Chapter 89: Jiraiya Gets Roasted: What Have You Been Doing All These Years?

"You, you, you..."

Jiraiya stared at Reiji in utter shock, pointing at him as he struggled to get the words out.

So the other party didn’t intend to become Hokage.

He intended to abolish the position of Hokage altogether!

Had he gone insane?

A system that had existed for more than fifty years, ever since the time of the First Hokage, and he wanted to abolish it just like that?

"That’s impossible!"

Jiraiya’s face flushed red.

Whether it was Reiji’s intention to abolish the position of Hokage or his plan to establish order through sheer strength—

Jiraiya could not accept either of them!

Establishing order through strength essentially meant resorting to violence!

Jiraiya was now becoming increasingly certain that Uchiha Reiji was very likely the "Child of Destruction" mentioned in the Great Toad Sage’s prophecy!

"What do you mean Konoha won’t have a Hokage anymore?"

Naruto asked curiously, unable to understand.

"You idiot! Haven’t you always been shouting that you want to become Hokage? It means that even if you really become Hokage someday, by then there won’t even be such a position anymore!"

Little Sasuke explained with an expression full of disdain.

Naruto suddenly understood.

Then he immediately became anxious and shouted:

"No! I still want to become Hokage in the future!"

Thunk!

Reiji flicked Naruto hard on the forehead with his finger.

"What makes you think that brain of yours is qualified to become Hokage?"

The incarnations of Asura and his successors were all extremely powerful.

But being powerful did not mean that someone could become a good leader of a village.

The Sage of Six Paths had allowed Asura to inherit Ninshū, yet after the Sage of Six Paths died, Ninshū split apart.

Hashirama Senju had indeed brought more than a decade of peace.

But if he had directly unified the entire shinobi world while he was still alive, there would not have been so many subsequent Ninja World Wars.

Naruto was the same!

With Naruto’s brain, what kind of administrative affairs could he possibly handle?

In the future, after Naruto became the Seventh Hokage, he would be more like a mascot that intimidated the entire shinobi world.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, was much more like a Hokage.

However.

Naruto clutched his forehead and continued glaring stubbornly at Reiji.

Seeing this, the corners of Reiji’s lips curled up slightly as he asked:

"Naruto, let me ask you something. Why do you want to become Hokage?"

Naruto immediately answered:

"I want everyone to truly acknowledge me!"

Although the villagers’ attitude toward him had already improved recently, Naruto was not completely stupid.

This kind of recognition was not what he wanted.

He knew that the villagers’ change in attitude was because of the revelations made by the four members of the Uchiha clan.

What he wanted was for others to acknowledge him because of Naruto Uzumaki himself!

"So you think you can only gain recognition by becoming Hokage? How pitiful."

Reiji clicked his tongue and shook his head disdainfully.

"Besides, how did those villagers treat you before?"

"Not retaliating against them would already be generous enough. What meaning is there in seeking the recognition of people like that?"

After Naruto’s identity and background had been exposed, only a small number of people had genuinely intended to apologize to him.

Some blamed their own actions on Sarutobi Hiruzen’s concealment of the truth.

Some did not even believe they had done anything wrong!

Why should Naruto seek the recognition of villagers like that?

"Hey! You! Don’t corrupt Naruto!"

Jiraiya was extremely dissatisfied.

Was Reiji trying to make Naruto hate the villagers by saying these things to him?

How could that be allowed?!

"I once heard an old saying: ’If you repay resentment with virtue, then what will you repay virtue with? Repay resentment with justice, and repay virtue with virtue.’"

"They’re people who clearly hurt you, yet you still shamelessly seek their recognition. Isn’t that just degrading yourself?"

Reiji spoke with utter disdain.

However.

Neither Jiraiya nor Naruto was moved by his words.

Reiji shook his head when he saw this.

Naruto was the reincarnation of Asura’s chakra. That was simply his personality, and there was nothing he could do about it.

But Jiraiya was genuinely naive.

Naive to the point of stupidity.

It was ridiculous!

"Your method of establishing order through strength can never be accepted by everyone!"

Jiraiya said firmly.

"I don’t need their recognition!"

"The ignorant and foolish villagers of Konoha who vented their anger and hatred on a child—why should I care whether they acknowledge me?"

"And then there are Konoha’s shinobi!"

"They constantly talk about the Will of Fire, but when Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered Hizashi Hyūga to go and die, did any of them stand up to stop him?"

Reiji continued speaking without pause.

His dissatisfaction with all of this had not appeared overnight.

They talked endlessly about the Will of Fire, yet when it came time to act, they simply sent others to die for nothing!

This was also one of the reasons he did not want to become Hokage.

If he became Hokage, wouldn’t he have to gain the recognition of the villagers and shinobi and then turn around and protect them?

What a joke!

Were they even worthy?!

"The matter concerning Hizashi Hyūga... Sarutobi Hiruzen really was in the wrong there."

Jiraiya said helplessly.

No matter what, he could not claim that sending Hizashi Hyūga to his death had been the right thing to do.

However, if they had gone to war at that time, more people would indeed have died.

"And you!"

Reiji suddenly turned his attention toward Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin.

"What have you been doing all these years?"

"You weren’t there during the Nine-Tails’ attack!"

"You weren’t there when Orochimaru defected!"

"You weren’t there when Hizashi Hyūga was forced to die!"

"And you weren’t there when Sarutobi Hiruzen planned to exterminate my Uchiha clan!"

"Now that I’ve eliminated Sarutobi Hiruzen, this scourge, you suddenly show up and start pointing fingers, acting like you have all the answers!"

"What were you doing before?"

"Why did the Hidden Cloud Village dare to threaten Konoha with war back then?"

"Wasn’t it because they saw that there was no one in Konoha?"

"If you and Tsunade, the two of the Legendary Sannin, had both been in the village at the time, would the Hidden Cloud have had the guts to threaten Konoha with war?"

"You wandered all over the shinobi world, doing all sorts of peeping in the name of gathering material, and you didn’t even return when the village was in danger."

"If I were you, I wouldn’t even have the nerve to call myself a Konoha shinobi anymore!"

"It’s only because your teacher was the Hokage. If anyone else had behaved like you, they would have been branded a missing-nin long ago!"

Reiji’s words came down like a violent storm, completely overwhelming Jiraiya.

Jiraiya’s face flushed red.

He wanted to argue back, but he didn’t know what to say.

Even more shocking—

Deep down, he actually felt that Reiji was right!

The village had repeatedly faced crises over the years, yet one of Konoha’s Legendary Sannin had been nowhere to be found.

After the end of the Third Great Ninja War, he had left the village and traveled throughout the shinobi world in search of the Child of Prophecy.

If he could find the Child of Prophecy and guide him properly, then the shinobi world would be able to achieve lasting peace in the future.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Jiraiya had not returned to the village for all these years.

It was only recently, after learning that both the Hidden Cloud Village and Hidden Stone Village showed signs of mobilizing large numbers of shinobi, that he hurried back.

"...There’s nothing I can say to that."

Jiraiya spoke with difficulty.

"However, I still want to ask you something. According to what you’ve said, what exactly do you intend to do?"

Reiji immediately answered:

"I will become the one and only god, establish order throughout the shinobi world, and bring lasting peace."

"All authority will originate from me, and everyone will be accountable to me."

"As for what those villagers and shinobi think, I simply don’t care."

"As long as war can be eliminated, then the so-called duty of the Hokage to protect everyone will no longer be necessary."

In fact.

There had been an example of such a method in the world of Naruto before.

A thousand years ago, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had done precisely this.

She used absolute power to end the chaos of the era and bring peace, and was revered by people as the Rabbit Goddess.

In the original story, Nagato’s approach had also been broadly similar.

Using absolute power to suppress the entire Hidden Rain Village, he became its one and only god and brought order to the war-torn Land of Rain.

"It really is you!"

Jiraiya now had no doubts whatsoever.

Uchiha Reiji’s way of thinking was absolutely that of the "Child of Destruction" mentioned by the Great Toad Sage!

If you want to read 60 Chapters ahead of the public release, head over to: Patreon.com/RedString