[Read up to Chapter - 110 on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]
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Meanwhile, Jiraiya, bruised and battered, caught sight of Kushina leaving with Uchiha Mikoto. His expression changed instantly
Just as he was about to call out, a rock came flying and smacked him right in the face.
Jiraiya was struck by the stone and cried out in pain, losing the chance to stop Kushina.
Following the direction the stone had come from, he looked up and saw Kanzou standing atop a nearby rooftop.
'Damn it... Uchiha Mikoto took Kushina with her—there must be some kind of scheme,' Jiraiya thought, panicking. But it was too late. Kushina had already followed Mikoto, and no amount of shouting could bring her back now.
As far as Kushina was concerned, Jiraiya deserved to be punished for peeping at the women's bathhouse, so she paid him no mind.
"Huh? Namikaze Minato?"
Just as Kanzou was about to leave, his eyes landed on a familiar figure—Namikaze Minato.
'Namikaze Minato… I'll have to apologise to you.' Of course, the apology was purely sarcastic.
Kanzou wasn't the kind of man to feel genuine remorse.
With Mikoto taking Kushina away, everything was falling into place—and Kanzou couldn't let Namikaze Minato interfere with his plan.
He did hold a certain appreciation for Namikaze Minato. A ninja from a humble background who rose to become the Yondaime Hokage and one of the strongest shinobi purely through his own talent and not inherited bloodline or something—that alone was worthy of recognition.
The Flying Raijin Jutsu, originally developed by the Second Hokage, had been perfected and elevated by Minato.
On top of that, he had created the Rasengan, Rank-A, powerful Ninjutsu that didn't even require Hand Signs.
A Jutsu that can be used without the use of Hand Signs gives a significant edge in battle. No matter how fast one could form hand signs, it still took time. The ability to bypass that entirely—especially when paired with the Flying Thunder God Technique—made Minato incredibly dangerous.
So, there was indeed a certain admiration.
But admiration aside, Kanzou wasn't about to show mercy.
Minato had rushed over in a hurry after hearing that Jiraiya had been arrested—dragged through the streets like a criminal. He held deep respect for his Sensei, and seeing him humiliated like that had struck a nerve.
If it hadn't been for Jiraiya's guidance, Minato—born a civilian—would never have had access to so many advanced jutsu and resources, let alone the opportunity to learn the Flying Raijin developed by the Second Hokage.
"Jiraiya Sensei, what happened? How did you get caught? Did you really…" Minato trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
He knew Jiraiya had a lecherous streak—he even wrote some rather indecent books—but had he really gone so far as to peep at the women's bathhouse and got caught?
Seeing the look on Minato's face—so earnest and upright—made Jiraiya's heart sink.
His face turned beet red with shame.
In front of his most admired student, he had lost all dignity.
But then, Jiraiya thought of Kushina being taken away by Uchiha Mikoto, and all concern for his own humiliation vanished.
Kushina's safety came first.
Uchiha Mikoto might be her friend, but with her husband, Uchiha Kanzou, lurking behind the scenes, Jiraiya couldn't shake the ominous feeling creeping up in his chest.
That man was bold enough to attack the Hokage—would he really hesitate to go after the Nine Tails?
'If Uchiha Kanzou managed to seize control of the Nine Tails... with his personality, Konoha would be in serious danger.'
"Forget about me. Kushina might be in trouble—we need to find her." Jiraiya forcibly shifted the focus.
"Kushina's in danger? What happened to her?" Minato's expression tightened with concern.
"She was taken away by Uchiha Mikoto. You should check on her, just in case."
"With Uchiha Mikoto-san? But… Kushina and Mikoto-san are close friends," Minato replied, asking, "It should be fine… right?"
Namikaze Minato was a bit hesitant… not really sure whether Kushina would really be in danger with Mikoto… he personally didn't think she'd be…
Because of being friends with Kushina, Minato has also met with Mikoto a few times in the past… and based on his own observations… Mikoto doesn't seem to have any ill will towards Kushina.
He also couldn't think of any reason as to why Mikoto would want to harm Kushina.
In fact, Minato still doesn't understand why Jiraiya was so concerned about Kushina being friends with Uchiha Mikoto.
The sixteen-year-old Minato is actually quite ignorant about a lot of things… Even though he has a somewhat close friendship with Uzumaki Kushina, he still doesn't know of the fact that Uzumaki Kushina is the Jinchūriki of Nine-tails. Which is why he couldn't figure out the reason behind Jiraiya's vigilance…
Just recently, Jiraiya had asked him to persuade Kushina to keep her distance from Mikoto.
That conversation had ended poorly—Kushina hadn't spoken to him for days and was still upset about it.
And he has asked Jiraiya the reason… but Jiraiya hadn't told him much… but kept on insisting that Kushina has to remain away from Mikoto and the Uchiha Clan…
"Whether or not Uchiha Mikoto holds ill will towards Kushina isn't the point," Jiraiya said. "She's Uchiha Kanzou's wife. And Uchiha Kanzou—he's the real threat here."
"Think about everything Uchiha Kanzou has done lately. If he sets his sights on Kushina… do you really think she'll be safe?" Jiraiya's warning was sharp and urgent.
…
Standing not far away, the Konoha Police Force assigned to monitor Jiraiya suddenly pointed at Namikaze Minato and shouted, "What? That pretty boy with blonde hair is an accomplice of this old pervert, too?"
"Bloody old pervert—go die, and you damn raijuu, shine!" one of the men growled.
A female villager tilted her head and murmured, "Ahem… if this little handsome guy is also a peeping pervert… well, I suppose I can overlook it. I mean, look at him—how could someone that handsome be a creep?"
Another woman chimed in, "Hmm… I guess! Even if he did something wrong, he was probably led astray by that ugly, old pervert Jiraiya."
While the men fumed in righteous anger, the women weren't nearly as outraged.
After all, Namikaze Minato was strikingly handsome and a young, pretty boy—his warm, sunshine-like appearance made it difficult for anyone to dislike him.
Listening to their double standards, and being called ugly… Jiraiya teared up in frustration. "Damn it… I'm handsome too!"
In fact, Jiraiya wasn't bad-looking.
The only problem was the ridiculous forehead protector and the two stripes of face paint, and his somewhat comical outfit.
"This pretty boy's teacher is that pervert Jiraiya, and now he's running around with him too!"
A middle-aged villager clenched his fists and shouted. His rage only grew stronger after noticing his wife staring at Namikaze Minato with sparkling eyes.
"I swear, I didn't do anything! I've been wrongly accused!" Minato quickly raised his hands in panic, trying to clear the misunderstanding.
"Whether you did or didn't, we'll determine that after a proper investigation," one of the Policemen said sternly. "To prove your innocence, you'll need to come with us to the Konoha Police Force HQ."
Just then, Kanzou arrived with a group of his men. "I'll take it from here," he said coldly.
"I…" Minato could barely get a word out. His expression was conflicted.
If he refused to go with them now, it would make him look guilty—like he had really been caught peeking at the women's bathhouse.
That would be disastrous for his reputation.
If Kushina heard about it, she'd be furious… What if she started ignoring him completely and thought that he was some kind of creep?
"Don't go, this is—" Before Jiraiya could finish his sentence, someone quickly stuffed something into his mouth to silence him, then dragged him down a different street.
Jiraiya, now taken away, was burning with anxiety.
Uchiha Kanzou shows up to escort Minato to prison, right after Uchiha Mikoto had led Kushina off… It all pointed to something suspicious.
He had a very bad feeling about it.
"Jiraiya-Sensei!" Minato called out when he saw Jiraiya being pulled away, and he tried to follow.
But the glint of a blade blocking his path made him freeze in place.
He had come here to help Jiraiya, but Jiraiya had already been taken away.
"Uchiha-sama, you must punish that pervert severely! Don't let him off lightly!"
"That's right! We fully support Uchiha-sama in dealing harshly with this pretty boy, too!"
Most of Kanzou's supporters were middle-aged men, glaring at Namikaze Minato as though he had personally stolen their wives' attention.
And in a way, that was exactly how they felt.
The moment Minato appeared, their middle-aged wives couldn't stop looking at him.
Of course, Uchiha Kanzou also attracted attention from the women.
If Namikaze Minato garnered the young pretty boy type attention from middle-aged wives who have grown tired of watching their ugly old husbands… then Kanzou garnered dominating handsome gangster type attention from the women in their youth.
Older women like soft and pretty boys; meanwhile, younger women are more into dominating and bad boys.
But even if Kanzou garnered so much attention, no one dared say anything bad about him.
In Konoha, Uchiha Kanzou and the Konoha Police Force were not people you wanted to cross—unless you fancied a stay in their prison.
"Namikaze Minato," Kanzou said calmly, "come with me to the Police Force. If you're truly innocent, I'll make sure that's proven. But you can also try walking away right now—just know that doing so will make you a wanted criminal in the eyes of the Konoha Police Force."
The blatant threat forced Minato to back down.
Although Jiraiya had warned him that it might be dangerous for Kushina to go off with Uchiha Mikoto, Minato didn't fully believe it. Kushina and Mikoto genuinely seemed like close friends, and from all the things Kushina has talked about when it comes to Mikoto, Minato couldn't imagine Mikoto hurting her.
Besides, Minato hadn't seen any sign that Kanzou had ill intentions toward Kushina either.
"I'll go with you to the Konoha Police Force," Minato finally said.
He hadn't done anything wrong—certainly nothing like peeping at the women's bathhouse—so he believed he'd be released quickly.
"Take him away," Kanzou ordered.
At Kanzou's command, Namikaze Minato was taken away by the Konoha Police Forces.
What Minato didn't realise was that this decision—seemingly simple now—would become a source of deep regret in the future.
But the world offers no medicine for regret.
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Drop power Powerstonessssssssss!
[Read up to Chapter - 110 on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]