Chapter 410: Side Mission – The Investigator Squad and Jiraiya
"Where... am I?"
Jiraiya struggled to open his hazy eyes. The first thing he saw was a rock wall, and he instantly snapped to high alert, warily scanning his surroundings.
The setting was extremely rudimentary—but then again, he was inside a cave. A few rays of sunlight filtered through the entrance, and birdsong could be heard constantly from outside.
Clutching his newly awakened head, Jiraiya furrowed his brow, trying to recall what had happened before he passed out…
Thanks to Little Gray's self-sacrifice through self-detonation, Jiraiya managed to escape. After that, he had been operating within the Land of Water, relentlessly pursued by a horde of scientific ninja tool puppets.
Then… that's right—he ran into Might Guy and the investigator squad he was leading.
Although Might Guy was a hot-blooded idiot, that idiocy only showed itself during training, in battle, or in front of his comrades. When it came to other matters, he was actually quite sharp.
It had taken Jiraiya a lot of effort to convince Guy that he was who he claimed to be.
"Ha ha! So it really is Jiraiya-senpai, huh…"
Might Guy had laughed uproariously as he spoke. Once he realized that "Red Wolf" was actually Jiraiya, he had immediately reverted to his usual hot-blooded fool persona.
Later, the group encountered mobile scientific ninja tool puppets and engaged in a fierce and bloody battle. That was when Jiraiya lost consciousness—most likely due to the sleeping gas the enemy had used.
That was the last thing he remembered.
Supporting himself, Jiraiya stood up and stepped out of the cave. Before him stretched a dense rainforest.
"Jiraiya-sama, you're awake," said Haku as he looked at him.
"You are…?"
Jiraiya had only just met Might Guy before the battle against the scientific ninja tool puppets erupted, so he hadn't had the chance to get acquainted with the rest of the group.
"I'm Juuzou Suzuya… Ah, that's my current alias. In my previous life, I was Haku," the figure answered with a sweet smile. However, the stitches at the corners of his mouth made the smile look slightly eerie.
"So it's you, Haku…" Jiraiya looked the person over, slowly breaking into a lewd and wild grin. He stepped forward and pulled down Haku's collar a little. "Come to think of it, Haku was a girl, right?"
Even though his current body was female, Jiraiya's perverted old-man tendencies hadn't changed. In fact, there were even advantages to his current form—at the very least, he could now enter the women's baths without any issue.
Recently, Jiraiya had even published a new novel about a man who turned into a woman and found himself caught between his delicate-faced best friend (Orochimaru) and his long-time childhood crush (Tsunade).
The new work's popularity and sales had skyrocketed, even surpassing his beloved Make-Out series at one point.
"No, I'm a boy."
Haku shook his head. Still held in Jiraiya's arms, he looked up at him in confusion, not understanding why he would ask that.
"A boy?!"
Jiraiya immediately released his grip and backed away from Haku, putting distance between them in an instant.
"Is something wrong, Jiraiya-sama?"
Despite Jiraiya's fame as one of the Legendary Sannin, Haku still showed him considerable respect.
"No, no, it's nothing…" Jiraiya waved his hands dismissively. "By the way, where's everyone else?"
"They went to gather food and investigate the surrounding area…"
Just as Haku finished speaking, a rustling came from the forest.
"Woohoo! I'm first place again!" Might Guy shouted as he leapt into view, landing solidly with both feet on the ground. Cradling an armful of fruit, he turned and said, "Another win for me, Yukimura-san!"
"Idiot…" Jiraiya muttered as he followed behind Guy, walking toward them.
"It's no fun always winning. I miss Kakashi…"
Though Might Guy seemed to imply that Zabuza didn't measure up to Kakashi, Zabuza chose to let it go, even if the comment irritated him.
"That's not true! Lord Zabuza is the strongest! He just doesn't bother competing with you!"
Zabuza could endure it, but Haku could not. He would never allow anyone to badmouth Zabuza.
"Enough, Haku," Zabuza said calmly, then turned to Jiraiya. "So, you're awake."
"Yeah."
Jiraiya nodded. He didn't mind the fact that Zabuza hadn't addressed him with any honorifics. Jiraiya wasn't one to stand on ceremony anyway.
In fact, being called "sir" or "lord" made it harder for him to shamelessly sneak around doing indecent things.
"I know it's our first time meeting, but since Might Guy trusts you, I'll trust you too."
Zabuza understood that Might Guy wasn't just a hot-blooded fool. Besides, given the current situation, unity was essential.
"Jiraiya-sama, I haven't had the chance to tell you yet—do you know what's been happening here?" Haku asked.
"Yes," Jiraiya nodded and explained, "After being reconstructed by S.H.I.E.L.D., the Land of Water was divided into two layers. Underground is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base, and aboveground is their testing grounds. They've been deploying clones aboveground for human experimentation…"
As he trailed off, Jiraiya admitted he still didn't know why the scientific ninja tool puppets had gone out of control. What worried him most was that he had completely lost contact with other S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel.
Because of Shunhi's system upgrade, even the chat group functionality had stopped working.
"What about you guys? Did you uncover anything while I was unconscious?" Jiraiya asked Zabuza.
"These past few days, we've seen large numbers of scientific ninja tool puppets moving northward…" Zabuza replied with a furrowed brow.
"The northern part of the Land of Water… doesn't really have anything of note…" Jiraiya, who had overseen the testing grounds in the Land of Water, knew this well. "But past the northern border lies the Land of Lightning."
"Could it be—they've already invaded the Land of Lightning?!" Jiraiya exclaimed.
Though it was only a guess, he felt it was likely accurate—especially when combined with the recent trend of the puppets being equipped with aerial propulsion units. This only seemed to further confirm Jiraiya's theory.
These scientific ninja tool puppets had already escaped their containment.
At this rate, the entire ninja world would be dragged into war.
Everyone present had experienced at least two Great Ninja Wars. They understood the horrors of war better than anyone.
In the past, only ninja fought each other—but this time, civilians would be caught in the crossfire.
"The factory that produced the scientific ninja tool puppets," Jiraiya said suddenly.
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