Creak~
Jiraiya reflexively hid the book under the covers, while loudly trying to argue.
"I wasn't peeking, I know it's not good to get excited when the wound hasn't healed!"
"I just moved around a bit, which caused the wound to reopen!"
As expected, the scolding and complaints from the nurse never came.
Instead, a familiar male voice made Jiraiya freeze.
"Jiraiya-sensei…"
"You are…" Jiraiya looked towards the door in disbelief.
The familiar face that met his eyes made Jiraiya's mouth open wide enough to fit a pigeon's egg!
"Minato!!!"
"No, no, I must be dreaming!"
Jiraiya, who couldn't detect any traces of a Transformation Jutsu, slammed his head against the bed rail.
He tried to use the pain to wake himself from his dream.
Minato, holding Naruto's hand, walked over to Jiraiya's bed, speechless.
"Jiraiya-sensei, you really haven't changed at all, you're just like before."
Hearing Minato's voice again.
Jiraiya finally believed this wasn't a dream, opened his eyes, and looked at the two again.
"Minato, you're actually not dead?!"
Still somewhat unconvinced, Jiraiya, with a hand wrapped like a mummy, touched Minato by the bed.
"And there's no trace of that guy Orochimaru either!"
Seeing Jiraiya's appearance, Minato shook his head, quite speechless.
"I'm already dead. This is Chakra extracted from the Nine-Tailed's seal by Feng Xu."
"It's probably similar to a Shadow Clone made of Chakra."
Hearing Minato's explanation, Jiraiya finally showed a look of understanding.
"Residual Chakra was extracted?"
"I didn't expect Naruto's sub-personality to have such a trick!"
"It seems his control over Chakra is very powerful, no wonder he can easily use Nine-Tailed Chakra!"
After several days of recuperation, Jiraiya had already figured out the situation at the time.
It must have been Feng Xu who ambushed him with Nine-Tailed Chakra while he was helping Naruto undo the seal!
Naruto glanced at Jiraiya, then at Minato.
His small face immediately fell, and he pouted, saying dismissively: "So the Perverted Sage is your master too, Dad?"
"No wonder he wanted to take me as his disciple the first time he saw me."
"And no wonder you, Dad, were poked to death by Kurama's claw!"
"Having such a weak master, who was easily beaten severely by Feng Xu and Kurama, there's really nothing to be done."
"If you, Dad, had become the disciple of that Wood Release uncle, maybe things wouldn't have turned out this way!"
Minato: "…"
Jiraiya: "…"
Seeing Naruto with his hands spread and shaking his head, Minato said nothing, but Jiraiya instantly became furious!
"I was ambushed when I was unsealing you! Ambushed, do you understand?!"
"And when I fought your sub-personality Feng Xu, I wasn't even serious!"
"If I were serious, I could beat you, you little brat, in minutes!"
"And what's that Wood Release uncle, he's nothing! With his house-building Wood Release, I could take on ten of him at once!"
Jiraiya thought the Wood Release uncle Naruto mentioned was Yamato, so he was very unconvinced.
"Huh?"
"You can take on ten?"
Naruto's face was full of disbelief, and he turned to look at Minato.
"Dad, didn't they say that First Uncle was called the God of Shinobi?"
"Is a Sage more powerful than a God?"
"God of Shinobi!?" Jiraiya's face was a complete "black man asking question" meme. JPG
Minato's mouth twitched. He didn't answer Naruto's question, but instead nodded towards Jiraiya.
"It is the First Hokage, who is called the God of Shinobi. He was resurrected by Orochimaru."
Jiraiya: "!!!????"
Chapter 124: Stop, my bandages are bursting!
After explaining the events of the past few days to Jiraiya, who had been focused on reading his perverted books due to illness.
Jiraiya completely collapsed onto the hospital bed, looking utterly despondent.
"Damn it, so much exciting stuff happened these past few days, and I missed it because I was injured!"
After a long sigh, Jiraiya's expression became melancholic again.
"And the old man, I didn't expect so many things to be related to him. Now I understand why Tsunade didn't want to return to the Village…"
"And Minato, I'm sorry. If I hadn't taken you as my disciple, perhaps you wouldn't have…"
Mid-sentence, Jiraiya gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"Forget it, even without you, it would have been other disciples I took, or even myself."
"After all, with my slow and foolish personality, my disciples would only be as easy to deceive as I am, easy to become puppets…"
Minato: "…"
"Jiraiya-sensei, Kushina and I actually sensed the Third's intentions long ago, and we didn't think spending some time was an issue."
"Moreover, I was planning to use the resolution of the Uchiha Clan's problem as an opportunity to gradually eliminate the Third's influence."
"It's just that the masked man came too suddenly, leading to my death, and Fugaku also failed to save the declining Uchiha Clan."
At that time, he and Kushina were working closely with Fugaku and Mikoto to solve the Uchiha Clan's problems.
Then, using the prestige gained from solving this issue and the Uchiha's help, he intended to reclaim the Hokage's power that the Third had sidelined.
Unfortunately, his death rendered everything futile.
And the Uchiha Clan, due to the Third's return to power, continued the Second's policies.
This led them to lose hope, and they eventually tried to make a desperate move and were annihilated.
Hearing Minato mention the masked man, Jiraiya suddenly thought of something and spoke.
"These past few years, I've been monitoring Orochimaru, and following him, I found a very suspicious organization called Akatsuki."
"The members of this organization are terrifying; they are all powerful S-rank wanted criminals."
"And not long ago, they started searching for powerful jutsu and inquiring about Tailed Beasts, working in pairs, wearing unified black robes with red clouds printed on them."
"I suspect they have a way to use Tailed Beasts, similar to the masked man, and perhaps the Akatsuki Organization was even founded by that masked man!"
"Black robes with red clouds printed on them!" Naruto, remembering Itachi and Kisame, exclaimed.
Naruto's exclamation also caught Jiraiya's attention, and he immediately asked.
"Naruto, have you seen people wearing such clothes?"
"Yes, just now in the Forest of Death examination!" Naruto nodded repeatedly.
"One had a shark-like face, carried a weapon called Samehada, and said he wanted to capture the Nine-Tailed alive and take it back, then attacked me."
"The other person was called Mr. Itachi by the shark-face; he had the same Sharingan as Sasuke."
"He first attacked Sasuke, then started attacking me while fleeing."
"But it was useless; neither of them was a match for Feng Xu. After being severely beaten by Feng Xu, they wrapped themselves in water and escaped."
"Oh, and that Mr. Itachi is very powerful. The shark-face was so beaten by Feng Xu that he could only beg for help, but Mr. Itachi was able to escape from Feng Xu's hands with the shark-face!"
"And when his eyes bled, he could release black flames, and he could also pull me into a strange place and then release me."
After listening to Naruto's account, Jiraiya's expression became serious.
"They were inquiring about Tailed Beast information, so they are indeed trying to collect Tailed Beasts!"
"That shark-face should be Kisame Hoshigaki, a rogue Ninja from the Hidden Mist Village, and Mr. Itachi is the perpetrator of the Uchiha Clan massacre, Uchiha Itachi!"
"As for those two strange abilities, they should also be related to the Sharingan!"
"It's the Mangekyo Sharingan." Minato, who was beside them, frowned and added.
Of course, this was information Sasuke's father, Fugaku, told him when he was alive.
"This is the ultimate power of the Uchiha Clan, and also the root cause of the Second Hokage's fear and suppression of the Uchiha."
"Mangekyo Sharingan?" Jiraiya couldn't help but think of his disciple in the Hidden Rain Village.
Nagato, who possessed the Rinnegan, the eyes of the Ninja progenitor, the Six Paths Sage!
He was also the Child of Prophecy he initially believed in!
Of course, the exceptionally talented Minato had also been considered the Child of Prophecy by him.
Unfortunately, Minato died young, perishing while sealing the Nine-Tailed.
But now, he believed that Naruto and Feng Xu, who could perfectly utilize the Nine-Tailed's power, might be the Child of Prophecy!
A green-eyed boy who playfully calls out the names of the nine beasts—this was the prophecy given by the Great Toad Sage.
Now, the green eyes are there, and the Nine-Tailed is incredibly obedient, doing whatever is asked.
And even his name is the same as the Child of Prophecy in his novel!
Thinking of this, Jiraiya looked at Naruto.
"Minato, I plan to take Naruto as my disciple, teach him everything I know, and make up for my past oversights."
"Before, I thought that by entrusting him to the old man, Naruto would receive excellent care, but I didn't expect him to always train Naruto as a weapon!"
"And I never even suspected it, I didn't even go to see Naruto once!"
"I…"
Jiraiya saw Minato calmly looking at him, not giving him an opening despite his apology.
He stammered for a long time, unable to complete his sentence.
Finally, Minato spoke just as Jiraiya was about to become a broken record.
"Jiraiya-sensei, I originally came to see you this time, and also wanted to ask why you didn't take care of Naruto."
"But I thought about it, and I don't seem to have the right to ask you, after all, I wasn't a qualified father myself."
Jiraiya was filled with embarrassment and shame, somewhat afraid to look into Minato's eyes.
"Minato, what are you planning to do next?"
"Are you going to stay in the Village to take care of Naruto?"
Minato shook his head: "This is just a Shadow Clone, it can't last long, so I hope, as you said, Sensei, you will take good care of Naruto."
"I will, this time I will personally watch over him!" Jiraiya nodded repeatedly, assuring him.
Naruto, meanwhile, had a bad feeling and clutched Minato's clothes.
"Dad, are you leaving?"
Minato looked down and gently stroked Naruto's head, smiling softly.