Konoha: From meeting Kaguya Otsutsuki

Naruto ran forward happily, and Jiraiya quickly followed.

The two people's attention was quickly attracted to a certain place.

There are a lot of cargo boxes piled up in front of a warehouse somewhere ahead.

Four men in work clothes surrounded another man in work clothes.

With vigilance and subtle fear and dissatisfaction on their faces, they pressed, "Are you a ninja?"

The person in the center of the crowd lowered his head and explained, "I'm not a ninja."

"Then why are you so strong? We don't recruit ninjas here, did you know that?"

"I'm really not a ninja. I just eat a lot, so I'm strong. I also do a lot of work at home."

"You're really not?"

"No, I've told you no so many times! Don't waste any more time. There are still so many things to be moved. Do you still want to eat on time?" The man seemed very dissatisfied and spoke with a bit of temper in his tone.

Seeing him getting angry, the others looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then dispersed without asking any more questions and continued to work.

The few of them stopped making noise and worked quietly. Naruto found it very boring and looked away.

Jiraiya looked at it for a while, his brows gradually frowned, and he was puzzled.

This person couldn't possibly not be a ninja, he had chakra in his body, and judging from his movements, he must have received professional training.

But why didn't he admit it?

This incident aroused his curiosity.

Putting aside his doubts for the time being, Jiraiya continued to take Naruto around the town.

A few days later, he discovered that the man was not an isolated case.

They are obviously ninjas, but they don’t wear forehead protectors, and are very worried that others will recognize their identities, so they work together with civilians. Why do these people do that?

Chapter 76 076 Nine-Tailed Fox: Lustful men are unreliable

In the pub, Jiraiya took a sip of wine and thought, "This town is called Shiraishi Town. It has a strong commercial atmosphere and the economy of the entire town is at the forefront of the Kingdom of Hot Springs. In this place, we met ninjas from Konoha, ninjas from Sand Ninja, ninjas from Kumogakure, ninjas from Mist Ninja, and ninjas from Iwagakure, but there were no ninjas from the Kingdom of Hot Springs itself."

"What's so strange about this?" Naruto said, and then he was a little confused, "Huh? Is there a ninja village in this country?"

"Yes." Jiraiya nodded, "But they haven't been very noticeable in recent years, so not many people probably remember them..."

After thinking about it, Jiraiya decided to find out the truth.

During a low-traffic period, he walked over to a man who was resting against a wall.

"Are you a ninja?" Jiraiya asked.

Hearing this, the man with his eyes closed took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and looked at him unkindly, "Are you done yet? How many times do you want me to tell you? I'm not a ninja, no!"

"You are still maintaining the transformation technique." Jiraiya smiled slightly.

The man's face changed slightly. "Who the hell are you? What does it have to do with you?"

Jiraiya said nothing as he punched him hard, causing the man to instinctively fight back with a burst of chakra.

"You still say you are not a ninja?" Jiraiya questioned.

“……”The man was silent.

"Are you a ninja from the Land of Hot Springs?" Jiraiya asked again curiously.

"..."

"Integrating into the civilian population is for some conspiracy or other purpose..."

Hearing this, the man suddenly laughed. He did not say where he was from. He showed a self-deprecating expression on his face. "There is no conspiracy. I just want to make a living."

"You are a ninja, you can accept commissions, why do you have to mix with civilians."

"Why not eat meat?" The man said with disdain, "If I could get the commission, why would I do this?"

"Oh? Can you tell me in detail?" Jiraiya was surprised.

After looking around and finding that no one was paying attention to him, the man asked, "Why are you curious about this?"

"I'm a novelist and I like to collect all kinds of strange people and things as material. Don't worry..." As he said that, Jiraiya took out a bulging wallet and stuffed it into the other's chest.

"Strange people and strange things?" Hearing this, the man's face showed self-mockery again.

After a moment's silence, he began to speak.

"Actually, it's nothing special."

"I am a ninja from the Land of Hot Springs. The village suffered a major disaster, with heavy casualties. In the end, only a few people were left."

"In order to rebuild the village, we took in another group of people and started to teach ninjas."

"Your Highness the Daimyo has not given up on us and is still willing to provide us with financial assistance."

"However, in order not to affect its international reputation, he said that Yugen Village no longer needs to participate in the Ninja Combined Exam."

"In order to revive the economy, the daimyo sent out troops to wipe out the surrounding bandits and robbers."

"Everything is moving in a good direction. However, after we trained a new force, we found that there seemed to be no room for the development of the Hot Spring Village in this country."

"We don't get any commissions. The only people who can afford to hire ninjas are the rich, but they only trust ninjas from the five major nations."

"It's all the fault of those ninjas from the five major ninja villages. We can only sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor." the man said angrily.

"So, some people want to change the status quo?" Jiraiya interrupted, "This doesn't seem to have anything to do with concealing one's identity..."

"You still don't understand." The man looked at Jiraiya with a wise look, "Ninjas have better physical fitness than ordinary people. One ninja can do the work of several people, which will cause other people to lose their jobs. If there are too many unemployed civilians, it will cause chaos, so civilians will reject us..."

Jiraiya was stunned. This way of thinking seemed to have gone beyond the scope of a ninja.

"In the end, you shouldn't take away the jobs of ordinary people. You can do something else..."

"Yes, yes. You can steal, rob, kill, become a bandit, become a rebel ninja, become the source of income for the five major ninja villages, and become the mission recorder of those ninjas."

The man told a joke to himself, and Jiraiya was speechless.

Someone shouted "Get to work!" and the man ran over quickly.

Jiraiya was the only one left standing there in a daze, still feeling a little absurd in his heart.

"The ninjas of this country exist in name only."

Jiraiya found another Konoha ninja and asked him about it. The situation he described was exactly the same as what Tang Ninja said.

There were also ninjas from other countries who saw through their identities, but in order to avoid trouble, they did not expose them.

Besides, there is no market for local ninjas, which is a good thing for ninjas from big countries like them. Who would mind increasing their income?

"Naruto, let's go, let's continue on our journey." With mixed feelings, Jiraiya and Naruto left Shiraishi Town.

The so-called experience means constantly moving from one place to another.

Leaving the bustling town, they passed through a poor village.

The familiar golden color flashed by, and Jiraiya was stunned. Something came into his mind, and he looked around carefully.

Unlike him, Naruto had a serious look on his face since he entered the village.

That feeling came back again...

As he kept moving forward, he finally understood where that feeling came from.

A beautiful woman with blonde hair and a green robe was surrounded in the center of the crowd. Next to her was a black-haired woman holding a pink pig.

Naruto only saw Jiraiya walking over briskly with a surprised expression on his face.

These days, he has become aware of Jiraiya's romantic nature. Whenever he meets a beautiful woman, Jiraiya will want to strike up a conversation with her.

However, this time his movements were faster and he seemed more excited than ever.

Even the Kyuubi could tell that Jiraiya was different than usual, and muttered inside Naruto, "I told you, little brat, lecherous men are unreliable."

Naruto ignored it, and followed with a heavy heart.

"Tsunade-sama, thank you so much."

The crowd was chaotic yet orderly. Tsunade was surrounded in the center, green chakra appearing on her hands, and she was treating someone.

For those who have finished their treatment, Jingyin would remind them, "Remember this, don't do any heavy work in the next few days..."

There was gratitude on everyone's face.

She is so gentle...

Thinking of this, Jiraiya moved over and stood not far from Tsunade, waiting quietly.

Noticing someone approaching, Tsunade did not stop her actions and her expression did not change.

Jingyin, who was standing by, had no intention of speaking.

Naruto stood outside the crowd, expressionless, but actually very nervous.

"Thank you, Lady Tsunade..."

Amidst the voices of thanks and bows, the civilians dispersed and left.

Tsunade then turned around and looked at Jiraiya and Naruto not far away.

Chapter 77 Why is she so cruel?

"Tsunade, long time no see." Jiraiya greeted with a smile.

"Long time no see." Tsunade also waved slightly and said with a smile.

Naruto gritted his teeth and stared at her intently.

This unfriendly look made Tsunade and Shizune couldn't help but glare at him.

"Tsunade, why are you in the Land of Hot Springs?" Jiraiya said.

"We have to find a place to stay for a while." Tsunade said lightly.

"Tsunade, let's go for a drink together." After a few pleasantries, Jiraiya suggested.

"Okay." Tsunade accepted happily.

Jiuwei couldn't help but complain: "Humph, still drinking, are you going to die?"

It's a pity that Jiraiya was now completely immersed in the joy of reunion and didn't notice the nervousness on Naruto's face at all.

He took Tsunade and walked into an izakaya.

Naruto rubbed his face and could only follow helplessly.

After drinking more than a dozen bottles of liquor, Tsunade and Jiraiya were both a little drunk and staggering.

Naruto looked at the glass bottles scattered all over the floor and made an excuse, "We've finished all the wine, Jiraiya-sensei and I will go out and buy a few bottles."

Shizune, who was sitting at another table, said curiously, "This is an izakaya, where else do we need to go to buy alcohol?"

"Teacher Jiraiya said that there is a shop outside that brews better sake. Only he knows that place."

After saying that, Naruto helped Jiraiya out.

"Go quickly and come back soon!" Tsunade's face turned red, she slammed the table and raised her arms and shouted.

Jiraiya was put on top of Naruto, his face red.

After finding a deserted place, Naruto helped him sit down and stood beside him, looking at him with dark eyes.

A cool breeze blew past, and the smell of alcohol seemed to dissipate a little. Jiraiya looked up, only to see Naruto's deep gaze.

"Naruto, why did you bring me out here?"

Naruto did not answer his question, but asked: "Teacher Jiraiya, who was that... that golden-haired woman just now?"

"Naruto, be respectful when you speak. Maybe she will become your master's wife in the future?" Jiraiya laughed heartily.

"Teacher Jiraiya, are you serious? Every time you meet a beautiful woman, you will say something similar. This time you mean the same thing, right, Jiraiya teacher..."

Naruto had mixed feelings, and he kept asking questions as if he wanted to confirm some answer.

"She is different from the others. She is the one I have always liked, teacher. At that time..." Jiraiya smiled foolishly, reminiscing about his youth and telling stories of the past.

When Naruto listened, he felt no envy, but endless sadness.