TitoVillar
patreon
NBB Chapter 56: Orange Hair, Blue Hair, and a Kid with White Hair
🕑 Added 2025-06-04 01:59:36 +0000 UTC“Old man, what’s the matter?”
Inside the Hokage’s Office, Jiraiya yawned as he jumped in through the window.
But the moment he entered, he saw Danzō staring at him with a face as if someone close to him had just died. That sight instantly sobered him up.
“You’re here?”
Hiruzen was already used to his student’s antics and didn’t even bother to glance at him before speaking.
“Jiraiya, we’ve recently uncovered something new. But… the matter’s a bit troublesome.”
“Something new?”
Jiraiya immediately turned serious. The lazy look from earlier vanished without a trace.
“Tell me—what happened?”
“I’ll explain.”
Before Hiruzen could open his mouth, Shimura Danzō cut in first.
“According to Root’s investigation, we’ve identified three leads. You’re already aware we had prior contact with Kirigakure."
"Following up, the Fourth Mizukage personally sent us a letter. According to his memory, he vaguely recalled seeing someone apart from Uchiha Obito."
"One was a man with orange hair, and the other, a woman with blue hair.”
When he mentioned these two obvious characteristics, Danzō felt an odd sense of déjà vu. But he had met far too many people in his lifetime, so he didn’t give it much thought.
“A man with orange hair and a woman with blue hair?”
Jiraiya rubbed his chin. Those traits struck a familiar chord—it reminded him of his three former disciples.
Unfortunately, those three had perished long ago in the chaos of war.
“Got it. What about the other two leads?”
“As for the other two…”
This time, Hiruzen didn’t let Danzō speak. Biting on his pipe, he exhaled lightly before continuing.
“Both leads have specific targets. One is in the Land of Hot Water, where traces of a suspected member of that mysterious organization were discovered."
"We’ve actually had our eye on it for a while, but didn’t act until we could confirm more.”
“The Land of Hot Water again?”
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. He still clearly remembered his last visit there—when he went after Orochimaru.
But it made sense. The Land of Hot Water was a chaotic place, full of all kinds of people. Anyone could be hiding there.
“And the other one…”
While Jiraiya was still thinking, Hiruzen sighed and continued. “…is related to Orochimaru.”
At the mention of Orochimaru, the entire office fell silent.
Jiraiya’s gaze turned especially serious, and Hiruzen could already tell what he was thinking.
This guy—he would never pass up any intel about Orochimaru.
“I understand. I’ll go after Orochimaru. As for the Land of Hot Water, I’ll leave that to Kakashi.”
On the other side, even though Danzō still wore his usual corpse-like face, he was secretly delighted.
As long as Jiraiya took on Orochimaru’s trail, then whatever happened in the Land of Hot Water had nothing to do with him!
Whether anything comes of that investigation or not, the credit won’t go to you…
...
Kitagawa Gen still didn’t understand what Guy meant by, “You’re starting to look more and more like Kakashi.”
It was just dyed hair, after all. And eventually, it would turn white on its own!
But he could feel that Guy’s punches were very real.
Over the past month, Gen had experienced firsthand how this teacher—who used to grin at him and occasionally show off what it meant to be the true 'White Fang of Konoha'—used his fists to enhance Gen’s physical awareness and, in a way, elevate his soul through brute force.
Sitting under a tree, Kakashi handed Gen a bottle of orange juice.
“Here. It tastes pretty good.”
“Mm.”
Gen took it immediately, but then cheerfully handed it to Guy beside him.
“Guy-sensei, you’ve worked hard.”
“…”
Kakashi scratched his head while Guy gave him a meaningful wink before accepting the juice.
“Thanks. I’ve got to say—you’re improving fast, kid.”
“No doubt about it,” Kakashi added as he handed another bottle to Gen, then sat down under the tree with the two of them.
“He’s visibly improving!”
“Hehe, it’s all thanks to my two sensei.”
Kitagawa Gen grinned immediately. Over this past month of training, he’d gained quite a lot!
Although it had been painful at the start—after all, even in a one-on-one setting, facing jōnin who had both masterful technique and rich combat experience—he’d found himself completely overwhelmed at times.
And this was just sparring. Many jutsu were off-limits.
Once he gradually adapted, Kakashi began raising the intensity—turning it from one-on-one to two-on-one!
'So basically… I wasn’t fighting two people. I was getting beaten up by two people?'
This style of training also gradually loosened some restrictions. For instance, he was now allowed to use the Flying Thunder God Technique.
That finally made things feel a bit more manageable. But even so, he discovered that these two had their own tricks. Kakashi would always camp near one of the Flying Thunder God markers and launch surprise attacks with ninjutsu.
After enduring this for a month, it became nearly impossible not to improve his combat awareness!
'Besides, Kakashi also helps me think through jutsu application and refinement.'
Even after formal training sessions ended, Kakashi didn’t neglect supporting him in other areas.
He offered ideas for how to better utilize Flying Thunder God, and even gave suggestions regarding his Purple Lightning and Rasengan techniques.
After all, this was someone rumored to have copied over a thousand jutsu—maybe he didn’t use them all, but the advice he gave was more than enough!
That inspired Gen to come up with ideas of his own—and he was already thinking of ways to develop them.
'Maybe I should take Kakashi-sensei’s advice and try firing Purple Lightning from a weapon as a medium. Or use it in a Lightning Release: Chakra Mode. As for Rasengan… I think there was a version that incorporated planetary rotation?'
He vaguely remembered a move called Spiral Sphere: Whirling Flame, which injected Rasengan’s chakra into the target’s body.
That chakra would then rotate in sync with the planet’s spin. As long as the planet never stopped spinning, the attack would theoretically never stop either.
'But… how the hell is that supposed to work?'
Biting down on a straw, Gen mulled it over in silence. Beside him, Kakashi glanced over curiously.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I’m thinking about how to implement the suggestions you gave me. Also—did you already finish that?”
Gen turned his head and replied casually—only to widen his eyes the next moment.
“Wait, that was a huge bottle! You already drank it all?!”
“Hehe… you just wanted to get a look at his face, didn’t you?”
Although Guy still wasn’t quite used to Gen’s hair color, after a month, he’d mostly gotten over it. He chuckled nonchalantly.
“I only saw him without his mask a few times when I was a kid. That guy’s super mysterious. And he eats insanely fast—you don’t even get a chance.”
“I’ve experienced it firsthand.”
Gen nodded, then blinked and asked curiously: “So, what does Kakashi-sensei look like?”
“Can’t you two talk about something else?” Kakashi rolled his eyes before Guy could respond.
Gen tilted his head.
“Kakashi-sensei, when I went with Jiraiya-sama to the Land of Hot Water, I saw a draft of his manuscript. It looked like a new, unreleased chapter of Make-Out Paradise.”
“…”
“Wanna hear what happens next?”
“…Hold it. You’re that young and you’re already reading that kind of stuff?!”
“Uh…”
Gen’s expression froze. He hadn’t expected to get counterattacked like this.
“You two…”
As the two bickered and laughed, Guy watched them warmly—though a trace of envy flickered in his eyes.
What a shame. Why didn’t my own application go through…
'But that kid’s not bad either,' Guy thought silently, rubbing his chin. Maybe he’s not as naturally gifted as Gen—but he’s a genius when it comes to hard work.
Just then, he suddenly noticed a few ANBU operatives heading their way.
...
“I can’t believe I finally get to go on a mission with both Kakashi-sensei and Guy-sensei!”
In front of the Hokage Building in Konohagakure, Kitagawa Gen was in exceptionally high spirits.
“Turns out the Hokage-sama is quite easy to talk to!”
“Alright, alright, that’s enough. You’d better head home and start getting ready,” Kakashi said, covering his forehead with his hand. Just thinking about what had happened moments earlier was enough to give him a headache.
When the ANBU showed up to summon them, Gen insisted on tagging along. Kakashi had initially intended to refuse—he’d already sensed this was going to be a real mission.
But Guy didn’t oppose it in the slightest. He simply brought Gen along with him, and Kakashi had no choice but to follow.
He could still recall the look of frustration and helplessness on the Third Hokage’s face when he saw Gen walk into his office.
Especially when the Hokage tried to get Gen to leave—and this kid’s response was:
“Hokage-sama, I understand. Just like how I haven’t earned the rank of jōnin or tokubetsu jōnin yet, it must be because I’m still not strong enough. I’ve let you down.”
Kakashi was already used to Gen saying odd things from time to time, but the Third Hokage and Guy clearly weren’t.
Seeing Gen put on a pitiful, wounded face, the old man could only sigh. In the end, he didn’t say anything more.
“And you call that ‘easy to talk to’?” Kakashi said with exasperation, turning to Gen.
“That was seriously out of line. Besides, Hokage-sama was only trying to protect you.”
“It was a bit much, Gen,” Guy agreed with a nod—though the next second he struck a thumbs-up pose, his pearly white teeth gleaming in the sun.
“But still—well said!”
“Hey, hey, hey, whose side are you on?” Kakashi said, half-laughing, half-annoyed. He didn’t expect this thick-browed guy to 'betray' him like that.
That said, he didn’t exactly disagree with Guy’s praise—though in his heart, he felt those words weren’t quite fitting for the situation.
