"To think that one day I'd see Princess Tsunade's Summoning Technique—Slug."
Watching the slug disappear before his eyes, Kosuke let out a nostalgic sigh.
"Huh? Kosuke-san, you've actually seen Tsunade-sama's summoned beast before? But wait—wasn't Captain Takeshi a disciple of the Third Hokage? How could he summon Tsunade-sama's beast?"
"Yeah. Back in the day, I once went on a mission with the Sannin."
Kosuke chuckled warmly, a nostalgic look flashing across his face.
"No way! Kosuke-san, you—a forever genin—actually... Wait, that can't be right. A forever genin shouldn't be able to pull off such a massive Water Release!"
Tokikan blurted out the title "forever genin" instinctively, but then instantly remembered the powerful Water Release Kosuke had just performed. His worldview began to slightly crack.
"Hahaha, don't sweat the details."
Kosuke let out his signature laugh, clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly began tidying up the battlefield.
"Still, why didn't Captain Takeshi just eliminate that intruder directly? The guy used Water Release—that has to mean he's a Kirigakure shinobi, right?"
Seeing that neither Kosuke nor Takeshi responded, Tokikan mumbled quietly while gathering spoils of war.
Hyūga Tokuma paused what he was doing when he heard that, glancing at the 18-year-old genin with some surprise.
This guy's highest lifetime achievement would probably be chūnin.
"If using Water Release automatically makes you a Mist-nin, wouldn't that make Kosuke-san our enemy too?"
As he dispelled the Ice Release and looked over the diverse piles of frozen enemies, Takeshi couldn't be bothered to sift through them. He waved Tokikan over while firing back with a question.
"Uh…"
"Exactly. The enemy could be disguising themselves as Mist-nin to attack us. That way, even if they fail, they can still frame Kirigakure. Besides, we're already at war with the Mist."
Kosuke patted Tokikan's shoulder and kindly explained the situation.
The team resumed their tasks.
...
In Konohagakure.
Various patrol squads that had been dispatched outside were slowly trickling back with scattered reports.
Aside from a few lucky teams who hadn't encountered any attacks, the majority had engaged with enemies to varying degrees.
"Looks like the news of Konoha's attack has spread across the nations. This confirms that enemy shinobi are indeed lurking around our borders."
Sakumo stacked the mission reports and handed them to Jiraiya.
"We're stretched thin. Even now, there are still four vacancies in the ANBU."
Jiraiya knew the village's current state all too well, but the truth was, they didn't have the resources to hunt down spies hiding who-knows-where.
"Sigh."
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long sigh, rubbing his pipe.
He did know of someone who could turn the tide in times like these—but whether Sakumo could suppress that person was another matter entirely.
After a long hesitation, he still couldn't bring himself to say the name.
"Why not hand this matter over to the Konoha Police Force? After all, maintaining village security is their duty. Counter-espionage counts as that, doesn't it?"
Sakumo suddenly had an idea.
"That's one way to handle it… but the Uchiha clan doesn't have much experience catching spies, do they?"
Hiruzen muttered, then turned to glance at Jiraiya:
"What the Uchiha are best at is catching peeping toms and other petty criminals..."
"Hey old man, if you're gonna talk, just talk! Why are you looking at me?!"
Jiraiya instantly caught the glare and sprang up from the sofa, flustered.
"Hmph, you know what you did."
Hiruzen snorted and looked away.
"You jerk! Keep that up and I'll report to the old lady about your crystal ball—"
Before Jiraiya could finish his threat, Hiruzen quickly covered his mouth with expert speed.
"Silence, you insolent brat!"
"Let go! Did you even wash your hands after using the toilet?!"
"Of course I did!"
"No way! If you did, then why—"
Watching the completely unrestrained Hiruzen after his retirement, Sakumo twitched the corner of his mouth, forcing a wry smile.
As expected, the position of Hokage wasn't as light a burden as it seemed.
He should start grooming the next successor soon—maybe retire in a few years and help Kakashi raise a kid or two.
Just as Hiruzen was about to summon Enma to properly "educate" Jiraiya, the door to the Hokage's office was gently knocked.
"Come in."
As soon as Sakumo spoke, both Hiruzen and Jiraiya instantly straightened their clothes and returned to their seats with solemn expressions.
The door opened.
A young man with white hair in a white lab coat walked in slowly.
"Third-sama. Fourth-sama."
He respectfully greeted the two Hokage before finally turning to Jiraiya: "Jiraiya-sama."
"Oh, it's you, Hiruko. Don't be so formal."
Jiraiya waved casually, smiling upon recognizing the young man.
"Hiruko, weren't you overseeing the rebuilding of the Research Bureau with Orochimaru? What brings you here?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't have a great impression of Hiruko. The man had previously conducted live experiments in secret. However, since he hadn't used Konoha shinobi as test subjects, Hiruzen had only placed him under quiet surveillance.
When Orochimaru requested Hiruko be transferred to assist at the Research Bureau, Hiruzen had readily agreed, handing over this unstable element for Orochimaru to manage.
"Yes. Actually, Orochimaru-sama and I used the ANBU facilities to examine corpses of those who fought the Fourth-sama. We've made a discovery."
Hiruko responded with his head bowed, producing a folder.
Jiraiya casually flipped through it after taking it, but the dense scientific terminology gave him a headache. He promptly tossed it to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen couldn't make heads or tails of it either. He flipped to the final page, read the conclusion, then passed it to Sakumo.
Sakumo skimmed the first page, then got straight to the point: "So, what did you find?"
"We can understand the manipulation of corpses as a form of genjutsu—except this is genjutsu cast on dead bodies, and there are certain requirements for the corpse's condition."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "What kind of requirements?"
"The corpse must be fresh—only freshly deceased bodies retain chakra. Additionally, Orochimaru-sama has already developed a method to resist this technique."
Hiruko continued his explanation.