Chapter 111: Boruto: Part of My Memories Are Gone
"What? You're Sarutobi Asuma? The son of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of Konoha, one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Daimyō, the noble young master of the Sarutobi clan?!"
Jiraiya's shout made the two enthusiastic customers who were scrubbing Asuma's back explode with excitement.
To them, this was no different from randomly running into a young lady from a prestigious noble family, it only made things even more thrilling.
"That's right, I'm Asuma. But keep it down a bit, I'm leading a squad here on a mission."
Hearing the "admiring, reverent" voices behind him, Asuma couldn't help feeling a little pleased.
What pleased him was that, among those three titles, at least one of them truly belonged to him, not something borrowed from his father or his clan.
"That voice just now sounds familiar, was that Jiraiya-sama?"
Asuma spoke toward the shadowy figures on the other side of the steam.
"You two beasts, let go of Asuma! If you want anything, come at me! Hehehe!"
Jiraiya recognized the voice. Seeing the graceful silhouettes in the mist, he yanked off his towel and pounced straight at them.
"Huh?"
Asuma turned his head around.
Under his horrified gaze, Jiraiya, completely naked like a giant toad, leapt toward the two "attendants" who had been scrubbing Asuma's back and tackled them straight into the hot spring pool.
All that could be heard was Jiraiya shouting, "Eh-hehe, yihehe, ahahaha, AAAAAAH!!!"
An eerie transition from lewd laughter to a miserable scream.
The two people Jiraiya had attacked weren't angry at all. After climbing out of the hot spring, they wiped the water from their faces and looked at him with delight.
"Could it be… you're the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya-sama?"
To them, Jiraiya was like Lei Ai from the first volume of 'Buff Man Paradise', a cultivation master with profound strength and a cold, aloof personality, a sect elder beyond reach.
Jiraiya was Madalyn from 'The Treasure of Nadia'.
What they hadn't expected was that Jiraiya shared the same peculiar tastes as they did.
"Jiraiya-sama, since you've put it that way, then we won't stand on ceremony."
"Jiraiya-sama, I want to eat a hot dog!"
"AAAAAH! RASENGAN!"
In sheer terror, Jiraiya unleashed a Rasengan at the hot spring in front of him. Using the recoil, he blasted himself backward, flying straight out of the bath.
With a 'plop', he landed at the front desk.
Naruto, Boruto, Konohamaru, and Shikamaru, four kids, stared dumbfounded at Jiraiya sprawled on the floor in utter disarray.
Jiraiya casually summoned the Mount Myōboku summoning contract scroll and used it to cover his body, finally letting out a sigh of relief.
Embarrassing as it was, at least his dignity had been preserved.
This Land of Hot Water was terrifying. What in the world was going on? He'd thought that a place like the Land of Hot Water would have a very developed and well-regulated pleasure industry, how could it be like this?
Only now, when he looked up, did he realize that this place didn't even have mixed bathing. What he had entered was a completely male-only bath!
If only he'd been more careful before going in and had taken a proper look first.
"Jiraiya-sama, what happened?"
Asuma hurried out after getting dressed.
When he looked up, he saw the four kids standing there.
"It's fine. In the end, nothing serious happened."
Seeing Asuma come out safely, Shikamaru finally let out a sigh of relief.
After that, at Jiraiya's strong insistence, they switched to an ordinary inn.
Business at this regular inn was mediocre, there were hardly any guests.
But that was normal. People who came to the Land of Hot Water usually came to enjoy the hot springs. Otherwise, why would they come here at all?
And the prices at ordinary inns weren't much cheaper anyway.
This time, however, there was an unexpected gain.
Asuma adhered to his principle of never giving up on a mission until the very last moment, and continued trying to gather information about the Jashin cult. Unexpectedly, he actually managed to learn something here.
The innkeeper said that the lunatics of the Jashin cult had left the Land of Hot Water many years ago, which was why information about them was now so hard to come by.
But he did have one secret story.
Back then, when the madman of the Jashin cult was wreaking havoc in the Land of Hot Water, he went around asking people whether they wanted to join the Jashin cult. No matter how they answered, the result was always a brutal death.
As long as they encountered him, there were no survivors, and that included quite a few ninja.
"At the time, I was just an ordinary clerk at this very inn. That day, the madman with the scythe came here, killed the inn's owner, and slaughtered all the staff on the first floor."
"I happened to be delivering dinner to a guest in an upstairs room. When I heard the commotion, I panicked and rushed straight into the guest's room."
"At that moment, the killer appeared at the doorway. He only glanced at us with disdain, then left."
"The guests in that room were two men. After being scared half to death by the killer, the two of them… Well, that happened. The filth on the three of us made the killer retreat."
"Originally, this country was dominated by heterosexuals, you couldn't even find one homosexual out of a hundred people."
"But after that day, people realized that being homosexual could prevent you from being targeted by the killer. Quite a few people began to change…"
The innkeeper finished recounting the story to Asuma with a face full of lingering nostalgia.
Asuma returned to his room in a daze after hearing all that.
What kind of nonsense was that? Could it be that the Jashin cult's killer was a germaphobe? Then why had his father, Sarutobi Hiruzen, said the man might be collecting his hemorrhoid blood for rituals?
"Huh? What are you all doing?"
Asuma noticed that the others weren't eating the food on the table or resting. Instead, they were sitting in a circle, as if waiting for him.
"Waaah! Uncle Asuma, Grandpa… Grandpa is dead!"
Konohamaru burst into tears and threw himself into Asuma's arms.
"What?!"
Asuma's pupils shook violently as he stared at Jiraiya in disbelief.
"Yes."
Jiraiya nodded heavily.
"Who did it? Did Orochimaru pull another comeback attack? Or did the Jashin cult use the old man's hemorrhoid blood?"
Asuma couldn't accept it. He was utterly confused. The Konoha Crush had been perfectly resolved, why would something like this still happen afterward?
"It's already late. Asuma, calm down. Get some sleep. I'll explain everything to you in detail tomorrow."
"…Alright."
Everyone returned to their respective rooms.
---
In the desert of the Land of Wind.
After Shiromo finished explaining the Ōtsutsuki and his own origin from twenty years in the future, it was already deep into the night. It was time to rest.
The desert at night was exceptionally cold.
All around them were rocks and gravel, with no trees to use for fire.
Fortunately, the warm and considerate Uchiha Hikari used the never-extinguishing black flames of Amaterasu to provide everyone with a source of warmth.
Yes… the prestige of Amaterasu dropped by another level these days.
"Come here! And don't talk too much!"
Temari tsundere-ly pulled Shiromo over and made him rest his head on her lap.
---
At the same time.
Land of Hot Water, inn.
Inside a room.
Boruto clutched his head again, gritting his teeth in pain.
[It's been this long already, and you still refuse to accept reality, kid.]
"…The memories I have of everyone are getting blurrier and blurrier. Why? Especially Shikadai, I can't even remember what he looks like anymore!"
Boruto held his head and questioned Momoshiki inside his mind.
(End of this chapter)