Chapter 64: I Know the Sequel to Icha Icha Paradise
"Old man, what's up?"
Inside the Hokage's office, Jiraiya yawned as he leapt in through the window.
But the moment he entered, he noticed Danzo staring at him with a grief-stricken expression, as if someone had just died. That immediately cleared the sleep from his eyes.
"You're here?" Sarutobi Hiruzen greeted him casually, not even sparing a glance. He was used to his student's antics by now.
"Jiraiya, we've made some new discoveries recently, but things are a bit complicated," the Third Hokage said calmly.
"New discoveries?" Jiraiya's lazy demeanor vanished as he instantly became serious. "Tell me more."
"I'll explain," Danzo cut in before Hiruzen could speak.
"According to intel gathered by Root, we've found three new leads. You're already aware of the prior contact with Kirigakure. Following that, the Fourth Mizukage personally sent us a letter. In it, he recalls seeing not just Uchiha Obito, but also two others. One was a man with orange hair, and the other a woman with blue hair."
Danzo frowned slightly as he described them—something about those features felt vaguely familiar. But he had seen too many faces in his life to pinpoint why.
"Orange-haired man and blue-haired woman?" Jiraiya stroked his chin. He had a strange sense of familiarity too, which reminded him of his three former students. But… those three had died long ago in the chaos of war.
"I'll keep that in mind. What about the other two leads?"
Sarutobi took over before Danzo could continue. Puffing from his pipe, he said, "One is in the Land of Hot Water. There, we suspect the presence of a member of a mysterious organization. We've actually had our eyes on this for a while, but we held off to gather more definitive proof."
"The Land of Hot Water again?" Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. He still vividly remembered his last trip there to look for Orochimaru. Then again, it made sense—places like that were often full of shady types. Anyone could be hiding there.
"And the other?" he asked.
This time, Hiruzen sighed before replying. "It's related to Orochimaru."
The entire room fell silent.
Jiraiya's expression turned unusually grim. Seeing this, Hiruzen understood his intentions instantly: this man would never ignore intel related to Orochimaru.
"I understand. I'll take the lead on Orochimaru. Assign the Hot Water case to Kakashi."
Meanwhile, Danzo, still wearing his usual deadpan expression, was thrilled on the inside. As long as Jiraiya took Orochimaru's case, the Hot Water lead had nothing to do with him. "Even if that mission turns out to be a success, the credit won't go to you…" he thought with a rare flicker of smugness.
---
Elsewhere, Kitagawa Gen still didn't quite understand what Might Guy meant by, "Why do you look like Kakashi now?"
What's the big deal about dyed hair? It was going to turn white on its own eventually anyway.
What he could understand, however, was the weight behind Guy's fists. In just a month, Gen had come to deeply understand what kind of teacher this smiling, energetic man—who often made jokes about the "White Fang of the Leaf"—truly was. He used his fists to boost Gen's physical awareness and taught through pain what it meant to evolve spiritually through combat.
"Is this what people mean by 'lectures are useless, but broken bones are the best textbook'?" Gen muttered to himself under the shade of a tree.
Just then, Kakashi handed him a bottle of orange juice. "Here. It's pretty good," Kakashi said.
"Thanks." Gen took the bottle, but then grinned and offered it to Might Guy instead. "Here, Guy-sensei. You worked hard."
Kakashi rubbed his head sheepishly, while Guy flashed him a knowing look before accepting the drink. "Thanks. I've gotta say—you're improving fast."
"No doubt about that," Kakashi agreed as he handed Gen a second bottle and sat down beside them. "Your progress is clear to see."
"Heh, that's all thanks to my awesome teachers," Gen replied brightly. He had gained a lot from the month-long training. Sure, the early days were rough. Even in one-on-one sparring, going up against elite jōnin who were experts in both combat strategy and field experience was no walk in the park. Not to mention, many techniques were off-limits during their training duels.
Once he got used to that, Kakashi ramped up the intensity—turning the sessions from one-on-one to one-versus-two!
"Wait a sec… this isn't 'I'm going to fight two people,' this is just me getting tag-teamed!"
Bit by bit, the restrictions loosened. For example, he was finally allowed to use the Flying Thunder God Technique. That made things a little easier until he realized Kakashi had his own tactics. He'd camp near Gen's Flying Thunder God seals, ready to ambush with surprise ninjutsu attacks...
After grinding through a month of intense training, Gen's combat reflexes had improved so much that not getting stronger would have been nearly impossible.
"And Kakashi-sensei has been helping me refine and develop my techniques too," he thought. Even outside of normal training sessions, Kakashi made time to guide him. For example, he offered ideas on how to better utilize the Flying Thunder God Technique and gave constructive suggestions for improving Gen's Purple Lightning and Rasengan.
As expected of someone rumored to have copied over a thousand jutsu—Kakashi might not use them all himself, but his insights were still incredibly valuable. These tips sparked a lot of new ideas in Gen's mind, and he was already figuring out how to bring them to life.
"Maybe I could try what Kakashi-sensei said—channel Purple Lightning through a weapon as a conduit… or even use it in a Lightning Release: Chakra Mode? As for the Rasengan... I seem to remember a technique that involved planetary rotation?"
He vaguely recalled a move called Rasengan: Uzuhiko, where the chakra from the Rasengan was injected directly into the enemy's body. That chakra would then continue spinning in sync with the planet's rotation—meaning the attack technically never ended, as long as the Earth kept turning.
"But... how the heck do you even make that work?" Gen puzzled silently, chewing on his straw.
Beside him, Kakashi gave a curious glance. "What's on your mind?"
"I was just wondering how to implement your advice... Wait—did you drink that already?!"
Gen casually turned to look and was shocked. "Seriously? That huge bottle is already empty?!"
"Heh, you were just trying to catch a glimpse of his face, weren't you?" Guy chimed in, clearly amused. Though Guy still wasn't totally on board with Gen's hair color, a month of training together had helped him mostly get over it. He chuckled as he spoke.
"I only saw his face a few times when we were kids. He's always been super mysterious. Plus, he eats crazy fast—you rarely get a chance to catch him off guard."
"I've seen it firsthand," Gen nodded solemnly, then blinked and asked curiously, "So... what does Kakashi-sensei look like?"
"Can't you two talk about anything else?" Kakashi sighed, rolling his eyes.
Gen tilted his head with an innocent smile. "When I was in the Land of Hot Water with Lord Jiraiya, we actually stumbled upon the manuscript for his next book. It looked like an unreleased draft of Icha Icha Paradise."
"…"
"Want me to tell you what happens next?"
"…Hold on. You read that kind of book at your age?!"
"Uh…"
Gen's expression froze—he hadn't expected that reversal.
"You two…" Kakashi muttered as they playfully bickered.
Guy watched them with a warm smile, though deep down, he felt a twinge of envy. What a shame. Why didn't my application get approved back then…? Still, he reminded himself, that kid's not bad either. Maybe not as innately talented as Gen, but definitely a hardworking genius.
As he stroked his chin thoughtfully, a flicker of movement caught his eye—several masked ANBU were approaching them from a distance...