After a few days in Konoha Hospital, Hoshiyomi had recovered almost completely—eighty or ninety percent, at least. After speaking with his mother, he completed the discharge paperwork and left the hospital.
On the day he was discharged, he heard that Tsunade and the others had returned and were currently at Asuka's place treating her injuries. Thinking it over, Hoshiyomi picked up so fruit from a nearby stand and headed there as planned.
When Hoshiyomi arrived, Tsunade was still inside diagnosing Asuka. Perhaps assuming the treatnt would be brief, both Orochimaru and Jiraiya had co along. The two of them were now seated outside, casually chatting on a bench.
Mid-conversation, Orochimaru suddenly froze. He stared at Hoshiyomi for a long mont, then hesitantly asked,
"Ho... Hoshiyomi-kun?"
Jiraiya, still lounging with one leg crossed and staring at the ceiling, responded,
"Hoshiyomi? Orochimaru, have you been missing him so much that you're seeing things? Co on, I've heard of people getting lovesick and delusional over a woman, but imagining a full-grown man like Hoshiyomi? That's borderline disturbing.
No way he's in Konoha right now. He's probably off living it up in so remote corner of the Land of Iron, surrounded by beautiful won, living the dream…
Damn it, the bastard hasn't even sent a letter. I want to be surrounded by won too!"
Just then, a familiar yet distant voice rang in his ear:
"Oh? Is that so?"
Startled, Jiraiya imdiately sat up and looked around—only to see Hoshiyomi standing nearby, smiling at him.
"Holy crap—you really ca back?!"
Jiraiya leapt up, thumped Hoshiyomi twice on the chest, and received two solid thumps in return. The two burst into laughter.
Orochimaru watched with a small smile, clearly pleased by the reunion.
After exchanging greetings, Jiraiya noticed the companion behind Hoshiyomi.
"Wait—is that Lobo? You've grown a lot! It's been a long ti."
Loboraised his front paw in greeting. "Yeah, it's been five years, hasn't it?"
"Wha—?!" Σ(っ°Д°;)っ "You… you can talk?!"
Loborolled his eyes smugly. "A gifted ninja beast like picking up human speech? Please—it was easy."
"Heh, fair enough."
Jiraiya turned back to Hoshiyomi with a grin.
"By the way, I've also made a contract with a really powerful summoning beast. With their training, I won't lose to you anymore."
At this, Orochimaru interjected with a smirk.
"More like this idiot got lucky. He botched a summoning jutsu and stumbled into Mount Myōboku, where he ended up signing a contract with a bunch of toads."
Hoshiyomi was genuinely surprised. In the ani, Jiraiya had entered Hiruzen's team and accidentally summoned himself to Mount Myōboku after failing a bell-test exercise. But because of Hoshiyomi's interference in the tiline, Jiraiya had beco a Chūnin without ever making that contract.
He'd assud sothing else must have happened to trigger it eventually—but to find out it was still a complete fluke?
"Is this what they call a converging worldline?" Hoshiyomi wondered, then turned to Orochimaru.
"What about you, Orochimaru? Have you made a summoning contract yet?"
Orochimaru's smile stiffened slightly. He looked a little awkward as he answered,
"Yeah… I've made one."
Seeing his hesitance, Jiraiya wasted no ti exposing him.
"Ahaha, Hoshiyomi, let tell you—after I signed with the toads from Mount Myōboku and Tsunade contracted the slugs of the Shikkotsu Forest, this guy decided he needed a legendary summoning beast too.
He went on this whole quest to find one, and guess what? He ended up signing with so snake nad Manda, who claims to be from Ryūchi Cave, one of the Three Great Sage Regions.
Problem is—Manda's a total scam. He's arrogant, disobedient, and told Orochimaru that if he ever wants to summon him, he has to sacrifice a hundred human lives each ti!"
Hoshiyomi, hearing this, inwardly thought, Of course. But at the sa ti, he couldn't help worrying. After all his efforts to steer Orochimaru away from becoming the cold, life-disregarding figure from the original tiline, could Manda's influence drag him back?
Nervously, he asked,
"You didn't agree to that, did you?"
Orochimaru shot a glare at Jiraiya, then replied,
"Of course not. Just to summon him once, I'd have to offer up a hundred human sacrifices? Even if I was willing, Lord Hiruzen would never allow it.
If I ever use him, it'll only be against those who truly deserve death.
Besides, he's not even that useful. Honestly, I'd rather summon the smaller snakes—they're obedient, agile, and I don't have to worry about getting eaten."
Hearing that, Hoshiyomi felt a wave of relief. It looked like his ntal re-education of Orochimaru was paying off.
Thinking a mont, he said,
"That's the right call. I've never been to any of the Three Great Sage Regions, but I've heard the sages there can use senjutsu.
Even if so of them do eat people, they wouldn't casually demand a hundred human sacrifices—that's just monstrous.
From the way I see it, either Manda's a fraud using Ryūchi Cave's na to look important, or this is so kind of test from the Ryūchi Cave sage."
Hoshiyomi wasn't making wild guesses—he had solid reasoning. In the original tiline, Kabuto once ntioned that Orochimaru had sought senjutsu, but by the ti he reached Ryūchi Cave, his body had beco too unstable from repeated body-swapping to handle the energy.
Yet, Orochimaru had been using Manda since the Second Shinobi War—which ant Manda had been deceiving him for over twenty years.
Plus, when Manda died, Kabuto managed to master senjutsu within just three years—a tiline that felt too convenient to be unrelated.
And even though Hoshiyomi had never watched Boruto, he'd seen enough clips and headlines to know that Boruto eventually reached Ryūchi Cave, passed the White Snake Sage's trial, and signed a contract with a red serpent nad Garaga.
That alone suggested Manda was clearly not telling the full story.
"So how strong is Manda, really?" Hoshiyomi asked. "Honestly, you might as well just beat the truth out of him. Even if you never reach Ryūchi Cave, forcing him to submit might get you better answers—and obedience."
PS: Read Advance Chapters at spatreon/c/ReadJin
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