Another "Origin"?

Seeing Uchiha Gen had nowhere left to retreat and was about to be turned into a hedgehog by his own shuriken, Jiraiya frowned slightly. Is this it? Oh well, he won't die.

However, the shuriken passed directly through Uchiha Gen's body, flying straight toward Jiraiya without the slightest resistance. An afterimage?!

Jiraiya was startled. Before he could react, a shuriken grazed his hand, leaving a small cut, and he quickly dodged to the side.

Uchiha Gen, who had somehow reached the trees, flicked his fingers. The shuriken danced in his hands, always curving toward corners Jiraiya would never expect.

After a moment's thought, Uchiha Gen pulled four more shuriken from his ninja pouch and threw them. This time, there were no chakra threads attached; the shuriken collided with one another to alter their trajectories, creating a strangely aesthetic display for anyone watching from outside the battlefield.

Seeing the sheer volume of shuriken, Jiraiya abandoned the idea of dodging. He retreated while weaving hand signs, his white hair suddenly surging to shield him, hardening into sharp spikes. Ninja Art: Needle Jizo! After blocking the assault, he swept his hair outward, knocking down and cutting through all the incoming shuriken.

Taking advantage of the temporary loss of vision caused by the hair, Jiraiya shifted his position and threw three kunai at high speed toward Uchiha Gen! A closer look revealed they were all strapped with Explosive Tags.

Uchiha Gen's pupils constricted, his Sharingan spinning rapidly. In his vision, the three kunai slowed down. He quickly drew the last kunai from his pouch and deflected two of them in advance, but the third was too close! He leaned back and jumped off the tree to dodge, yet he was still grazed on the right cheek by wood splinters kicked up by the explosion, blood trickling down his face.

Skin damage: 0.1%

Aside from the shuriken scattered about and the slightly heavy breathing of both parties, everything seemed to return to the state of their initial standoff.

If this was just a probe, this should be enough, Uchiha Gen thought, though he dared not take his eyes off Jiraiya for a second. He looked at the shuriken below; some weren't completely destroyed. Should I go down and retrieve them later? Forget it, that's too undignified.

Though, being chased around like this, I don't have much dignity left anyway... The more he thought about it, the weaker, more pathetic, and helpless he felt.

Jiraiya, watching Uchiha Gen's Sharingan still locked onto him, had to admit that being stared at by eyes like those was truly (annoying/irritating?).

...It was just an indescribable feeling, very unpleasant. Besides, the exchange just now was a draw, right? Even if he hadn't used his full strength.

Naruto watched the battle between the two with his mouth agape. From start to finish, it had lasted less than a minute, and both had only sustained minor grazes. He was confused. "Kakashi-sensei, what's the situation now?"

Kakashi silently compared himself to Uchiha Gen, thinking that if he fought him, he could at most hold him off—a 50/50 split...

Thinking back to his confidence when facing Jiya, his lips drooped slightly. However, "Don't worry, Lord Jiraiya will definitely win." Not to mention Jiraiya's own strength, the man still possessed a powerful summoning beast!

"Can I go now?" Uchiha Gen asked, his tone devoid of emotion, though he felt a bit uneasy inside. After all, there was no such thing as keeping one's word when dealing with enemies.

Jiraiya pondered for a moment, then nodded after seeing the blood trickling down the boy's face.

Noticing Jiraiya's gaze, Uchiha Gen instinctively touched his face and saw the red on his hand—he was actually bleeding.

At this inappropriate moment, Uchiha Gen began to wonder: If I used this blood for DNA testing, whose would it be? But despite his thoughts, his feet were already honestly making an escape.

Jiraiya watched Uchiha Gen disappear into the woods, scratched his head, and laughed at Naruto and the others. "Alright, it's over. Let's head back; there's still a lot for Konoha to deal with."

Thinking of that massive pile of paperwork, he really needed to get Tsunade back...

Seeing Uchiha Gen let go by Jiraiya just like that, Sasuke ran up to Jiraiya in a rage and demanded, "Why didn't you ask him clearly what happened on the night of the massacre?"

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. What a rude brat. He flicked his finger against Sasuke's forehead, leaving a red mark and causing the boy to stumble back a few steps. "Uchiha brat, that's your problem, not mine. If Naruto hadn't begged me, do you think you'd be standing here questioning me right now?"

Hiss~ For some reason, he felt the Uchiha Gen from earlier had been quite polite.

Kakashi offered a bitter, apologetic smile and pulled Sasuke back. "Sasuke, be polite. This is a senior, and one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, Lord Jiraiya." At the same time, he felt annoyed at himself for letting his guard down and losing track of Sasuke.

The Legendary Sannin—just like Orochimaru. Was this who Naruto had been learning from all these days? No wonder his progress was so fast. Sasuke clenched his fists. That dead-last...

Suddenly, Sasuke thought of something. He took a deep breath, composed himself, and walked back toward Jiraiya.

Just as Naruto and the others grew tense, Sasuke suddenly bowed ninety degrees to Jiraiya. "I apologize for my previous rudeness!" Even if Orochimaru was weak, he was still stronger than he was now. As for begging Jiraiya to teach him... he had indeed thought of that just now, but his pride wasn't so low that he would fight a dead-last for a teacher. This move left Naruto and the others stunned.

When he returned to the group, Sasuke glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye, his gaze flickering as he pondered something...

Kakashi, completely unaware of Sasuke's thoughts, suddenly sneezed and rubbed his nose. Who's thinking of me?

Jiraiya didn't understand the situation either, but he wasn't one to bicker with a child; he just felt this Uchiha brat might still be salvageable.

As for why he didn't ask those questions, he simply found it troublesome. It would likely involve too many things, and that was a matter for the Hokage to worry about.

Time shifted forward. On Uchiha Gen's side, as he got further away from Sasuke, his head began to ache faintly. He shook his head. What the hell? Can a body reanimated by Impure World Reincarnation even get a headache?

Having given up on Sasuke's eyes, he now only had three choices: Itachi, Obito, or Danzo. As for Kakashi, that guy only had one.

After some thought, he decided to pay a visit to Danzo. With a whole arm full of Sharingan, plucking two would be enough. But he had to figure out a way; he couldn't do it alone.

Danzo, the only character in the Hokage series who couldn't be redeemed. Uchiha Gen had no psychological burden about targeting him, but the only problem was that he couldn't win.

--His head still hurt so much.

As he leaped to another tree branch, his legs suddenly went weak. He slipped and tumbled to the ground. Uchiha Gen struggled to push himself up, but his vision went black, and he completely lost perception of the outside world.

Jiraiya walked along the road, ostensibly discussing the literary merits of Icha Icha Paradise with Kakashi—though he was actually doing just that—but he remained distracted, keeping an eye on his surroundings. He caught a glimpse of a branch swaying in the trees. Is that the way the wind is blowing?...

When Uchiha Gen regained consciousness, he found himself in a pitch-black space, yet he could clearly see what was around him, leaving one to wonder where the light source came from.

In the center of this space stood a large cross, pitch-black yet emitting a faint red glow from its outline. A closer look revealed a person chained to the cross.

Uchiha Gen scoured his memories of Naruto, but the only thing that fit this situation was the Tsukuyomi cast by Uchiha Itachi. But that made no sense. And...

"Successfully pulled in, target located!" A person who looked exactly like Uchiha Gen suddenly appeared behind him, whispering to himself. Only, compared to Uchiha Gen, his expression was more indifferent—not arrogant, but in a state akin to a machine.