CHAPTER 160: CHAPTER 160

Gone?!

The toad’s tongue snapped back empty. Jiraiya looked around in confusion.

The spot where the person had been standing was now completely empty, like no one had ever been there.

There was no sign of his presence nearby either—like he’d just vanished into thin air.

To disappear mid-sentence like that... it felt kind of weird.

But as long as he didn’t bother his research, Jiraiya didn’t really care.

He didn’t pay much attention to that odd guy who had suddenly shown up just to be noticed. After the toad disappeared, he stood still on the ground.

Even though he was a bit of a pervert, he looked pretty strong.

If that’s the case, then Hatake Satoru hadn’t just brushed him off.

As soon as the big toad vanished, Naruto narrowed his eyes and jumped out from behind a corner, yelling at Jiraiya:

"Hey!! You’re the new teacher Satoru-nii got for me and 603, right?!"

"I saw it! That big toad looked really strong!"

"Come on, train me!!"

Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya, full of energy.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and looked Naruto up and down.

He was still young, and judging by his age and personality, he was a typical genin.

But this kind of genin didn’t really have anything to do with him, right? Why was this kid shouting at him like they were connected?

"...Huh?"

"I don’t know who you’re talking about, and I don’t know you either. Go on, get out of here..."

"Don’t get in the way of my research."

Jiraiya waved him off half-heartedly while talking about this "new teacher" and "Satoru-nii."

"What research?!"

"You’re obviously just using that as an excuse to peek at the women’s hot spring!"

"I’m strong! You’ll see! You’ll definitely approve of me!"

Naruto wasn’t backing down at all. He clearly remembered what Hatake Satoru had told him.

If he wasn’t good enough, this guy wouldn’t agree to teach him.

Just as Naruto finished talking, a sharp scream suddenly came from the women’s bath. Chaos broke out inside.

"Ahhh! Don’t yell so loud, you scared everyone off."

Jiraiya looked back at the bath with disappointment—just a moment ago, the steamy scene had been beautiful.

Now only overturned buckets and an empty hot spring were left.

"Who even told you all that nonsense? I’m not interested."

"Don’t follow me around."

Jiraiya clicked his tongue and leapt onto the roof nearby. The women from the bath would definitely come out throwing water soon, so he had to get away before that happened.

He glanced down at Naruto, who looked like he was about to chase after him again, and shook his head with a sigh before quickly vanishing across the rooftops.

Not far away, Hatake Satoru nodded in satisfaction. Good—if Naruto kept up that energy, there wouldn’t be any problems.

Now that Naruto was taken care of, Hatake Satoru wandered off to check what the others were up to.

The crow sent to retrieve the body from Sunagakure would still take some time, so he could look around here in the meantime.

Right now, Sasuke hadn’t been bitten by Orochimaru or given the curse mark, so there wasn’t much trouble yet.

But Orochimaru’s obsession with the Sharingan wouldn’t just vanish like that. From Itachi to Sasuke, that obsession was no joke.

So if there was a chance, Orochimaru would probably still go after Sasuke—but handling that was Kakashi’s job.

Hatake Satoru had no intention of pulling overtime just to help Kakashi babysit Sasuke.

Sasuke and Kakashi together had three Sharingan.

If that kind of setup still couldn’t stop someone like Kabuto, they might as well quit being ninja and go home to farm.

A shadow flashed by, and Hatake Satoru landed steadily behind a nearby rock.

This was the spot he sensed using his Six Eyes. It was still within the Hidden Leaf’s territory, but it didn’t look like somewhere Kakashi visited often.

And come to think of it, since when did the Hidden Leaf have such a rocky place?

Hatake Satoru was quietly studying the area when a lazy voice came from behind him.

"Again, Sasuke. Having a Sharingan but not being able to read your opponent’s counterattack won’t cut it."

Kakashi stood not far from Sasuke, spinning a kunai in his hand. His two red Sharingan with two tomoe stared right back at Sasuke’s.

Chidori is an attack that uses a high-speed dash combined with concentrated chakra in the hand to turn it into a piercing blade.

But charging in a straight line makes it easy to be countered, so Chidori requires good chakra control and solid taijutsu.

And to react during that high-speed dash, only the Sharingan can really do it.

Kakashi, as another Sharingan user, was the perfect person to train Sasuke with it.

"Tch."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and let out a frustrated sound, panting heavily across from Kakashi.

Hatake Satoru poked his head out from behind the rock, curious, watching the electricity build in Sasuke’s hand, crackling loudly as it cut through the air.

Ah, so they were working on Chidori after all.

Kakashi always did favor Sasuke a bit, probably because the two were so similar—same type, same personality.

Kakashi wasn’t much different from Sasuke when he was younger, so maybe this was just karma making him deal with his own past behavior.

Hatake Satoru smiled faintly.

Kakashi was probably the only one left who could properly guide Sasuke in using the Sharingan... though, honestly, Kakashi wasn’t great at using his either.

Obito had unlocked the Mangekyou ages ago, and Kakashi still didn’t even seem to realize his had upgraded.

All this time, and he hadn’t figured out how to use the Mangekyou. Just copy-pasting moves like a walking Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V, breaking even with everyone he fought.

Is that acceptable? Not really.

He definitely felt like Kakashi had been slacking lately.

When Hatake Satoru left the village, Kakashi was like this. When he came back, Kakashi was still like this.

Hatake Satoru rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Maybe it was time to find someone to push Kakashi a bit.

He had someone in mind, more or less, but figured he’d decide later.

After watching their training for a while, Hatake Satoru vanished without a sound.

Kakashi seemed to sense something out of nowhere and sneezed.

He rubbed his nose awkwardly through the mask, feeling a little weird.

"Did you catch a cold?"

"Or maybe someone’s got their eye on you!"

Sasuke launched forward, Chidori active in one hand, aiming straight at Kakashi.

"If it’s just you watching me, that wouldn’t make me sneeze."

Kakashi replied lightly, then quickly jumped back, tossing a few kunai at Sasuke as he moved.

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