Naruto: Reborn with the Tenseigan

Jiraiya thumped his chest several times, swallowing the meat before he barked at Orochimaru:

"Yes, it was my idea, but didn't you agree to it? So why blame me alone now?"

"Because you eat like a pig."

Orochimaru sneered, clearly disgusted.

Takashi looked over at Hatake Sakumo, saying, "No need to feel awkward, Sakumo-senpai. This is just how we interact."

"No, no, it's just that I…"

Hatake Sakumo gave an awkward smile, trying to explain, though his words seemed to get caught in his throat.

After all, Sakumo harbored some resentment toward Takashi.

In that past incident, he had nearly suffered total social death. Although Takashi's intervention saved him, the ordeal was still unsettling—one that anyone would find depressing, except perhaps for someone as thick-skinned as Jiraiya.

Others might get labeled as a pervert, but Jiraiya could forget such incidents almost instantly.

Takashi raised his glass with a smile. "To your victory, Sakumo-senpai!"

"Thank you." Sakumo felt himself starting to relax.

With Jiraiya cracking jokes and lightening the mood, the atmosphere soon became lively, and Sakumo's previous grievances vanished completely. He wasn't much for words, though, and mostly sat quietly like Orochimaru, listening to Takashi and Jiraiya bicker.

Orochimaru simply didn't enjoy talking when Jiraiya was involved. If it were Takashi instead, Orochimaru could easily out-talk Jiraiya. As for Sakumo, it was more his honest and straightforward nature that kept him reserved.

If Sakumo hadn't been so earnest—coupled with that samurai spirit of his—he probably wouldn't have been pushed into a corner by Danzo's minor schemes and a bit of public opinion, eventually choosing to end his own life and leave his son alone to bear the burden of the darkness.

After the meal ended, Sakumo and Orochimaru left together, while Jiraiya lingered behind, clearly up to something.

There was no need to guess what it was.

As soon as the two had gone, Jiraiya flashed a sly smile and handed over a stack of manuscripts.

Takashi rolled his eyes. "Spare me. I trust your skills; there's no need for me to review this. Just have someone send it back to the village. I'm sure it'll become a bestseller."

"Hahaha, I knew I could do it!" 

Jiraiya left with a cheerful grin, holding onto his manuscript like it was a treasure. He even bent his back to protect it from the rain, looking like a hunchback as he kept it covered.

After the three were gone, Takashi took out a blank scroll and began drafting some changes and plans for the ANBU.

Tsunade had asked him to do it, as she didn't want to deal with the headache herself, so she handed it off to Takashi.

Regarding the ANBU's adjustments, Takashi couldn't offer much that was effective given that they were in the middle of a war. The ANBU operatives were busy enough—defending the village from spies and gathering intelligence on the battlefield.

The ANBU's structure should remain unchanged until the war was over.

Meanwhile, over in the Sunagakure camp, Chiyo was growing increasingly frustrated with the war's outcomes for her village.

"Hyuga Takashi again?"

Originally, Chiyo hadn't considered Takashi to be much of a threat. Before the war began, Tsunade had been the only Konoha medical ninja she respected.

It wasn't for nothing that Tsunade was known as "Chiyo's bane." In every encounter, Tsunade's skills would counteract Chiyo's perfectly.

When the war broke out, Tsunade hadn't shown up, but Takashi—the one who had caused Danzo such a huge failure—had stepped forward.

"Could he become the next Tsunade?"

Chiyo couldn't help but think about how the poisons they deployed were consistently being neutralized, and corresponding antidotes were being developed. It all made her deeply irritated.

Without the potency of poisons, Sunagakure's puppet forces would lose a significant amount of their lethality.

Aside from some special puppets, the most powerful attacks used by puppet ninjas involved poison!

Whether needles, stingers, or blades, injuries inflicted during battle would almost always mean poisoning. Once poisoned, the outcome of the battle usually tipped in Sunagakure's favor.

But now that antidotes were being produced, puppet ninjas were losing that edge.

Even with poison darts and stingers covering a wide area, they couldn't take down enemies if they couldn't poison them—most of the inflicted injuries weren't fatal on their own.

If possible, she had to get rid of this boy.

Both Tsunade and Takashi were huge threats to Sunagakure. If they could not utilize their puppet forces effectively, Sunagakure's power would significantly weaken.

Aside from puppet ninjas, the environment in the Rain Country also severely limited many of Sunagakure's ninja.

Kumogakure's ninjas mostly specialized in lightning-style jutsu, and Iwagakure's preferred earth-style techniques. Sunagakure had many wind-style users, but wind-style ninjutsu in the Rain Country—this wretched place—was heavily suppressed by the climate and environment.

Chiyo drew an "X" over Takashi's profile and rubbed her temples, asking, "What did Iwagakure say?"

The reporting ninja looked uncomfortable.

"Lady Chiyo, Iwagakure hasn't given us any response."

"Idiots!! As stupid and stubborn as Onoki!!"

Hearing this, Chiyo lost her temper and began cursing loudly.

The battlefield in the Rain Country was an absolute mess—a multi-sided brawl. Although there had been official declarations of war, it didn't mean secret alliances were off the table.

Chiyo had hoped to join forces with Iwagakure to hit Konoha hard.

However, Iwagakure refused to entertain her.

You declare war on us, fight to the death, and then turn around and want an alliance against Konoha?

Where's your shame?

Chiyo, you old hag, where's your sense of dignity?

If you don't want your dignity, just shove it in your pants. But we at Iwagakure still care about our image.

Chiyo's face flushed red as she cursed non-stop. "So stubborn, just like Onoki. Like father, like son!"

If Iwagakure's lead figure in the Rain Country had been anyone else, perhaps Chiyo's efforts to reach out might have worked. But it happened to be Kitsuchi, Onoki's son.

Kitsuchi may have been a meek son before Onoki, but outside, he inherited all of Onoki's stubbornness and prejudice.

And so, Chiyo's plans for a secret alliance were doomed from the start.

Kitsuchi just ignored her entirely.

"What about the Rain Village?" Chiyo took a deep breath, deciding to forget about Iwagakure. If they couldn't be allies, they could remain enemies.

"Um…" The reporting ninja replied cautiously, "Hanzo's focus is still on us. This probably has a lot to do with our previous attacks."

"Alright, leave."

The more Chiyo heard, the more upset she became.

She waved her hand impatiently, dismissing everyone from her tent. She needed time alone to think.

Onoki was an old mule, Kitsuchi a young one, and Hanzo—he was just like a dog, hounding Sunagakure relentlessly.