The next morning, the sky was just beginning to brighten.
Takuno stood silently on the high ground at the Village entrance, watching the two familiar figures, one tall and one short, walk further away along the road until they vanished into the horizon shrouded in morning mist.
In another direction, inside a room filled with the scent of alcohol, Jiraiya lay sprawled on a floor mat, snoring like thunder, fast asleep.
He seemed to be dreaming of something, subconsciously reaching out to scratch his upper thigh, completely unaware that the person he constantly thought about had already left quietly with the young girl Shizune, resolutely embarking on a new journey of wandering the world that she had chosen for herself.
The morning chill had not yet completely faded, and the heaviness brought by a hangover was still tugging at Jiraiya's consciousness.
However, when Takuno's calm words poured over him like a bucket of ice water, he woke up instantly, the remnants of his sleepiness washed away by shock.
"What?! You're saying Tsunade left with Shizune?!" Jiraiya sat bolt upright, eyes wide, as if trying to find even a trace of a joke on Takuno's face.
The sunlight streaming through the window frame illuminated the shock on his face with exceptional clarity.
Takuno nodded, his expression showing no ripples: "Yes, Jiraiya-sama. After Lady Tsunade entrusted the preserved scrolls to me, she prepared to set off."
He paused for a moment, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness, "Before leaving, she specifically told me not to tell you where she was going."
As he spoke, Takuno's gaze flickered toward Jiraiya.
There was no blame in that look, yet it seemed to silently state a fact: if you hadn't been dead drunk and unconscious all day, how could you have missed the departure of someone so important?
"She told you not to tell, and you actually didn't say a word?" Jiraiya couldn't help but complain in a low voice, but the helplessness in his tone far outweighed any real anger.
In the end, he just let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly, and the sharp momentum he had upon waking instantly withered away.
He looked at the rising morning sun outside the window, his gaze becoming distant.
Leaving... actually, he had a premonition deep in his heart long ago.
During these days, it wasn't that he hadn't tried to make her stay, but unfortunately, every attempt was like hitting a silent high wall, and he could only return in vain.
Perhaps, for Tsunade, staying away from Konoha, which carried countless painful memories, and escaping that heavy and unbearable past, was her true path to liberation.
Immersed in his thoughts, Jiraiya's gaze slowly moved to Takuno, who was standing to the side.
His voice lowered, carrying a sense of farewell: "Takuno, it seems... we should say our goodbyes here as well."
"Hmm?" Takuno's brow twitched slightly, though he didn't seem particularly surprised by the news. "Jiraiya-sama, you don't plan on returning to the Village either?"
He was already well aware of this legendary Sannin's wandering personality.
This return to Konoha was only because the Village had suffered a great disaster.
Now that the storm had settled, this master of Minato, who was habitually nomadic, would naturally return to his free and easy life of traveling the Shinobi World in search of writing 'inspiration'.
Thinking about it, that book 'Icha Icha Paradise,' which was said to be popular throughout the Shinobi World, was probably about to be published, wasn't it?
Takuno secretly made a note to find a copy to read in the future, to see what kind of magic it possessed that could make someone like Kakashi so deeply obsessed.
"Yeah, I'm not going back." Jiraiya waved his hand readily, his movements carrying his usual easygoing nature. "I already gave Minato a heads-up before I left."
"Understood." Takuno nodded knowingly.
Since the Fourth Hokage was already aware and had given his consent, he, as a bystander, naturally wouldn't say anything more.
"Thank you for looking after me these past few days, Jiraiya-sama." He bowed his head slightly, expressing the appropriate gratitude.
"Ha! None of that polite stuff!" Jiraiya burst into laughter upon hearing this, his hearty laugh sounding somewhat abrupt in the quiet room.
"Kid, don't try to fool me! The number of times you've complained about me in secret probably can't even be counted, right? Don't you think this great me is both annoying and unreliable?"
Instead of feeling even a bit guilty, he puffed out his chest with a face full of pride. "That's right! That's just how this great me is, and I never plan on changing for the rest of my life!"
Takuno looked at his boastful and proud appearance with a deadpan expression, momentarily speechless, feeling a sense of powerlessness well up in his heart.
"Alright, alright!"
Jiraiya stopped laughing and swiftly slung that iconic giant scroll onto his broad back.
"No need for a special send-off. As for you, hurry back to Konoha. With the Village being rebuilt, there's a lot to do; you can help Minato out when you get back."
As he spoke, he strode toward the distance, meeting the golden morning light streaming in through the door. After a few steps, he didn't look back, but simply raised his arm and waved it backward as a final farewell.
Takuno watched the receding back bathed in the morning sun and slowly raised his arm to wave as well.
When Jiraiya's figure finally disappeared at the end of his vision, he shook his head gently; he was back to being a loner again.
Thinking no more of it, Takuno gathered his thoughts, identified the direction, and with a flash of his figure, he also sped toward Konogakure, leaving the morning streets to return to silence.
In Konogakure, the Hokage Office was shrouded in a slightly weary silence.
Takuno had just finished a detailed report, presenting every detail of the past few days spent searching for Tsunade and the various preceding setbacks to the Fourth Hokage, Minato.
Behind the desk, Minato listened quietly to the entire process. On his young and handsome face, his signature warm smile was replaced by a trace of heavy worry.
He leaned back slightly in his chair, casting his gaze toward the silhouette of Konoha outside the window, which finally turned into a long sigh. That sigh was saturated with complex and indescribable emotions: "Sigh... Tsunade-senpai... even now, she still hasn't been able to walk out from the shadow of that incident..."
His voice echoed lowly in the quiet room, carrying a sense of powerlessness regarding his senior's fate.
—
Takuno maintained his habitual silence and did not respond.
Even without his past life's memories as a foundation, as a high-ranking member of the Anbu now, he had naturally heard of those long-buried past events that were enough to be called Village secrets.
Minato shook his head with a somewhat weak motion, as if trying to shake off the thoughts circling in his mind. He refocused his gaze on Takuno standing before him, his golden hair shimmering in the glow of the setting sun.
At this moment, a clear sense of relief rose within him, thankful that Takuno was a part of Konoha and his own companion.
This relief was by no means without cause.
As a Hokage who had experienced war, he knew better than anyone what a complete and efficiently functioning medical system meant on a battlefield where flesh and blood flew.
It could turn the tide of life and death, stabilize the army's morale, and was a crucial weight on the scales of war.
And Takuno was the one who, after Lady Tsunade's departure, miraculously supported the core of Konoha's medical team by himself, becoming an indispensable pillar of the wartime medical system.
To say he was the stabilizing force on the medical battlefield would not be an exaggeration.
If Takuno knew of the relief in the Fourth's heart at this moment, he probably wouldn't feel the slightest bit of shame.
Although the fuse for this war that swept through the Shinobi World was indeed inseparable from his actions, a deeper understanding told him: what he did was merely detonate something that was destined to explode, and it could even be said that he triggered it ahead of time.
Not only that, the massive effort he put in greatly compressed the process of the war, significantly ending this catastrophe earlier.
More importantly, it was his series of actions that powerfully changed the trajectory of the war, causing the scales of victory to finally tip toward Konoha.
Looking back, without him, even with the peerless bravery of the Yellow Flash Minato, Konoha would have had to pay a price far heavier than it did now to win this victory, and the light of victory would have been much dimmer.
Calculating it this way, Takuno felt that it was only natural and right for him to accept the gratitude and recognition from the Village with a clear conscience, without any sense of guilt.
Minato concernedly asked Takuno a few questions about the hardships of his journey, his words carrying sincere condolences.
He actually wanted to chat more with this senior who had rendered such great service, to exchange views whether it was reviewing the past or looking forward to the future.
However, reality was cold; it hadn't been long since the war ended, and while the smoke had cleared, the leftover trivialities and heavy responsibilities were piled up like a mountain on his desk as Hokage, leaving no room to breathe.
First there was the grand and necessary celebration ceremony, then the tense and delicate negotiations with Kumogakure, followed immediately by Takuno accompanying Jiraiya on the long journey to find Tsunade—one thing after another meant that the overstretched Minato had never been able to find a suitable time for a detailed talk with Takuno.
He shook his head gently again, withdrew his thoughts, and focused his mind on examining Konoha's current situation.
Compared to the low point after the Nine-Tails' attack when everything was waiting to be rebuilt and the situation was precarious, the current situation suddenly seemed a bit brighter.
The key lay in the fact that Konoha had crushed the main forces of Kumogakure as a righteous army!
This was an unquestionable, genuine victory.
As for the other party, Iwagakure, although they later chose to retreat on their own and failed to engage in a direct confrontation, anyone with a discerning eye understood that the fear and retreat behind that "voluntary withdrawal" were undoubtedly the result of being deterred by the strength and edge displayed by Konoha.
This strong aftereffect brought by the battlefield victory was quietly affecting every aspect of Konoha.
The most direct manifestation was that those mission resources representing the economic lifeline, which had been seized by Kumogakure and Iwagakure during the war, were now rapidly flowing back to Konoha like a school of fish sensing a safe harbor.
The clients, those merchants and celebrities who controlled the wealth, had extremely simple and realistic thinking.
Spending money to hire Shinobi to perform missions, the most fundamental core need was to seek "safety and reliability."
They chose Kumogakure or Iwagakure back then purely because they thought Konoha was precarious and unable to handle major responsibilities;
Now that Konoha had been reborn through fire and proved its resilience and strength with a victory that echoed through the Shinobi World, they naturally didn't hesitate to turn their ships around and once again cast their trust and commissions toward Konoha.
There was no redundant nostalgia or sentimentality involved; the only thing driving this flow was the clear and unmistakable word "interest."
Weighing these current conditions, Minato looked up after a brief moment of contemplation, his gaze warm as he looked at Takuno.
"Senpai," Minato's tone was natural and kind, carrying a sincerity reserved for a senior and a hero, "after work today, please do come to my house for dinner."
Takuno was clearly stunned for a moment upon hearing this sudden invitation.
An invitation to the Hokage's family dinner carried extraordinary significance.
But facing the proposal of this young yet highly respected Hokage, it was truly difficult for him to refuse, so he nodded and accepted: "...Alright."
Seeing his senior agree, Minato smiled warmly and said considerately: "Mhm, then, Senpai, you've just returned to the Village after a long journey, so go home and have a good rest today."
He did not let the travel-worn Takuno immediately plunge into the Anbu's complicated intelligence work or into the Sealing Team's urgent business of handling techniques.
Takuno stretched and also said, "Then Hokage-sama, see you later. I look forward to your cooking."
With that, his figure also disappeared from the Hokage Office.
Minato smiled, thinking about needing to buy more groceries after work to entertain the other party.
Upon stepping into his home, Takuno did not go to rest as Minato had suggested.
His mind was already firmly occupied by the scroll Tsunade had granted him. With anticipation, he carefully picked out those two technique scrolls emitting a unique aura from the main scroll and solemnly unfurled them.
His gaze swept rapidly across the text on the scrolls, and the expression on his face was gradually replaced by a bright smile.
The contents recorded on the scrolls were indeed as he had expected: the S-rank medical Kinjutsu inherited from Tsunade; the Yin Seal, the Creation Rebirth Technique, and Creation Rebirth.
The means of obtaining these three secret techniques were legitimate, which meant he could completely set about performing intensive research under perfectly open and honorable pretenses.
Takuno focused his mind and carefully pondered the essentials of these three forbidden techniques.
With his profound foundation in Sealing Jutsu and extraordinary comprehension, he quickly grasped the core threads.
Especially the Yin Seal; its essence was dissected clearly. It was originally a clever and unique Sealing Jutsu, and its principles and structure held almost no obscurity in his eyes; mastering it was by no means difficult.
As for the other two techniques, they formed a more complex combination.
Although Creation Rebirth and the Creation Rebirth Technique were closely linked, they could essentially be viewed as two related yet independent Kinjutsu.
The core mystery of Creation Rebirth lay in releasing the massive Chakra accumulated in the Yin Seal like a deep pool, using this energy to strongly stimulate and accelerate the body's cell division, thereby achieving rapid regeneration far beyond common sense.
However, this regeneration mechanism had a significant drawback: it was "uncontrollable" during operation, often accompanied by a huge waste of Chakra, and more seriously, it would indiscriminately squeeze the lifespan potential of all cells.
The Creation Rebirth Technique, on the other hand, leaned more toward a combat enhancement method.
It allowed the user to instantly burst forth the massive amount of Chakra accumulated in the seal, thereby significantly strengthening the power, speed, and even the scale of Ninjutsu, gaining an all-around boost in combat power.