What had happened in Konoha left even Jiraiya shaken in hindsight.
Had Liumu not been in Konoha...
The Nine-Tails and that mysterious Masked Man would probably have caused quite a disturbance in Konoha.
"Could that Masked Man be a member of the Uchiha Clan?"
Jiraiya looked at Liumu seriously.
He knew that Liumu had always been on close terms with Fugaku, the Uchiha Clan Head.
Even so, Jiraiya asked the question outright, right in front of Liumu.
"He has the Sharingan, and the Mangekyō Sharingan at that. I'm afraid..." Liumu pressed his lips together and replied, "He really might be a member of the Uchiha Clan."
Liumu did not want to deny it, nor did he have any reason to.
Apart from Fugaku, no one in the Uchiha Clan had manifested the Mangekyo yet.
Barring any surprises, someone with the Masked Man's strength had to possess Uchiha blood.
Jiraiya did not probe his suspicions any further. Seeing that Liumu had not favored the Uchiha in his words put his mind at ease.
For someone in Konoha's upper ranks, the greatest concern in any matter was harboring bias.
That could lead them to lose their ability to judge things correctly.
But Liumu was not that sort of person, so Jiraiya said no more about it.
Jiraiya had actually returned to the village this time to report on the Land of Crafts.
After briefing Minato, he handed him a fist-sized black stone.
"This... doesn't give off radiation, does it?"
"Radiation? What's radiation?" Minato looked at Liumu in confusion.
At his question, Liumu froze for a moment, then smiled. "Oh, nothing, nothing."
The intelligence stated that the Land of Crafts' Ninja Tools were made from heaven-fallen stone.
The so-called heaven-fallen stone was actually a meteor that had fallen to Earth.
Things from outer