Jiraiya led the three-person team toward the location where Asuma's team was carrying out their mission—the Land of Hot Springs.
Although the task of informing Asuma about the Third Hokage's death was important, it wasn't particularly difficult.
Strictly speaking, there was no need for Jiraiya to personally handle it—any Anbu could have been sent instead.
However, during these past few days of following the future adult Sasuke and having several conversations with him, Jiraiya could see that the future Sasuke's personality was much gentler than the current young Sasuke's.
Apart from seeming somewhat awkward in interpersonal relationships, he was almost exactly like Minato.
Such a person would absolutely never kill the Third Hokage, regardless of any reason.
As for Boruto?
Even if Boruto attempted a sneak attack, he couldn't possibly kill the Third Hokage without making a sound.
Rather, even Jiraiya and Orochimaru couldn't accomplish that.
Only the 'Otsutsuki' that Tsunade mentioned could have done it.
Jiraiya suspected that this Otsutsuki enemy had already arrived in this era but had chosen to lie low, planning to eliminate the combat power around Naruto first before making a move against the boy himself.
To lure out the Otsutsuki and prevent them from attacking others in Konoha, Jiraiya made this decision.
Using the mission to inform Asuma about the Third's death as an excuse, he would take both Naruto and Boruto out of the village.
As for Konohamaru? He was just brought along incidentally.
Taking only those two would have been too obvious.
...
Land of Hot Springs.
The so-called "Land of Hot Springs" lives up to its name—it is literally filled with thermal springs everywhere.
The mission given to Asuma's team by the Hokage was to investigate the situation regarding the Evil God Cult in the area.
Unfortunately, after several days of investigation, they hadn't found anything.
Instead, they had been soaking in hot springs every day, making it feel more like a vacation.
"Ino is so pitiful, staying in the village training every day..."
Choji half-lay in the hot spring with a wooden tray floating in front of him laden with various snacks.
"The hot spring services in the Land of Hot Springs are indeed top-notch in the Shinobi World. The bathhouses in Konoha can't compare at all."
Shikamaru was in another small pool nearby, playing water shogi with a stranger.
"Konoha? Are you from Konoha?"
The young man playing shogi with Shikamaru immediately brightened up upon hearing Shikamaru's conversation with Choji.
"Yeah, what is it?" Shikamaru answered verbally while inwarding grumbling about the trouble, regretting having spoken up in the first place.
"Hey, check this out."
The person pulled out a book from behind him and asked excitedly, "The author of this book is Kakashi from your village, so is the stuff inside real?"
"The Art of Seduction: How to Win Hearts? This thing is already on sale? How... and the cover's changed too?"
Shikamaru stared at the book's title, momentarily stunned.
Wasn't this the "answer book" that Makoto had given him during the Chunin Exams?
He had only read a small part of it back then, and after bringing it home, his dad had taken it away.
"Changed cover? No, it's always been like this since it went on sale... Wait, have you seen an unreleased version?"
Halfway through his sentence, the other person suddenly grabbed Shikamaru's hand excitedly, then said with envy.
"Sigh, if only I were a resident of Konoha. So close yet so far."
"Uh, haha." Shikamaru forced a dry laugh.
"So, are the stories in here true?" the stranger pressed on with the question Shikamaru hadn't answered earlier.
"Sort of. After my dad read it, he said the stories are indeed based on real events." Shikamaru nodded.
"Then is this real?"
The other person opened to the first page of the book, which contained a photo and a block of text.
"Aren't you afraid the book will get soaked, flipping through it here?" Shikamaru quipped.
"Not worried. This is the collector's edition—it's waterproof."
"Waterproof... Is this made of Exploding Tags or something, being waterproof?"
"Never mind that useless stuff, little bro, take a look quickly."
"..."
Shikamaru shifted his gaze to the book.
"The Second Hokage?"
"It's really the Second Hokage?"
Shikamaru's low exclamation confirmed it for the other person.
The photo was actually real.
Shikamaru was bewildered. The photo showed the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, standing in the center, with what seemed to be the First and Third Hokage, as well as Orochimaru, in the background.
'Wasn't this from the incident a few days ago when Orochimaru and Sunagakure invaded?'
It was said that Orochimaru used the forbidden technique Impure World Reincarnation to summon the deceased First and Second Hokage.
Did Kakashi happen to take a photo while passing by? Or did Jiraiya help Kakashi take it?
Next to the photo, a note read:
"Part Five is personally narrated by the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, who was reincarnated through the Impure World Reincarnation. Authentic and reliable."
"Part Five written based on the Second Hokage's narration? And it's already in a supplement? That doesn't make sense—how was there enough time?"
Shikamaru scratched his head, feeling something was off. "Hey, have you finished reading Part Five? What's it about?"
"The story in this part is pretty intense. You're still young—are you sure you want to know?"
Hearing Shikamaru's question, the stranger hesitated.
"Stop wasting time and just tell us!"
"We're bored soaking in the hot spring—hurry up and spill it!"
Urgent voices chimed in from nearby.
It turned out their conversation had already been overheard by others in the hot spring.
Having someone tell stories while soaking in the bath—what a delightful treat.
"Didn't I just say? I've already seen the unreleased version, so what are you worried about?" Shikamaru curled his lip.
The content in The Art of Seduction was a bit abstract, but surely it wasn't that bad, right?
"Alright then, I'll start telling it," the man began, clearing his throat.
"According to the recollection of the Second Hokage, the truth about the Warring States period is far worse than we thought. It turns out Tobirama Senju never actually killed Uchiha Izuna in combat."
"When Tobirama executed his signature Flying Thunder God Slash, he didn't aim for the heart or the neck. He aimed for his dick."
"However, he didn't kill him. He only managed to slice off... a few inches of Izuna's dick."
"What no one could have anticipated was that Izuna's dick were actually reinforced with 'iron-chain linked'! This inflicted severe psychological trauma on the young Tobirama at the time."
"Basically, Izuna had extreme genital piercings connected by a metal chain."
"Uchiha Madara, who was busy fighting Hashirama nearby, saw his brother's secret kink exposed to the world. Panicked that everyone would see his brother secret, he grabbed Izuna and ran away."
"Later, when history records Tobirama asking Madara, 'How is Izuna?', he wasn't taunting him. He was genuinely traumatized! He was asking, 'Madara, why the hell did your brother have a metal chain on his dick?'"
"When he learned Izuna died (probably from the shame), Tobirama became convinced that the Uchiha were absolute freaks. This ultimately led to his subsequent actions targeting the Uchiha clan. Unless he confirmed that a particular Uchiha was straight, he would refuse to acknowledge them—such as Uchiha Kagami in his squad."
The man turned a page and continued.
"Later, Tobirama Senju recalled his final battle—the meeting with the Kumogakure delegation where he was killed by the Gold and Silver Brothers. It is said that the Gold and Silver Brothers were once swallowed by the Nine-Tails, devouring its flesh and blood, thus acquiring the Nine-Tails' Chakra."
"However, during that battle, Tobirama uncovered an astonishing secret. It turned out that when the Gold and Silver Brothers were inside the Nine-Tails' stomach, they saw something other than gastric fluids."
"They found dildo's."
"The Nine-Tails, enraged and blushing, ordered them to shut up. It screamed, 'It's not mine! Madara left it here! I didn't let him do that to me!'"
"Discovering that Madara had not only tortured his own brother with chains but had also turned the Nine-Tails into his personal 'plaything,' Tobirama was so shocked that he failed to activate the Flying Thunder God technique, leading to his instant death by the Gold and Silver Brothers' attack."
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