Jiraiya Returns to the Village

Konoha Village.

Bloodstains still remained where Naruto had just been beaten.

Two figures, one tall and one short, stood there with grim expressions. The brothers had hidden among the crowd and witnessed everything firsthand.

From Naruto being shoved to the ground, to Zhengye drawing his sword and killing someone, to his warning to the ANBU, they had heard every word.

"Brother, are we still going to do it?" the shorter younger brother asked hesitantly.

The taller older brother was visibly afraid. "Let's... let's go back and report first."

The two swiftly made their way through the streets and soon arrived at an abandoned warehouse behind Konoha Hospital.

They waited patiently.

After a long while, an orange-haired young man approached.

It was Yamanaka Fu, Danzo's last remaining subordinate in the village.

"How did it go?"

The taller brother looked embarrassed. "Sir, we... we hadn't even made a move before Naruto got beaten."

"Mm." Yamanaka Fu responded, "Isn't that good?"

The shorter brother looked both awkward and frightened.

"But the Police Force intervened, and the person who attacked him was killed."

Yamanaka Fu was startled. "Tell me everything."

The brothers then began with Naruto being shoved to the ground, recounting how Zhengye had saved Naruto and the words he had used to warn the ANBU.

Yamanaka Fu fell into thought after hearing them out.

Danzo's plan had been to stir up trouble in the first place. If Naruto was beaten and a brawl broke out with bloodshed, it would mean the Police Force had failed at its duties.

If the Police Force intervened in an incident where Naruto was being bullied, it meant they wanted to lay their hands on the Nine-Tails.

No matter what they did, it would provoke the Third Hokage's nerves.

After all, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had always been the Third Hokage's private preserve. He would not tolerate anyone else meddling with it.

I didn't expect Uchiha Zhengye to confront the ANBU head-on.

Perfect. The Third Hokage should already know about what happened today.

He should clash with Uchiha Zhengye, right?

There had once been Root agents planted within the ANBU, so such intelligence had been easy to obtain.

But now, Root was gone. Even if there were still hidden agents within the ANBU, whether they would listen to Danzo was another matter.

Yamanaka Fu could only make deductions.

As Danzo's right-hand man, he did not need to report such matters to know what Danzo was thinking.

"Keep looking for opportunities next time!"

The brothers who had come to report looked fearful. "But... Uchiha arrested so many people this time."

Yamanaka Fu's expression turned sinister. "You need to understand that Lord Danzo lent you five hundred thousand through the medical charity fund back then, allowing your mother's illness to be cured."

"To this day, you haven't repaid a single cent of those five hundred thousand."

The brothers' faces darkened. Danzo had indeed lent them quite a lot of money in the past.

But over the years, they had also done plenty of work for him.

Gathering information, spreading rumors, passing on intelligence—even though they were civilians, they were no worse at these tasks than shinobi.

Yet one task followed another, while their debt never decreased, and every time they were paid only meager wages.

For shinobi, five hundred thousand could be earned after just a few missions. But for ordinary people, simply living in Konoha was already difficult.

Making money was hard as well.

Seeing their troubled expressions, Yamanaka Fu softened his tone slightly. "Don't be so afraid."

"The Police Force isn't a prison. At most, you'll be locked up for a few days."

The brothers exchanged glances. They both felt that the current Police Force was somewhat different.

Yamanaka Fu continued to coax them. "How about this? If you pull this off, all your debts will be forgiven, and you won't have to do this kind of work again in the future."

They looked tempted and delighted, and Yamanaka Fu quickly added fuel to the fire.

"You only need to incite the crowd. Even if you're caught, you'll only be locked up for two days."

The brothers looked at each other again, and both could see the temptation in the other's eyes.

The older brother swallowed and finally hardened his heart. "Fine! We'll do it one last time."

Yamanaka Fu nodded in satisfaction. "Mm. Go make the arrangements. Any time over the next few days will do."

The two brothers left with excited yet uneasy expressions.

Yamanaka Fu's expression turned cold. After thinking for a moment, he decided to report to Danzo after all.

Hokage's Office.

"...Uchiha Zhengye killed a villager who attacked Naruto and gave Naruto some food."

Standing before the desk, an ANBU reported everything that had just happened to the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage frowned deeply. When he heard that "Uchiha Zhengye said the Police Force would be happy to take Naruto away," he clenched the pipe in his hand even tighter.

Clearly, Zhengye had begun openly challenging his authority.

Now it was a matter of who would yield first.

A sharp glint flashed in the Third Hokage's eyes. He absolutely would not yield on this matter.

"Starting tomorrow, increase the ANBU monitoring Naruto to twelve."

"If something similar happens again, immediately separate the Police Force from Naruto. You may engage them if necessary, but restraint is the priority. Notify me at once as well."

The ANBU answered solemnly, "Yes, Lord Hokage. Understood."

Then the figure swiftly vanished.

The Third Hokage picked up his pipe and walked to the window, just about to take a few puffs.

A hand suddenly reached in through the window.

Looking at that hand, the Third Hokage's eye twitched. He had been about to get angry, but his expression soon turned exasperated instead.

A burly figure climbed in through the window. He had a head of white hair, wore a red outer robe over a brown shinobi outfit, and had wooden sandals on his feet.

He wore a forehead protector with the character for oil on it, and his long white hair reached his waist.

It was none other than the Toad Sage, Jiraiya!

"Old man, I'm back!" Jiraiya laughed heartily, striking a dashing pose as he landed.

"There's a door, yet you insist on climbing through the window!"

The Third Hokage raised his pipe and struck Jiraiya on the head.

Thunk! The pipe hit his forehead protector with a dull sound.

"Ow!"

Jiraiya cried out exaggeratedly, looking aggrieved.

"Old man, what was that for? Why are you so angry?"

The Third Hokage glared at him.

"I had you track down Orochimaru's whereabouts these past few years. What have you been doing!?"

Jiraiya's gaze wandered, and he looked embarrassed. "He should have been active near the Land of Rain. I haven't found him yet."

"Haven't found him?" The Third Hokage snorted. "Or did you never go looking?"

The embarrassment on Jiraiya's face vanished in an instant. He coughed and said seriously,

"Old man, you know I have my own mission too. I need to search for the Child of Prophecy, and I need to gather material."

"Even if I found Orochimaru, it seems... well... it wouldn't be of much use."

Jiraiya spoke vaguely of it being "not much use," because the Third Hokage's order back then had only been to find Orochimaru.

But even if he found him, there had been no order to capture him or kill him.

Leaving aside whether Jiraiya could capture someone as capable as Orochimaru.

They were fellow disciples, and they had been comrades for many years. Jiraiya simply could not bring himself to do it.

The Third Hokage was silent for a long while before his quiet voice sounded.

"What if I intend to clear Orochimaru's name?"

"What!?"

Jiraiya, who had just sat down, abruptly shot to his feet. His face was filled with wild joy and disbelief.

"Old man, are you serious!?"

The Third Hokage slowly took a drag from his pipe, then slowly exhaled.

"Danzo's Root was destroyed by Uchiha. I found quite a lot of information while searching through it."

"The matter of Orochimaru using infants for human experiments was actually done by Danzo."

Jiraiya's expression shifted. After a moment of silence, he said, "...So Orochimaru was wronged?"

The Third Hokage shook his head slightly. "He was the one who conducted the experiments. He cannot be considered innocent."

"However..." The Third Hokage paused.

"The truth is no longer important. What matters is that I can pardon him on behalf of the village."

Jiraiya clenched his hands, struggling to suppress the joy on his face, but his voice still trembled slightly.

"Old man, you... you mean that?"

The Third Hokage nodded.

"Then I'll go find him right away."

Jiraiya was quick to act. He had only just returned to Konoha, yet he already wanted to leave again.

"Hold it!"

The Third Hokage shot him an irritated glare. "It won't be that easy. What are you in such a hurry for?"

"The village's troubles haven't even been resolved yet."

Jiraiya took a deep breath before barely managing to suppress his excitement.

"You mean Uchiha?"

"That's right. The current Uchiha are especially troublesome."

The Third Hokage slowly began recounting the recent events in the village.

Aside from what Jiraiya already knew about Danzo being mutilated into a human stump, the most important matters were the expansion of the Police Force's authority at the high-level meeting, and the Hyuga Clan, Ino-Shika-Cho, and other clans aligning themselves with Uchiha.

As Jiraiya listened, his expression grew increasingly grave.