Half a month had passed since the intelligence was sent, and Uchiha Shisui had finally received reinforcements from Konoha.
At a hot spring inn, a little Giant Toad looked around, as if checking whether anyone had followed it.
After confirming the area was safe, it hopped into one of the inn's rooms.
Uchiha Shisui had been notified, so he was already waiting inside.
When the little Giant Toad spotted Uchiha Shisui on a beam, it stopped moving. Its mouth opened, and a hand reached out, followed by an entire body.
"So this is Yugakure? The old man really did give me a good assignment."
After Jiraiya ended the Summoning Technique and saw that no one was around, he quickly changed into his bathing clothes.
"Are you Jiraiya, one of the Sannin?"
Seeing that Jiraiya didn't seem to notice him, Uchiha Shisui spoke up.
Jiraiya followed the voice and looked up at the ceiling, finally spotting Uchiha Shisui sitting on a beam.
When he heard Shisui ask about his name, he spread his arms, straightened his back, dropped into a horse stance, and raised his head as he declared:
"That's right! I am the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku! Jiraiya, reporting in!"
Uchiha Shisui couldn't be bothered to watch his introduction. He jumped down from the beam and took out a scroll.
"You know the mission already, right? This is the intelligence I've gathered on the Sand Ninja over the past half month. Let's go over it."
"Wait! There's no rush with the mission. I need to do some research first. I mean, I've come all this way. See ya!"
Jiraiya scratched his head and quickly refused, then headed straight for the bathhouse downstairs.
"This guy!"
Uchiha Shisui awkwardly lowered the scroll in his hand, changed into a bathrobe, and followed him.
In the steaming open-air bath, Jiraiya balanced a wooden sign marked "Yu" on his head, then slowly climbed up the tall wall.
"Heh-heh!"
Once he'd climbed over the wall, Jiraiya stared straight down at the women's bath, his face full of lecherous curiosity.
Every so often, he looked surprised or satisfied by something he saw.
"So this is the 'research' you were talking about?"
Uchiha Shisui walked over to the wall. Seeing Jiraiya's behavior, he looked at him with disdain.
"Shh!"
Jiraiya spotted Uchiha Shisui and quickly raised a finger to his lips, signaling him to keep quiet.
After jumping down from the wall, he pulled Uchiha Shisui over and said, "I'm planning to write a new book, so I need a lot of material. I really was doing research just now, okay?"
"Sure, sure. That excuse is barely acceptable." Uchiha Shisui folded his arms and nodded.
"Honestly, is my word really that hard to believe?"
Jiraiya hung his head and spoke dejectedly.
"Oh, stop it!"
"Haha~(￣▽￣~)~, sis, I'm coming! (My hands are itching to grab a certain round thing.)"
Jiraiya's ears twitched. The playful voices coming from the women's bath next door kept tugging at his heartstrings.
"Kid, stop interrupting my research! How about this: when we're done tonight, I'll grant you one favor. You should know that a promise from me, Jiraiya, is worth its weight in gold!"
Jiraiya patted his chest and turned to look at Uchiha Shisui.
But Uchiha Shisui was nowhere in sight.
"Where'd that kid go?"
Jiraiya scratched his head and was about to climb back up the wall to keep watching when he saw Uchiha Shisui already up there.
"You! You little... You're one of us!" Jiraiya angrily pointed at Uchiha Shisui, who was peeking over the wall.
"Idiot! If you don't look now, they'll be gone."
Uchiha Shisui rolled his eyes and spoke calmly.
Hearing that, Jiraiya forgot all about scolding Uchiha Shisui and quickly climbed onto the wall, peering down at the women's bath with a wide-eyed smile.
Seeing Jiraiya's head sticking out where it could easily be spotted, Shisui leaned over and whispered something in his ear.
Jiraiya immediately understood, then put the idea into action.
In the bushes around the women's bath, two shrubs, one big and one small, had bright eyes and were careful not to miss a thing. The water rippled, and peach blossoms bloomed in the pool, giving Jiraiya and Uchiha Shisui a feast for the eyes.
The next day, Jiraiya and Uchiha Shisui enjoyed breakfast in their room.
"Haha! Shisui, how would you like to become my student? You know, a lot of people would love to be a student of me, the Toad Sage!"
Jiraiya gnawed on a chicken leg and draped an arm over Uchiha Shisui's shoulder.
"We'll see how you do. After all, you're an idiot who couldn't even think of using the Transformation Technique to spy."
Uchiha Shisui dodged Jiraiya's attempt to pull him close and replied coolly.
"Huh? Are you doubting the genius Jiraiya, one of the Sannin?"
"Am I wrong?"
"You little brat! Don't underestimate one of the Sannin, damn it!"
"Am I wrong?"
"Can't be helped. You're a tough kid."
Jiraiya quickly lost their back-and-forth with Uchiha Shisui.
"Come to think of it, our mission is to disrupt the Sand Ninja's operations in the Land of Rivers, right?"
Jiraiya suddenly turned serious and spoke to Uchiha Shisui.
"Yeah. Lord Hokage needs to send a large number of ninja and supplies to the border, which will take time. So we need to harass the Sand Ninja in the Land of Rivers and stall them."
Uchiha Shisui spread out the intelligence in his hands and spoke calmly.
Jiraiya took the intelligence from him. After looking over the Sand Ninja's deployment, he nodded. "I've got a general idea from your report, but I have some intelligence for you too."
With that, Jiraiya handed Uchiha Shisui a scroll.
Uchiha Shisui skimmed it and quickly understood what had recently happened in the Shinobi World.
Uchiha Shisui slowly unrolled the intelligence scroll: large numbers of Cloud Ninja and Sand Ninja had appeared in the Land of Rain, and the two sides had clashed. Under Rasa, the new master of Magnet Release, the Cloud Ninja forces had suffered heavy losses. The Third Raikage then launched a surprise attack on Iwagakure in the Land of Earth. Sand Ninja were also threatened by Hanzo of Amegakure and withdrew from the Land of Rain, heading instead for the Land of Rivers.
"By the looks of it, it's only a matter of time before the war reaches the Land of Fire."
Jiraiya sighed heavily, his expression grave, as if he could already see the brutal war that was about to come.
"It's just a war. Relax," Uchiha Shisui said with a casual smile.
"Don't think war is easy, kid. If that man hadn't let us go back then, I might've died in the last war too."
As he spoke, Jiraiya stood up and stretched. His gaze gradually grew distant, as though the scene before him had carried him back to the brutal, smoke-filled battlefield of the Second Shinobi World War.
Jiraiya fixed his gaze on Shisui and said earnestly, "War means countless lives lost. It takes away the people and bonds you cherish. It's a song of blood and tears."
"Maybe," Uchiha Shisui said indifferently.
Looking at the young, hot-blooded Uchiha Shisui, who seemed so unconcerned, Jiraiya couldn't help remembering that he'd once been just the same. He shook his head helplessly and slowly headed for the door.
Watching Jiraiya slip away, Uchiha Shisui thought to himself: Maybe it really is like that for you all. But for me, it isn't...