Jiraiya's large hand shot forward, clamping down on Hiroki Sawada's wrist just as he was forming a seal.
"Nice strategy! You almost fooled me! You'll have to work a lot harder than that!"He grinned broadly, ready to subdue this cheeky little brat once and for all.
But a second later, his smile froze.
Everyone in the training ground saw it—after Jiraiya grabbed Hiroki, his movements suddenly went rigid and unnatural. His pupils dilated, his expression went blank, and for a fraction of a second, he looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The pause was so brief most people missed it. Only the Third Hokage, Danzo, and Tsunade—watching from the stands—caught that instant of eerie stillness.
Then, before anyone could react—
Bang!
Jiraiya's body burst into thick white smoke and vanished completely.
The entire arena fell silent.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Konoha…
Steam filled a women's bathhouse. The sound of running water echoed softly in the tranquil air.
On the roof above that serenity, a man with long white hair lay sprawled across the wooden beams, wearing a grin that could only be described as criminally perverted.
It was him—the legendary lecher himself, the wandering sage of sin and steam—
Jiraiya!
Notebook in one hand, pen in the other, he peered through a tiny hole he'd drilled into the roof, utterly focused on what he proudly called "artistic research."
"Ah… the curve of that back—so full of tension!""Oooh! That angle! The perfect golden ratio!"
Drooling, he scribbled furiously, completely immersed in his "art.""Assessments, missions… such trivial things. I'll let a shadow clone handle them. Gathering inspiration is far more important, hehehe…"
And then it happened.
An indescribable surge—an incomprehensible flood of data—rushed backward through the chakra link that connected his shadow clone to his real body.Like a high-voltage current jumping across a wire, it slammed straight into Jiraiya's brain.
"Huh…?"
The "artistic" thoughts he'd just been having were copied, amplified, and multiplied thousands of times over in the blink of an eye.
Material… Material… Perfect ratio… Golden curve… Hehehehehehehe…
A storm of broken, nonsensical fragments flooded his mind, twisting every thought into madness.His brain short-circuited.
Jiraiya went stiff. His eyes rolled back. His mouth hung open. A trickle of drool ran down his chin as his grin turned even sleazier.
He stumbled forward, dazed.
What was he doing again? Oh, right—he was collecting materials. The beautiful women! The inspiration! The curves!
Hehehehehehehe…
Without realizing it, his body lurched forward, slipped on the wet tiles, and crashed through the wooden roof.
CRACK!
"AHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A piercing scream shattered the calm of the bathhouse.
Through the hole in the roof, Jiraiya plummeted—upside down, flailing wildly—and landed square in the center of the women's bath with a tremendous SPLASH!
For one frozen second, the room was silent.
Then all hell broke loose.
"Aaaahhh!!!""There's a PERVERT!""Get him!!""Kill that shameless white-haired creep!!"
Tubs, towels, and soap bars became weapons as furious kunoichi launched an all-out assault.The peaceful bathhouse turned into a chaotic battlefield.
Back at the training arena, the white smoke from the vanished clone slowly dissipated.
Only Hiroki Sawada, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki stood in the center of the field. The crowd was frozen, speechless.
"…Is it over?" one jonin finally muttered.
"What just happened? Was that a shadow clone? Where's the real Jiraiya?""I saw him stiffen for a second—chakra feedback, maybe? No way!""That kid—Hiroki—what the hell did he do? No seals, no chakra, nothing! He was just grabbed!""Wait, don't tell me… Jiraiya-sensei's real body was at the women's bathhouse again!?"
"That's impossible! Shadow clones shouldn't be affected by the original!"
Confusion rippled through the audience like a virus. No one understood what they'd just seen.
What did that boy do?Why had Jiraiya's clone vanished like that?
The test—so serious a moment ago—had ended like an absurd farce no one could explain.
Kushina's eyes sparkled as she looked from the fading smoke to Hiroki."Hiroki! That was amazing! Was that the same jutsu from before!?"
Glancing around, she leaned closer and whispered, "This is our secret, right?"
Hiroki sighed and gave a reluctant nod.
Minato, meanwhile, was frowning deeply. He'd seen it more clearly than anyone—the brief stiffness before the clone disappeared.That wasn't normal.
What was that technique?
He remembered Hiroki's words before the fight—"Just let me touch him."Could it really be that simple?
Maybe Hiroki's power was something far beyond what anyone expected.
Up in the stands, the atmosphere was tense and strange.
Tsunade's expression had twisted the moment the clone popped. She froze, then, realization dawned—and her eye twitched violently.
That idiot.That absolute idiot went to the women's bathhouse again!
That was the only reason he'd use a shadow clone for such an important test.
A vein bulged on her forehead.Her fists clenched, knuckles whitening.Rage—and sheer embarrassment—contorted her face as she hissed between clenched teeth:
"That… stupid… PERVERT!"
The Third Hokage, pipe in hand, looked just as bewildered. Hearing Tsunade's outburst, he winced. Memories of Jiraiya's past "incidents" flashed through his mind.The pipe nearly slipped from his fingers.
That idiot Jiraiya…
Sarutobi shook his head with a sigh, struggling to maintain the dignity of a Hokage. His stern face twitched despite his efforts.
What utter nonsense…
Meanwhile, in the shadows, Danzo's expression was utterly different.No embarrassment. No surprise. Only cold calculation.
Jiraiya's antics were irrelevant. What mattered was the boy.
That was Hiroki's doing. There was no other explanation.
Danzo's mind replayed Hiroki's words: "Just let me touch him."Most hadn't heard it—but he had.And a ninja who could cause that effect through physical contact… that was no ordinary talent.
Jiraiya's clone hadn't vanished from chakra loss, nor from feedback from his real body.No—the stiffness before it dispersed was the clear sign of mental disruption.A forced system crash.
This was Hiroki's attack.
It looked like a genjutsu—but Jiraiya hadn't looked into his eyes, and Hiroki hadn't even spoken.If it was a genjutsu, it had been transmitted purely through touch.
No… something even deeper.
Danzo's mind raced.Could it be… a new kind of bloodline ability?Something that could directly target consciousness—or even the soul?
If so, this boy wasn't just talented—he was dangerous.
If he could weaponize that technique… a single touch could kill.
Perfect for espionage. Perfect for assassination.Perfect for Root.
Danzo's thoughts solidified into icy resolve.
This child must be brought into Root.No matter the cost.This power cannot be left uncontrolled.It will belong to Konoha—and to me.