That night, Jie walked around Konoha with Izumi for a while before sending her home. When he returned, the Uchiha house was still lively because Itachi had come back.
To Fugaku and Mikoto, Itachi's return was rare good news. Mikoto cooked a large dinner herself, and even Fugaku drank more than usual.
After dinner, Jie called Itachi to the backyard.
"Itachi, you've been outside the village for five years. What do you think of the Will of Fire now?" Jie asked, looking up at the moon.
He wanted to know if Itachi's thinking had changed during those five years. If there was even a small sign that something was wrong, Jie had to fix it early. He had spent too much effort changing Itachi to let everything go wrong now.
Itachi was quiet for a moment, then said, "After five years outside the village, I realized that wars happen because the ninja world is unfair."
"The Land of Fire has the best land, while the Land of Wind is mostly desert. Because of that difference, the Land of Wind keeps attacking Konoha."
"So I thought of something. I just don't know if it can actually work."
Jie nodded, though he still did not know where Itachi was going with this. He had expected Itachi to understand something deeper after five years away, but even if the idea was shallow, it was fine. At least Itachi was not thinking about turning against the clan or Konoha.
Seeing Jie nod, Itachi continued, "If Konoha unifies the ninja world and moves all ninja to the Land of Fire, there won't be so many conflicts between villages."
"Or every village could use ninjutsu to improve its own land and reduce the gap between countries as much as possible."
"Without ninja taking part in wars, the ninja world might finally have real peace."
Jie fell silent.
So after five years outside the village, this was what Itachi had figured out?
For a moment, Jie wondered if he had gone too far when he corrected Itachi's thinking back then. Compared to the Itachi he remembered, this version really was different.
But that was fine. At least he was not thinking about betraying the clan or Konoha.
As long as that was clear, Jie did not need to worry too much about the rest.
After confirming Itachi's thoughts, Jie said a few more words to him. Since Itachi wanted to stay in the village, Jie arranged for him to work in the Hokage building and learn how Konoha was run.
After that, Jie returned to his room.
The next morning, he went to the Hokage's office as usual. He had barely started on the day's paperwork when Orochimaru pushed the door open, his eyes bloodshot.
"Jie, I finally found you."
Orochimaru looked like he had not slept all night. The way he stared at Jie was almost unsettling.
After hearing what had happened, Jie was speechless.
He had asked Orochimaru to study the Gedo Statue's severed arm, but he had overlooked one problem... it was too hard to cut.
Even Jie could only leave marks on it without using Susanoo, so Orochimaru had no way to take a proper sample.
Orochimaru had tried looking for Jie the day before, but Jie had already left the Hokage building with Izumi. Knowing better than to disturb him, Orochimaru could only spend the whole night staring at the Gedo Statue's arm with no way to start.
That was why he looked like this the next morning.
In the end, Jie had to do it himself. He cut a chunk of flesh weighing over ten pounds from the Gedo Statue's arm.
Once he had the sample, Orochimaru did not even bother saying goodbye. He took it and rushed straight back to his underground base.
After that, Jie went back to his usual routine of paperwork and boredom.
Several days passed.
During that time, Konoha sent people to settle Kirigakure's compensation terms with Mei Terumi.
Jie did not care much about the details. As long as Kirigakure suffered, and Kumogakure and Iwagakure did not have it easy either, that was enough.
After Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata had rested for a few days, Jie gathered them again.
Hinata had not fought in the final round of the Chunin Exams, but with her strength, becoming a Chunin was more than justified. The three of them were no longer Genin. They were now official Chunin of Konoha.
Jie looked at them and nodded in satisfaction. "You did well in the Chunin Exams at Kumogakure. As a reward, I'll teach you a powerful jutsu."
Naruto's face lit up at once. "Brother Hokage, are you going to teach us an S-rank jutsu? Is it that one… the one where you make a ball in your hand and throw it?"
Jie was speechless.
What did he mean, "make a ball and throw it"? That was Naruto's future signature jutsu, the Rasenshuriken.
He ignored Naruto's nonsense and said, "It's not an S-rank jutsu, and it's not Rasenshuriken either. The jutsu I'm going to teach you is only C-rank."
"But if you use it well, it can be stronger than some S-rank jutsu."
Naruto immediately deflated. "What? It's only C-rank? How strong can a C-rank jutsu be?"
Jie smiled. "You'll know once you see it."
"All right, watch closely. This is the C-rank jutsu I'm going to teach you."
He bit his finger, and blood seeped out. At his current level, Jie only needed one seal for the Summoning Jutsu, but since he was teaching them, he formed the full set of hand seals on purpose.
"Watch carefully."
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Come out, Ryūshō!"
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