikoto, she felt a little shy at Jiraiya's comment, and her cheeks flushed.

For some reason, she thought again of Konan asking if she was Qingshui's girlfriend earlier.

Qingshui was excellent. It was easy to see why someone might fall for him.

When the three of them returned home, Qingshui's Shadow Clone finally dispersed, returning its memories to his original self.

At the same time, Minato told Jiraiya about the White Zetsu attack.

When Jiraiya heard that someone had been able to transform into Minato, even matching his Chakra perfectly, he looked incredulous.

A Transformation Technique like that was beyond anything he knew.

So he doubted Minato's account.

It wasn't that he didn't trust Minato. It was simply that something like this was too astonishing to believe.

But everyone else said the same thing, including Qingshui, who had just received his Shadow Clone's memories. In the end, Jiraiya chose to believe them.

"So this is the weirdo who turned into you, Jiraiya-sensei."

Looking at the dead White Zetsu, Jiraiya was at a loss.

He had traveled around the Ninja World before and could be considered well-informed.

But this was the first time he'd seen a strange creature like White Zetsu.

"Let's seal it up for now. Once we take it back to Konoha, we'll have the old man find someone to study it."

In the end, Jiraiya couldn't make sense of White Zetsu, so he settled on this plan.

No one objected.

So Jiraiya, the only one among them who knew the Sealing Technique, sealed the White Zetsu Corpse in a scroll himself, then handed it to Qingshui.

"Qingshui, could you take this back and give it to the old man?"

The "old man" Jiraiya meant was naturally Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Qingshui had no reason to refuse.

After that, Jiraiya and Mikoto, both injured and in need of rest, returned to their respective rooms.

At Jiraiya's request, Qingshui was left to guide Konan and the others in their training that day.

Mukai Yuki and Sasaki Ayami, who had already learned Water Walking, were among them.

Incidentally, when Konan learned that Qingshui would be staying there for a while longer, she was delighted.

Jiraiya didn't rest as soon as he returned to his room. Instead, he first reported the incident to Hiruzen Sarutobi and warned him to be on guard for possible action from Iwagakure.

He also made a point of praising Qingshui's performance.

Ninja carried messages quickly. Before long, Hiruzen Sarutobi, far away in Konoha, had learned what had happened in the Land of Rain.

"An Iwagakure conspiracy? And that mysterious white creature—could it be a biological weapon developed by Iwagakure too?"

After taking a deep drag on his pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately sent Anbu to summon Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu.

Since Iwagakure was involved, this was too important for him to decide on his own.

Hiruzen Sarutobi then reread Jiraiya's praise of Qingshui.

"He even managed to hold Hanzo off. It seems I underestimated Qingshui. Kosuke was right."

Qingshui had become a qualified Medical Ninja in only a year, and word of it had naturally reached Hiruzen's ears.

At the time, however, he hadn't paid it much attention.

After all, as Hokage, he had plenty of affairs to deal with each day. A young man with some talent in Medical Ninjutsu hardly seemed worth much of his attention.

He had simply looked into Qingshui's background, found nothing suspicious, and left it at that.

"Since he's a Medical Ninja, I'll have Tsunade guide him."

But when he thought of Tsunade, who was currently gambling and drinking every day, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a headache coming on.

That was why he hadn't considered having Tsunade take Qingshui as her student.

Besides, Qingshui wasn't far behind Tsunade in either Medical Ninjutsu or combat strength, so an apprenticeship wouldn't really be appropriate.

Once he'd made his decision, Hiruzen Sarutobi sent Anbu to inform Tsunade.

The Anbu ninja didn't dare delay. He immediately found Tsunade at a casino.

Seeing Tsunade in the middle of a winning streak, the Anbu ninja hesitated.

He felt that if he interrupted her now, she might punch him across the room—or even punch him to death.

But thinking of his mission, he steeled himself and stepped in front of Tsunade.

As expected, Tsunade was furious at being interrupted.

But when she saw that it was an Anbu ninja, she managed to hold her temper.

"Just tell me what you want."

The Anbu ninja breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly handed Tsunade the scroll containing information on Qingshui and Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders.

After reading it, Tsunade looked shocked.

"When did Qingshui get so strong?"

As someone who had lost to Hanzo, she knew better than most just how powerful he was.

That was exactly why Qingshui's strength had shocked her.