"Mm."
Jiraiya nodded calmly, though he shot a smug glance at Akashō.
Akashō curled his lip, pretending not to notice.
"Lord Fugaku is recovering in the main tent."
"Alright, got it."
Jiraiya waved the man off, then turned to Akashō beside him.
"Let's go. I'll take you to meet the head of the Uchiha clan."
"What for?"
"Seriously? I came to the Sand Village battlefield as reinforcements. I've got to have the guy in charge arrange a squad to escort you back to Konoha. Otherwise, a kid like you would probably get snatched up by bandits and eaten on the way."
"Oh."
The two walked to a tent noticeably larger than the others, lifted the flap, and entered.
"Jiraiya-sama, you're back."
Behind a low table inside the tent sat a square-faced man with a slightly pale complexion. When he saw Jiraiya, he quickly stood up.
"Alright, alright. Your internal organs are injured—what's with all the formalities?"
Jiraiya pressed his hand down, signaling him to sit, then moved to the table and sat cross-legged.
"Let me introduce you. This kid—Uzumaki Akashō."
Jiraiya pointed at Akashō behind him. Akashō immediately rolled his eyes.
"I haven't acknowledged my ancestry yet. My name's still Akashō."
"Haha, it's only a matter of time."
Jiraiya grinned.
"Uzumaki…"
Uchiha Fugaku looked at Akashō in surprise, then turned a questioning gaze toward Jiraiya.
"Yeah. He's basically Kushina's last clansman. I plan to send him back to Konoha."
Jiraiya nodded, confirming Fugaku's guess.
"So Jiraiya-sama wants me to arrange people to escort him back to the village?"
"Exactly."
Uchiha Fugaku hesitated for a moment.
"Well… actually, the situation on the Sand Village battlefield has stabilized for now. Both sides have suffered heavy losses. Before my injuries recover, I can't let you lead troops to attack the Sand Village alone."
"So there's no need for you to act here for the time being. You could just escort him back to the village yourself. After all, if others escort him, there's no telling what might happen along the way…"
Jiraiya thought for a moment.
"True, that makes sense. Then I'll take him back first and come back to support you afterward."
Seeing Jiraiya agree, Uchiha Fugaku visibly relaxed.
His refusal wasn't just about the risk of accidents during the journey. After all, this kind of task brought no benefits—if everything went smoothly, there was no reward, but if something went wrong, he'd be the one to take the blame.
More importantly, he had no intention whatsoever of getting entangled with Kushina, the Nine-Tails jinchūriki. The reason the Uchiha clan had been so unlucky as to be assigned to the Sand Village battlefield in the first place was precisely because his wife had been too close to Kushina.
That old man Hiruzen Sarutobi—setting aside the imbalance in strength—clearly knew that the Sharingan held no advantage against puppet masters, yet still arranged things this way. His intentions were practically laid bare.
If not for Jiraiya's kind nature, coming to support on his own initiative when he sensed something was wrong, it was hard to say how the battle would have gone.
"Right."
Uchiha Fugaku suddenly seemed to recall something.
"That Kokushibo I mentioned before—any news on him?"
Thinking of the fierce battle he had witnessed the previous night while secretly leading his troops, Fugaku felt even more wary. Now that Jiraiya had arrived to help, he no longer felt pressure—but Kokushibo, this unstable factor, had to be dealt with as soon as possible, whether by subduing him or eliminating him by force.
That was exactly why he had asked Jiraiya to investigate Kokushibo as soon as he arrived.
"Uh…"
Jiraiya scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Haha, I did follow the trail he left and found a cave, but…"
"But then you ran into me."
Akashō, who had been quietly spacing out at the side, finally spoke.
"Ah, right. At the time I was only thinking about sending him back to Konoha, so I completely forgot about Kokushibo, heh heh…"
"Hey, that reminds me—I forgot to ask. Why were you in that cave?"
Jiraiya suddenly recalled his earlier thoughts in the cave and looked at Akashō curiously.
Akashō shot him a speechless glance. This guy's nerves were way too thick.
After silently ridiculing Jiraiya, Akashō began recounting the story he had long prepared.
"Kokushibo? Yeah, I know him. He's that tall guy with six eyes who keeps shouting about killing Sand Village ninjas every day, right?"
"You know him!?"
Uchiha Fugaku's expression sharpened as he quickly asked, "How do you know him? What do you know about him?"
"Not that much."
Akashō scratched his head, putting on a thoughtful expression.
"I'm from a small country around here. Before, a few Sand Village ninja made a mistake with their intel and killed my parents, thinking they were spies. Then they tried to kill me too to silence me."
"And right then, Kokushibo suddenly showed up, killed those two Sand Village ninja, and seeing I couldn't survive on my own, took me along with him."
...
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