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Chapter 125n
🕑 Added 2025-08-10 15:37:26 +0000 UTCChapter 125n
2-in-1-chapter
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Nara Shikaku felt a headache coming on, though as a man who prided himself on his intelligence, he had long since known this trouble would inevitably land on his shoulders. After two seconds of silence, he recalled the talking points he had already prepared, and then said, “Lord Jiraiya returned to the village alone. None of the ANBU sent out to locate him came back. I’m afraid this matter is not as simple as we imagined.”
Akimichi Torifu froze for a moment.
He truly had not noticed these details.
“Could something have happened?” Torifu frowned. He was not familiar with Jiraiya, the disciple of Sarutobi, and his understanding of him was limited to the fact that he was one of the Three Legendary Sannin, an exceptionally strong shinobi with great prestige in the village.
“Lord Jiraiya is… a little free-spirited.”
Nara Shikaku weighed his words carefully before settling on the subtle description of “free-spirited.”
“Free-spirited?”
Torifu’s brows knit so tightly they could crush a fly. “You mean… he might refuse to take the position of Fifth Hokage?” Years of dealing with the Nara clan had honed his ability to understand the delicate phrasing used by clever men.
He found it hard to believe and said, “This is the Hokage we’re talking about. Would anyone refuse to become Hokage?”
For veterans like Torifu, the idea that someone would turn down the position was inconceivable. Back in their youth, even though they all knew Sarutobi Hiruzen was the Second Hokage’s favored student, every one of them still dreamed of wearing the Hokage’s hat.
Even someone as stubborn to the extreme as Danzō likely never gave up on the dream until the moment he died.
Because of that, Torifu simply could not comprehend anyone refusing the seat of Hokage.
“I think we still need to clarify this with Lord Jiraiya first—ask directly about his stance. Only then can we make preparations. Otherwise, if Lord Jiraiya refuses, we will be left in an awkward position.” Nara Shikaku made his proposal.
“I agree.”
Hyūga Hiashi spoke up in support.
“I understand Jiraiya-senpai’s temperament to some extent as well. It’s best to ask him in person about this. We must not make assumptions.”
Torifu was stunned. Even Hyūga Hiashi was saying this—was Sarutobi’s student truly such an eccentric? To refuse the Hokage’s seat, already within reach… that could not possibly be true.
“Inoichi, Shibi, what do you think?”
“I agree with Shikaku’s idea.”
Yamanaka Inoichi stated his trust in Nara Shikaku. The bond among the Ino–Shika–Chō trio was no mere saying.
“I have no objections.”
Aburame Shibi’s stance was equally clear. He was not familiar with Jiraiya, but he had been a close friend of Namikaze Minato. The Fourth Hokage had deeply respected his teacher, even if he occasionally complained about Jiraiya’s unreliability—his habit of frequenting brothels was one thing, but dragging his student along had nearly gotten both of them killed by the enraged Nine-Tails jinchūriki. Even so, Shibi still remembered the mixture of resignation and profound respect in Minato’s smile.
Because of that, he was certain that Jiraiya was a senior worthy of respect.
Therefore, he had no objection to Jiraiya succeeding as Fifth Hokage.
“In that case… Shikaku, Hiashi, please go meet Jiraiya and find out his exact position. If he is willing to take the seat of Hokage, we can begin preparations. If he is not, then we need the ANBU to hurry up in locating Tsunade. It has already taken far too long.”
Nara Shikaku could only smile bitterly.
Tsunade was not so easy to find. Earlier in the year, the famed “Legendary Sucker” had apparently run up a massive gambling debt. To avoid her creditors, she had gone to great lengths to conceal her whereabouts, which had made the ANBU’s task considerably more difficult.
In the past, gathering information on Tsunade had been easy, because she had never deliberately hidden her movements.
But if Tsunade wished to remain hidden, even the ANBU would struggle to track down the princess of Konoha, renowned for her mastery of medical ninjutsu.
“We’ll go right away.”
Hyūga Hiashi agreed with a nod.
It was simply a matter of meeting Jiraiya and asking him a question—nothing worth refusing. His attitude was similar to Aburame Shibi’s: as long as the candidate was not someone like the Third Hokage, he had no strong opinion on who took the seat. After all, the position of Hokage in this generation had nothing to do with the Hyūga.
As for the future—
That was for the people of the future to consider.
Hyūga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku left the Hokage Building. Guided by intelligence from the ANBU who had been shadowing Jiraiya, they raced across rooftops and treetops, heading straight for the cemetery. There, before the grave of the Third Hokage, they found the tall man they had been seeking.
“Jiraiya-senpai.”
“Lord Jiraiya.”
Hiashi and Shikaku stepped forward, greeting the man.
“Oh! If it isn’t the Hyūga clan head and Shikaku.” Jiraiya turned around. There was no trace of sorrow on his face—only a hearty, open smile as he greeted them. “It’s been a long time!”
When Jiraiya received the news of the Third Hokage’s death, he did not feel much sorrow or grief. At most, he fell silent for less than a minute before returning to his place on the tatami in the inn, leaning over the desk and continuing to write.
People die eventually. And Jiraiya was happy that his Sensei could have lived this long. The old man had already lived past sixty, which, compared to the average lifespan of previous Hokage, was quite long. Passing away at this point was not necessarily a bad thing—it was time for a new Hokage to bring something different to Konoha.
After thinking it over for a while, he decided he would return to the village.
It was not for the position of Hokage; his ambitions did not lie there. He would go back to look into a few matters and meet certain people.
August, also called Hazuki or Akikazemochi, was, according to the Fire Country’s official calendar, the month of transition from summer to autumn, when the heat began to give way to cooler weather.
Unfortunately, Konoha’s climate was still hot. Upon his return, Jiraiya remarked on the blazing sunlight, then went to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to buy a bundle of white chrysanthemums. He wandered the cemetery twice before finding the small gravestone belonging to the Third Hokage.
Jiraiya knew it was only a cenotaph.
A ninja’s corpse was extremely valuable—there was even an entire Body Disposal Unit for handling such matters. For Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, his body was of immense value. It was impossible that it would be buried openly in Konoha’s cemetery. The remains of every Hokage were secretly interred, with only a handful of the village’s top leaders knowing the true locations.
As a traveler away from the village, Jiraiya did not have the right to know such secrets. Of course, if he were willing to return and succeed as the Fifth Hokage, all of the village’s hidden truths would be laid bare for him. But he had refused that path.
There was no shortage of such cenotaphs in the cemetery.
They were mainly for the comfort of the living, giving them a place to grieve. They also served to mislead enemy spies and ill-intentioned people.
Placing the white chrysanthemums before the stone, Jiraiya made no further movements. He had nothing to say to his late teacher. This trip was purely a matter of paying his respects, fulfilling his duty as a disciple. It did not matter to him whether this was the actual resting place of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Just as he was considering where to go next, visitors arrived together.
They were not strangers—Hyūga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku. Though they were of different ages and ranks, both had crossed paths with Jiraiya many times during the Third Shinobi World War.
“Lord Jiraiya, it has been a long time. Your presence is as impressive as ever.”
Shikaku spoke with deep respect.
“Shikaku, you look a bit more worn than before—and you’ve grown a beard. Hiashi as well. You’re… no longer the young brats you once were.” Jiraiya looked at the two before him and sighed with feeling. A new generation had replaced the old. The memories of fighting alongside the previous clan heads of the Hyūga and Nara during the Second Shinobi World War were still vivid in his mind. Now, standing before him were no longer those comrades.
“My son is already five years old,” Shikaku said with a hint of resignation.
Hiashi remained silent. His daughter was also five, but in Jiraiya’s eyes, both men were still juniors.
“Haha, is that so? Speaking of which… Naruto should be about five now, right?” Jiraiya said thoughtfully. He had only ever seen Naruto as an infant.
Five years earlier, while traveling abroad, he had received news of Minato’s death. Rushing back to the village, he found he had arrived too late. Everything was beyond saving—Minato and Kushina were both gone, Sarutobi-sensei had resumed the position of Hokage, and Naruto, still a baby, lay in the Konoha Hospital nursery.
Seeing his teacher once more don the Hokage’s hat, full of vigor, Jiraiya had felt a deep heaviness in his chest. Yet there was nothing he could do. The Third was still his mentor, and on the night of the Nine-Tails attack, it was not true that the old man had done nothing—if anything, it was Jiraiya, arriving far too late, who had done nothing at all.
That heavy feeling made it impossible for him to remain in the village. He declined the Third’s invitation to stay. After confirming that the infant Naruto would be well cared for, he left again to continue his endless travels.
Now, with his teacher gone, Jiraiya had adjusted his route and come back to Konoha.
“How is Naruto? Has he started at the Academy yet?” Jiraiya asked casually. But such a simple question did not receive an immediate answer. Hiashi kept his face impassive, displaying an attitude of detachment.
Shikaku, however, could not avoid the matter. With him being an advisor to the previous Hokage, it would be far too suspicious for him to claim ignorance about the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
When several seconds passed in silence, Jiraiya frowned slightly and fixed his gaze on Shikaku’s strained expression. “Shikaku, has something happened to Naruto?”
“That’s not exactly it. Naruto… is not in the village right now,” Shikaku replied with some difficulty.
“Not in the village?”
Jiraiya repeated the answer, baffled. The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki not in the village—what could that mean? Suddenly, he recalled that the village seemed to be at war with the Mist again. Could it be that they had sent five-year-old Naruto to the front lines?
