Naruto: Konoha Spring of the Uchiha Prodigies

Not long after he left, the space above Obito's tombstone began to distort, and a man wearing a mask, with only his right eye showing, appeared in mid-air.

"A new world?" The newcomer scoffed. "Ridiculous."

……

For some time now, Obito Uchiha, who had been busy causing trouble in Kirigakure, hadn't paid attention to Konoha. It was only recently, when Black Zetsu reminded him that there seemed to be a lot of changes in Konoha and the Uchiha clan, that Obito finally managed to find some time to return to Konoha.

Unexpectedly, not long after they arrived, they heard Kakashi speaking at his own grave.

“Obito, two more members of your clan have acquired the Mangekyou Sharingan in recent years, and one of them seems to have a very close relationship with your old friend.” A black figure appeared out of nowhere next to Obito and said, “You should have heard of this person. He is the famous Azure Lightning Dokko from the battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War.”

Chapter 87 Jiraiya's Dilemma

"Uchiha Touko?" Obito's face darkened upon hearing the name.

Back when he was still in the village, although Obito Uchiha was not active in the Kirigakure region, where the Uchiha clan was active, during the Third Shinobi World War because of the Fourth Hokage, he had still heard the legends of his younger cousin, who was several years younger than him.

Putting aside everything else, even the Hidden Mist Village, where he's causing trouble, still haunts the memory of veteran ninjas who experienced the Third Shinobi World War. Countless Hidden Mist Village souls have been buried beneath that ninja sword, the Blade of No Blood, which the Hidden Mist Village calls the Blade of No Blood.

But Obito never expected that his cousin, who had made great contributions on the battlefield, would have such a trick up his sleeve.

The entire Uchiha clan was already on the verge of explosion under his covert manipulation, but he had only been temporarily ignoring the village's affairs, and Uchiha Tokō had already completed the integration of the Uchiha forces, which was completely unacceptable to him.

Born into the Uchiha clan, he naturally understood just how terrifying the clan's potential was. With normal ninja talent, the Uchiha clan was already among the top in the ninja world, not to mention the existence of the Mangekyou Sharingan, which was completely unreasonable. This was a huge destabilizing factor for his Eye of the Moon plan.

Therefore, for Obito Uchiha, only the Uchiha who had all died were good Uchiha.

"What exactly happened to the Uchiha clan while I was away?" Obito took a deep breath and asked Black Zetsu beside him.

"I'll have Bai Jue tell you the specifics later, but even Bai Jue hasn't obtained much information about this cousin."

"Even White Zetsu didn't gather enough intelligence?" Upon hearing this, Obito Uchiha frowned deeply beneath his mask. He knew that White Zetsu's ability to gather intelligence so thoroughly was largely due to his ability to cause so much trouble in the ninja world over the years.

"This guy's Lightning Release is very special. There is a strange magnetic field within several meters of his body. Under the interference of this magnetic field, it is very difficult for White Zetsu's spores to germinate, let alone directly collect information," Black Zetsu explained to Obito.

After hearing Black Zetsu's explanation, a strange light flashed in Obito's exposed eye.

"What do you think, Obito, do you want to try to resolve this destabilizing factor?" Black Zetsu slowly approached Uchiha Obito and asked.

"To ensure the success of the Eye of the Moon Plan, any destabilizing factors must be eliminated," Obito Uchiha said coldly, turning to glare at Black Zetsu. "Also, call me Madara Uchiha."

……

After Uchiha Touko and Kakashi returned to the village, the village remained peaceful for a while.

During this period, Hiruzen Sarutobi would bring Jiraiya along when participating in public events, such as inviting the Hokage to cut the ribbon at the opening of shops in the village.

Although Jiraiya was renowned as one of the Legendary Sannin, he rarely visited the village. Most villagers knew of his existence but didn't know him personally. Hiruzen Sarutobi's actions were intended to make Jiraiya more recognizable to the villagers.

Furthermore, in the recent villages, Jiraiya's heroic deeds during the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars have begun to circulate again.

It can be said that Sarutobi Hiruzen put in all his efforts to pave the way for Jiraiya.

However, after actually taking on the role of Hokage advisor, Jiraiya found that his work was not going particularly smoothly.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi delegated the authority to mobilize the Anbu and Jonin teams to Jiraiya, Jiraiya discovered that, apart from the ninjas from the Ino-Shika-Cho clan and the Sarutobi clan, the other ninjas in the Anbu and Jonin teams were not very enthusiastic about his orders.

Although the ninjas who received the mission would eventually complete the mission with quality and quantity, it was nothing compared to the situation when people from the Security Department asked the ninjas from the Anbu or the Jonin Class to handle some collaborative tasks together, and everyone rushed to sign up.

This is actually quite natural. When participating in missions related to the Security Department, the Security Department will give them an additional salary according to the Security Department's salary standard after the mission is completed. Not to mention, there are also hidden benefits such as dinners during and after the mission. Missions that Jiraiya announces with just a few words are naturally not very attractive.

What troubled Jiraiya even more was that his efforts to recruit Genma Shiranui and other former subordinates of the Fourth Hokage were not going well.

He originally thought that with Minato's teacher taking over, he would be able to smoothly take over his disciple's former subordinates. However, after he told Genma Shiranui that he planned to promote them to Jonin, their application to be transferred to the Security Department appeared on his desk that very afternoon.

Although they were all closely related to Minato, in the eyes of these former subordinates of the Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya's status as the Fourth Hokage's teacher did not seem as useful as Kakashi's status as his disciple.

After all, when the Fourth Hokage promoted Genma Shiranui and others from humble beginnings, Kakashi was a comrade-in-arms who fought alongside them. But what was Jiraiya doing at the time? He was running around the entire ninja world gathering information, and he wasn't even present on the night the Fourth Hokage died.

If that were all, it would be one thing, but after the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice, Jiraiya never even came back to visit Naruto, the Fourth Hokage's only surviving son. Now he wants to shamelessly gain their loyalty directly? What makes him so special?

In addition, Jiraiya also discovered that the ninjas in the Anbu and Jonin teams had all received favors from Uchiha Touko and Kakashi to varying degrees, and they all spoke highly of the two, which made Jiraiya very worried.

"Looks like it's time to have a good talk with Kakashi," Jiraiya thought to himself, sitting at his desk. "And I should also go check on Naruto while I'm at it."

While Jiraiya was struggling with things he wasn't good at, Kakashi was having a pretty good time.

Although he has officially started working at the Security Department, the special department he works for, which Uchiha Touko jokingly calls the Nakagawa Grand Hotel, is used to detain and investigate people with special identities. At present, only Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado are detained. His daily work is very leisurely. He only needs to go to the interrogation room every day to check on the progress of the interrogation of the two.

The Uchiha clansmen sent by Uchiha Touko also gave him a lot of face. Every time he went on patrol, they would drag the two old men out and beat them up. Kakashi was naturally happy to see this happen.

Putting aside the fact that these two old men had already admitted, under the influence of fists, kicks, and Sharingan genjutsu, that they were the ones who spread the rumors about Kakashi some time ago, Kakashi, who had been learning and growing during this period, had unconsciously changed his perspective on problems. When he re-examined the matter of his father back then, he also realized that these two old men were definitely not clean in the matter.

Therefore, coming over to watch the two old men get beaten up has become one of Kakashi's essential daily entertainment activities during work hours, besides staying in the office watching Jiraiya's masterpieces.

When the clock in Kakashi's office struck five, Kakashi closed Icha Icha Paradise and got up to leave work on time.

After getting off work, Kakashi thought for a moment and headed towards the Ninja Academy. There had been banquets every night for the past few days, and he had neglected to take care of Naruto. Every day when he got back, Naruto was already asleep. So, Kakashi decided to spend some quality time with the boy today.

When Kakashi arrived at the Ninja Academy, the children were coming out of school one after another. Not long after, Kakashi saw Naruto walking out arm in arm with Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba.

"Naruto!" Kakashi waved to Naruto, signaling him to come over quickly.

"Brother Kakashi?" Naruto looked incredulous when he saw Kakashi come to pick him up.

After saying goodbye to his friends, Naruto ran over with his little backpack on.

"Why are you here? Isn't there a banquet today?" Naruto asked.

"I have nothing to do after get off work today, so I came to pick you up. What? Don't you want me to pick you up from school?" Kakashi said with a smile.

"Uh, no, that's not it..." Naruto stuck out his tongue and said a little guiltyly.

Before Kakashi took Naruto in his care, Naruto was quite envious when he saw other children being picked up by their parents after school. But after moving into Kakashi's house, when Kakashi wasn't busy, he would pick Naruto up from school every day, which was the happiest moment of his day.

However, after the initial excitement wore off, Naruto realized that it was really just that, and soon, like other children, he began to see being able to go to and from school on his own as a symbol of growing up.

Especially during this period, Kakashi had a banquet every night, and Naruto found that he could eat ramen to his heart's content every night instead of having to finish those terribly unpalatable green peppers under Kakashi's watchful eye. Naruto couldn't wait for Kakashi to go to the banquet every day.

But Naruto's little scheme couldn't escape Kakashi's notice. Kakashi didn't say anything, but instead led Naruto slowly home.

Just as Naruto lowered his guard, Kakashi suddenly said, "That new Dreamy Soy Sauce Ramen that the village recently launched doesn't seem to taste very good."

"No way! I've been eating that ramen every day lately! It tastes really good!" Naruto blurted out without thinking.

By the time Naruto realized he might have said something wrong, Kakashi was already staring at him with deadpan eyes.

"Naruto, don't I have someone make dinner for you and send it to your house every night? But you just eat ramen every day?" Kakashi asked.

"Sorry..." Naruto said, looking down.

“Naruto, I know you love that, but you won’t grow tall enough if you only eat ramen,” Kakashi said helplessly. “Fine, I’ll try to come home for dinner every night from now on.”

After the two returned to the Hatake family's ancestral home, they encountered an uninvited guest at the gate. Jiraiya was carrying a gift and peeking inside the Hatake family's ancestral home.

Hearing the noise, Jiraiya turned around and saw Kakashi and Naruto standing together.

"Kakashi, you're back from get off work." Jiraiya greeted Kakashi, but his gaze involuntarily shifted to Naruto. Looking at Naruto's blond hair, which was exactly the same as his father's, a strange look flashed in Jiraiya's eyes.

"Uncle, who are you? Are you related to Kakashi? You both have white hair." Naruto asked Jiraiya with some curiosity.

"Good question!" Upon hearing Naruto's question, Jiraiya seemed to have triggered some mechanism. He immediately took two steps back, casually formed hand seals, and with a bang, smoke exploded. A giant toad, as tall as a person and with a rosary with the character "loyalty" hanging around its neck, appeared out of thin air. Jiraiya stood on the toad's head and struck an exaggerated pose.

"I am the Toad Spirit Immortal of Myoboku Mountain, also known as Toad Sage! Jiraiya, I am honored to meet you!"

Naruto had never seen anything like this before and was immediately stunned. It took him a long time to react before he muttered, "So powerful!"

Another cloud of smoke exploded, and the toad beneath Jiraiya's feet vanished instantly. Jiraiya landed gracefully and burst into laughter.

"Lord Jiraiya, have you eaten? Would you like to eat something together?" After Jiraiya finished showing off, although Kakashi knew that Jiraiya might have other purposes in coming to him, this man was his master after all in terms of seniority, so Kakashi still patiently invited him.

"Alright, then I'll trouble you." Jiraiya didn't stand on ceremony and laughed heartily. After saying that, he handed the gift he was carrying to Kakashi. "Take it. I think you'll like it."

Kakashi took the item and his eyes lit up instantly. It was the latest sequel to "Icha Icha Paradise".

"I was in seclusion at the Security Department for a while, and this is probably my last work. I hope you like it!" Jiraiya said with a smile.

Kakashi calmly put the book into the sealed scroll he always carried with him.

After handing the book to Kakashi, Jiraiya turned to Naruto, who was standing nearby, and gave him another gift, saying:

"I heard from the Third Hokage that Naruto, you really like ramen. These are some of the ramen specialties I've collected from all over the ninja world during my years of traveling around it."

Naruto took the bag and his eyes lit up immediately. Many of the ramen varieties in the bag were ones he had never seen before.

Seeing that Naruto liked his gift, Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief. This time when he came to visit, Jiraiya didn't know how to face Naruto. After thinking about it, he could only use things that Naruto liked to get closer to him.

After inviting Jiraiya into his home, Kakashi asked a neighbor to order a banquet from the village and have it delivered to his house.

After dinner, Kakashi sent Naruto back to bed, then sat back down at the table and poured Jiraiya another drink.

"Lord Jiraiya, do you have something to talk to me about?" Kakashi asked.

……

Chapter 88 Transfer Order

"Heh, couldn't I just come to see you and Naruto?" Jiraiya chuckled twice and said, but his face was full of guilt.

He knew he didn't really have the confidence to say that. He had been back for a while, but it wasn't until today that he thought of coming to see Naruto.

Kakashi was speechless for a while before speaking, "Lord Jiraiya, to be honest, you shouldn't have come back to get involved in this mess."

"Uh..." Jiraiya was at a loss for words when faced with Kakashi's direct response.

“Lord Jiraiya, neither Touko nor the Third Hokage would show the expression you have now,” Kakashi said. “Lord Jiraiya, you are not capable of doing these things. Forcing your way in will only make things worse.”

Jiraiya remained silent. He knew what Kakashi was talking about. After being put in the position of Hokage advisor by Hiruzen Sarutobi, he often felt uncomfortable. He had never been exposed to these things before, and he only found the intricacies of politics troublesome.

"Kakashi, I hope you can come and help me." Jiraiya took a deep breath and simply stated his purpose.

"Lord Jiraiya, you're joking. I'm a ninja in the village. If Lord Jiraiya needs anything, can't you just give me an order?" Kakashi said.

"Kakashi, you know that's not what I meant!" Kakashi's words were meaningless, leaving Jiraiya unsure how to respond, and he could only mumble something unclear.

"Then what exactly does Lord Jiraiya want to say?" Kakashi countered.

……

Silence fell over the reception room once again. Kakashi slowly sipped the sake in his cup. After a long while, Kakashi finally spoke: "See, Jiraiya-sama, I told you you weren't suited for this."

"Kakashi, I have my reasons for doing this," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "Touko cannot become Hokage."

"Why?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.