Steam curled lazily over the hot spring as Hyūga Satoru, Uchiha Shisui, and the others stepped into the water one after another.
Satoru's gaze slid briefly over the bath's other occupant.
Jiraiya.
Even half-submerged, the injuries were obvious: several long sword wounds across his shoulder and chest, the cuts deep but already scabbed over. They looked at least a couple of weeks old.
Satoru's remark about the wounds made Jiraiya—who had been soaking with his eyes closed—open them at once. When he saw Satoru and Shisui nearby, a flicker of surprise crossed his face.
He recovered quickly.
Wiping the sweat from his brow with a towel, Jiraiya asked casually:
"What brings you brats all the way out here? Did Minato send you to drag me back? Or is there something only Jiraiya-sama can help you with?"
He clearly didn't believe their presence in this country was some random coincidence. A Hyūga main-branch heir like Satoru wouldn't casually leave the Land of Fire, stroll through Paniishi, and appear in the Land of Hot Springs without a serious reason.
Satoru didn't circle around the matter.
"Before I answer that," he said, "can you tell me how you got those wounds?"
His eyes dropped meaningfully to Jiraiya's chest.
"Did you fight Orochimaru?"
Their relationship wasn't as close as Jiraiya and Minato's, but Satoru still counted as a sort of "grand-disciple" via Kushina. He didn't feel the need to mince words with him.
At the mention of Orochimaru, a trace of sorrow flashed through Jiraiya's expression before he smoothed it over.
Just as Satoru had guessed—the wounds were from a battle with Orochimaru.
Jiraiya had tracked down one of Orochimaru's hideouts and confronted him, hoping to bring him back to Konoha. Predictably, the talk had ended in a fight.
Against someone of Orochimaru's caliber—armed with forbidden techniques and experiments perfected in the shadows—Jiraiya had been at a disadvantage from the start. Without time or preparation to enter Sage Mode, he had fought in his normal state and, in that condition, had been thoroughly outmatched.
Orochimaru, however, hadn't gone for the kill.
Facing the former comrade who had once stood back-to-back with him through war, Orochimaru had "only" beaten him bloody and spared his life.
The result left Jiraiya nursing more than just physical wounds.
He'd come to the Land of Hot Springs partly to "do research," partly to drown his failure in alcohol and steam.
Then his luck dipped even further—he'd lent almost all his ready cash to Tsunade for gambling and ended up short on money himself. A bit of "unpaid entertainment" in the red-light district had led to minor scandal, which promptly spread through underworld rumor networks.
That was the thread Satoru's team had tugged on to finally find him here.
When Satoru brought up Orochimaru, Jiraiya first let out a bitter chuckle. Then he glanced sideways at Satoru and said:
"So what is it, then? You kids came all the way to the Land of Hot Springs to laugh at this old man for getting his butt kicked? Or did the Hokage decide this Sannin is embarrassing Konoha and send you to haul me back to lecture me?"
There was a faint grievance in his tone.
Long ago, after Orochimaru's defection, the village had quietly chosen to "let him go." The official attitude had been one of non-interference—as long as he didn't directly threaten Konoha, they wouldn't hunt him relentlessly.
But Jiraiya had never been able to accept simply abandoning him.
In his eyes, Orochimaru had contributed great achievements to the village. To Jiraiya, throwing him away and erasing all that because of his later crimes felt too cold, too clinical.
He could never quite accept that the lives of the shinobi Orochimaru had killed had objectively outweighed all he had once done.
That contradiction was precisely why Jiraiya had refused to fully give up on him. He was determined to at least try to drag Orochimaru back from the abyss.
The Hokage, however, didn't have that luxury.
Whether it was the Third or the Fourth—anyone sitting in that chair needed to think of the families of the victims, of the village's stability, of the political consequences. There was no way to openly bring Orochimaru back to Konoha and simply say, "We've forgiven him."
Unlike Sasuke's later case, Orochimaru's hands were soaked in Konoha's blood. There was no road to public reconciliation.
Jiraiya had taken a long time to fully understand that. Orochimaru had understood it far sooner.
That was why he treated Jiraiya so coldly now—to cut off sentimental ties and keep Jiraiya from being dragged under with him.
Because of all this, when Satoru appeared with an elite squad at his side, Jiraiya couldn't help being wary.
Only two people in the world really understood Jiraiya—Jiraiya himself, and Kushina. Through Kushina's training at Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya had also kept half an eye on Satoru's growth.
He had seen Satoru sparring with Kushina's Sage training, seen how the boy's taijutsu could keep up with—or even overwhelm—Kushina when she wasn't in full Sage Mode.
To Jiraiya, Satoru was no longer "that Hyūga kid."
He was a terrifying fighter in his own right.
A Hyūga main-branch heir with that level of strength… showing up in the Land of Hot Springs with an Uchiha prodigy and other village elites?
There was only one likely explanation:
They were here for Orochimaru.
Sensing that Jiraiya's guard was up, Satoru paused briefly, then deliberately chose the words that would ease his worry:
"We're not here to chase Orochimaru."
He said it calmly.
"A legendary Sannin like him—sending just us after him would be an insult."
He leaned back against the warm stone and went on:
"We're tracking a secret organization. For something like that, the best person to ask is someone who roams the world and collects intel… like you."
"As for Orochimaru—whether he's connected to this group is still just a question."
That reasoning was close enough to the truth to be convincing—but Jiraiya still didn't swallow it whole.
Even if Satoru was his "grand-disciple" and a trusted Konoha shinobi, Jiraiya couldn't completely rule out that "secret organization" was just a euphemism for "we're here for Orochimaru."
Still, one phrase caught him.
"Secret organization…?"
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed slightly.
His mind flashed back to that recent clash in the Land of Grass.
At the time, he had simply thought Orochimaru's outfit looked strange: a long black cloak embroidered with huge red clouds, and a ring on his hand engraved with the character "空" (Sky/Empty).
He'd assumed it was just Orochimaru's increasingly bizarre taste in fashion since going rogue.
But now…
Combined with Satoru's mention of a "secret organization," that outfit suddenly looked less like a personal quirk and more like a uniform.
His expression grew darker.
Satoru had been quietly observing Jiraiya's face the whole time and didn't miss the subtle shift.
He didn't press him immediately. Instead, he continued his explanation in a steady tone:
"Yes. We're investigating a hidden organization."
"They've been amassing large sums of money and have attacked multiple black-market exchange houses in the Land of Fire."
"The ones I fought wore black cloaks with very conspicuous red clouds on them."
"One was a rogue Sand puppeteer—Sasori. I killed him."
"The other was Kakuzu, a rogue from Takigakure. He escaped."
Satoru's eyes cooled slightly.
"And when I pursued Kakuzu, a strange white being intervened and tried to block me."
"That same 'white figure' took part in the Nine-Tails incident—the night Kushina-sensei was giving birth."
He chose every word carefully.
Because Kakashi was here.
Outwardly, Kakashi looked calm and contained. But Satoru knew: beneath the mask, his emotions were anything but calm. If Kakashi learned too bluntly that Obito might still be alive—and had participated in the Nine-Tails disaster—no one could predict his reaction.
So Satoru's phrasing was deliberately vague. Suggestive, but not explicit.
Jiraiya, however, understood perfectly.
He was one of the few who knew the full truth of that night.
The moment Satoru described the black cloaks with red clouds, and the white being that had interfered, Jiraiya's heart clenched.
Orochimaru's recent attire…
and that ring.
Combined with the Nine-Tails connection…
There was almost no room left for coincidence.
Orochimaru had definitely joined that organization.
And the fact that the group included rogue ninja from multiple countries—Sand, Water, Takigakure—made it clear they weren't just some random band of missing-nin. They were organized, disciplined, and dangerous.
Originally, Jiraiya had wanted to shield Orochimaru from direct confrontation with the village.
But if Orochimaru had joined an organization connected to the Nine-Tails attack…
Then even Jiraiya could not look the other way.
The village came first.
Always.
Jiraiya slowly poured himself another cup of sake. He stared into it for a moment, then said in a low voice:
"Orochimaru…"
"He's probably a part of the organization you're talking about."
Shisui, Guy, and Kakashi all turned sharply to look at him.
Only Satoru remained outwardly calm. He simply rested his arms on the pool's stone edge and waited.
Jiraiya let out a long breath and continued:
"About two months ago, I tracked Orochimaru to a secret base in the Land of Grass and fought him there."
"His appearance had changed… different from before. At the time I just thought his taste in clothes had gotten weirder."
"Black cloak. Red cloud patterns. Exactly what you described."
Jiraiya shook his head, a wry smile tugging at his lips.
"Looks like that's the organization's uniform after all."
"I couldn't beat him. After that, I came back to the Land of Hot Springs to rest. I haven't run into him again since."
Satoru fell briefly silent, thinking.
"Two months ago, huh…"
He nodded lightly.
"Then his experimental base probably hasn't been abandoned yet."
"Even if you found it, there's no way he'd just throw away his lab."
"And with it being in the Land of Grass instead of the Land of Fire, he doesn't have to worry about Konoha sending large forces after him."
The Grass Country was effectively Orochimaru's backyard. There, he held the advantage.
Satoru had no trouble imagining how lightly Orochimaru would take even a Sannin like Jiraiya in that setting.
After a moment, Satoru spoke again, his tone steady but firm:
"Take us to Orochimaru."
He met Jiraiya's eyes.
"Jiraiya—this affects both us and the village."
In Satoru's mind, Orochimaru was the most realistic entry point into Akatsuki.
Orochimaru was obsessed with experimenting. Akatsuki, in contrast, was a war machine. Their ultimate goals were not naturally aligned.
Orochimaru might have joined them for funding, protection, and access to valuable targets after becoming a missing-nin. But once he completed enough research, nurtured loyal subordinates, and fully formed his own hidden village…
Akatsuki would become expendable.
At that point, letting Konoha and Akatsuki bleed each other dry from the sidelines would suit him perfectly.
Satoru had no illusions about Orochimaru's character.
But that kind of man, with that kind of position, could make a very useful source of information.
From the Hyūga clan's perspective, Orochimaru was dangerous—but manageable. Akatsuki, on the other hand, had the potential to threaten the entire shinobi world.
Between the serpent and the shadow behind him, Satoru knew which needed to be dealt with first.
He almost regretted entering this world so late.
By the time he had grown strong enough to influence major events, some things were already locked in place. Yahiko was gone. Akatsuki's path had been twisted by Obito and Black Zetsu. Nagato had stepped into the role of "God."
Satoru didn't believe Nagato could be saved by simple words anymore.
Not when so many chains had already wrapped around him.
The only language that would matter now was force.
Jiraiya looked at Satoru for a long moment, then at the others.
"You brats probably just arrived in the Land of Hot Springs, right?" he said at last.
"Then rest for two days."
He leaned his head back against the rock, closing his eyes again.
"Recover your strength. Once you're all in top condition…"
He cracked one eye open and gave Satoru a faint, weary grin.
"I'll take you to see Orochimaru."
"If you're going to face that guy—you'd better be at your absolute best."
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