Taking advantage of the moment Uchiha Kaze was distracted, Uchiha Obito activated Kamui with full force.
This time, he succeeded.
The distorted space vortex swallowed him, leaving only a few pieces of drifting black cloth as proof of his past existence.
In the hospital room, only Kakashi, Naruto, and... silence remained.
"Teacher..."
Naruto looked at Kaze, his eyes holding confusion, but mostly trust.
He believed that his teacher must have a reason for doing this.
"This is something you need to do, Naruto. Teacher won't stop you, nor will I do it for you."
"Moreover, I also believe in you, Naruto, that you will definitely accomplish it yourself."
Kaze reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair.
Having come personally to raise Naruto, Kaze didn't plan to let Naruto go to waste again.
"I will, Teacher."
Naruto nodded heavily, a determined flame burning in his blue eyes.
Kaze nodded, then turned to look at Kakashi, who was still standing dumbly on the spot.
"You stay here and guard."
"Naruto should want to hear some things about the Yondaime from you."
Kaze finished speaking and directly Body Flickered away from here.
Kakashi looked at the spot where Kaze disappeared, slowly lowering his forehead protector to cover that Sharingan bonded with his best friend.
The hospital room returned to quiet.
Naruto lay back on the bed but didn't close his eyes immediately.
He was thinking, thinking about his teacher's words, thinking about this person Uchiha Obito, thinking... about his own future.
Kakashi, meanwhile, leaned against the window, not speaking.
"Creak."
The hospital room door was gently pushed open.
A tall figure with a head full of white hair and oil paint on his face tiptoed in.
"Lord Jiraiya...?"
Kakashi looked at Jiraiya with some doubt.
Then looked at Naruto lying on the bed, and Body Flickered away.
Jiraiya walked to the bedside, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
"Naruto, about what happened just now... I saw it all."
Jiraiya's expression was rarely serious, devoid of his usual playful and cheeky look.
"Mm."
Naruto sat up and nodded, but didn't say anything.
Just a pair of blue eyes staring at Jiraiya in front of him.
"Naruto, do you think... your teacher is right?"
"Do you think hatred should be repaid with hatred?"
"Do you think it's really appropriate for your teacher to let a child like you bear such responsibility...?"
After a long time, perhaps Jiraiya felt a bit embarrassed being stared at by Naruto, he finally spoke.
"Lord Jiraiya."
"You... were my father's teacher, right?"
Uzumaki Naruto spoke, his voice very soft, yet it exploded like a thunderclap in this small hospital room.
Jiraiya's body suddenly stiffened.
"Gulp..."
Jiraiya's throat rolled, wanting to say something, but no sound came out.
"Lord Jiraiya."
"If you really were my father's teacher, if you really cared about me..."
"Why have you never come to see me all these years?"
"Why did you never appear when I was ostracized by everyone, bullied by everyone?"
"Why... only now, after Teacher taught me, protected me, and gave me a home, do you come to ask me... if Teacher is right or not?"
Seeing Jiraiya silent, Naruto spoke again.
Only this time, his tone carried a thick sense of alienation.
Every "why" was like a knife stabbing into Jiraiya's heart.
Jiraiya opened his mouth, wanting to explain.
Wanted to say he was gathering intelligence outside, wanted to say he was engaged in a great cause, wanted to say he was trying to bring Tsunade back...
But these reasons, in front of Naruto's clear gaze, seemed so pale, so... laughable.
"I..."
"I'm sorry..."
Jiraiya lowered his head, for the first time daring not to look straight into a child's eyes.
He could only say these three words.
"You don't need to apologize."
"Teacher said everyone has the right to choose."
"You chose your path, and I chose mine."
Naruto reached out his hand and waved it.
After speaking, Naruto lay back down, turning his back to Jiraiya and closing his eyes.
Jiraiya sat in the chair, staring dumbly at Naruto's back.
After a long time, Jiraiya slowly stood up and walked towards the door with somewhat stumbling steps.
When he reached the door, he stopped and looked back.
Moonlight spilled on Naruto, that blond hair glistening in the night.
So much like... Minato.
After Jiraiya left, Kakashi returned to the hospital room again.
"Lord Kakashi, can you tell me what kind of person my father was?"
"Although Teacher also talked about it, he only gave a general idea."
Naruto's voice came from under the blanket.
The voice was very small, very small... but for Kakashi, it was as if a golden light appeared before his eyes, that tall figure blurring Kakashi's vision.
"Okay."
"Teacher, he was an excellent Hokage, a very powerful ninja..."
...
Kakashi sat down and spoke slowly.
...
Konoha Village Entrance.
Jiraiya, carrying his luggage, prepared to leave.
He came back this time originally intending to question Uchiha Kaze, but found he had no standpoint whatsoever.
He couldn't bring himself to seek revenge on Kaze directly, nor could he disrupt Konoha again, and even Naruto...
Looking at the Konoha gate behind him, for the first time, Jiraiya felt a sense of not knowing where to go.
"Planning to leave the village?"
Just then, Uchiha Kaze, who had just left, appeared again.
"You..."
"Jiraiya, where is your forehead protector?"
Just as Jiraiya wanted to say something, he was directly interrupted by Kaze.
Jiraiya subconsciously raised his hand to touch his forehead protector with the character for "Oil" (Abura).
This was a forehead protector he made himself after becoming the successor of Mount Myōboku.
Plus some things he did in the ninja world were not quite suitable for carrying the identity of Konoha, so he had always worn such a forehead protector.
But at this moment, how could Jiraiya not understand Uchiha Kaze's words?
"Next time you return to the village, I need to see a Konoha forehead protector, otherwise just leave the village."
"By the way, notify Tsunade to return to the village while you're at it..."
"Of course, she can choose not to return, then she never needs to return."
Kaze finished speaking, disregarding Jiraiya's attitude, and turned directly to leave.
Konoha's Legendary Sannin... in Kaze's eyes were just Konoha's Three Jokes.
Orochimaru, judged as a missing-nin, plotted how to give his teacher a decent end until Sarutobi Hiruzen's death.
Tsunade, judged as Konoha's Medical Saint, abandoned herself to despair.
As for Jiraiya... just a little yellow worm who knew the truth but was powerless to do anything...
Orochimaru was already in the village now and had started working.
The remaining two...
Jiraiya looked at Konoha's gate, and for the first time, the Ninja Way he persisted in his heart began to waver...
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