In Konoha, they wiped out the Sarutobi clan at the start.

By the time Naruto arrived at the center of the explosion, all the Konoha ninjas except for Chika and Hinata had already arrived.

"What is this...?" Naruto's brow furrowed with cold sweat as he looked at the terrifying crater, which had a radius of more than ten kilometers and a depth of nearly a hundred meters.

Compared to this move, his newly developed and learned spiral shuriken technique was utterly insignificant.

Everyone turned to look at Naruto, then exchanged glances before their gazes finally fell on Karin. Karin looked somewhat disappointed at not seeing Chiya and slowly nodded.

Kakashi said, "This is going to be troublesome. It looks like it really is that guy."

Upon hearing this, Naruto was taken aback. He naturally knew that "that guy" referred to Chiya. A fleeting look of sadness crossed his eyes as he swallowed hard and asked nervously, "How is Kakashi-sensei doing now?"

"This isn't the battleground; it's just that Chiya's chakra has lingered here. He must have seen that this exaggerated ninjutsu came from over there. In other words, the battlefield isn't here, but over there."

Kakashi turned around and looked behind him, his back to Naruto, and said, "I just had Kiba investigate, and he found that Sasuke's scent is indeed lingering in the air over there. Besides that, there are a few unfamiliar people. If I'm not mistaken, those should be the companions Sasuke gathered."

"What about Chiya, where is Brother Chiya?" Naruto asked worriedly.

Kakashi knew Chiya's place in Naruto's heart, so he didn't say much, only calmly saying, "Apart from the chakra that hasn't completely dissipated here, it's almost impossible to find any trace of him."

"Doesn't that mean...?" Naruto's pupils contracted, and he subconsciously thought that Chiya had been defeated by Sasuke and his companions, and a sense of desolation arose spontaneously.

Naruto didn't want anything to happen to either Sasuke or Chiya, because in his heart they represented his brothers and his father.

Kakashi understood Naruto's gaze, felt a moment of speechlessness, and shrugged slightly. "Think about it, it's impossible for you. Everyone knows how strong that guy is. Even Itachi couldn't do it back then. Even if Sasuke has the strength to rival Itachi now, there's no way he can defeat that monster."

Because of Chiya's exposure, the massacre of the Uchiha clan was no longer a secret in Konoha.

Looking across the entire Hidden Leaf Village, it's likely that only a small group of people, such as Naruto and Sasuke who had already defected, didn't know.

Kakashi glanced at Naruto and added, "Furthermore, Fujiwara Chiya is skilled at concealing his presence. Unless he does it on purpose, traditional methods of perception, such as chakra, scent, or even sight, cannot detect him at all."

The scent reminded Kakashi of the armchair left behind by Chiya during the Kazekage recapture battle. A strange thought popped into his head: Was this done on purpose?

"Haha. I knew it. How could Brother Qianye die so easily?"

Naruto raised his hands behind his back, letting out a sigh of relief and a relieved smile on his face, which drew disgusted looks from everyone except Karin and Kakashi.

They all looked at Naruto as if he were an idiot, thinking to themselves, "Doesn't this guy know that monster is an enemy of Konoha?"

"Wow, looks like everyone's here." A familiar voice approached from afar.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw two ninja dogs running over with Hinata.

Naruto said "Oh," and added, "Oh, it's Biscuit and Akino. Why are there only the two of you? Where's Hinata?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Hinata is right here!" The two ninja dogs turned around and looked at each other. "Huh? Where's Hinata? She's been following us the whole time, and we were just talking to her."

"What nonsense are you spouting? We haven't seen Hinata from the beginning, only the two of you came here." Kiba Inuzuka, also from Team 8, walked impatiently to the two ninja dogs, squatted down, and said somewhat angrily, "I say, you two, you didn't lose Hinata and just made up a lie, did you?"

"Hey, Kiba, calm down." Shino walked up behind Kiba and put his right hand on the latter's shoulder.

Kiba flung the knife away, stood up, and while backing away, rubbed his fluffy short hair, yelling angrily, "How am I supposed to stay calm? Hey, there are Akatsuki members everywhere, and that dangerous Sasuke too! What if Hinata runs into them?"

Just as Yamato was about to lose control of his emotions, Kakashi and Yamato, as the team captains, exchanged a glance and were about to stop him when Hinata's voice suddenly rang in their ears, "Sorry, everyone, I'm late."

Everyone turned their heads to look, and saw Hinata running towards them breathlessly, only slowing down when she got close.

Ya's eyes lit up, and he wanted to go forward, but Kakashi stopped him.

Kakashi first glanced at the ninja dog Pakkun, who sniffed and then nodded. Only then did Kakashi open his teeth.

Kiba stepped forward and asked, "Hinata, what happened?"

Hinata nodded, her breathing a little rapid from running so fast. She let out a long sigh and said, "I just ran into Chiya-nii."

"Chiyo?" Upon hearing this, everyone, including Kakashi, frowned.

Although I know that Hinata, like Naruto, has known Chiya since childhood, this child is far too unguarded.

Naruto is one thing, since he's not very bright, but Hinata is a genius of the Hyuga clan in Konoha.

Kakashi sighed softly, "Then tell me what happened after you met him."

What happened after I met him

Hinata's mind flashed back to the moment when she had pressed Chiya's hand against her breasts. Her eyes widened in panic, and her skin flushed red at a visible speed from her neck to her forehead.

Steam rose from above.

Seeing Hinata's perfectly understandable expression, Kakashi sighed again, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of her any further.

Moreover, it's impossible for Chiya to leak any important information to Hinata.

Most likely it was just a chance encounter.

Then we reminisced.

Dating a powerful rogue ninja, youth is truly wonderful.

Just then, the two ninja dogs that had been following Chika ran over and told everyone that Chika had been stopped by Chiya's partner.

Kakashi's head instantly became twice the size of his own.

These unpleasant things just keep happening one after another.

Fortunately, Karin possesses powerful senses. After learning that Chika was on her way, the two reunited and embarked on their journey to find Sasuke once again.

Leaf.

The Hokage's office.

Having been absent for a long time, Jiraiya, who had been secretly gathering intelligence on the Akatsuki, pushed open the Hokage's office door and found Tsunade.

"I have located the Akatsuki leader's hiding place." These were the first words Jiraiya said to Tsunade after they met.

"What? Really? Tell me in detail quickly!" Upon hearing this, Tsunade stood up excitedly, asking three times in a row in her gentle voice.

It's no wonder she was so excited, because Qianye had said years ago that there was someone in the Akatsuki organization that he was wary of.

However, Chiya never revealed any more information about the Akatsuki organization from beginning to end, leading her to subconsciously believe that it was real and that the leader of the Akatsuki was among them.

Shizune, holding Tonton, stood behind Tsunade, her eyes also filled with curiosity, and said excitedly, "We can use this information to immediately devise a surprise attack plan."

In her view, with Chiya acting as an inside agent, taking down the Akatsuki headquarters was almost a sure thing.

"Come on, don't be in such a hurry," Jiraiya said, shrugging. He was prepared for the worst and decided to go to the Akatsuki base to gather intelligence.

Without knowing the information about the Akatsuki leader, a rash surprise attack would likely result in the complete annihilation of the entire army, and he did not want the Konoha ninja to sacrifice themselves in vain.

"It's not like it's a sequel to a novel you wrote, how could you be so carefree?" Tsunade avoided Jiraiya's gaze, her eyes dimming slightly.

She began to miss the days when Qianye was around. She regretted pushing him so hard; now he was afraid to go home.

"It's not good to be in such a hurry, especially when you're about to place a big bet. How about we grab a drink before we go?

This trip to Amegakure might be his last, so Jiraiya planned to have one last chat with Tsunade before leaving.

Tsunade's forehead creased with anger, her eyes wide as she pointed at Jiraiya and snapped, "How could this be? As the Hokage, how could I possibly go out and drink with you in broad daylight?"

Despite saying that, Tsunade still obediently followed Jiraiya into the izakaya.

He chugs a whole bottle as soon as he arrives.

Jiraiya was speechless for a moment.

The two then talked for a long time.

After a long, rambling reminiscing session...

Jiraiya got down to business with Tsunade, bringing up Akatsuki and revealing his decision to go to Akatsuki's base to gather intelligence.

As expected, Tsunade rejected him.

But Jiraiya still insisted on going, and in the end, Tsunade couldn't persuade him otherwise and took out the kunai that Chiya had left for him.

As the sun set, Jiraiya and Tsunade sat on a public bench on the side of Konoha Street.

"What is this?" Jiraiya took the kunai, noticed the thousand-character mark on it, and was slightly taken aback.

"This is a special Flying Thunder God Kunai, left to me by Chika's father. As long as you inject chakra into it, he can sense it and rush to the rescue immediately," Tsunade said.

"Flying Thunder God Technique, ah, I never imagined that the man who stole your heart would actually be able to learn this technique. But as the Hokage, it's not good to teach a strategic-level ninjutsu of Konoha to a non-Konoha ninja. Well, I'll let it go this time, but we can't do it again, ahahaha."

Jiraiya let out an awkward laugh, put away his kunai, stood up, slung the Summoning Scroll of Mount Myōboku over his shoulder, and, facing the setting sun with his back to Tsunade, waved to her, "It's about time we set off."

However, before he could take a step, Tsunade's voice rang out again, "This is not something I taught him. He never asked me for any ninjutsu. He extorted it from Orochimaru."

"What on earth is going on?" Jiraiya looked puzzled, turned around and sat back down. How did he suddenly get involved with Orochimaru again?

"Actually, there's something I lied to you about." Tsunade took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, then mustered her courage to look Jiraiya in the eye and said seriously, "You guessed right, Chika's father is Fujiwara Chiya."

boom.

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya was struck dumb.

The solemn atmosphere that had just been carefully built up was instantly shattered by Tsunade's words.

Chinatsu is seven years old this year.

In other words, Tsunade became pregnant with Chitsu eight years ago.

How old was Qianye eight years ago?

It seems like he just defected from Konoha.

Tsunade sighed softly, "Now that things have come to this, I won't hide it from you anymore."

As she spoke, she recounted how she met Qianye.

From getting drunk, to getting pregnant with Chika, to the two finally getting together, and Chiya secretly protecting the Konoha ninjas from the Akatsuki organization.

Upon hearing this, Jiraiya felt a pang of pain in his chest, a wave of heartache washing over him. The goddess he had secretly loved for most of his life had been so easily won over by a greenhorn.

While feeling a pang of sorrow, he couldn't help but feel a surge of relief.

Fortunately, it was Tsunade who encountered Chiya.

Otherwise, given the methods and strength of that man who easily manipulated Orochimaru, the Nine-Tails would probably have been captured by the Akatsuki long ago, and Konoha would have suffered heavy losses.

After all, that guy was a ruthless person who almost wiped out the Sarutobi and Shimura clans.

This clearly demonstrates the extent of his vengeful nature.

Only Tsunade and Chinatsu were able to soothe the hatred in his heart and prevent the hatred left by the Third Hokage and Danzo from spreading to the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

"No wonder Chika possesses strength surpassing Kakashi at the young age of seven; she must have received Chiya's true teachings. This also explains why Chiya held back against Naruto and the Konoha ninjas on several occasions."

Jiraiya crossed his arms, seemingly lost in thought.

"I know how strong Chiya is, but his opponent is someone who can command the monsters of the Akatsuki organization. You can imagine how powerful that mysterious leader is. Even Chiya is wary of him. So you don't need to take such a big risk."

Tsunade didn't want Jiraiya to go and die, after all, Jiraiya was the only ninja left in their era who could speak for them.

"No, that's precisely why I'm going to unveil the mystery of the Akatsuki leader. You just said it yourself, right? That guy, Chiya, has almost never revealed any information about the Akatsuki to you."

"Besides, you should know my means of survival. If I want to leave, no one can stop me. Even if I can't escape, I can use the kunai you gave me when it comes to life and death."

Jiraiya stood up, facing the setting sun, leaving Tsunade with what he considered a cool back view.

This time he didn't look back.

At the same time, there were still things he hadn't said to Tsunade.

That is, Chiya's idea of ​​achieving peace by making the five great nations hostile to Akatsuki was far too dangerous.

He advocates for peace through mutual understanding but is unable to communicate.

Therefore, he could not fully trust Qianye.

Furthermore, he wouldn't use the kunai, not because he was worried about whether Chiyo would save him, but because if Chiyo showed up to save him, he would definitely turn against the mysterious leader of the Akatsuki organization.

He didn't want Tsunade to lose her husband. He especially didn't want Chinatsu to lose her father.

P.S.: This is a combined two-chapter post. Please vote for it, give it a monthly pass, and subscribe.