IDKjust
patreon
Chapter 126n
🕑 Added 2025-08-11 18:35:54 +0000 UTCChapter 126n
2-in-1-chapter
-----------------
“Shikaku, tell me—where is Naruto now?”
“If nothing unexpected has happened, he should currently be in the Land of Water, accompanying the Uchiha clan head,” Nara Shikaku replied.
“The Land of Water?”
Jiraiya’s brows rose sharply, a hint of anger appearing between his eyes.
“Shikaku, don’t tell me the situation in the village has deteriorated to the point that we need to send a five-year-old Nine-Tails Jinchūriki onto the battlefield. Explain clearly—what exactly is going on?”
Cold sweat formed on Shikaku’s forehead, and inwardly he cursed his misfortune. What kind of situation was this? They had come here to seek Jiraiya’s opinion, yet now Jiraiya was questioning him instead—and on such a delicate matter.
If Jiraiya had not been the Third Hokage’s disciple, Shikaku could have directly explained everything Naruto had gone through. But because Jiraiya was Hiruzen Sarutobi’s student, he was unsure of the personal feelings between master and pupil, even if he himself had noticed certain questionable points.
As the saying goes: I can speak ill of him myself, but that does not mean others can criticize him.
If Jiraiya perceived their words as shifting the blame onto the deceased Third Hokage, that was an outcome Shikaku absolutely wanted to avoid.
“The situation is rather complicated. In any case, Naruto wasn’t forced to leave the village, and truthfully, it’s actually safer for him to be at the Uchiha clan head’s side…” Shikaku searched desperately for a way to steer the conversation away from dangerous ground.
Jiraiya’s frown deepened.
“Jiraiya, allow me to explain instead,” said Hyūga Hiashi, stepping in to relieve Shikaku from the pressure. Shikaku quietly exhaled and cast a grateful glance at him.
“Hiashi, tell me—what’s really going on?” Jiraiya’s tone softened with the change in address. Shikaku’s evasive manner had made him realize the matter was not as simple as he had imagined; it seemed there was far more complexity beneath the surface.
“It is… indeed rather complicated,” Hiashi said after a moment’s thought. He took a brief pause to organize the tangled threads of the situation before asking, “Jiraiya, are you aware that the Third Hokage concealed the fact that Naruto is the Fourth Hokage’s son?”
“I know,” Jiraiya nodded. “The old man told me himself. To protect Naruto’s identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki from being exposed, he planned to change Naruto’s family name, so no one could guess it from his name alone. Speaking of which—what surname does Naruto use now?”
Hiashi and Shikaku exchanged glances, surprise flashing in both their eyes.
“Uzumaki. Uzumaki Naruto,” Hiashi answered.
“Uzumaki?”
Jiraiya was momentarily stunned.
From Namikaze to Uzumaki?
What kind of decision was that?
Was the intention to make it even more obvious that he was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki? Both of Konoha’s Nine-Tails Jinchūriki had been members of the Uzumaki clan. Especially after the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, the surname Uzumaki had become so rare that it stood out even more than Namikaze.
“That name was chosen by the Third Hokage five years ago, not long after you left the village,” Hiashi continued. “Unfortunately, the ANBU’s secrecy measures were inadequate. At some point, a rumor began circulating in the village that Naruto was the ‘Demon Fox.’ Now, nearly every civilian in Konoha believes he is the very fox that attacked the village five years ago.”
Jiraiya closed his eyes.
He was no fool.
He understood perfectly well the underlying meaning behind Hiashi’s words. Naruto’s life had not been as well cared for as he had once imagined—quite the opposite. A child labeled as the ‘Demon Fox’… what kind of childhood could he possibly have had?
He did not doubt the truth of what Hiashi had said.
Nor did he believe Hiashi had either the nerve or the reason to deceive him. Even if some of Hiashi’s account contained subjective judgment, the fact that Naruto had been branded the Demon Fox was likely undeniable. In the rare moments when he thought of Naruto during his travels, Jiraiya had pictured him growing up happily under the village’s careful protection, wondering whether he would resemble Minato more, or Kushina.
Reality had shattered all of those past imaginings.
“And all of this—what does it have to do with Naruto being sent to the Land of Water?” Jiraiya did not press further about Naruto’s life in the village. Now that he had returned, he intended to see for himself. The immediate concern was why Naruto was not in Konoha, but instead… in the Land of Water.
“Naruto was not ‘sent’ to the Land of Water.”
Hyūga Hiashi placed deliberate emphasis on the word “sent,” as if to reject the notion that the village had driven the Nine-Tails jinchūriki away simply because they did not want him around. “The reason such a thing happened is that, due to historical and environmental factors, Naruto’s mental state had become highly unstable in recent days.”
The implications of an unstable jinchūriki were self-evident.
Strictly speaking, this was a common sign of losing control for any immature jinchūriki. At five years old, there was no way Naruto could control the power of the tailed beast. Although Jiraiya did not believe that the seal Minato had placed—at the cost of his life—would fail so easily, especially since he had personally inspected it back then, he still listened closely.
Minato had even left behind the key to the Nine-Tails seal, inscribed on a rare scroll from Mount Myōboku and entrusted to the toad Gamae, one of the extremely scarce types in that realm.
Without a doubt, that trust had been placed in Jiraiya’s hands.
“The seal on Naruto is not that fragile. Without external interference, it cannot be broken before he turns ten. But… I understand your concerns,” Jiraiya said, shaking his head. “Hiashi, go on.”
Hyūga Hiashi silently committed to memory the intelligence that the Nine-Tails seal could last at least another five years. After a slight pause, he continued, “Aside from Naruto’s own instability, another incident occurred at the time. Uchiha Rēn—Jiraiya-sama, I don’t know if you’ve heard that name?”
“I’ve heard of him.”
Jiraiya nodded.
Even if he hadn’t known before, from the moment he received the news of Hiruzen-sensei’s death and began preparing to return to Konoha, he had been gathering information about the village. He knew that the one who had led the movement to depose Hiruzen from the position of Hokage was none other than Uchiha Rēn, alongside the man now standing before him, Hyūga Hiashi.
“Though Rēn is only fifteen years old, he is already the head of the Uchiha clan, and has awakened the clan’s Mangekyō Sharingan. Before you returned, Jiraiya-sama, Rēn was likely the strongest shinobi in the village. Of course, this was not the only reason the Hokage decided to place the Nine-Tails jinchūriki under his care.”
“During the war against the Mist-nin, Rēn captured the Fourth Mizukage alive.”
Hiashi revealed the explosive truth.
This had never been made public. Even on the front lines, only high-ranking Jōnin knew that the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, had been captured. Spreading that information would certainly boost morale on their side, but it would also render Yagura useless as a bargaining chip, making it harder to manipulate Kirigakure after their defeat.
Thus, the fact that Yagura Karatachi had been taken alive by Uchiha Rēn remained known to only a select few.
Jiraiya opened his mouth, intending to say something, but found he had nothing to say. He had never met Yagura personally, but he knew that anyone who could become the Kage of one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages was an extraordinary individual.
And yet, such a Kage had been captured alive—That was even more shocking than killing one.
“Mangekyō Sharingan, is it…”
In the end, Jiraiya could only marvel at the legendary power of the Uchiha. That such a dōjutsu could allow one to capture the Fourth Mizukage inevitably brought his thoughts back to the night, five years ago, when Minato had died. On that night, someone had used the power of the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails, forcing both Minato and Kushina to sacrifice their lives.
“Strictly speaking, the Fourth Mizukage was only a figurehead. On the front lines, he encountered a mysterious man who called himself Uchiha Madara, and was under his control from then on. This entire war between the village and the Mist-nin was orchestrated by that man from the shadows.”
Hyūga Hiashi spoke cleanly and without hesitation, revealing what was currently classified as one of the highest-level secrets in the village.
In response, Nara Shikaku had no objections.
The so-called highest-level secrets depended on the person. For someone like Jiraiya, who only needed to nod before he could immediately succeed the Hokage and become the Fifth Hokage of Konohagakure, these classified reports had no need to be withheld. To exaggerate slightly, even if Jiraiya wanted to see the full roster of the ANBU, with their names and all, the ANBU commanders would probably hand over every name with great enthusiasm to this figure.
“Uchiha Madara? The Fourth Mizukage being manipulated? Hiashi, that kind of joke is in poor taste.”
Jiraiya was genuinely stunned.
All he had wanted was to find out why Naruto wasn’t in the village. How had this investigation led to the involvement of someone who was supposed to have been long dead, down to dust and bones? Uchiha Madara still being alive—this was far too grim a joke to get even the faintest smile.
“It is only a self-proclaimed identity. Whether he is truly that Uchiha Madara is not certain. But what is certain is that this person possesses the Sharingan, carries the Uchiha clan’s war fan that had been lost for many years, and commands an exceptionally powerful space-time ninjutsu. It is very possible that he was behind the events of the Nine-Tails incident five years ago. One could say he is the true culprit responsible for the Fourth Hokage’s death.”
Hyūga Hiashi spoke with great gravity.
Jiraiya fell into silent thought.
The sun moved slowly across the sky, its scorching rays wilting the surrounding grass and trees. Fortunately, the three of them had already moved into the shade, where the dense green canopy brought a measure of coolness. Otherwise, under the relentless summer heat, even shinobi would find their endurance tested.
Hiashi and Nara Shikaku waited quietly, watching Jiraiya think with his eyes closed, giving him space to absorb and process the information.
They did not wait long before Jiraiya opened his eyes. “I understand the situation now, more or less.”
From these reports, he could see why the village’s leadership had chosen to send Naruto away. On one hand, there was fear that an unstable Naruto might lose control and go on a rampage. On the other, they feared that the man claiming to be Uchiha Madara would repeat what had happened five years ago inside the village.
So they had placed Naruto under Uchiha Rēn’s watch, both to ensure Naruto’s safety and to prevent another Nine-Tails incident from erupting in Konoha.
It was a choice that was both reasonable and logical, leaving little room for criticism. Jiraiya had not returned to the village looking for faults to pick out from nothing.
“By the way, I almost forgot—what did you two come looking for me for?”
Jiraiya did not press further about Naruto.
Even with many questions and doubts in his heart, he restrained the urge to dig deeper. Patience was necessary; one could not eat tofu straight from the pot without burning one’s mouth. At present, there was nothing urgent that required his immediate attention, and he had time to address his uncertainties.
