Finding Someone

Noticing the change in Kisame Hoshigaki's expression, Takuya smiled slightly to himself. Knowing that Kisame Hoshigaki had already pledged his loyalty, he released the Susanoo and returned to the ground.

Summoning the Perfect Susanoo was not strenuous at all for Takuya, who possessed the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan; in fact, it was quite effortless.

"My lord, I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am willing to submit. I only hope to contribute a modest effort to your goal of unifying the Ninja World, and bring eternal peace to the Ninja World!"

Kisame Hoshigaki dropped fanatically to one knee and said.

"Good, good. Rest assured, Kisame, that day won't be far off!"

Takuya smiled and helped Kisame Hoshigaki up.

Fugaku was naturally quite tall, roughly around the same height as Kisame Hoshigaki.

"You've had a hard time on your journey back. Go get a good rest for a few days first!"

Takuya looked at Itachi and said, "Itachi, take Kisame to find Uchiha Yashiro, and have him arrange a residence for Kisame in the clan's district, just say I ordered it. Then bring him to the Hokage Building tomorrow to handle Kisame's official identity paperwork."

"Understood!"

"Ah," at this moment, Takuya looked at the well-behaved Yakushi Nonō nearby, "Nonō."

"Yes!"

Yakushi Nonō gave a start and quickly responded.

"Kabuto has returned to the village, you can go back to the orphanage to see him now."

Takuya said with a smile.

A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Yakushi Nonō's eyes. Because of Danzo's interference, she and Kabuto hadn't seen each other in many years. She missed the sensible and clever Kabuto from their time at the orphanage quite a bit!

She was now impatient to return to the orphanage and reunite with Kabuto, wondering how Kabuto had changed after all these years.

Had he been eating properly on time, had he grown up well...

Yet she also knew that Kabuto had been sent by Danzo to act as a spy in an enemy village, so he must have suffered a great deal of hardship. Being able to return alive now was already a blessing!

Seeing that Yakushi Nonō's thoughts were practically already flying away, Takuya waved his hand. "Alright, we'll dismiss things here. I still have matters to attend to and will head back to the Hokage Building first. Itachi, take good care of Kisame."

"Yes! Father."

Itachi agreed once more, and Takuya smiled and nodded at Kisame Hoshigaki before turning to leave.

As Takuya departed, Yakushi Nonō could no longer hold back. After eagerly bidding farewell to Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki, she hurried toward the orphanage without stopping a moment.

Kisame Hoshigaki lowered his voice and asked, "Itachi, who is stronger, Lord Hokage or that Ghost of the Uchiha?"

Hearing the Ghost of the Uchiha, Itachi was slightly startled at first, but then reacted, realizing he meant their ancestor, Uchiha Madara!

Itachi thought for a moment and said with some uncertainty, "They should be about the same..."

"Is that so? I think so too!"

Kisame Hoshigaki chuckled.

"Let's go, I'll take you to find someone."

The two left the training ground.

The time the Susanoo had manifested just now was neither long nor short, and it had not caused any massive commotion or noise, so practically no one in the village had paid attention to it.

Even if someone saw it, it would probably only become casual bar talk and amount to nothing.

As he had stated from the beginning, Takuya did not care if the Susanoo was discovered.

For the power of the Uchiha had traces left throughout past history.

Even if a village spy brought back the intelligence that he could summon the Susanoo, what of it? Did they have a way to counter the Susanoo?

You must be joking. The Perfect Susanoo was something only the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, could claim not to fear; as for everyone else...

In that era, Uchiha Madara, the Ghost of the Uchiha who possessed the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, had made countless powerhouses tremble in fear. Aside from the Senju brothers, who possessed the courage to face Uchiha Madara head-on?

Over here, Takuya returned once more to his office in the Hokage Building to slack off.

During the period after Itachi left the village, he had toiled day in and day out, and his kidneys had suffered quite a bit of strain; naturally, he would slack off whenever possible while at work during the day.

His eldest son Itachi wasn't home, leaving only the two kids Sasuke and Naruto in the house, and they had gone to sleep long ago...

Takuya admitted that this veteran cadre still couldn't resist Mikoto's temptation...

Far away in the Land of Hot Water.

The famous and bustling Onsen Street.

At this moment, it welcomed an uninvited guest.

A tall man wearing a forehead protector with the character for 'oil', with white hair reaching down to his waist, red markings beneath his eyes, wearing a red outer haori over brownish clothing, and wooden geta clacking on his feet.

He appeared at ease and thoroughly relaxed, yet the sharp glints flashing from time to time in his eyes observed the surrounding environment down to the smallest detail.

With clear purpose, he found a gambling house and raised his head to look at the plaque: Cherry Blossom Casino?

According to the information he had gathered earlier, Tsunade's whereabouts seemed to be around Onsen Street. Judging by his understanding of Tsunade, coming here to check was definitely correct.

Stepping into the gambling house and approaching the front desk, he asked in a friendly manner, "Hello, may I ask, is the legendary Big Fat Sheep here?"

It was currently daytime, and there weren't many people in the gambling house. The front desk staff members also wore sleepy expressions.

Their line of work meant pulling all-nighters.

Hearing the visitor's inquiry, the staff member perked up, cast a teasing look at him, and chuckled, "You're late, the Big Fat Sheep has already left."

Jiraiya's expression remained calm and unchanged as he continued to ask, "When did she leave?"

The staff member replied without hesitation, "Several days ago."

Over the past few days, quite a few outsiders had run over asking for news about the Big Fat Sheep, not just this strange-looking man in front of him.

Wearing a forehead protector with an oil symbol on his head, is he a ninja?

Yet which country's symbol was this oil character supposed to be?

The staff member sized up the tall man before him, muttering and complaining inwardly.

As Onsen Street was a must-visit tourist destination in the Land of Hot Water, people came and went here, a mixed bag of dragons and snakes, and essentially people from every country could be found here. The information here was equally tangled. Having worked in this gambling house for so many years, he had never heard of any ninja village belonging to a country of oil.

"Do you know where she went?"

The tall man continued to ask.

The staff member waved an impatient hand. "Who would know that? We're a legitimate gambling house; we don't go around prying into our customers' whereabouts."

The man's expression remained unchanged as he offered a word of thanks and left.

The staff member resumed the train of thought that the tall man had just interrupted. He thought and thought, thinking hard, when his expression suddenly changed.

Wait, a forehead protector stamped with the 'oil' character, white hair...

He suddenly recalled cleaning up years ago and overhearing customers chatting idly.

The features matched!

His eyes widened, and his sleepiness vanished in an instant.

Wasn't this Lord Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin?

Well, well!

This was his first time seeing a figure of such great renown. He hurriedly scrambled out from behind the front desk, rushed out of the gambling house, and anxiously looked left and right, but unfortunately, that tall figure had already vanished into the crowd.

Sighing heavily, he returned to the front desk, pulled a small notebook from the drawer, and saw several small characters written prominently on the cover: "Icha Icha Paradise."

"Oh dear, I wanted to ask Lord Jiraiya for an autograph. I must have been blind not recognizing him when he was right in front of me."