Consider the current point in the timeline and the ages of the characters involved.
At this time, Hatake Kakashi is roughly ten years old.
Hagoromo himself is twelve.
In terms of official rank, Hagoromo is a chūnin, and he hasn't been promoted for very long.
However, if one judges purely by combat capability, then even by the publicly available data, Hagoromo's level already exceeds that of an ordinary chūnin.
For someone his age, that is already quite remarkable.
And if one further considers his use of ninjutsu—specifically his Lightning Release—
To put it bluntly, even Jiraiya would find it difficult to compare.
…Alright, that phrasing is a bit alarming. It makes it sound like Hagoromo is stronger than the Toad Sage himself.
In reality, the two aren't even comparable in that sense. Jiraiya is not a Lightning Release–type shinobi to begin with.
But if one speaks purely about Lightning Release—control, refinement, and application—then Hagoromo truly does stand above the vast majority of shinobi.
Exceptionally so.
Because of this, when Hagoromo claimed that he escaped from Sasori of the Red Sand using those means, Jiraiya believed him.
"I've received the three pieces of intelligence you've reported," Jiraiya said.
"Given their importance, this information will be sealed for now. Do not disclose it to anyone else."
"I will report it directly to the Hokage, and a decision will be made after that."
By choosing to report this to the Third Hokage, Jiraiya wasn't shirking responsibility. On the contrary, it meant he had largely accepted Hagoromo's account.
Given Konoha's current alliance with Sunagakure, if the Hokage confirms this intelligence, there's a real chance it will be shared with Suna as well.
That their strongest Kazekage had already died—
And that he had been killed by the very shinobi they once took pride in: Sasori.
"How did your squad's standard mission go?" Jiraiya asked next.
"Completed without major issues," Hagoromo replied.
Strictly speaking, the encounter with the Fūma clan shinobi was also notable, but compared to everything that followed, it barely mattered.
That sort of report could be handled by Yamashiro Aoba through the intelligence division. It didn't warrant troubling Jiraiya himself.
"Good. Any injuries?" Jiraiya asked.
"There were some," Hagoromo answered casually.
"No major problems with the others. Asuma just has… some soft-tissue bruising."
If Sarutobi Asuma heard that, he'd probably drag his battered body over to fight Hagoromo on the spot.
Broken ribs, nearly half his skeleton wrecked—and that gets called soft-tissue bruising?
What medical system was that based on?
"By the way," Jiraiya added,
"that technique of yours… 'Raien Jūkoku'—how long does it take to accumulate chakra?"
Hagoromo's Lightning Release-like attack had already been displayed during the fight with Shukaku, and he had given Tsunade a deliberately vague explanation afterward.
As a result, the technique was already recorded in certain classified Konoha archives.
Konoha had registered it as a self-created jutsu, with naming rights belonging to Hagoromo himself.
Naturally, he couldn't very well submit it under the name "Lightning Release", so he had casually made one up.
Thus, the jutsu was officially cataloged as:
Lightning Release: Raien Jūkoku
(Lightning Garden, Heavy Nation)
It had been designated an S-rank ninjutsu.
Of course, that classification didn't really matter. Even if it were labeled D-rank, no one besides Hagoromo could use it anyway.
As for the naming sense—well, at least it was better than Minato's.
Jiraiya's interest in this question wasn't random.
He had someone specific in mind.
The Raikage had long been known as possessing the strongest defense in the shinobi world—and that reputation wasn't exaggerated.
With that level of durability, successive Raikage could fight the Eight-Tails head-on. Especially the current Third Raikage, whose:
Hell Stab: Four-Finger Thrust was known as the Strongest Spear, and
Lightning Release Chakra Mode as the Strongest Shield.
Speed, defense, and destructive power—he had it all.
Against an opponent like that, most ninjutsu were useless.
But what if one found the right timing… and fired a Lightning Release-level attack straight at him?
Would the Strongest Shield be able to block something even more "spear-like" than the Strongest Spear?
…Heh.
Unfortunately, to avoid drawing excessive suspicion, Hagoromo had already self-sealed this technique verbally.
Even though he could fire it whenever he wanted and hit whatever he aimed at—
He absolutely could not say that.
"At least another year of accumulation," Hagoromo replied after pretending to think for a moment.
"I can't be completely sure, but one year is the minimum."
That answer sounded reasonable.
Jiraiya hadn't witnessed Raien Jūkoku personally, but he'd heard that it reduced Shukaku—after being bound by Kushina—into scrap.
If a jutsu like that could be fired on demand…
No exaggeration—the 'Hagoromo Clone Project' would be approved immediately.
Extremely powerful, but requiring a long cooldown.
There was a famous precedent for that kind of balance:
Shisui Uchiha's Kotoamatsukami.
A genjutsu so broken it was basically unbeatable—except for the absurdly long cooldown.
If it weren't for that limitation, Shisui would've been the true Child of Prophecy and achieved world peace all by himself.
"I understand," Jiraiya said.
"Your squad will remain on standby for now. Because of Sasori, you may be summoned again at any time."
Hagoromo had no idea that, at this very moment, he'd been mentally designated as Konoha's main artillery, scheduled to fire once his 'cooldown' ended.
As he prepared to leave the tent, he suddenly seemed to recall something.
"Oh—one more thing."
"About our clash with Pakura ending inconclusively… that was because we encountered an organization in the Rain Country that wasn't affiliated with Amegakure."
"They appeared to be operating under an ideology of preventing conflict and maintaining peace. They stopped the fighting between us and Pakura, and allowed our squad to withdraw safely."
"The organization's name is unknown. But the leaders were two men and one woman—orange hair, red hair, and purple hair. All of them were very young."
After saying that, Hagoromo turned and left.
He didn't look back to see Jiraiya's expression.
Presumably… Jiraiya was feeling quite moved, knowing that his ideals were being inherited by the next generation.
Afterward, Hagoromo's squad remained there to recuperate.
Asuma's injuries were very much not "soft-tissue bruising," and the matter involving Sasori was far from resolved.
Before long, Hagoromo received new orders addressed to him personally—
He was to return directly to Konoha to undergo questioning by higher authorities.
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