Chapter 58 (Patreon)

At the border near Kirigakure, the Konoha shinobi were stationed.

Yujiro had become the man everyone was talking about.

Wherever he went, the shinobi around him looked at him with undisguised respect.

A person who could single-handedly turn the tide of battle.

A person who could change the flow of an entire war by himself.

To the Konoha shinobi, that kind of strength was impossible not to admire.

Inside one of the tents, Yujiro looked at Jiraiya with a serious expression.

“Pervy Sage, I’m not the Child of Prophecy.”

Jiraiya, who had been staring at him with expectant eyes, immediately waved his hand.

“Impossible!”

His tone was firm enough that it left no room for doubt.

“Yujiro! You are absolutely the Child of Prophecy!”

“I’m really not.”

Yujiro shrugged helplessly.

The Child of Prophecy?

Don’t be ridiculous.

The one you’re waiting for hasn’t even been born yet.

“Impossible!”

Jiraiya refused to back down.

To him, Yujiro was the disciple he had been searching for all these years.

“The Great Toad Sage told me that I would take in a disciple. That disciple would possess the power to change the entire shinobi world.”

Jiraiya leaned forward, staring straight at him.

“Yujiro, if that isn’t you, then who else could it be?”

Faced with Jiraiya’s stubbornness, Yujiro finally gave up arguing.

There was one thing he was certain of.

He was not the Child of Prophecy.

He was someone far beyond that.

The Child of Prophecy?

If that stood in his way, he would cut it down with a single strike.

After experiencing this war, Yujiro’s strength had risen rapidly.

The battlefield truly was the fastest place to sharpen a person.

“Yujiro,” Jiraiya said, his expression finally calming down, “for now, there’s no need to worry about the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Water. Rest tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll return to Konoha.”

“Return to Konoha?”

Yujiro narrowed his eyes slightly, then glanced at Kakashi and Itachi beside him.

The moment Kakashi and Itachi saw that expression, they understood.

He had no intention of returning to Konoha.

Jiraiya’s brow twitched.

“Don’t tell me…”

Seeing the faint smile on Yujiro’s face, Jiraiya suddenly had a bad feeling.

“You’re planning to go to the battlefield near the Land of Lightning, aren’t you?”

“Something like that.”

Yujiro smiled.

After all, his experience was still far from enough.

Although he seemed powerful now, Yujiro knew his own level better than anyone.

At best, he was only slightly above Kage level.

If he ran into monsters like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara, he still would not be enough.

He needed to become stronger.

Much stronger.

Jiraiya sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Fine. Then I’ll go with you tomorrow morning.”

He paused for a moment before adding, “By the way, I just received new information. The head of the Uchiha Clan personally led a unit to the border near the Land of Lightning.”

As he said that, Jiraiya gave Yujiro a meaningful look.

When they first left the village, Yujiro’s words had stayed in his mind.

“Aren’t the shinobi of the Uchiha Clan also shinobi of Konoha?”

That one sentence had made Jiraiya realize that Yujiro’s way of thinking was far deeper than most children his age.

No.

In some ways, it might even be sharper than his own.

Yujiro simply nodded.

If the Uchiha Clan had come, then so be it.

When the time came, he would just have to remind them not to get too excited and steal all the enemies.

Early the next morning, Yujiro’s team set out toward the border near the Land of Lightning.

After traveling through the morning, they arrived around noon.

“Lord Jiraiya, this is our current battle line and the latest intelligence.”

The commander stationed there was Hyūga Hizashi of the Hyūga Clan.

He handed a document to Jiraiya.

On the other side, Uchiha Fugaku was also present.

Over the past few days, with the Uchiha Clan’s reinforcements arriving, the pressure on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning had eased considerably.

The Konoha shinobi stationed there were sincerely grateful to the Uchiha shinobi who had come to support them.

“Itachi.”

Fugaku looked at his son, his expression calm, though there was a trace of shock in his eyes.

“We received information that Yujiro fought the Three-Tails by himself. Is that true?”

He wanted to hear the truth directly from Itachi.

“It’s true, Father.”

Itachi nodded solemnly.

Then he told Fugaku everything that had happened the day before.

After hearing the full story, Fugaku’s expression slowly changed.

Then he laughed.

“Hahaha! I knew Yujiro was not an ordinary child.”

He looked at Itachi seriously.

“Itachi, stay by Yujiro’s side and learn well. Do not bring shame to the Uchiha name.”

“Yes, Father.”

Itachi nodded quickly.

Seeing that Fugaku acknowledged Yujiro made Itachi feel genuinely happy.

Before Yujiro could enter the tent, however, he was surrounded by the shinobi stationed nearby.

After all, everyone wanted to see the rumored boy who had fought the Three-Tails head-on.

But as they talked, the topic somehow began drifting in a strange direction.

“Yujiro, I have a daughter around your age. What do you think? Should I introduce her to you?”

“Hey, hey, isn’t that a little too sudden?”

“What’s sudden about it? A strong son-in-law is a blessing.”

“Your daughter? Come on, she runs around covered in mud all day. Yujiro, look at my family instead. I have twin daughters. If you like one, take one. If you like both, even better.”

“Are you people even listening to yourselves?”

“If anyone is going to introduce their daughter, I’m going first!”

“Don’t cut in line!”

“Who made a line in the first place?!”

Yujiro’s eyelid twitched.

Were they seriously trying to force this on him?

Without another word, Yujiro slipped through the crowd and entered the tent.

Inside, Jiraiya, Fugaku, and Hyūga Hizashi had already finished analyzing most of the current situation.

“According to our analysis,” Hizashi said, “Kirigakure and Kumogakure may have secretly joined forces this time.”

“Their goal is likely to crush the Konoha forces stationed along the borders of the Land of Fire in one move.”

He took a deep breath.

“If reinforcements hadn’t arrived, we might have been overrun within three days at most.”

Yujiro walked over to Kakashi and Itachi.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“Looks like we’ve got work to do.”

Kakashi and Itachi exchanged a glance, then nodded at the same time.

It seemed Yujiro already had a plan.

For a moment, both of them could not help feeling a little sorry for Kumogakure.

Of all the people they could provoke…

They had chosen Yujiro.