Stirring

Forest outside Konoha Village.

A vortex appeared in midair.

Obito, who had just been spying on the streets of Konoha, stepped out of it.

Even now, he still looked completely bewildered.

The intelligence he had gathered over the past few days had utterly dumbfounded him.

The Uchiha Clan's way of doing things had completely changed. Under Zhengye's leadership, they were running everyone over equally.

Only a day had passed, and Konoha had suffered another loss.

Had Uchiha Zhengye become smarter along with awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan?

If the Uchiha continued developing like this, they might become the greatest obstacle to the Eye of the Moon Plan in the future!

A tremendous sense of crisis rose within Obito.

At that moment, a black-and-white-faced pitcher plant slowly emerged from the ground. It was Zetsu.

"So, what do you think?"

At this point in time, the Akatsuki was still expanding, and the White Zetsu army was still being cultivated. Obito's task was to weaken the Five Great Ninja Villages while extracting profits from them.

Zetsu was also curious about what Obito thought of the Uchiha's sudden rise.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Obito wore a mask at the moment. Through deliberate disguise, he spoke in a deep, magnetic voice—the voice of Uchiha Madara.

"I investigated Konoha's prison. Root only carried out a nominal investigation; in reality, they were merely keeping them in custody for the time being."

"That means the Third Hokage still doesn't want Danzo dead."

Zetsu let out a frivolous chuckle. "But Danzo's already a limbless stump. Don't tell me you still want to work with him?"

"Heh..." Obito raised his slightly pale right hand.

"Isn't that perfect? If he hadn't been driven into a corner, how could we negotiate terms with him?"

"Oh my, that's quite a good idea. Looks like I'll have a companion very soon."

As soon as that flippant voice finished speaking, it shifted into a deep, hoarse voice.

"When do you plan to go?"

"Now."

Konoha Prison.

Inside the spacious and brightly lit special prison cell, two people were talking.

"Hiss..."

"Old man, you were ruthless. You nearly beat me to death."

Jiraiya, bruised and battered, complained bitterly.

He poured medicated oil onto his hands and rubbed the bruises on his face and body.

That would keep the swelling down by the next day.

"Who told you to let Uchiha Zhengye catch you red-handed?"

"Do you know how much trouble you caused me?"

Jiraiya knew he had made the Third Hokage pay up again, but he was resentful at having been beaten so badly. He muttered dissatisfiedly, "Weren't you using your crystal ball too..."

"Shut up!"

The Third Hokage snapped, frustrated by his failure to live up to expectations.

"You were caught, understand!? Was the red-light district not enough for you? You had to go peeping."

Jiraiya said solemnly, "You don't understand, old man. Only natural expressions can reveal a woman's beauty."

"The women in the red-light district are too artificial."

Seeing Jiraiya's lecherous demeanor, the Third Hokage's eyes filled with helplessness.

The ninja world was currently in an era where old and new ideas were colliding.

The old way of thinking held that ordinary people were lowly rabble with no human rights at all, that their lives were as worthless as grass, and that women were merely commodities and resources.

The new way of thinking believed that even ordinary people could create benefits for villages and ninja, advocating that their lives were as precious as ninja lives and that they should enjoy equal human rights.

As one of the leading Five Great Ninja Villages, Konoha Village placed the greatest emphasis on human rights, and the Third Hokage always showed great respect for human rights in public.

For example, a few years ago, he had driven Orochimaru out of the village on the grounds that he had used infants for evil human experiments.

But as the disciple of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama, how could the Third Hokage truly be so benevolent?

He had seen his teacher kill no fewer than eight hundred, if not a thousand, people through various forbidden technique experiments.

It was simply that the times had changed, so the Third Hokage naturally had to wear the skin of someone who respected the people.

Only then could he gain better business and greater popular support.

Jiraiya was also a man with severely lacking morals. It was only because he was strong that no one could do anything about him.

This time, he had stumbled, but that did not mean he believed he was wrong.

He had merely been targeted this time.

Such thinking, which failed to advance with the times, clearly did not suit the leader of a village.

The Third Hokage also knew that Jiraiya was completely useless to him in this regard.

So he changed the subject. "You fought him. How strong is he?"

Jiraiya's expression immediately turned grave.

"His Mangekyo ability is extremely strange. He can impose gravity on my body."

"In only a few seconds, my body became four times heavier. I was no match for him at all."

The Third Hokage paced two steps with his hands behind his back, then turned and asked, "What if you used Sage Mode?"

In the current ninja world, Jiraiya was the only one who could use Sage Mode.

Only he himself knew exactly how strong it was.

Jiraiya pondered for a long while. "I don't know how long his technique can last, or whether he can keep increasing the gravity."

"With the power of Sage Mode, I could probably withstand six times gravity."

"And he hasn't even used Susanoo."

"Besides, even if I could beat him..."

"He isn't the only Uchiha with a Mangekyo..."

Jiraiya spread his hands, wearing an expression that said there was nothing he could do.

The Third Hokage closed his eyes, his brow filled with worry.

"Any news from Orochimaru?"

Jiraiya scratched his head. "I forgot for a moment. I'll ask."

He dipped his hand in the blood at the corner of his mouth, formed hand seals, and slapped the ground with one palm.

Summoning Jutsu!

Poof!

After a burst of smoke, a scarlet toad about thirty centimeters tall appeared in the prison.

"Jiraiya, you finally summoned me." The toad looked as though it had been waiting for a long time.

"Kosuke, did Ryuchi Cave send a reply?"

Toad Kosuke spat out a scroll from his mouth, his tone somewhat resentful.

"Don't make me go there next time. I nearly got eaten."

Jiraiya picked up the scroll and apologized awkwardly.

"Sorry, sorry. It was an emergency this time too. Next time, I'll buy you more white bean caterpillars to make it up to you."

Toad Kosuke's expression softened slightly. "Fine. Call me if you need anything. I'm leaving first."

With another poof, he turned into smoke and vanished.

Jiraiya opened the scroll, and the corner of his eye twitched.

"Old man, Orochimaru doesn't seem willing..."

"Let me see." The Third Hokage held out his hand.

Jiraiya hesitated. "Maybe you shouldn't read it. What he said isn't very nice."

The Third Hokage frowned and snatched the scroll directly from him.

The contents began by cursing out the Third Hokage and did not mention whether Orochimaru intended to return.

He merely told Jiraiya that he lacked some funding and several special pieces of equipment.

For example: multimodal cell activity recorders, constant-temperature Chakra oscillation incubators, high-purity Chakra serum centrifuge separation towers, three-dimensional Chakra meridian tomography scanners...

Jiraiya recognized every character in the names of those devices separately, but when they were put together, he did not understand a single one.

When the Third Hokage saw them, his frown relaxed.

"He has grievances, so it's no big deal if he says a few harsh words."

"These medical instruments aren't easy to buy through outside channels."

"Writing them in here specifically is his way of testing my sincerity."

Jiraiya's spirits lifted. "So Orochimaru is willing to come back?"

The Third Hokage suppressed the delight in his eyes.

"I'll make arrangements first. These things won't be easy to gather in a short time."

Then he thought of Danzo, who was still in the hospital.

As expected, keeping Danzo alive was the right choice.

Orochimaru still has some old subordinates. They must all be recalled. I'll have Asuma make the trip.

Meanwhile, an uninvited guest arrived in Danzo's intensive care ward.