Another "Gen"?

Seeing Uchiha Gen with nowhere left to retreat, about to be turned into a pincushion by his own Shuriken.

Jiraiya frowned slightly. Is that all? Whatever, he won't die.

But the Shuriken passed straight through Uchiha Gen's body without the slightest resistance and shot directly at Jiraiya. A phantom?!

Jiraiya was startled. Before he could react, the Shuriken grazed the back of his hand, leaving a small cut. He flashed away to evade it.

At some point, Uchiha Gen had climbed into a tree. His fingers twitched, and the Shuriken danced in his hands, always suddenly changing direction from angles Jiraiya never expected.

After some thought, Uchiha Gen pulled another four Shuriken from his ninja tool pouch and threw them out. This time, however, there were no chakra threads attached. The Shuriken collided with one another and changed course, creating an unexpectedly beautiful sight from outside the battlefield.

With too many Shuriken coming at him, Jiraiya gave up on dodging. He retreated while forming hand seals, and the white hair on his head suddenly surged out, shielding him from behind as it hardened into sharp spikes. Ninja Art: Needle Jizo! After blocking the attack, his hair swept outward, knocking down and severing every Shuriken.

Using the temporary loss of vision caused by the hair, Jiraiya shifted his position and threw three Kunai at Uchiha Gen at high speed! A closer look revealed that each one had an Explosive Tag tied to it.

Uchiha Gen's pupils contracted as his Sharingan spun rapidly. The three Kunai slowed in his vision. He quickly drew the last Kunai from his ninja tool pouch and knocked away two of them in advance, but he was too late for the last one! He leaned back and jumped from the tree to evade it, yet splinters kicked up by the Explosive Tag still cut his right cheek. Blood ran down his face.

(Skin damage: 0.1%)

Other than the scattered Shuriken around them and the slightly heavier breathing from both sides, everything seemed to have returned to the way it had been when they first faced off.

If this was only a test, this should be enough, Uchiha Gen thought. Yet his eyes did not dare leave Jiraiya for even a moment. Some of the Shuriken below had not been completely damaged. Should he go down and retrieve them later? Forget it, that would be too undignified.

Though he had already been chased all over the place, so he did not have much dignity to begin with... The more he thought about it, the weaker, more pitiful, and more helpless he felt.

Jiraiya watched Uchiha Gen's Sharingan continue staring straight at him. He had to admit, being watched by eyes like those really made him feel... annoyed? Irritated?

...Anyway, it was an indescribable feeling. It was unpleasant. And did that exchange just now count as a draw? Though he had not used his full strength.

Naruto stared wide-eyed at the battle between the two. From beginning to end, it had probably lasted less than a minute, and both had suffered only minor scratches. He was a little confused. "Kakashi-sensei, what's going on now?"

Kakashi silently compared himself to Uchiha Gen. It seemed that if he fought him, at most he could only hold him off. They would be evenly matched...

Thinking of the confidence he had once had when facing Jiya, the corner of his mouth drooped a little. Still, he said, "Don't worry. Lord Jiraiya will definitely win." Leaving aside Jiraiya-sensei's own strength, if he got serious, he still had a powerful summoned beast!

"Can I leave now?" Uchiha Gen asked without much emotion, though he was somewhat uncertain inside. After all, there was no such thing as keeping one's word when dealing with an enemy.

Jiraiya pondered for a moment, then nodded when he saw the blood running down his face.

Noticing Jiraiya's gaze, Uchiha Gen subconsciously touched his face and saw the red on his hand—he was injured. There really was blood.

At such an inappropriate moment, Uchiha Gen began to wonder: If this blood were used for DNA, whose would it be? But while he was thinking, his feet had already honestly carried him away.

Jiraiya watched Uchiha Gen disappear into the forest. Scratching his head, he laughed at Naruto and the others. "All right, it's fine now. Let's head back. There's still plenty to deal with in Konoha."

Thinking of that huge pile of documents, he needed to get Tsunade back as soon as possible...

At this moment, Sasuke saw Jiraiya simply let Uchiha Gen go. Angrily, he ran up to Jiraiya and demanded, "Why didn't you ask him what really happened on the Clan Massacre Night?"

Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. What a rude little brat. He reached out and flicked Sasuke's forehead with a finger. A red mark immediately appeared there, and Sasuke staggered back several steps. "Uchiha brat, that's your problem, not mine. If Naruto hadn't begged me, would you even be standing in front of me questioning me right now?"

Hiss... For some reason, Uchiha Gen suddenly seemed very polite by comparison.

Kakashi gave an awkward laugh 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 regretted letting Sasuke slip away from his attention for even a moment.

One of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha—just like Orochimaru. Was Naruto learning from him these past few days? Was that why he had improved so quickly? Sasuke clenched his fists. That dead last...

Suddenly, Sasuke seemed to think of something. He took a deep breath, composed himself, indicated to Kakashi that he had calmed down, and walked toward Jiraiya again.

Just as Naruto and the others became tense.

Sasuke suddenly bowed ninety degrees to Jiraiya. "I apologize for my previous rudeness!" Even if Orochimaru was weak, he was still stronger than Sasuke was now. As for asking Jiraiya to teach him... he had indeed considered it just now, but his pride had not sunk so low that he would compete with the dead last for a teacher. This move left Naruto and the others staring blankly for a moment.

When he returned to the group, Sasuke glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye. His gaze flickered uncertainly, and no one knew what he was thinking...

Completely unaware of Sasuke's thoughts, Kakashi suddenly sneezed. He rubbed his nose and thought, Who's thinking about me?

Jiraiya did not understand what was going on either, but he was not petty enough to argue with a child. He only felt that this Uchiha brat was still salvageable.

As for why he had not asked those questions, he simply found them troublesome. They would probably involve many things, and that was something the Hokage should worry about.

Earlier, on Uchiha Gen's side, as he got farther and farther from Sasuke, his head began to ache faintly. He shook his head. What the hell? Can an Impure World Reincarnation body get headaches too?

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

After thinking it over, he planned to take a look around Danzo's place. With that whole arm full of Sharingan, plucking out any two would be enough. But he had to think of a way; he definitely could not do it alone.

Danzo, the only character in the Hokage world who could never be whitewashed. Uchiha Gen felt no psychological burden at all about making a move against him. The only problem was that he could not beat him.

—His head still hurt badly.

As he leaped onto another branch, his leg suddenly gave out beneath him. He slipped from the tree and crashed to the ground. Uchiha Gen struggled to prop himself up, but his vision went black, and he completely lost awareness of the outside world.

Jiraiya walked along the road, apparently discussing Icha Icha Paradise with Kakashi. Though that was indeed what they were doing, he had also been keeping part of his attention on their surroundings. Catching sight of a branch swaying slightly in a tree, he wondered, Was the wind blowing in that direction?...

When Uchiha Gen regained consciousness, he found himself in a pitch-black space. Yet he could clearly see what was around him, making one wonder where the light was coming from.

In the middle of this space stood a large cross. Its entire body was black, but its outline glowed faintly red. Looking closely, it seemed that someone was chained beneath it.

Uchiha Gen searched through all his memories of Naruto. The only thing that somewhat matched the current situation was Tsukuyomi used by Uchiha Itachi, but that made no sense. And besides...

"Successfully pulled in. Target located!" A person who looked exactly like Uchiha Gen suddenly appeared behind him and murmured softly. Compared with Uchiha Gen, however, his expression was far more indifferent—not arrogance, but a mechanical sort of state.