Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

Nearby...

Neji continued training by himself, completely ignoring the chaos unfolding around him.

"Lee, are you an idiot?!"

"Tenten shouted while desperately trying to hold him back."

"Jiraiya-sama is obviously joking!"

Even using all her strength...

Tenten felt less like she was stopping Lee...

And more like an extra weight he was dragging along.

"But Jiraiya-sama is one of the Legendary Sannin!"

Lee replied earnestly.

"The training he assigns must have meaning!"

"That's not training at all!"

Tenten cried.

"And that crystal ball tied to your leg is clearly just—"

Before she could finish explaining...

The true culprit had already noticed Hinata and Karin arriving.

Jiraiya waved cheerfully.

"Yo!"

"You girls are here nice and early."

"Jiraiya-sama."

Hinata bowed politely.

"I look forward to your guidance today."

"No problem."

Jiraiya grinned.

"It's an assignment from the old man..."

He coughed.

"...I mean, Lord Hokage."

His gaze swept across Hinata and Karin.

"The upcoming Chūnin Exams will be unprecedented."

"They'll serve as a joint exercise between three major villages."

"Every nation is taking them very seriously."

"Coincidentally..."

"Your teacher was called away on an urgent mission."

"And all of you are among Konoha's younger generation preparing to participate."

"So the old man asked me to give you some... special training."

As he spoke...

Jiraiya casually walked over to Hinata and lowered his voice.

"...Naruto still hasn't come back?"

Hinata shook her head.

"...No."

"Tch."

"What rotten timing."

Jiraiya sighed in disappointment.

Before long, however...

He shrugged it off and clapped his hands.

"Alright."

"Since everyone's here..."

"I'll assign today's training."

"Oh!"

"Little Tenten."

"You can let Lee go now."

"You're interfering with his training."

"Besides..."

"You haven't finished your own training yet."

The nickname sent a chill down Tenten's spine.

Instinctively...

She let go.

Freed at last...

Rock Lee shot forward—

Like a dog that had broken free of its leash.

...A dog that happened to be running on its hands.

"...Seriously?"

Tenten covered her face.

She had thought that with Guy absent...

Being taught by one of the Legendary Sannin would finally let Lee undergo proper training.

Who would've thought...

Jiraiya's methods would be even more absurd.

"Now then."

Jiraiya looked around.

"Aside from Rock Lee..."

"I'll arrange everyone else's training..."

"...According to the order you arrived."

His gaze settled on one person.

"Hyūga Neji."

"You first."

Neji stopped practicing and looked over.

For the past few days...

Jiraiya hadn't assigned him any specific training at all.

He was rather curious...

What shortcomings would one of the Legendary Sannin point out?

Jiraiya rubbed his chin.

"Hmm..."

"I really don't feel like designing training for boys."

"How about you join Lee?"

"Run around the bathhouses a few thousand laps."

"...I'll make my own training arrangements."

Neji replied expressionlessly.

"Oooh."

"Very proactive."

Jiraiya nodded approvingly.

"Good."

"The other three girls, come with me."

"I've prepared individual training plans for each of you."

Despite his carefree attitude...

Jiraiya had genuinely assigned everyone the training most suitable for them.

After all...

Even though they were fellow Konoha shinobi...

During the Chūnin Exams...

They would also be competitors.

One of a ninja's most basic principles...

Was never revealing all of their trump cards.

So...

Jiraiya separated everyone's training.

None of them would know exactly what the others were practicing.

After watching each of them begin their respective sessions...

Jiraiya yawned.

Then...

His figure disappeared.

Inside the Hokage's Office...

"Sensei."

Tsunade frowned.

"I've already told you countless times."

"I'm not interested in becoming the next Hokage."

She had already been exercising remarkable restraint.

Ever since returning to Konoha...

The Third Hokage had been playing the emotional card every single day.

Either inviting her to meals...

Or calling her over for casual chats.

But every conversation always circled back to one thing.

The position of the Fifth Hokage.

Frankly...

She was getting sick of it.

"Then perhaps you could persuade Jiraiya—"

"Don't drag me into this."

Before Hiruzen could finish...

Jiraiya appeared inside the office, spreading his hands helplessly.

He immediately turned toward Tsunade.

Just as he was about to greet her...

She pointed straight at him.

"He's here."

"Talk to him instead."

Bang!

She slammed the door behind her and left.

"...You two..."

The Third Hokage rubbed his temples.

"You're still fighting?"

He had originally believed that once both of his students returned...

He could finally lay down the burden of office...

And focus entirely on assisting Minato's plan.

Instead...

The two of them proved even more stubborn than he expected.

"Haha..."

Jiraiya scratched his head.

"I mostly just said something stupid before."

"It's fine."

"I can tell Tsunade isn't actually angry anymore."

"She just used me as an excuse."

"She didn't want to keep listening to an old man talk about boring things."

"'The Hokage's position'..."

Hiruzen glared at him.

"...Since when did that become a boring topic?"

He was about to begin another heartfelt attempt at persuading his disciple...

But Jiraiya had already predicted exactly what was coming.

"Don't."

"I'm really not interested."

"Old man..."

"Just keep doing it for another few years."

"When the time comes..."

"Hand it over to the next generation."

"I think Kakashi would make a fine Hokage."

"You two..."

Hiruzen's forehead twitched.

"Are you trying to drive me to an early grave?"

Watching his disciples toss the Hokage's hat back and forth like an unwanted ball...

He couldn't help feeling exasperated.

"It's honestly not appropriate."

Jiraiya replied with a teasing smile.

"You've practically got complete authority in the village already."

"So why insist on stepping down now?"

Though it sounded like a joke...

He was subtly reminding Hiruzen of the political reality.

"...Forget it."

"You wouldn't understand."

Hiruzen sighed.

"How are those children doing?"

Jiraiya shrugged.

"...Not great."

"They're still far behind how amazing I was back then."

Hiruzen immediately shot him a glare.

"Who are you trying to fool?"

"I trained you myself."

"I know perfectly well what kind of dead-last you used to be."

Jiraiya froze.

He had forgotten.

Unlike everyone else...

His teacher knew every embarrassing detail of his youth.

"...Alright, alright."

He surrendered.

"They're actually outstanding."

"They still have flaws..."

"But in the future..."

"They'll undoubtedly become an incredible new generation for Konoha."

"The truly incredible one..."

Hiruzen smiled knowingly.

"...You haven't even met yet."

Jiraiya naturally knew who he meant.

This wasn't the first time Hiruzen had praised Uzumaki Naruto in front of him.

Still...

He found it difficult to imagine.

Someone even more exceptional than Minato?

"So."

Hiruzen leaned forward.

"What weaknesses did you find?"

"And how have you arranged their training?"

Now that the conversation had shifted into an official mission report...

Jiraiya became much more serious.

"First..."

"Rock Lee."

"Although he's trained exclusively in taijutsu..."

"Just like his teacher, Might Guy..."

"He possesses exceptional talent."

"Even relying only on taijutsu..."

"He's already very powerful."

"After observing him these past couple of days..."

"I discovered a serious weakness."

"As a ninja..."

"His information-gathering ability is terrible."

"His training has been so rigidly focused on close combat..."

"That during battle..."

"His analytical ability is weak."

"He only thinks about attacking."

"He often fails to notice what his opponent is actually trying to do."

"If he encounters a truly powerful enemy someday..."

"He'll suffer greatly because of it."

"Oh?"

Hiruzen nodded.

"So how did you address that?"

Jiraiya answered with complete seriousness.

"I've assigned him to spend these next few days..."

"...Finding different ways to peek at women's bathhouses."

"...To train his ability to observe in every direction."

"Think about it."

"If a guy in a green jumpsuit keeps circling outside a women's bathhouse..."

"How vigilant do you think the women inside will become?"

"The moment they spot him..."

"They'll try to beat him to death."

"So in order to complete his training..."

"He'll have to constantly detect threats coming from the bathhouse..."

"While continuing to run his laps."

"In that environment..."

"His powers of observation are guaranteed to improve dramatically."

Listening to Jiraiya deliver that utterly ridiculous explanation with a perfectly straight face...

The corner of Hiruzen's mouth twitched.

He had to use every ounce of self-control...

To resist the urge to punch his disciple.