Chapter 424: Master and Disciple United, Their Strength Can Cut Through Metal
"Haha, Monkey, that was well said!"
After hearing that speech, Senju Hashirama couldn't help but praise him aloud.
"First Hokage-sama? Why are you here?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraiya turned toward the voice, both stunned.
"Why can't I be here?"
Hashirama looked puzzled. Why were they acting so surprised?
"First Hokage-sama, shouldn't you be with Uchiha Madara?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped forward and asked.
They naturally knew that Madara had also been revived by the Impure World Reincarnation.
The Second Hokage had personally instructed them: Madara currently lacked strength, and with his elder brother Hashirama by his side, there was no need to worry too much, but they should remain vigilant in case Madara acted alone.
The other ninja villages weren't much of a concern; the main focus was keeping an eye on the Amegakure Village.
They had followed those instructions.
And yet, now the First Hokage was standing here alone.
Where was Madara, the one he was supposed to be watching?
The two exchanged glances, a bad feeling rising in their hearts.
"Oh, Madara? He's in the Sunagakure Village, enjoying a twilight romance. No need to worry."
Hashirama waved his hand casually.
"Who? Uchiha Madara? A twilight romance?"
Jiraiya's mouth fell open as he blurted out in shock.
How did those two things even belong in the same sentence?
If anyone were to suppress their desires and go for a late-life romance, shouldn't that person be his own naturally pervy sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen?
Sarutobi Hiruzen was equally shocked, though he didn't say anything.
Instead, he thought—Is Uchiha Madara actually a pure romantic?
After all, his body had already been confirmed: those revived by Impure World Reincarnation couldn't… do that.
And yet Madara still wanted a twilight romance?
Could this be the so-called spiritual love? (Platonic love.)
Wait!
He almost got sidetracked.
How could someone like Uchiha Madara possibly fall in love?
Even if he did, it should be with…
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at the First Hokage in front of him, who was scratching his head and grinning foolishly.
So, there must be something fishy going on!
"First Hokage-sama, may I ask who Uchiha Madara's romantic partner is?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen probed cautiously.
"Granny Chiyo from the Sunagakure Village."
Hashirama answered directly, then sighed. "I already tried to persuade Madara. There's a whole generation gap between them, but he insisted he likes them younger."
"Wait—Granny Chiyo? Younger?"
"…Compared to Madara, I guess she is."
"…"
The atmosphere instantly fell silent.
After a brief awkward pause, the more Sarutobi Hiruzen and Jiraiya thought about it, the more something felt off.
Extremely off.
This didn't fit Madara's character at all.
Sure, Madara might be a bit unhinged mentally, but not in this way.
Wasn't this basically stealing their character traits?
In the same story, two characters with the same archetype were naturally bound to clash!
Uchiha Madara must be plotting something!
"Wait… actually, never mind. First Hokage-sama, the old man and I have something to take care of, so we'll be going."
Jiraiya suddenly seemed to realize something, jolting slightly, but quickly changed his words, apparently unwilling to bring it up in front of the First Hokage.
After bidding farewell and walking into an alley, Jiraiya finally spoke with a mysterious and serious expression.
"Old man, we've got a big problem. Madara definitely has a scheme."
"You know something?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen asked.
"Yeah. When I went to see Orochimaru before, he happened to have invited Tsunade over for an experiment, something related to forbidden resurrection techniques."
Jiraiya nodded, his expression grave.
"Forbidden resurrection techniques? What is that traitorous disciple up to now?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's face darkened. "But what does this have to do with Granny Chiyo?"
"At the time, Orochimaru mentioned several resurrection techniques that currently exist in the ninja world. Besides Nagato's Rinnegan technique, Rinne-Rebirth, there was also the forbidden technique he was experimenting on called 'Dragon Life Reincarnation.'"
"Even with Tsunade present, I was worried they might go too far, so I stayed to watch. Resurrection techniques always come with a heavy price. But unexpectedly, Orochimaru said Shiromo predicted it would fail—and it really did fail."
"After that, the matter was dropped. Tsunade replenished the life force of a ninja named Ryūzetsu, and that was the end of it. Orochimaru casually remarked that it seemed the young ninja from the Kusagakure Village couldn't compare to the forbidden technique developed by Chiyo of the Sunagakure Village."
Jiraiya explained seriously.
As for Ryūzetsu's Dragon Life Reincarnation, Shiromo had already thought it was too overpowered.
Later, after carefully recalling the details, he realized the problem.
In the movie, Naruto hadn't actually died—he was merely on the brink of death.
The simplest proof: if a Jinchūriki dies, the Tailed Beast dies along with them.
Even if Ryūzetsu had more chakra than Granny Chiyo, enough to revive Naruto alone, could she possibly have enough chakra to revive half of the Nine-Tails as well?
So at that time, it could only be considered near-death or suspended animation.
Only when Granny Chiyo revived Gaara, when Gaara's body had already gone cold, was that true resurrection.
"So you're saying Madara isn't trying to have some twilight romance with Granny Chiyo at all—he wants her to revive him!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately understood.
"Exactly. We have to stop Madara!"
Jiraiya clenched his fists, "This concerns the safety of the entire ninja world."
"Then there's no time to waste. We'll split up. I'll go inform the Second Hokage. Jiraiya, you go stop Madara."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded firmly.
"Stop Madara? How am I supposed to do that—just fight him directly?"
Jiraiya looked confused.
"No. We must avoid alerting him. Your task is to win over Granny Chiyo and wait for the Second Hokage's decision and reinforcements."
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.
"What?! Me?!"
Jiraiya pointed at himself in disbelief.
"That's right. You wrote the 'Icha Icha' series, so you must be highly knowledgeable about relationships between men and women—a true master of romance. I'll leave this matter to you."
Sarutobi Hiruzen patted Jiraiya on the shoulder.
"…"
Although Jiraiya was being praised, he didn't feel happy at all.
A master of romance…
If he really were one, he wouldn't still be single, forced to spend money at pleasure districts every time to solve his needs.
And something about this felt off.
Why was it that the old man only had to do the easy task of informing the Second Hokage?
"Old man, you're right, but I only have theoretical knowledge, no practical experience. We'll need the esteemed and experienced Third Hokage for this."
"We'll do it together! With Master and disciple united, our strength can cut through metal!"
"It's just Granny Chiyo, we can handle her easily, take her down without breaking a sweat. As for informing the Second Hokage, we can just send a shadow clone."
Jiraiya knew he couldn't escape, so he simply gave up struggling and dragged the Third Hokage down with him.
If they were going in, they were going in together!
(End of this chapter)