On the way home...
"Gin, you look really angry," Namikaze Minato said.
After all, slamming the table like that in front of everyone didn't exactly look like someone in a good mood.
Even Satoru Inoue had been startled.
"It's nothing, just a bit surprised that we're graduating early," Gin replied.
He smiled on the outside, but inside, he was cursing like mad.
"Really?" Minato clearly didn't believe it. Gin's smile even seemed laced with sarcasm.
Or was that just his imagination?
Seeing that Gin didn't intend to explain further, Minato dropped the subject.
"I wonder if we'll be assigned to the same team,"
Kushina Uzumaki chimed in.
"Hopefully," Gin shrugged.
Honestly, he wasn't counting on it. After all, he was an Uchiha—the clan everyone loved to hate. Even if he wasn't liked within his own family, he couldn't exactly change his surname for now.
Theoretically, being on a team with Kushina would be the safest option. If possible, of course, he would want that.
The village wouldn't let their precious Jinchuriki be put in danger early on, so as her teammate, Gin would be much safer too.
Later on, they'd definitely be separated... but by then, he'd have grown stronger.
"By the way, have you guys heard about the ninjas who've been going missing lately?"
Minato remembered and brought it up.
Some of his neighbors were missing now, and at home, he could often hear the sound of crying.
"That kind of thing has nothing to do with us,"
Gin cut him off.
But he also recalled something important that happened around this period.
It was the time when the experiments with Hashirama's cells had begun, aimed at strengthening Konoha's forces.
The missing ninjas...
Of course—it had to be related to those experiments with Hashirama's cells. It was the one black stain even Hiruzen Sarutobi himself admitted to.
It also explained why the Ninja Academy ended so early.
Those experiments had cost many lives.
Naturally, it had impacted the frontlines too.
To make up for the shortage of manpower, students at the Academy would be rushed into service as a fresh source of personnel.
"That old bastard," Gin gritted his teeth and muttered angrily.
Sooner or later, he'd have to deal with him.
"What did you say?" Minato heard Gin mumbling and asked in confusion.
"Nothing," Gin shook his head. No point in talking about this now.
"Hey, look over there!" Kushina suddenly pointed toward a tree in the distance.
A man was standing there, sneakily peeking at something.
And next to him was… the women's bathhouse.
Gin's forehead twitched. He didn't even need to guess—it had to be Jiraiya. In the entire village of Konoha, only one man would do something like this.
"Peeping pervert!!" Kushina roared, disappearing from sight in a flash.
The unsuspecting Jiraiya felt a gust of wind from behind him. Before he could dodge, he was kicked hard in the back and sent flying—crashing straight into the women's bath.
"Ahh!!"
"Ahh!!"
"Ahhh!!"
Screams erupted from within.
"You pervert!!"
"You bastard, Jiraiya!!"
"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!"
Suddenly, a ball of fire exploded out of the women's bath, carrying Jiraiya with it, who finally landed heavily in front of Gin and Minato.
The two exchanged a glance.
"Probably dead."
"Let's bury him somewhere."
Just as they were about to start digging,
"Wait!!" Jiraiya feebly raised his hand, "I'm still savable..."
Jiraiya, with half his hair burned off and most of his clothes torn, struggled to sit up, looking absolutely miserable.
But Kushina wasn't done yet. She wasn't going to let Jiraiya off that easy.
"You disgusting, filthy pervert!!"
Her red hair flew wildly like the tentacles of an octopus, and her whole body glowed faintly with a golden light.
Kushina leapt into the air, raising her fist high before slamming it down with full force.
BOOM!!
A huge bump formed on Jiraiya's head, and his eyes rolled back as he passed out.
...
When Jiraiya finally woke up, he was tied tightly to a tree.
Facing him were three kids cracking their knuckles ominously.
"Wait, wait! I'm not a pervert! I was gathering material! You little brats don't understand anything!!"
Why did he have to suffer like this?
"I've never heard of anyone needing to peek at the women's bathhouse for 'material'," Kushina raised an eyebrow.
This kind of behavior couldn't be forgiven.
"I'm aiming to be a famous novelist!" Jiraiya said proudly.
Even though he hadn't written a single line yet.
"You can die a thousand deaths before you talk!" Kushina was ready to dish out more punishment. What kind of novel needed research from a women's bathhouse!?
Minato quickly jumped in to stop her.
"Kushina, he is a jonin after all..."
Jiraiya's face lit up at that, trying to put on a serious front.
"Kids, now that you know my identity, you should let me go."
Gin casually walked over and clicked his tongue.
"Lord Jiraiya, since we do know who you are, have you thought about why we're still not letting you go?"
"Wouldn't want news about your little... 'hobby' to get out, would you?"
Gin said, smiling slyly.
Jiraiya's face froze. Even though Uchiha Gin was keeping a straight face, the smirk tugging at his lips said it all.
This kid might actually be the most dangerous one here.
"What do you want?" Jiraiya said cautiously.
"Nothing much." Gin stroked his chin, deep in thought. Jiraiya didn't have much he wanted, besides the Mount Myoboku summoning contract.
But honestly, Gin didn't even want those toads, aside from the old sage one. The rest were strong, sure, but not exactly his style.
Thinking that, he looked at Jiraiya with clear disdain.
"Hey! What's with that look?!" Jiraiya was pissed at being looked at like trash.
He was a jonin leading an elite team, dammit!
But Gin ignored him and turned to Minato instead. "Let's just toss him over to the Konoha Military Police."
The blood drained from Jiraiya's face. Anywhere but there!!
"Wait, wait! We can work something out! I can teach you guys ninjutsu!!"
The Uchiha Police Force was infamous for being merciless. If they caught him, he'd be lucky if a fine was all he got—he might even get locked up!
Minato looked tempted, but his current ninjutsu skills were still pretty decent. He wasn't desperate.
It was still better to keep Kushina from killing Jiraiya.
"Wait, we can talk about this!"
But none of them were listening.
"I'll go call the Military Police. Minato, you guys watch him here," Gin instructed.
Panicking, Jiraiya suddenly turned into a puff of smoke and left behind only a wooden log—he had used a substitution technique to escape.
If he didn't run now, he might not get another chance.
"These brats are bad news," he thought.
"He ran off fast." Gin clicked his tongue.
Kushina clenched her fists, grinding her teeth. "I can't stand filthy adults like that."
Minato scratched his head awkwardly. "Well... he didn't actually do anything bad, did he?"
...
In the Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, staring at a stack of reports, feeling like the entire ninja world was closing in on him.
The Sand and Stone villages had dropped all pretense and were trying to break into the Land of Fire.
Although there weren't signs of a full invasion yet, there had already been many skirmishes, and Konoha's forces were spread thin.
Worse, rogue ninja groups were raiding the Land of Fire's borders, causing massive losses for the noble families.
Even the Daimyo had come to demand answers.
Puff! A cloud of smoke appeared, and Jiraiya materialized in the office.
"Did you make contact?" Hiruzen asked without looking up.
Jiraiya twitched a little, glancing down at his burned and battered body.
"More or less."
Hiruzen finally looked up—and stared at the scorched figure before him.
"You were... attacked?"
"Not exactly," Jiraiya muttered, looking up at the ceiling.
Which, naturally, gave everything away.
Hiruzen sighed heavily. Jiraiya was his most similar disciple... but sometimes he wished he wasn't so similar.
It gave him such a headache.
Changing the subject, he asked, "So, how do you feel?"
"Those brats..." Jiraiya's face darkened as he recalled them.
"They're not easy to deal with at all."
Especially that Uchiha Gin kid—he was very tricky.
"Well, one's an all-round genius, one's a taijutsu genius, and one's a Jinchuriki,"
Gin's prowess in taijutsu was already well known, but very few knew he was also skilled at ninjutsu.
Even Hiruzen hadn't realized it.
Hiruzen sighed. These three were all key talents for the village and represented three different forces within Konoha:
Minato represented the civilians, Uchiha Gin represented the traditional ninja clans, and Kushina represented the Jinchuriki.
And Konoha's civilians were no weak, passive group.
Many of them were descendants of the Senju Clan, whose surname had been erased to better blend them into the village—an act decided by the Second Hokage.
This had allowed civilian power to rise sharply.
Though even with the Senju's bloodline backing them, genius alone wasn't always enough without the right resources.
"But... old man, are you really planning to have the Jinchuriki go on missions?" Jiraiya asked, frowning.
The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was too important—a strategic weapon. Especially when she was still just a little girl.
Sending her on missions could be very risky if she lost control.
"Kushina hasn't shown any instability for a long time,"
Hiruzen explained.
In the past, she would accidentally leak the Nine-Tails' chakra, but for the past three months, she had been remarkably stable.
No leakage at all.
"We'll observe her for another six months. If she stays stable, we can start letting her do some simple missions."
If the Jinchuriki grew strong, she would be a major asset.
And right now, Konoha desperately needed more strength to defend against the attacks from the other villages.
"Oh, right, Sensei," Jiraiya's face turned serious, shedding his usual carefree attitude.
"A lot of ninjas have gone missing recently. You must know what's going on."
Hiruzen sighed but said nothing.
Which already said a lot.
Jiraiya's face turned grim.
"Sensei, ninjas aren't just disposable tools."
(End of Chapter)