Chapter 387: Conspiracy Theories? Not a Chance
At Tsunade's words, Jiraiya — mid-shout — flinched visibly, the not-so-fond memory of once getting thoroughly beaten by Ryū flashing back all at once. His expression stiffened.
He cleared his throat a few times and promptly shut his mouth.
When you weren't a match for someone, he figured, a little strategic cowardice was the smarter play.
No, wait — not cowardice. This was what they called knowing when to yield to circumstance.
Yes. That was exactly it. He wasn't a coward — he was a man of wisdom.
At the moment, Jiraiya sat there like a wilted head of cabbage, silent, expression pinched in visible discomfort at the awkward quiet that had settled over the table.
There simply wasn't much common ground for conversation among the four of them. Sure, the three Sannin might have had things to catch up on between themselves, but with an outsider like Ryū sitting right there, plenty of that felt off-limits.
Which left them stewing in this strange, uncomfortable silence — one Jiraiya found particularly unbearable.
He glanced left at Tsunade, still working through her ramen, then right at Ryū, whose eating pace could probably have earned him a world record. Finally his gaze drifted to Orochimaru, sitting quietly beside him, waiting for his own bowl.
With a resigned sigh, Jiraiya finally called out, "Owner! One bowl of ramen, extra mushrooms, hold the spice!"
He found himself reflecting on just how bizarre these past few days had been. First, he'd rushed back at breakneck speed on hearing the "rumor" that Konoha had been destroyed. Only to arrive and find the village completely intact — nothing whatsoever suggesting any destruction had ever happened. Which meant he'd been thoroughly played.
Then, out of nowhere, he'd run into Orochimaru, and learned — straight from the man himself — that it was Minato, his own former student, who'd personally invited this defector back into the village.
And now, trailing after Orochimaru into Ichiraku Ramen, he'd stumbled into Tsunade, whom he hadn't seen in ages, only to catch a fist to the skull for his trouble and walk away with a fresh lump.
Genuinely, an unusually surreal string of days.
Hm... worth remembering all this, honestly — might make for good material in a future book, who knew.
Come to think of it, Tsunade had just mentioned Orochimaru's return was tied to Minato specifically wanting him back because of those strange creature corpses that had appeared in the Land of Fire.
Jiraiya had heard some rumors about those corpses himself — honestly, they'd sounded even less believable than the whole "Konoha's been destroyed" business.
Except, apparently, that particular rumor had turned out to be true.
Tsunade wasn't the type to joke about something like this, and Orochimaru hadn't bothered contradicting her either.
He'd assumed Konoha's "destruction" was real — turned out to be a rumor. He'd assumed the giant corpses were fake — turned out to be true.
Jiraiya genuinely wondered how bad his own luck had gotten, guessing wrong twice in a row like that. Maybe it was just his unlucky year.
"If those corpse rumors are real, and Minato brought Orochimaru back specifically because he's good at research... does that mean Orochimaru's here to study the corpses himself?"
Jiraiya pieced the whole thing together almost immediately — pure speculation, sure, built entirely from scraps and inference, but he had a strong feeling he wasn't far off the mark. Maybe dead on, even.
"But why would Minato be in such a hurry to study those corpses? Is there something unusual about them — unusual enough to justify bringing a defector back specifically to work on it?"
"Feels like a whole lot's happened in this village while I've been gone these past few months."
Jiraiya considered whether he ought to stick around Konoha a while longer, this time. If something else strange happened, at least he wouldn't be left completely in the dark again, stuck guessing his way through it after the fact.
Glancing over at Ryū on his right, Jiraiya couldn't help clicking his tongue in disbelief. Was this man actually human?
That appetite was practically unnatural.
He'd only been sitting here a few minutes, and in that stretch of time, Ryū had already gone through what looked like a dozen-plus bowls of ramen.
And Ryū had clearly been sitting there considerably longer than a few minutes — probably closer to ten, maybe even thirty.
At that pace, thirty minutes would put him at something like sixty bowls, minimum.
Jiraiya found himself reluctant to trust his own math. Sixty bowls' worth of broth alone could probably drown a person.
And there Ryū sat, having apparently already done exactly that — was this some kind of joke?
He'd swear the man was finishing off every last drop of broth too. That much noodles, that much liquid — where was it all even going?
Into his stomach?
Except no stomach, no matter how large, could physically outsize the body containing it.
Add up the total volume of everything Ryū had eaten, and it had to exceed his own body mass by now, surely.
Unbelievable.
Jiraiya wasn't the only one keeping an eye on this particular spectacle — Orochimaru had been quietly observing him as well.
Witnessing an appetite this thoroughly inhuman, even Orochimaru — a man of considerable worldliness — couldn't help but privately marvel.
He felt a distinct sense of relief, honestly, that he'd never once let his old covetous thoughts about Ryū's body/constitution turn into anything more than idle interest. If he had, he might not have lived to see today.
At the time, Orochimaru had known Ryū was strong. He hadn't realized just how strong — thank goodness he'd never done anything rash back then.
At this point, Orochimaru had entirely abandoned any thought of studying Ryū further.
Why?
Simple — he couldn't win that fight.
He suspected that if he so much as reached out toward the man, his own life might end in the very next instant.
And he was fairly confident Ryū could actually make good on that.
Orochimaru was, after all, one of Konoha's Sannin, genuinely powerful in his own right — and precisely because of that, he understood exactly how vast the world truly was, how there was always someone stronger waiting somewhere beyond the horizon.
He believed there were plenty of people out there he simply couldn't afford to cross. And Ryū was one of them — arguably at the very top of that list.
He licked his lips, dried slightly from the cold weather, and let his gaze drift elsewhere.
One of Ichiraku's apprentices had just brought over his bowl — his favorite flavor, as it happened.
A quiet moment to indulge in a simple pleasure wasn't such a bad way to spend some downtime.
Ichiraku Ramen sat, for the moment, in relative peace — provided you didn't look too closely at the sizable lump now sitting atop Jiraiya's head, courtesy of Tsunade.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage Building, Minato — buried under a stack of paperwork — suddenly looked up.
An ANBU operative had appeared before him without a sound. Minato didn't pause his review of the documents in front of him, continuing to work as he asked, "Something come up?"
The ANBU operative bowed respectfully and answered, "Reporting, Hokage-sama. Lord Orochimaru has returned. Master Jiraiya has also returned... and Lady Tsunade returned this morning as well."
Minato's brush paused mid-stroke, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his tired features.
Orochimaru's return didn't surprise him — he'd personally tracked the man down and extended the invitation himself.
But Jiraiya and Tsunade too? Both showing up the same day?
That was strange. He hadn't notified either of them, as far as he could recall. Pure coincidence?
Minato murmured to himself, "That's an awful lot of coincidence, though. All three Sannin, back in the village on the exact same day. Is this what people mean by fate?"
He found the whole thing oddly novel — coincidence really did seem like the only reasonable explanation on the table.
Just as Minato sank deeper into thought, the ANBU operative continued his report. "Also, Hokage-sama — this operative witnessed all three of them meeting at Ichiraku Ramen. Ryū was there as well."
That gave Minato considerably more pause this time, genuine astonishment settling over his features. "Ryū? Together with Jiraiya-sensei and the others?"
The ANBU operative nodded. "Yes. Assuming this operative wasn't caught in some genjutsu, the sighting should be accurate."
Minato nodded thoughtfully, and a flurry of half-formed conspiracy theories briefly ran through his head.
On second thought, though, every single one of those theories struck him as flimsy at best.
Ryū's power was already leagues beyond anything the shinobi world had to offer — there was practically nothing left that could tempt or manipulate someone at that level.
Add in the fact that Jiraiya was his own teacher, Tsunade a respected senior he trusted completely, and Orochimaru — by his own account — no longer interested in political power at all. Any conspiracy simply didn't hold up.
The four of them meeting at Ichiraku had to be nothing more than sheer coincidence.
Having settled that in his own mind, Minato turned to the ANBU operative. "Since Orochimaru's back in the village, go fetch Kakashi for me. There's something I need him to handle."
The operative blinked briefly, then nodded. "Understood. This operative will notify Lord Kakashi immediately."
Despite being over a decade older than Kakashi, this particular ANBU operative held a lower rank — Kakashi was an ANBU Jōnin, effectively this man's superior — which was exactly why addressing someone a decade his junior as "Lord Kakashi" carried no awkwardness whatsoever.
Rank, after all, mattered far more than age in Konoha's shinobi hierarchy.
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you