The wind blew.
The trees stirred.
Dusk had arrived, the sky was about to darken.
Before Hiruzen's grave, two Shinobi stood quietly.
Gazing at each other.
And just a moment later,
When Shikaku's words fell,
Jiraiya was stunned.
He looked at Shikaku with incredibly surprised eyes and said:
"You just said..."
"This Chunin War... also involved Amegakure...?!"
"...That's right."
Shikaku nodded solemnly.
"This is my deduction based on various pieces of evidence and doubts."
"..."
Jiraiya stiffened slightly, speechless.
First of all,
He never expected,
Shikaku, this former most capable subordinate of Hiruzen, would come to him at this time.
And secondly, he even less expected that,
In his words, he mentioned that once war-torn small country's Shinobi Village-
Amegakure!
This place,
Jiraiya couldn't be more familiar...
In fact,
It directly carried a long period of his memories.
Back during the Second Shinobi World War,
It was here that he fought alongside Tsunade and Orochimaru against the legendary Shinobi known as the "Demi-God", the leader of Amegakure, Hanzo the Salamander.
And for this very reason, the three of them received the title that shook the Shinobi World-
The Sannin of Konoha.
After the war ended,
Jiraiya again encountered three war orphans from Amegakure.
They were three young children.
Nagato,
Yahiko,
Konan.
Perhaps to make up for the damage the war had done to them, or out of sympathy for these children,
Jiraiya decided to keep them by his side, personally teaching them ninjutsu and helping them grow stronger.
And this,
Was the beginning for those three children.
Soon after,
Jiraiya discovered that this child named Nagato was exceptionally talented and insightful.
He also possessed a pair of "special" eyes.
Thus,
Jiraiya involuntarily considered him the "child of prophecy" mentioned by the Great Toad Sage, the one who could bring salvation and light to the Shinobi World.
However, good times didn't last long...
Later,
Jiraiya left them for some reason.
Not long after that,
When he heard news of them... they had already died in the war.
Jiraiya regretted this deeply.
And,
Along with Amegakure, he sealed it away in the memories of his past.
But he never expected,
At his teacher's grave,
He would hear this familiar place again.
After a long moment,
He slightly raised his eyes, looked back at Shikaku, his gaze complicated and puzzled as he said:
"But I,"
"Heard from everyone in the village..."
"This war was all started by Orochimaru."
"Otogakure was founded by Orochimaru, and Sunagakure was also because Orochimaru disguised himself as the Fourth Kazekage and gave orders..."
"Logically, Amegakure... seems unlikely to have been involved, right?"
"Shikaku-san, did you notice something?"
Jiraiya focused, speaking methodically.
Although the death of Hiruzen filled his heart with deep grief, he was naturally not the type to be defeated by such grief.
His mind could still think clearly.
So he knew,
A high-IQ person like Shikaku wouldn't make things up out of thin air.
As Jiraiya's words fell,
Shikaku immediately nodded, and then said solemnly:
"In fact..."
"During this Chunin Exam war, besides the focal points Sunagakure and Otogakure,"
"There was indeed another presence that also appeared in our field of vision."
"That is Amegakure,"
"A Shinobi named 'Kyo'."
"...Kyo?"
Jiraiya frowned slightly, then helplessly shook his head and said:
"Seems I've never heard of him."
Shikaku nodded and explained:
"That's normal."
"After all, he looks relatively young, probably just of age."
"And this time he came to Konoha, claiming to be a swordsmanship teacher at Amegakure's Shinobi Academy."
"He came to Konoha to escort three students to participate in the exams."
"The reason villagers and other Jonin have no impression of him is probably because he didn't appear on that most chaotic night..."
"...I see."
Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully.
Indeed,
If it was just a young Academy's teacher, it was normal not to have heard of him.
However,
Teaching swordsmanship...?
Jiraiya felt a slight doubt in his heart.
In the past war between Konoha and Amegakure, he hadn't seen any Amegakure Shinobi fighting with swords either.
Could it be that they started reforming and learning the fighting style of the Land of Iron's samurai?
However,
Just as he was thinking,
Shikaku continued speaking, interrupting his thoughts.
"In fact,"
"Before the disaster struck on that night, Hiruzen-sama and I had already noticed his strangeness."
"No... that's not right."
"Rather than us, it's more accurate to say... Hatake Kakashi noticed him first."
"It was his words that reminded me."
"Eh? Kakashi?"
Jiraiya's expression shifted again.
He didn't expect to suddenly hear his grand-disciple's name.
The amount of information Shikaku was giving,
Was really quite large.
The reason for calling him a grand-disciple was simple.
After all, his disciple was the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
And Minato just happened to be Kakashi's teacher.
Following that line, it was probably this two-generation difference.
"Yeah."
Shikaku's gaze flickered, as if seeing through Jiraiya's doubt, and quickly explained:
"Actually,"
"Before that Shinobi named Kyo came to Konoha, it seems he had encountered Kakashi a few years ago."
"And, this time, Kakashi also quickly recognized him."
"However, the strange part isn't here,"
"But rather..."
"He seemed very clear about the situation in Konoha."
"Not only did he understand all of Uzumaki Naruto's background, he even knew information about the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato and the previous Kyubi Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina..."
"...!?"
Hearing this,
Jiraiya's expression finally changed.
"What?"
A Shinobi from another village, under eighteen years old... actually knew these internal Konoha affairs?!
Who exactly is he...?
However,
Before he could think carefully, Shikaku beside him continued solemnly:
"Even more eerie is..."
"On that morning, Hiruzen-sama and I decided to dispatch an intelligence squad to Amegakure to investigate him, and also placed Anbu beside him for surveillance."
"But that very night... the war suddenly broke out!"
"Moreover, the Anbu members watching Amegakure were all killed by Orochimaru's group, with none surviving..."
"Isn't all of this a bit too coincidental to be ridiculous...?"
Shikaku stared intently at Jiraiya, speaking slowly.
"...?!!"
Hearing this,
At this moment, Jiraiya's pupils suddenly contracted, feeling a chill down his spine!
Having heard this,
He finally... understood the meaning of Shikaku's earlier words!
No wonder he just said...
Besides Suna and Oto, there was another unknown force...!
Jiraiya's gaze fixed, his expression suddenly becoming heavy.
He gradually... understood everything!
This swordsmanship teacher from Amegakure, Kyo,
In this Chunin Exam, seemed not to participate in any actions...
But,
The various special coincidences in this war simply couldn't bypass him!
Monitor him in the morning, war breaks out at night...
And the Anbu members watching him just happened to be killed by the completely unrelated Orochimaru's group...
These events,
If just taken individually,
There were indeed no suspicious points.
But,
After Shikaku synthesized them like this, even Jiraiya couldn't help but start suspecting...
This teacher from Amegakure...
Could he really be a member of this Konoha Crush Plan?
If so,
Then what was his relationship with Orochimaru?
Cooperation?
Or... employment?
What role did Amegakure actually play in this plan...?