Jiraiya Appears

Land of Water.

Kirigakure, Mizukage's Office.

Raiga Kurosuki knelt beside Suikazan Fuguki's corpse, drenched in sweat. After reporting the details of the mission, he lowered his head, not daring to look directly at the faces of the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, and Elder Genshi.

"Elder Genshi, what do you make of this?"

Since an elite jonin of the village had died, the matter fell under the jurisdiction of Elder Genshi, who handled internal affairs.

"Hmm..."

Genshi stroked his beard, then slowly walked over to Suikazan Fuguki's body. He lifted the white cloth and examined the hole through his chest before speaking.

"I don't believe he was lying."

"I do have some recollection of that immortal ninja..."

As an elder who had followed the First Mizukage since the Warring States period, he was around the same age as Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, and knew many stories from the past.

He rubbed his gleaming bald head, then pulled out the Summoning Scroll he always carried with him. It looked rather worn.

"Summoning Technique...!"

Genshi opened a small booklet and spread it on the table, pointing to an entry.

"Kakuzu... an elite jonin from the former Takigakure... In the early days, when the nations were establishing their ninja villages, he was ordered to assassinate the First, Senju Hashirama... But he was unquestionably defeated by Hashirama's Wood Release secret techniques..."

"Though he narrowly escaped death, when he returned to his village, all that awaited him was the disgrace of failure and severe punishment."

"Fearing Konoha's endless retaliation, the higher-ups of Takigakure even tried to hand Kakuzu over to Konoha to appease its anger..."

"In the end, Kakuzu broke out of prison, consumed by hatred. He killed all the higher-ups in Takigakure and stole the secret technique regarded as the village's greatest treasure..."

"It was true?!" Karatachi Yagura and Genshi's two trusted ninja, Ao and Gonbei, were stunned. To have fought the legendary God of Shinobi and survived—Kakuzu was quite a man!

They didn't know what this so-called "secret technique" was, but from Raiga Kurosuki's account, Kakuzu seemed to be highly proficient in all five nature transformations. He also had more than one life... and... disgusting black tentacles...

"I see..." Though it was hard to believe, Karatachi Yagura had great faith in Elder Genshi's words. "Then we can cancel Raiga Kurosuki's punishment..."

But for now, they had to find someone to fill the vacancy in the Seven Ninja Swordsmen as soon as possible.

Land of Earth.

Iwagakure, Tsuchikage Office.

—Bang!

The Tsuchikage's desk was smashed to pieces with a slap. Ōnoki was furious over Roshi's disappearance. He paid no heed to the objections of Iwagakure's higher-ups or his eldest son, Kitsuchi, and declared Roshi an "S-rank missing-nin."

Land of Lightning.

Kumogakure, Raikage's Office.

The atmosphere in Kumogakure was much better than in the other villages. After all, they were the "victorious" side, even if the Tiger Talisman they had brought back was now split in two...

"...You still can't figure out what it does...?"

After learning that the Talismans possessed a special divine power, Kumogakure had considered whether to return the Talisman to the Daimyo of the Land of Fire in exchange for a hundred million in bounty. But... the Tiger Talisman, broken in half as it was, seemed to have lost all its power...

"I'm sorry, Lord Raikage..."

A lowered his head. Though the Third Raikage was his father, just as with an emperor and crown prince in ancient times, he still had to show respect to the Third Raikage as the "leader of the village" in public.

"Forget it..."

The Tiger Talisman might be broken, but the Land of Fire hadn't said it had to be intact. They just needed to use a trick when handing it over so no one would notice.

Land of Waves, where Kakuzu was.

After Kakuzu had been divided into good and evil halves, they spent every day locked in a battle of "wits."

When they reached Gato's underground vault and saw mountains of gold, silver, jewels, and cash, Evil Kakuzu's first thought was to excitedly "swim" through it all.

Good Kakuzu, meanwhile, thought of the countless starving refugees in the Land of Waves and wanted to spend the money to help them.

The two Kakuzus couldn't agree. Evil Kakuzu was the first to snap and picked a fight with Good Kakuzu... In the end, neither won...

Later, Evil Kakuzu decided it was time to replace the four hearts he was missing. But Good Kakuzu said he didn't want his other half to kill anyone, so the two fought again.

By now... Evil Kakuzu felt like he was going insane... "It's all the fault of that stupid Talisman!"

With Uncle and Chixing rushing day and night, they soon found the place where the Talisman was hidden.

It was in the southwest of the Land of Fire, in a town called Tanzaku Town.

That's right, it was the "gambling capital of the Ninja World" from the original Naruto—the place where the Sannin gathered, and Tsunade's "happy place."

The streets were filled with the smell of alcohol, powder, and perfume, the calls of gamblers and geisha. The pleasure houses kept their doors wide open even in broad daylight, making Uncle avert his eyes.

As he put it, "Good grief! What's in front of me is more terrifying and dreadful than the claws of ten billion demons!"

Fortunately, information was easy to come by here. Before long, Uncle had learned something about the Talisman.

When the madam saw an old man like Uncle and a monster like Chixing, she had looked down on them, rolling her eyes.

That was until Uncle pulled out a thick wad of cash.

(Hidden backstage, Qian Yu remarked, You're underestimating the purchasing power of my Dimensional Points!)

"Oh, sir~ I was only joking with you just now."

Her change of attitude was so quick it was almost admirable. "I don't know what's gotten into that izakaya at the end of the alley lately!"

"Their youngest son isn't even a ninja, but somehow he's suddenly able to transform into anything! He can even turn customers into whatever animals they want to be!"

"Of course, something that unusual draws in customers. I haven't had many at my place these past few days~" The madam finished by fluttering her eyelashes at Uncle, as if to say, "How about supporting my business, sir? You still seem pretty spry!"

But Uncle walked away without looking back, and he and Chixing headed straight for the izakaya, their minds made up.

"Oh! I can sense dark chi!"

The izakaya wasn't packed with customers lining up, as they'd expected. Instead, the entrance had been wrecked, and the sound of things crashing came from inside every so often.

Inside the izakaya.

"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"

The man was tall, with a Forehead Protector bearing the character for "oil." His white hair fell all the way to his waist. He wore a red haori over a brown ninja outfit, wooden sandals, and ninja guards on both hands. A large scroll was slung across his back.

Even in the world of Naruto, a figure dressed like this was highly recognizable. That's right, he was the "Perverted Sage"—Jiraiya!