"Seriously, what a rat in the gutter, meow!"
By now, Kitsujiro had clearly seen the lava-spewing giant in the distance closing in on them. Combined with Obito's behavior, he could more or less tell that Obito had chickened out.
"If he's a rat, then sooner or later Kitsujiro will catch him!"
Panting, Uchiha Izumi scooped Kitsujiro into her arms, looking pained at the many wounds covering his body. If Kitsujiro hadn't stopped Obito, Izumi knew she would never have been a match for Uchiha Obito.
"That's right, meow!"
"I'm really good at catching rats, meow!"
Kitsujiro shifted into a more comfortable position in her arms. He was hurt, sure, but he wasn't about to lose face.
While Izumi and Kitsujiro were talking, Uchiha Chizumi arrived beside them.
"The one who attacked you was Obito?"
Chizumi looked at the injured pair, and for once, a trace of killing intent flickered through his eyes.
To borrow Tang San's phrase, Uchiha Obito had already walked the path of death.
Unfortunately, Konan and Nagato had been useless. Chizumi had already told them everything he knew about Uchiha Obito, yet instead of dealing with Obito, they had turned around and targeted him instead.
"Yes, meow!"
"That space-time eye technique of his is way too broken, meow!"
"If not for that weird space-time eye technique, Obito's strength would only be so-so, meow!"
Kitsujiro nodded repeatedly. Even though he had spent most of the fight getting beaten up, the fact that he had managed to stay alive against Obito for several minutes already meant he had done an excellent job.
"A space-time eye technique…"
Chizumi nodded. He understood Obito's Kamui very well. It wouldn't actually be that hard to break it using brute-force methods.
But if he wanted to reliably catch Obito anytime, anywhere, then the Flying Thunder God Technique would probably be more suitable.
"Once I return to Konoha, I'll apply to study the Flying Thunder God scroll. If I master Flying Thunder God, catching Obito should become much easier."
Chizumi said this calmly. Come to think of it, in all these years, he had never once applied to study one of Konoha's forbidden techniques.
He had already made a name for himself during the Third Great Ninja War. Back then, the Uchiha clan's own techniques had been more than enough for him to study, and since he mostly used Lava Release, he had never felt much need for other jutsu.
But with the achievements he had built up over the years, applying to learn one or two forbidden techniques wouldn't be difficult.
"Once we get back to Konoha this time, Lady Tsunade is going to become Hokage, right?"
At the mention of Konoha, a glimmer lit up in Uchiha Izumi's eyes too. This trip to the Land of Water had been the first time she had ever been away from Konoha for so long, and she found herself missing home.
"Lady Tsunade will definitely be elected Hokage!"
As Izumi summoned Katsuyu to treat Kitsujiro's injuries, one of the little slugs spoke up as well.
And that was basically true. In the Konoha of today, whether among the jōnin or the civilians, people overwhelmingly preferred Tsunade as the next Hokage. Medical ninja had saved too many lives for anyone to ignore.
Add to that her identity as the granddaughter of the First and Second Hokage, her status as the Third Hokage's disciple, and the fact that she was nominally the Fire Country's Princess Tsunade—and the moment Tsunade said she wanted to become Hokage, the question naturally became: who even was Hiruzen Sarutobi compared to her?
"Tsunade's support inside the village really is getting higher and higher…"
"Once Uchiha Chizumi returns and the jōnin vote begins, Tsunade will probably become Hokage."
At the Ninja Academy, Jiraiya looked at the students and couldn't help sighing.
He still remembered Tsunade once saying she would never become Hokage. Nawaki's death had always remained a thorn in her heart.
But no matter how much Jiraiya thought about it, he had never imagined that because of Absolute Justice, Tsunade would personally step forward and run for Hokage.
"The position of Hokage isn't what matters. What matters is the Child of Prophecy!"
"No matter what Uchiha Chizumi or Tsunade do, before the Child of Prophecy foretold in the prophecy, they are nothing more than the difference between the moon and fireflies."
Shima, perched on Jiraiya's shoulder, spoke softly. As one of Mount Myōboku's elder toads, she had absolute faith in the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.
"But the Child of Prophecy is way too guarded around you!"
"Jiraiya, I'm telling you, why don't you fix some of those bad habits of yours already?"
"Right now, the Child of Prophecy opens his mouth and all he says is 'Pervy Sage.' If outsiders hear that, the people of Konoha are going to think all the summoners raised by Mount Myōboku are like this."
Fukasaku spoke earnestly. He actually thought highly of Jiraiya as one of Mount Myōboku's contractors.
The only problem was that Jiraiya's reputation was terrible, and it had dragged Mount Myōboku's reputation down with it.
"I already changed…"
"And besides, all the bushes outside Konoha's women's bathhouses have been cleared out now. They even strengthened the guard patrols."
"So even if I wanted to do anything, I couldn't!"
At the mention of this, Jiraiya looked aggrieved and irritated at the same time.
He seriously couldn't understand it. What was the deal with those bathhouses? Why hadn't they cleaned things up earlier or later—why only now, right when he had decided to stay in the village for a while?
Wasn't that just bullying an honest man?
And when he thought about how long it had been since he'd last been able to gather "research material," the look in Jiraiya's eyes became utterly lifeless.
He swore that once he got the Child of Prophecy back on the right path, he was leaving Konoha. The shinobi world was huge, and he refused to believe that the women's bathhouses and taverns out there didn't still love him.
At the same time, inside the Hokage Building—
"You sent people to attack Uchiha Chizumi?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Koharu Utatane standing before him. His tone sounded like a question, but there was certainty behind it.
"How did you know—"
Koharu blurted it out before she could stop herself, but the moment she met Hiruzen's stern gaze, she almost felt as if he were still the same old "Professor" from back then.
"Go back to prison and stay there."
"Uchiha Chizumi is coming back."
Hiruzen closed his eyes. He was genuinely disappointed in Koharu.
In his view, Uchiha Chizumi's methods were indeed extreme—but in the end, Chizumi was still a Konoha shinobi, and more than that, one of Konoha's strongest assets.
Hiruzen had already been worrying about the possibility of Chizumi staying in Kirigakure. If Koharu's schemes came to light and Chizumi found out, Hiruzen was afraid Chizumi might truly choose never to return.
"Hiruzen, you've grown weaker and weaker!"
"Your seat as Hokage is about to be taken by Tsunade, and even Homura has already chosen to support her. And me—your most steadfast supporter—you're actually telling me to go back to prison myself?"