Ninja World: I, Kisame Hoshigaki, am no longer human!

The girl was once a student of Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha. However, after Orochimaru became a traitor to the village, she was often troubled by his master-disciple relationship with him.

Anko has recently been promoted to Chunin, and her current mission is to patrol the outskirts of the village, searching for any suspicious enemies.

As a result, she encountered Kisame and his two companions.

"My lord, please do not harm this girl. Spare her life!"

Fearing that Kisame would slap Anko to death, Hebi stepped forward and pleaded for her life. After all, Anko was her most beloved disciple.

"No problem. Actually, I have a suggestion: you should persuade this girl to return to Kirigakure with us and become your assistant in the future. What do you think?"

Kisame looked at Hebi-hime and made a suggestion with a smile.

He certainly knew that Anko was Orochimaru's favorite disciple; otherwise, in the original story, Orochimaru wouldn't have left the Heavenly Curse Mark on her and become entangled with her.

Compared to Konoha, Kirigakure's biggest shortage right now is talent, especially outstanding individuals like Mitarashi Anko; it would be best to recruit them.

"I can't ask for it."

Upon hearing this, Snake Princess's eyes lit up, and she was very grateful to Kisame.

"Let's go, we'll leave this place to the Snake Princess."

Kisame then gave Tsunade an instruction and tried to walk around Anko, who was blocking his way, and continued forward.

"stop!"

Seeing the enemy about to leave, Mitarashi Anko shouted and tried to stop them again, but her attack was neutralized in the next second.

Whoosh.

Snake Princess flashed in front of Red Bean, licked her lips, and said with a smile, "Let's talk."

When Tsunade saw this, her eyes flashed, and she stared thoughtfully at the back of the Snake Princess.

She had long speculated about the identity of this mysterious woman, and now it seemed she was getting closer and closer to the truth.

However, Tsunade didn't have time to uncover the true identity of the Snake Princess right now. She watched Kisame's departing figure and quickly chased after him.

After parting ways with Boa Hancock, Kisame and Tsunade followed Ichiraku Avenue and soon arrived near the Uchiha clan's territory.

Unlike in the original story, the Uchiha clan has not been ostracized by the Konoha leadership and driven to the edge of the village. Instead, after the Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya, took office, the Uchiha clan received his best efforts to win them over and compensate them.

Therefore, when the Nine-Tails wreaked havoc in the village, Fugaku Uchiha, as the clan head and elder of Konoha, did not choose to stand idly by, but immediately organized the clan's elite members to join the battle.

However, Fugaku, preoccupied with important clan affairs, clearly neglected his family.

The sound of a baby crying came from not far ahead.

Kisame and Tsunade looked in the direction of the sound and saw a black-haired boy of about five or six years old carrying an infant, running out of the Uchiha clan's territory and heading towards the underground shelter.

"Alright, alright, Sasuke, you must have been terrified. Don't cry anymore, your brother will protect you."

The black-haired boy, Itachi Uchiha, looked down at the baby in his arms and smiled as he gently comforted him.

Sasuke seemed to have truly understood his brother's words. He stopped crying and making a fuss, and stared intently at Itachi with his big, dark eyes.

"Those are the two sons of Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha clan."

Kisame gestured to Tsunade, which immediately surprised her again.

Just then.

Boom!

A chakra shockwave descended from the center of the battlefield, destroying a building not far away. A boulder weighing several tons flew over and was about to smash into the two brothers' heads.

Itachi was startled, but remained calm, because he had been training in ninjutsu under his father's guidance for a long time. Although he had not yet graduated from the ninja academy, according to his father, his skills were already comparable to those of an ordinary chunin.

However, just as Itachi pushed off the ground, preparing to grab his younger brother and dodge the boulder's fall, a figure suddenly rushed over from not far away, blocking the two brothers and punching the boulder squarely.

boom!

The enormous boulder shattered into countless fragments on the spot under that punch, flying in all directions.

It was Tsunade who made the move.

Seeing this, Kisame smiled knowingly and walked over.

217. Uchiha Izumi's Cry

Are you all alright?

After Tsunade smashed the flying boulder with a punch, she turned to look at Itachi and Sasuke in his arms behind her.

To Tsunade's surprise, despite his young age, Itachi remained remarkably calm and composed in such a dangerous environment, displaying a maturity far beyond his years.

As expected of the son of the Uchiha clan leader.

Faced with Tsunade's question, Itachi slowly nodded, but because of her mysterious attire and inability to see her face, he became more wary and subconsciously took two steps back.

His intuition told him that the two people in front of him were not Konoha ninjas.

"Oh, looks like they don't appreciate your kindness," Kisame teased Tsunade.

"Hehe, you probably scared him."

Tsunade sneered and retorted on the spot, "I heard from the villagers that every time you go out, you bring back strange widows and children. People who don't know better would think you're a human trafficker. What, are you thinking of taking advantage of these two children too?"

"I have no interest in them."

Kisame shrugged, pointed to his head, and said with a very disdainful tone, "The Uchiha clan members here are all a bit abnormal. The more talented and powerful a person is, the more likely they are to fall into paranoia and madness, and the closer they are to true mental illness. Just look at Obito. Keeping someone like that in the village is like a time bomb. I wouldn't even want him if he were given to me."

In Kisame's view, not only Obito, but also the brothers Itachi and Sasuke from the original work were mentally unstable.

Itachi, in particular, personally slaughtered hundreds of his own clansmen and civilians, and even his own parents were not spared. He was utterly insane.

"Your viewpoint is quite similar to that of the Second Hokage." Tsunade didn't refute Kisame this time, but instead said this, because she was reminded of her great-uncle Tobirama Senju.

Upon hearing Kisame's words, Itachi Uchiha frowned.

The other party's condescending and arbitrary remarks about the Uchiha clan offended him, making him, as a member of the Uchiha clan, feel very uncomfortable.

However, Itachi also knew that he could not afford to offend these two people, and with his younger brother, who was only a few months old, in his arms, Sasuke's safety was his biggest concern.

So, while Tsunade and Kisame were bickering, he hugged Sasuke tightly, his eyes flashed, and he turned and ran towards the end of the street.

"I told you so, you scared the kid away, haha."

Seeing Itachi turn and run away without a word, Tsunade slapped Kisame on the shoulder and teased him.

"Let him run. He's still too weak right now and has no use to me. When he grows up and awakens the Mangekyou Sharingan, that's when I'll harvest his wealth."

Kisame said calmly, watching Itachi disappear into the distance.

Just then.

"Tsunade?! Is that you?"

A surprised and uncertain voice suddenly came from behind the two of them.

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Tsunade shuddered and slowly turned around. Sure enough, she saw a tall, white-haired man in a Hokage robe staring intently at her.

The Fourth Hokage, Jiraiya.

To be precise, what appeared before Tsunade and Kisame was merely a shadow clone of Jiraiya. His true body was currently leading a group of Konoha ninja in a fierce battle against the rampaging Nine-Tails, attempting to seal it or drive it out of the village.

Jiraiya's shadow clones used a telescope technique he learned from the previous Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, to monitor the village's movements until he discovered the suspicious Kisame and Tsunade.

"Yo, Jiraiya, it's been a long time."

Before Tsunade could speak, Kisame took off his hood and greeted Jiraiya with a smile.

"Kisame Hoshigaki, it really is you."

After confirming Kisame's identity, Jiraiya's gaze suddenly turned cold. He even forgot about catching up with Tsunade and questioned Kisame in a deep voice, "Did you plan tonight's events? As the Mizukage, have you forgotten the peace treaty you personally signed with Konoha?"

"Don't get excited. If I, Kisame Hoshigaki, wanted to destroy Konoha, would I need to go to such lengths? Instead of painstakingly releasing that Nine-Tailed Fox, it's faster and more convenient for me to do it myself. What do you say?"

Kisame said dismissively, casting a mocking glance at Jiraiya.

"..."

Jiraiya was speechless. After calming down, he realized that he had acted impulsively and said something inappropriate.

Indeed, given Kisame's power and style, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to plan, waiting for Kushina Uzumaki to give birth, then taking the opportunity to kidnap her and release the Nine-Tails.

He would raze Konoha to the ground. After all, Kisame had already done something like this once before, so he was quite adept at it.

"It seems you haven't figured out who the enemy is. Out of respect for my statue on the Hokage Rock in Konoha, I'll kindly tell you: it's that Uchiha Obito. As for why I'm here tonight..."

Kisame glanced at Tsunade beside him as he said this, "This woman has already fulfilled the conditions of the peace treaty ahead of schedule, so I personally sent her back to Konoha. Although Konoha seems very unsafe right now, I believe you can protect Tsunade, so I'm entrusting her to you."

As soon as she finished speaking, Tsunade slowly removed her hood, revealing her beautiful face and golden hair.

“You all seem to have a lot to say, so I won’t be a third wheel.”

Kisame was quite sensible. He patted Tsunade on the shoulder, turned around, and left, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

On the street, only Tsunade and Jiraiya remained, standing several meters apart, their eyes locked.

"Tsunade, thank goodness. For the past year or so, I've worried about you every single day. Kisame Hoshigaki... he didn't do anything to hurt you, did he?"

Jiraiya took two steps forward, unable to contain his excitement.

He had admired Tsunade since his youth, regarding her as his goddess, and had pursued her relentlessly for many years. Unfortunately, he was never able to win Tsunade's heart.

On the day Kisame kidnapped Tsunade from Konoha, Jiraiya was heartbroken, but he could only watch helplessly.

Now, Tsunade has finally returned to Konoha and to his side.

"I'm doing very well in Kirigakure. The villagers there are kind and honest, and they respect me a lot. As for Kisame Hoshigaki... let's not talk about that guy."

As Tsunade spoke, she sighed.

Huh?

Jiraiya had assumed that Tsunade would be overjoyed to have regained her freedom and returned to her hometown. But judging from her expression at this moment, it seemed that wasn't the case.

However, Jiraiya didn't think too much about it. He took two more steps forward and opened his arms to warmly welcome Tsunade:

"No matter what, it's good that you're back safe and sound. Konoha will always be your home, and we've all been waiting for you."

What Jiraiya longed for was a hug between old friends.