Haseo didn't particularly care about the "harm effect" that scared off various ninja. He had a very clear understanding of his own strength. No matter what effects he produced, to put it plainly, he was just a monkey ruling the mountain in the tiger's absence.
A monkey should know its place.
None of the great ninja villages had explicit regulations like "if encountering Konoha's Haseo, retreat immediately; the mission won't be counted as a failure, nor will there be punishment." What was there to boast about… Well, this line of thinking itself was flawed. Who would issue such an "explicit regulation"? The person who wrote such things down would be forever shamed—what about the dignity of a great nation?
No matter how intimidating a ninja might be, at most it would only create an unspoken understanding among enemies—"you come, we retreat."
"Found him... This guy's pretty good at hiding, huh? Who even knows how much time he really spends on missions? Bet he's just loafing around most of the time."
After discovering traces left by Jiraiya, Haseo spent another three days before finally locating him somewhere in the Land of Rain. From this point onward, Haseo wouldn't act so openly anymore… Following someone required a certain level of awareness. Though Haseo wasn't praised for many things, his professionalism was definitely one of his strengths.
When Haseo spotted Jiraiya, he noticed the other man carried a large backpack. Thinking slightly, Haseo deduced it was probably "daily supplies" Jiraiya picked up from somewhere… At minimum, raising kids required making sure they had enough to eat.
Therefore, Haseo figured Jiraiya would return to his "secret cabin"—either now or very soon.
For a Konoha ninja staying together with children from the Land of Rain—regardless of what happened to the ninja himself—at least if others in the Land of Rain discovered this, those three kids would definitely fall into even greater danger. Therefore, out of safety considerations, Jiraiya moved with extra caution.
However, since Haseo had already targeted Jiraiya, there was no way he'd lose him, and he could guarantee he wouldn't be detected… Jiraiya wasn't a sensor-type ninja. With strength far beyond the norm, Haseo also had decent counter-surveillance skills. Still, just decent—he wasn't top-tier.
Unless he was the "Sage Jiraiya," otherwise Jiraiya's sensing abilities weren't worth mentioning in front of Haseo.
Jiraiya certainly couldn't imagine being followed by someone extremely familiar with himself—a "comrade"—so no matter how careful he was, it was all in vain.
Following behind Jiraiya, Haseo easily tracked backward step-by-step and located that "secret cabin"—beside a small lake, hidden within flourishing woods, stood a wooden house. This was Jiraiya's destination, naturally also Haseo's destination.
From a geographical standpoint, this place was near Amegakure's sphere of influence but seemed to lie in a neutral zone "ignored by all sides." Thus, amid the chaos of war, it remained an unusual oasis of peace—so few ninja ever came here that only someone like Jiraiya could have discovered such a perfect hideout.
But none of that mattered now. What did matter was Haseo, hiding at a distance, noticing three children stepping out of the house to greet Jiraiya as he returned.
Red hair, reddish-orange hair, and bluish-purple hair…
Everything matched up.
It felt as though the world had its own unstoppable inertia, rendering Haseo's decades of effort no more than the flailing of a helpless salted fish.
He was powerless to change the course of the world.
Still, Haseo couldn't yet confirm whether the Rinnegan was with Nagato. From this distance, he couldn't make out such details. Getting any closer risked being spotted by Jiraiya—while Jiraiya wasn't particularly skilled at detecting hidden presences, he certainly wasn't blind.
Moreover, Haseo also needed to guard against any sudden perception attempts from the Rinnegan itself.
The long-haired child's bangs hung all the way down past his nose—there was no way to spot his eyes from afar; even up close, they'd still be difficult to notice… As for the red-haired kid, with locks that long, he looked exactly like someone straight out of the tragic teen heartthrob era.
Judging by their ages, those three kids were barely more than toddlers. Jiraiya must've just met them recently, which aligned well with Haseo noticing Jiraiya's recent suspicious movements within the Land of Rain.
Haseo recalled that in the original timeline, Yahiko had died under Hanzo of the Rain Village's coercion during Konoha's 44th year, aged fifteen. By calculation, these children should now only be about seven or eight years old.
Jiraiya led the kids into the house, all looking quite cheerful—it was the kind of joy usually reserved for doting fathers, something Jiraiya couldn't help but savor despite never having married.
Someone like Haseo, who had suffered through family trauma, certainly wouldn't share such feelings.
Even with Jiraiya present, Haseo technically still had reason to directly contact the children—he was the Master of the Whirlpools after all—but instead chose to wait until Jiraiya left to carry out certain secret plans… With Jiraiya around, direct interaction was simply too risky.
So while Jiraiya and the children settled in for a cozy family moment, Haseo could do nothing but shiver alone beneath the cold wind and rain, concealed among the trees.
At the same time, Haseo suspected he might already be within Black Zetsu or White Zetsu's field of view. If Jiraiya hadn't sensed him, there was no way White Zetsu hadn't.
Yet White Zetsu would unlikely make the first move, even if they realized Haseo's unexpected arrival might bring changes. For now, they'd surely choose to watch and wait… Both Black Zetsu and White Zetsu were relatively weak, and even if they were strong enough, they wouldn't opt for direct confrontation with an enemy like Haseo at this stage.
Jiraiya reunited with the three children, rested well on their first night together, then began putting them through intense training at dawn the next day. It must be said these three kids were naturally gifted ninjas from the start. Having lived through wartime chaos made them understand all too well the need to arm themselves with strength, so they studied especially diligently.
Nagato went without saying—his Uzumaki constitution combined with a potentially existing Rinnegan made him technically top-tier in the world. No wonder Jiraiya would identify him as the "Child of the Prophecy."
The remaining two weren't simple either—whatever techniques Jiraiya taught them, they learned quickly.
This instructional period lasted about a week before Jiraiya temporarily parted ways with them again to head back to the battlefield. For Jiraiya, weary from frontline combat, perhaps this companionship with the three children represented emotional wealth indeed.
War leaves hearts calloused, while warmth has the power to thaw even the coldest of ninja souls.
So within the overall climate of the Land of Rain, that bit of warmth felt especially precious, making that eventual tragedy all the more heartbreaking. In this world, it wasn't uncommon for family members to turn their blades against one another.
Strictly speaking, the scattered skirmishes currently taking place across the Land of Rain were in fact completely purposeless battles. Were various ninja villages trying to achieve some strategic objective through these small-scale conflicts? Not at all. All these battles were just lingering echoes of the last great war.
Without clear purpose, without visible endpoint, different ninja simply kept shedding the same blood.
The three boys saw Jiraiya off at dawn, then trained in morning ninjutsu together before heading home for breakfast.
However, when they entered their house, their breakfast had already been eaten.
Still, none of the three kids gave it a second thought.
It was simply because someone unfamiliar now stood inside their room that made their hairs stand on end.
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