After the three annoying old men left, the Third Hokage sat in his seat, looking at the portraits of the First and Second Hokage on the wall.
Minato knocked on the door when he heard the Third Hokage starting to process documents, and the Third Hokage let them in.
"It's Minato!"
The Third Hokage smiled and took a puff of his pipe. Seeing Minato's sunny face and that vibrant, lively state of everything, the Third Hokage knew his persistence was meaningful.
People grow old and die. If people like himself and Danzo were immortal, then the younger generation like Minato would never be given important roles.
When one is old, they should vacate their position!
Minato didn't mention the previous matter of Ryou again; his teacher Jiraiya had already explained the details.
Ryou had blown himself to pieces, so his forbidden jutsu would not be leaked in the slightest.
Coming to the Hokage Office this time, Minato wanted to request to go to the front lines. In the current Ninja World War, Konoha only had Kirigakure left as its final opponent.
Kirigakure had never fought a decisive battle with Konoha, instead constantly harassing the Land of Fire along the coastline, which undoubtedly annoyed the Konoha higher-ups.
Minato's high mobility was undoubtedly the key force for dealing with Kirigakure's harassment. Since Minato wasn't stationed at the front lines, Kirigakure's momentum had resurged over the past few days.
The Third Hokage tapped the desk and nodded. "Alright, Minato, I'll have to trouble you. Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru are none of them easy to deal with. Konoha still relies on a young man like you to carry the weight."
Minato rubbed his head and laughed a bit awkwardly.
The Third Hokage looked at Kakashi behind Minato, who appeared listless, like a withdrawn person immersed only in his own world.
The Third Hokage comforted him, "Kakashi, your left eye carries the bonds of Obito; you cannot remain forever immersed in mourning his passing."
"I understand, Hokage-sama!"
Kakashi nodded.
Seeing that Rin wanted to say something but held back due to her status, the Third Hokage asked, "Rin, if there's something you want to ask, just ask. I will answer you."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Rin asked the doubt in her heart, "Did Lord Ryou really kill fellow villagers to study forbidden jutsu? Lord Ryou was such a good person; I often saw him feeding stray cats before."
The Third Hokage sighed and said that the official determination of Ryou's death was that he committed suicide at Kannabi Bridge, knowing his sins were heavy.
It was considered leaving a bit of face for Ryou and the Uchiha Clan.
The Third Hokage stood up and looked out the window toward the Uchiha direction, saying, "Rin, if you want to truly see a person clearly, using only your eyes is not enough. People are multi-dimensional and vivid beings; how can one claim to see a person clearly based on just one angle or one side?"
"Perhaps Ryou was very kind, but for the sake of his inner ambitions, he could also become cruel."
The Third Hokage thought of Orochimaru, a trace of gloom crossing his brow. After Tsunade and Jiraiya returned, they both suggested that the Anbu investigate Orochimaru.
The Anbu report mentioned that Orochimaru was very eager to obtain Ryou's forbidden jutsu.
Over the years, Orochimaru had been secretly researching something alone—human experiments and forbidden jutsu research; Orochimaru had likely done them too!
But one cannot make wild guesses without evidence. At this critical juncture, the war hasn't ended yet, so Orochimaru can only be humored and not pushed too hard.
After Minato left with Kakashi and Rin, the Third Hokage called for the Anbu in the Hokage's Office:
"River, go find Jiraiya."
"Yes!"
Once Jiraiya entered the Hokage's Office, the Third Hokage said somewhat helplessly, "Jiraiya, next time don't transform into Ryou to flirt with young girls. It's easy to cause misunderstandings with the Anbu."
Jiraiya reverted to his original appearance and laughed awkwardly, "Isn't that kid handsome? When he was little, he loved transforming into me to go to the women's bathhouse to steal girls' underwear."
The Third Hokage took a puff of his pipe, feeling a slight tightness in his chest. With Ryou's death, Jiraiya was probably the most heartbroken.
They were such good friends when they were in school.
Jiraiya had even thought about having Ryou sign the summoning scroll of Mount Myōboku, but that idea was snuffed out by him due to the political risks of the other party being an Uchiha.
"Jiraiya, Ryou is dead. You should mature a bit."
"Yeah, Ryou is dead."
Jiraiya was a bit dazed and distracted for a moment, then slowly became serious. "Old man, what did you want me for?"
"On the front lines, only Kirigakure is making a fuss. Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure clearly don't want to fight anymore. It doesn't matter if I go or not."
The Third Hokage tapped the table with his pipe and said, "I didn't call you here to go to the front lines this time. I want you to secretly investigate Orochimaru."
"..."
Jiraiya was stunned, his expression rarely serious. "Have you also noticed something wrong with Orochimaru?"
The Third Hokage nodded. "After Orochimaru returned, I ordered him to rest at home, but he actually attacked and injured the Anbu members. I don't know where he ran off to."
"At this critical time, we can't use force against Orochimaru. It's up to you, Jiraiya."
Jiraiya nodded. "Alright, I'll investigate Orochimaru. But teacher, if Orochimaru really researches a forbidden jutsu like Ryou's, will you deal with him the same way you dealt with Ryou?"
"..."
The Third Hokage was at a loss for words, suddenly realizing that he wasn't that impartial.
His own disciple and a member of the Uchiha were still different.
Jiraiya stopped pressing the Third Hokage and asked, "Where's Tsunade? Where did Tsunade run off to?"
The Third Hokage followed Jiraiya's lead and changed the subject. "Tsunade? She came and scolded me, an old man, the day before yesterday. She's probably gambling heavily somewhere."
"You three guys, not one of you is decent. Even a guy like you makes me worry. In this regard, I'm really not as good as Lord Second!"
Konoha Izakaya.
Kushina accompanied Mikoto and Itachi to find Tsunade, who was dead drunk.
Shizune stayed by Tsunade's side as her personal attendant.
Since Tsunade and Dan hadn't fallen in love, there was no need for Tsunade to adopt Shizune. Shizune had been bought by the Senju Clan to be Tsunade's personal attendant.
Shizune bowed politely to Kushina and Mikoto. "Kushina-sama, Mikoto-sama."
Kushina rubbed Shizune's small head. "Shizune, we're here to see Lady Tsunade."
Shizune looked at Tsunade slumped on the wine table with some embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade, she—"
Looking at Tsunade in this state, the three didn't know what to say.
Unexpectedly, Tsunade wasn't drunk at all. She sat up and glanced at Kushina and the others, focusing especially on Mikoto and Itachi.
Mikoto's eyes were a bit red, as if she had been crying, while the young Itachi remained calm. It could be said that his Ninja qualities were much higher than those of the two Jonin, Kushina and Mikoto.
This made Tsunade take an extra look at Itachi.
Mikoto spoke up, "Lady Tsunade..."
Tsunade waved her hand to interrupt Mikoto. "I know what you want to ask. Follow me out!"
On Konoha's commercial street, as Tsunade walked, she told Mikoto the details of Ryou's death.
She didn't hide anything at all, not caring about the close friendship between Kushina and Mikoto.
Kushina felt a bit awkward hearing this; Ryou's matter was classified, and Minato hadn't told her.
Her own man had killed her best friend's brother; could they still get along after this?
Kushina stole a glance at Mikoto. Mikoto lowered her head, and when she looked up again, her blood-red three tomoe Sharingan seemed as if it could swallow a person's heart.
Kushina was startled.
"Mikoto—"
Mikoto quickly deactivated her Sharingan and apologized to Kushina, "Sorry, Kushina, I just... I just..."
Mikoto couldn't quite put it into words. She seemed to want to express the sorrow deep in her bones, and the power in her eyes was almost uncontrollable.
Love allows the Uchiha to gain power, but it also causes the Uchiha to lose their beloved.
Itachi grabbed Mikoto's hand and said decisively, "Mother, Jonin Minato was not wrong!"
"Itachi—"
Mikoto looked in shock at the one tomoe Sharingan in Itachi's pupils.
Awakening the Sharingan at such an age, this kind of talent is the pride of the Uchiha, but it is also a form of original sin!
Mikoto turned her head and looked at Tsunade with some vigilance.
Tsunade crossed her arms and sneered, "No need to be on guard against me. I've seen all kinds of geniuses."
Tsunade stared at Itachi and said, "Kid, tell me, why was in Minato not wrong? He killed your relative."