Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Hyuga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku left the Hokage Building. Based on the information relayed by the Anbu responsible for tracking Jiraiya, they ran straight through the rooftops and treetops until they arrived at the cemetery. In front of the grave where the Third Hokage was buried, they saw the tall man.

"Jiraiya-senpai."

"Lord Jiraiya."

Hiashi Hyuga and Shikaku Nara stepped forward and greeted the man.

"Oh! Isn't this Hyuga clan leader and Shikaku?" Jiraiya turned around, his face showing no trace of sorrow, but rather a cheerful and generous smile as he greeted the two, "Long time no see!"

[Chapter 130. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in the Land of Water]

When Jiraiya received the news of the Third Hokage's death, he did not feel much sadness or grief. He remained silent for less than a minute before continuing to sit on the tatami mats in the inn and continue writing at his desk.

Everyone dies eventually.

The old man was already over sixty years old. Compared to the average lifespan of all the Hokage, he had lived a long life. It wouldn't be a bad thing for him to pass away at this time. It was time for a new Hokage to bring something different to Konoha.

After considering it for a while, he decided to go back to the village.

His ambition wasn't to become Hokage; that wasn't his goal. He returned to the village to investigate some things and meet certain people.

August, also known as Leaf Month or Autumn Wind Month, is the month of transition from summer to autumn according to the official calendar of the Land of Fire, a month when things change from hot to cold. Unfortunately, the climate in Konoha is still hot. Jiraiya, who had returned to the village, sighed at the scorching sunlight. He went to a flower shop in the mountains and bought a bunch of white chrysanthemums. He wandered around the cemetery for a while and found the small tombstone that belonged to the Third Hokage.

Jiraiya knew that this was just a cenotaph.

The corpses of ninjas are of extremely high value; otherwise, there would be no such organization as the Corpse Disposal Team. As the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi's corpse is naturally of great value. It is impossible for him to be buried openly in the Konoha Cemetery. The corpses of the Hokage of each generation are buried in secret, and the burial sites are known only to a small group of people in the village's upper echelons.

Jiraiya, being merely a traveler far from home, was not qualified to know such secrets. Of course, if he were willing to return to the village and succeed as the Fifth Hokage, all the village's secrets would be open to him, but he simply refused that option.

There are quite a few cenotaphs like this in the cemetery.

These cenotaphs were primarily erected to comfort the villagers, providing them with a place to find solace, and also to mislead spies and those with ill intentions.

White chrysanthemums were offered in front of the tombstone.

Jiraiya made no further moves. He had nothing to say to his deceased teacher; his trip was simply to visit the grave, fulfilling his duty as a disciple. It didn't even matter that this wasn't Hiruzen Sarutobi's actual grave.

Just as he was beginning to consider where to go next, the visitors arrived one after another.

They were not strangers. Hyuga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku, despite their different ages and seniority, had both had many dealings with Jiraiya during the Third Shinobi World War.

"Lord Jiraiya, it's been a long time! You're as charming as ever!"

Nara Shikaku's attitude was very respectful.

"Shikaku, you look much more haggard, and you've even grown a beard. Hiashi too... you two are no longer the kids you used to be!" Jiraiya looked at the two people in front of him and sighed with deep emotion. A new generation replaces the old. The memories of fighting side by side with the previous Hyuga and Nara clan leaders in the Second Shinobi World War were still vivid in his mind. Now, the people standing in front of him were no longer his former comrades-in-arms.

My son is five years old.

Nara Shikaku said with a rather helpless expression.

Hiashi Hyuga remained silent. His daughter was also five years old, but in front of Jiraiya, they were all considered juniors.

"Haha! I see! Speaking of which... Naruto is about five years old now, right?" Jiraiya said thoughtfully, having only seen Naruto as a baby.

Five years ago, while traveling abroad, he received news of Minato's sacrifice. When he rushed back to the village, he found that he was too late and everything was beyond redemption. Minato and Kushina had both passed away, and Sarutobi had returned to the position of Hokage. Only Naruto, who was still an infant, was left lying in the nursery of Konoha Hospital.

Seeing Sarutobi, who was wearing the Hokage hat again and looking radiant, Jiraiya felt extremely frustrated. However, there was nothing he could do. The Third Hokage was still his mentor, and the Third Hokage had not said that he had not contributed on the night of the Nine-Tails' attack. On the contrary, it was Jiraiya who had arrived late and had not accomplished anything.

His depressed mood made it impossible for him to stay in the village. He refused the Third Hokage's offer to stay, and after confirming that the still-infant Naruto was being well taken care of, he left the village once again to continue his endless journey.

Until this time,

With Sarutobi-sensei gone, Jiraiya replanned his journey and returned to Konoha.

"Is Naruto alright? Is he going to the Ninja Academy?" Jiraiya asked casually, but this simple question did not receive an immediate answer. Hiashi Hyuga had a stern face and showed an attitude of not caring about anything. Shikaku Nara, however, could not avoid the question. After all, the current acting Hokage of the Fifth Hokage was Torifusa, and it would be too fake for him to say that he did not know about the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

After waiting for two seconds without any sound,

Jiraiya frowned slightly, staring at Nara Shikaku, whose face was filled with distress. "Shikaku, is something wrong with Naruto?"

"That's not quite right. Naruto... he's not in the village right now," Nara Shikaku replied, forcing a smile.

"Not in the village?"

Jiraiya repeated this bizarre answer: What did it mean that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki wasn't in the village? Suddenly, he remembered that the village and the Mist Ninja had gone to war again. Could it be that five-year-old Naruto had been sent to the front lines?

"Shikaku, tell me, where is Naruto?"

"Well, if nothing unexpected happens, he should be with the Uchiha clan head in the Land of Water right now," Nara Shikaku replied.

"The Land of Water?"

Jiraiya's eyebrows furrowed, a hint of anger lurking in his eyes.

"Shikaku? Don't tell me the situation in the village is so dire that we need to send the five-year-old Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to the battlefield. Explain yourself, what exactly is going on?"

Nara Shikaku was sweating profusely, inwardly groaning. What was going on? Weren't they here to ask for Jiraiya-sama's opinion? Why were they being questioned by Jiraiya-sama in such a delicate situation?

If Jiraiya weren't the Third Hokage's disciple, he could have simply recounted everything Naruto had suffered. But since Jiraiya was the Third Hokage's disciple, he was unaware of the complex relationship between the Third Hokage and Jiraiya, even if he had noticed some suspicious details.

But as the saying goes, just because I can say he's bad doesn't mean others can criticize his mistakes.

If Jiraiya-sama felt that they were shifting the blame to the deceased Third Hokage, that was a situation that Nara Shikaku absolutely did not want to see.

"The situation is rather complicated. In short, Naruto was not forced to leave the village, and to be honest, Naruto would actually be safer staying with the Uchiha clan leader..." Nara Shikaku racked his brains, trying to figure out if he could avoid those 'minefields'.

Jiraiya's brows furrowed even more as he listened.

"Jiraiya-senpai, let me explain!"

Hiashi Hyuga, who had originally intended to stand by and watch, reached out to help Shikaku Nara out of the predicament. Shikaku Nara breathed a sigh of relief and gave Hiashi Hyuga a grateful look.

"Hiashi, tell me what's going on?" Jiraiya switched to a more affectionate form of address. Nara Shikaku's attitude made him realize that Naruto's situation was not as simple as he had imagined, and the circumstances seemed quite complicated.

"This matter... is indeed quite complicated."

Hiashi Hyuga pondered for a moment, sorting out the jumbled thoughts, before asking, "Lord Jiraiya, do you know that the Third Hokage covered up the fact that Naruto is the Fourth Hokage's child?"

"I know."

Jiraiya nodded. "The old man told me that in order to protect Naruto's identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from being revealed, he planned to change Naruto's surname to prevent people from discovering Naruto's identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki from his name. Speaking of which, what is Naruto's surname now?"

Upon hearing this question,

Hiashi Hyuga and Shikaku Nara exchanged a glance, seeing a similar surprise in each other's eyes.

"It's Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki."

Hiashi Hyuga replied.

"swirl?"

Jiraiya was taken aback.

Change from wave to vortex?

What kind of amazing operation is this?

Are they afraid people won't know that Naruto is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? Both generations of Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in Konoha Village were members of the Uzumaki clan. Especially after the destruction of the Land of Whirlpools, the Uzumaki surname became so rare that it was even more conspicuous than the Namikaze surname, okay?

"The name is..."

"It was chosen by the Third Hokage five years ago, if I'm not mistaken, shortly after you left the village, Jiraiya-senpai." Hiashi Hyuga didn't stop, but continued, "Unfortunately, the Anbu's secrecy wasn't up to par, and at some point, rumors started circulating in the village that Naruto was the 'Demon Fox.' Now, almost all the ordinary people in the village believe that Naruto is the incarnation of the Demon Fox that destroyed the village five years ago."

Jiraiya closed his eyes.

He's not a fool.

Hiashi Hyuga understood the underlying meaning of his words perfectly. Naruto's life didn't seem to be receiving the comprehensive care he had imagined; on the contrary, what kind of childhood would a child labeled a 'demon fox' have...?

He did not doubt the truthfulness of what Hiashi Hyuga said.

He didn't think Hiashi Hyuga had the guts or the need to deceive him. Even though these words might contain subjective opinions, the fact that Naruto was treated as a demon fox was probably true. In his spare time, he would occasionally think of Naruto, imagining what Naruto would look like growing up happily under the careful care of the village, and wondering whether he would look more like Minato or Kushina when he grew up.

However, reality ruthlessly shattered all his former fantasies.

"Then what does all this have to do with Naruto being sent to the Land of Water?" Jiraiya didn't press Naruto's life any further. Now that they were back in the village, he was going to find out for himself what Naruto was doing there. The key question now was why Naruto wasn't in the village, but instead in... the Land of Water.

[Chapter 131 We Need a Strong Leader]

"Naruto was not 'sent' to the Land of Water."

Hiashi Hyuga emphasized the word "send" in his pronunciation, instead of making it sound like the village disliked the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and sent him away. "The reason this happened is because of the influence of history and environment. Naruto's mental state was very unstable a few days ago."

The instability of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's mental state speaks volumes.

Strictly speaking, this is a sign of loss of control that immature Jinchuriki would have. Five-year-old Naruto naturally could not control the power of the Tailed Beast. Although Jiraiya did not think that the seal that Minato set up at the cost of his life would break down so easily, he had personally checked the seal on Naruto's body.

Minato also left behind the key to the Nine-Tails seal through the extremely rare scroll, Gamagora, from Mount Myōboku.

Needless to say,

This was entrusted to Jiraiya.

“The seal on Naruto isn’t that fragile. Without external interference, it’s impossible for the seal to be broken before he turns ten. However… I understand your concerns.” Jiraiya shook his head. “Hiashi, please continue.”

Hiashi Hyuga silently noted down the information that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's seal could last for at least ten years. He paused slightly and continued, "Besides Naruto's own unstable condition, something else happened at the time. Uchiha Sogen, I wonder if you, Jiraiya-senpai, know this name?"

"I've heard of it."

Jiraiya nodded.

Even if he didn't know before, he started collecting information about the village when he received the news of Sarutobi's death and prepared to return to Konoha. He knew that the leaders who pushed Sarutobi off the position of Hokage were Uchiha Sogen and Hyuga Hiashi, who was standing in front of him.

"Although Sogen is only fifteen years old, he is already the head of the Uchiha clan and has awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan of the Uchiha clan. Before Jiraiya-sama returned, Sogen was probably the strongest in the village. Of course, this is not the only reason that prompted the Hokage to make the decision to send the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to Sogen's side."

"Sōgen-kun captured the Fourth Mizukage alive during the war against the Mist Ninja."

Hiashi Hyuga dropped a bombshell.

This matter was not made public. Even in the front-line army, only those high-ranking Jonin knew that the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, had been captured. Although spreading the news of the Fourth Mizukage's capture would greatly boost the morale of their side, doing so would likely render Yagura Karatachi useless, which would not be conducive to appeasing and utilizing the defeated Kirigakure.

Therefore,

The fact that the Fourth Hokage, Shikichi, was captured alive by Uchiha Mugen is still known to only a small number of people.

Jiraiya opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found himself at a loss for words. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, was someone Jiraiya had never dealt with, but he knew that those who could become the 'Kage' of the Five Great Ninja Villages were all very powerful figures.

Yet, even such a shadowy figure was captured alive.

This is more surprising than killing a Shadow.

"The Mangekyou Sharingan?"