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Chapter 165n
🕑 Added 2025-09-19 21:16:41 +0000 UTCChapter 165n
2-in-1-chapter
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"Jiraiya-sama, if you have the time, the Hokage would also like you to come to the Hokage Building.”
“Eh? Me too?”
Jiraiya scratched his head, uncertain.
He had enough self-awareness to know that as a wandering vagabond who had stayed away from the village for so long, he hardly had the standing to involve himself in its greatest affairs. That was why, upon his return, he had avoided meeting the Hokage. He knew he would leave again sooner or later.
Even so, he felt some guilt about delaying his answer regarding the Fifth Hokage for so long. And now, judging by the urgency, something serious had happened. If the situation was dire, he could not simply stand aside. His concern for the future of the shinobi world had never lessened, and his love for the village remained unchanged.
“All right.”
After a brief hesitation, Jiraiya agreed. He then turned toward Rēn. “Rēn, it looks like you won’t need to pass along the message after all.”
“Jiraiya-senpai, shall we go together?”
“Then let’s go.”
Rēn and Jiraiya rushed toward the Hokage Building. As for Uchiha Itachi and Kimimaro, they continued their work. As new recruits in the Police Force, daily patrols were their routine task.
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Hokage Building, in the office that had once again changed hands.
In Jiraiya’s memory, the first to sit in that chair had been his teacher, Sarutobi Hiruzen. At that time, Hiruzen had been vigorous and commanding, famed across the shinobi world as the “Professor of Ninjutsu.” The title of “Strongest Hokage” might have been an exaggeration, but in those days Hiruzen had truly lived up to the spirit of that epithet.
Later, after the Third Shinobi World War and a series of incidents, Hiruzen stepped down. Jiraiya had watched his most beloved disciple take over this office, convinced that his student, warm as the sun in winter, would bring a brighter future to the village.
But who could have foreseen that the “Yellow Flash” would pass as quickly as lightning? The Fourth Hokage’s life was cut short, Hiruzen returned to power, and now, after being forced to resign in disgrace and assassinated in prison by a renegade from Kirigakure, this office had yet another new master.
“Rēn, you’re here. And… Jiraiya?”
Akimichi Torifu looked with mild surprise at Jiraiya standing beside Rēn. He had not expected the hermit to come, given Jiraiya’s long-standing detachment from village affairs. Inviting him had been more of a gamble—testing whether such a powerful force, not of Uchiha blood, could be persuaded.
“So you’ve finally come to see me.”
Torifu and Jiraiya were hardly strangers. As Sarutobi Hiruzen’s disciple, Jiraiya had once served under Torifu’s command in battle before the “Three Legendary Sannin” had truly risen to fame.
“Hokage-sama.”
Jiraiya did not mince words. Stepping forward, he said, “I apologize for delaying my answer for so long, but forgive me—I cannot accept the position of Fifth Hokage.”
“…Still unwilling?”
Torifu paused, but his expression showed little surprise. After such a delay, he had already prepared himself for either answer. Now Jiraiya’s refusal only meant the search for the Fifth Hokage would be more difficult.
“My temperament is not suited to being Hokage.”
“I see. In that case, we will have to increase ANBU’s efforts to find Tsunade.” Torifu, the acting Hokage, sighed, seemingly forgetting the proposal Rēn had made days earlier to transition him directly from acting to official Hokage.
“Hokage-sama, the matter of the Fifth Hokage can wait. Could you first tell us what exactly has happened?” Rēn interrupted before Torifu could continue about Tsunade. With his sights set on the Sixth Hokage, the last thing he wanted was the return of the First Hokage’s granddaughter.
If Tsunade came back, with her status as the First Hokage’s descendant, the Third Hokage’s disciple, the founder and master of Konoha’s medical corps, and the only woman among the legendary Sannin, there would be no one who could compete with her. Even the Yellow Flash could not have stood against her claim.
And she was a woman of remarkable vitality and longevity.
Rēn, only fifteen or sixteen now, did not wish to wait ten or twenty years before competing for the Sixth Hokage’s seat. That span of time would be far too torturous.
“ANBU urgently summoned me and Jiraiya-senpai here. Was it because the Cloud shinobi have made a new move? Did Shisui and the others fail to hold them back?” While speaking, Rēn glanced at the three others present: the commander of the Jōnin Corps, the head of the Interrogation Division, and the head of ANBU.
He knew Nara Shikaku, the commander of the Jōnin Corps. The Interrogation Division Head was a stern-faced middle-aged woman named Shiosui Ryō, whose career was considered inspiring.
Born to ordinary parents, with only modest chakra talent, she had nonetheless entered the Academy and through sheer effort had risen to the post of Deputy Head of Interrogation before the age of thirty. When the downfall of the Third Hokage shook the village, she overthrew her superior and claimed the title of Head before turning thirty-five.
Rēn was no stranger to department head Shiosui. The Police Force and the Interrogation Division often cooperated. While the Uchiha’s Sharingan alone could extract a great deal of intelligence, for various reasons the two departments worked together frequently.
As for the new ANBU Commander, codenamed “Matsuzō”—
From the familiar chakra signature, Rēn recognized the man behind the mask immediately: Yamanaka Fū, once the third-in-command of Root, subordinate only to Shimura Danzō and Aburame Torune. Rēn had clashed with him before, when Fū and a woman using the secret art of Super Beast Imitating Drawing had attacked him, only to be captured alive.
The deaths of Danzō and Torune had not ended Root. Rather, because of their deaths, Root had been reabsorbed into ANBU. And because of his family background, Yamanaka Fū was chosen by Torifu—picking the tallest among dwarfs, so to speak—to serve as the new ANBU Commander. Once merely Root’s third, he had now leapt into the true upper echelons of Konoha.
Such were the strange turns of fate.
Looking at this unusual gathering, Rēn could not help but wonder what exactly had happened at the front lines. ANBU’s commander being present was understandable, but why was the Interrogation Division’s head here as well?
“It isn’t the Cloud.”
Torifu dropped the matter of the Fifth Hokage, recognizing that although that was urgent, there was an even more pressing issue. “It’s the Stone.”
“The Stone?”
Jiraiya’s brow furrowed.
Konoha was already struggling just to deal with the attacks from the northern forces of Kumogakure. If Iwagakure were to make a move at this time, would Konoha not be forced into fighting on two fronts again?
“Have the Iwa-nin begun to march south?” Rēn asked calmly. Unlike Jiraiya, who had always kept himself at a distance from the village’s political core, Rēn had actively drawn closer to it and successfully made himself a part of that core. He knew that Iwagakure’s movements were inevitable—the only question was when they would happen.
“They haven’t moved south yet, but it’s close. One of our spies inside Iwagakure has sent a coded message. The Cloud and the Stone have been exchanging envoys, and the Third Tsuchikage himself is preparing to personally lead a force south to attack us.” Akimichi Torifu’s voice carried the weight of frustration as he spoke of it.
Though they had anticipated this outcome, anticipation did nothing to change the fact that Konoha’s manpower was stretched thin. Holding back Kumogakure was already draining them; where would they find the strength to take on Iwagakure as well? True, the Stone had also suffered heavy losses during the Third Great War, and likely could not muster an overwhelming army. But compared to Konoha, forced into fighting on two fronts, the Stone still had the advantage.
“Ōnoki, is it? That old man’s Dust Release is truly a troublesome thing,” Jiraiya muttered. Even he could not hide the headache it gave him. He had once faced the Third Tsuchikage’s Dust Release directly. Its terrifying destructive power was etched into his memory—comparable in sheer force to a Tailed Beast Bomb.
“So the Stone is really moving south? The border defense forces in the northeast can’t hold them. But in the village… there isn’t enough manpower to spare, is there?” Rēn pressed.
“The problem is more than just that.”
Torifu let out a heavy sigh and gestured toward another figure. “Shikaku, you explain.”
“More than just that?” Rēn raised his eyebrows and turned his gaze to Nara Shikaku, waiting for the man’s explanation.
“The spies we placed inside Iwagakure originally came from Root,” Shikaku said simply, before turning the words into a question aimed at Rēn. “Have you ever heard of the Walking Shrine Maiden?”
“The Walking Shrine Maiden? You mean that legendary Konoha spy? Don’t tell me the one we planted inside Iwagakure is her?” Jiraiya cut in before Rēn could respond, astonishment coloring his voice.
For a spy, fame was not usually a blessing. It meant greater scrutiny from the enemy. But if one could maintain such fame while still keeping their true identity hidden, then that was proof of being a spy of the highest caliber.
The Walking Shrine Maiden was a legend among legends.
Her name had first emerged at the end of the Second Great Ninja War. By then, she was already known under that title. Yet despite the enemy’s desperate efforts, the only thing ever confirmed was that she was female. Everything else—her real name, her age, her appearance—remained shrouded in mystery.
She later became active in the intelligence world, moving between Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure, gathering vital information that had greatly aided Konoha’s war efforts.
Without the work of spies like her, it was possible Konoha might still have won the Second and Third Wars, but the price in lives and losses would have been far steeper.
“That’s correct. Before Shimura Danzō was taken down, he had already dispatched multiple operatives, including the Walking Shrine Maiden, into Iwagakure. This latest intelligence came from her…” Shikaku paused for a couple of seconds, then continued. “But now, we fear that our spy network inside Iwagakure may have been compromised.”
“Compromised?”
