Naruto: As a genin, I just want to live a normal life.

Page 110

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was filled with rage, and his chakra suddenly erupted, startling Danzo in front of him.

"I will absolutely not allow you to desecrate Lord Mito's corpse! If I find out this, I will kill you without hesitation! For Konoha... and for the legacy of the Will of Fire!"

The air remained silent for a long time. Danzo's face gradually returned to calm after turning ashen. Hiruzen's silence on the matter meant he had tacitly agreed. "Hmph! You'll regret this, Hiruzen!"

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

Amidst their bickering, Danzo later found Orochimaru, who had been confined (but has since been released) and hadn't left the house in a long time, and extended an invitation: "First time here?"

"it is good!"

The two tacitly understood each other's intentions: Danzo needed Orochimaru's wisdom and intellect, and Orochimaru needed Danzo's resources to complete the forbidden technique that he had spent a year working on with little progress—due to a lack of experimental materials.

Of course, Bai Xing was unaware of village affairs and hadn't paid much attention to them, so he himself was unaware that those tabloid stories had ever made headlines.

Even after learning of Mito's death, Shirahoshi would only sigh silently at the funeral.

"Life is such a fragile thing."

"We will grow old and we will die."

"Immortality is no crime."

#

The land of rain.

The trio's base—the Frog Squad's original wooden cabin.

The surrounding area is still in a period of peace. Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato are still growing. The battlefield is currently at peace because the two major ninja villages of the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth have signed a ceasefire agreement.

The only difference is that, according to Jiraiya's current information, Nagato and the others are dead.

Shirahoshi wondered if the frog Jiraiya had left behind was under a genjutsu: Jiraiya didn't seem like the kind of person who would pass on the sacred land to the three of them; teaching them ninjutsu was already more than enough.

Logically speaking, the summoning beasts of Mount Myōboku wouldn't betray Jiraiya in such a matter. The only possible benefit of this false information is that it would prevent Jiraiya from ever approaching the Land of Rain, a place of sorrow.

If it benefits someone, then it's highly likely that's who did it.

Bai Xing, holding Hong Lian's small hand, arrived at this place. At this moment, he could finally clearly perceive Bai Jue's gaze and location: Still saying it wasn't you?!

In other words, Madara Uchiha would definitely keep a close eye on Nagato's growth, because there is only one pair of Rinnegan, and neither can be missing. Reviving Madara himself and using Infinite Tsukuyomi both required this.

Madara isn't stupid; how could he let Nagato run wild?

Black Zetsu spent over a thousand years cultivating a rare Uchiha ninja with the Rinnegan and seizing this golden opportunity to save his mother.

—So Madara and Black Zetsu are the strongest babysitters! They actually managed to keep Nagato alive until he grew up, even with some close calls!

They deliberately touched the warning line set up by the Frog Squad, and then casually led the curious Red Lotus forward: Inside the house, the trio saw through the windows, door cracks, and wall gaps that a strange young man wearing a light blue transparent raincoat and a rabbit mask, and a little girl wearing a light red raincoat, slowly approaching.

"A strange young man and a strange little girl, father and daughter? Or puppets using visual deception?" Yahiko asked.

Nagato shook his head slightly and said in a low voice, "They're people. Both of them are people. And that young man's chakra is incredibly powerful..."

In Nagato's vision and perception, Shirahoshi exuded a terrifying aura, and at this moment, the clearly visible light blue eyes beneath the mask were staring at him:

"and."

Nagato's tone was uncertain:

"The other person seems to be a man with the same strange eyes."

"A man with strange eyes? Damn it. Looks like a formidable enemy! This is much stronger than the ninjas we've encountered before!" Konan said unwillingly.

In the year since Jiraiya left, the three of them have grown considerably, and now they are all wearing Amegakure's headbands.

Amegakure was defeated after launching the Second Shinobi World War, declaring war on the three kingdoms, and suffering successive defeats.

In a short period of time, the resources offered by various parts of the Land of Rain were simply not enough to train more ninjas. They could only allow those with a little strength to directly receive the headbands of genin: but the village would not issue them any missions, and they would have to find them themselves.

Even dogs wouldn't accept such treatment, resulting in a long period of neglect across the Land of Rain.

But fortunately,

There are still some idiots willing to do it.

Three of them came at once.

The people of Amegakure were overjoyed. They thought they hadn't expected to recruit any genin in the last two years, but someone actually agreed to do it.

Even if there are spots available for training genin, priority is given to selecting children who are native to Amegakure.

Orphans outside the village of Shinobi were considered worthless and unwanted until the end of Hanzo's reign.

White Zetsu: "Such powerful chakra, every step he takes exudes an aura no less than that of Lord Madara... This person."

Black Zetsu recognized Shirahoshi's attire because he had seen her before: "This person... isn't that..."

Before Black Zetsu could finish speaking, Shirahoshi glanced at them out of the corner of her eye and saw that both White Zetsu and Black Zetsu, who were observing from underwater, dared not move.

Then, Bai Xing shifted her gaze, as if she hadn't seen anything; but in reality, she could clearly see the stiff expressions on the faces of the two strangely shaped people.

—That's for the Konoha ninja who tricked my family before!

If he weren't currently unsure how to handle Black Zetsu, he could grab the creature by the neck and ask, "Do you want to dance?"

But this kind of thing.

It's also a meaningless thing.

If Black Zetsu dies, wouldn't that mean he'd be invincible for over twenty years? Who would be his sparring partner? Who would create stories, plots, love-hate relationships, and opportunities for him to show off?! What if the alien Otsutsuki came and he had no fighting experience? What are the differences between the Otsutsuki clan's progenitor's body and his Saiyan form...?

Of course, the latter was just a random thought; it was definitely not the case that Black Zetsu released Kaguya because he wanted to use her as his own cute experimental subject.

Tread-

With this in mind, Shirahoshi stepped outside the wooden house, thinking that if he took another step forward, the three inside would be ready to attack.

"Come out."

"I see you."

click-

The door opened, and only Yahiko stepped out, like the leader of a group, prepared to face anything.

"This is our base."

"Please leave!"

Yahiko had no interest in knowing who Shirahoshi was; he just wanted the three of them to leave this place.

Out of kindness, Yahiko pointed in a direction and added:

"That direction."

"Walk another fifteen or sixteen kilometers."

"It's the Curtain Town in the seventh district of the Rain Country!"

Yahiko glanced down at the little girl, Guren, who was looking at him curiously, then looked at Shirahoshi, who was calmly watching him:

"If you and your daughter are travelers and need to find a hotel to stay in."

"Let's go there!"

After Yahiko finished speaking, the air was silent for a moment.

Suddenly, Honglian tugged at Baixing's hand and said:

"Teacher, is he my future partner? He looks quite poor."

Yahiko: "..."

The two people inside the room: "..."

Black and White Absolute: "..."

After saying that, Honglian added a heart-wrenching remark: "Sigh~ I feel like they're even poorer than my parents. At least my parents live in a place where they can still farm, and they can go to the city every day to do odd jobs to buy me snacks and new clothes."

Guren glanced at Yahiko's old clothes and protective netting, which he hadn't changed in ages: Jiraiya had bought them for the three of them.

Yahiko looked down at himself and suddenly felt so pathetic... Wait a minute!

"What exactly are you two doing here?!"

Yahiko suddenly felt a bit of resentment towards rich people! Can't these show-offs just go away?!

This feeling is like a rich second-generation in a modern city saying to a friend from a normal family: "This is all the poverty I can get," or "I really can't imagine anyone poorer."

However, in the ninja world, apart from the Land of Fire, an average family in other places is considered to be well-off if they can eat meat and vegetables every day, have new clothes to wear for the New Year, have a house that doesn't leak and is fully furnished, and have a safe living environment.

"Long time no see, you little thief."

Shirahoshi naturally wouldn't use her real identity, but rather the identity of that wandering samurai: the Yahiko trio were unaware that this was a fake identity.

"Wait?! This voice sounds familiar... Wait a minute! Aren't you that samurai uncle?!" Yahiko pointed at Shirahoshi's mask and exclaimed in surprise, "Four years ago, you left without saying goodbye, only letting Jiraiya-sensei tell you your code name in the ninja world. I thought you weren't coming back."

"Speaking of which, why would you use a title like 'surgeon'? It sounds like a code name for a surgeon, it's so lame!"

Upon hearing that he was one of their own, Yahiko immediately lowered his guard. As a child, he didn't understand what a surgeon was, but after studying with Jiraiya for three years, he did.

—Every time I see the code on that sign inside the house, I can't help but make a comment.

Bai Xing's expression changed from a smile at the beginning to a forced smile later, with countless 'well' characters appearing above her head: "Kid, your mouth still offends people so easily."

"Is there a possibility?"

"I'm not a wandering samurai at all."

"Huh?" Yahiko was slightly taken aback. Then, Shirahoshi's shadow clone burst out of the ground, appeared behind Yahiko, and hugged him: "Gotcha."

Yahiko was startled and tried to break free, but found that Shirahoshi's arms were wrapped tightly around him, making it impossible for him to break free.

"Jiraiya! What are you trying to do?!"

"My name is not Jiraiya."

"I only have one name."

"Surgeon".

"You can also call me Almighty."

Bai Xing thought for a moment and realized that it was a bit odd for a surgeon to not have an extra nickname, so she decided to add "all-rounder".

Seeing this, Nagato and Konan ran out of the house, ignoring the drizzling rain, and stood behind the white star shadow clone, forming a triangular encirclement.