Yoruha chuckled, "By the way, Jiraiya-sama, you should know the location of Ryūchi Cave, right?"
Jiraiya was taken aback, unsure why Yoruha was asking this. "Are you thinking of signing a summoning contract with Ryūchi Cave? Wouldn't Mount Myōboku be better?"
"Besides, your Three-Tails is already powerful enough. Even the summoning beasts from the Three Great Sage Regions aren't as strong as the Three-Tails."
Yoruha explained, "I'm actually looking for a summoning beast for Sasuke. He's been asking me to find one."
"With his current chakra reserves, he should be able to summon the snakes from Ryūchi Cave."
Once Jiraiya understood Yoruha's true intention, he said, "Are you trying to create a new Sannin trio?" Yoruha smiled, "Why not?"
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, pondering. He went over the profiles of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
He laughed, "Not bad, not bad. Those three kids really do resemble us back in the day."
"Naruto is like me, Sasuke is like Orochimaru, and Sakura's personality is quite similar to Tsunade's back then. They really are a perfect fit." Jiraiya agreed with Yoruha's idea.
However, he quickly added, "But Ryūchi Cave isn't easy to deal with. You've faced Manda before, so you should know its cruel nature. With Sasuke's current strength, he might not be able to make it submit. Plus, Ryūchi Cave is much more dangerous than Mount Myōboku."
"Snakes are cold-blooded creatures; they don't care about emotions." Yoruha patted the railing, his gaze focused, "That's even better. I was worried that being too violent might not be suitable. Since they respect strength, it's simple—if they don't submit, we'll make them submit."
Jiraiya looked at Yoruha in shock, "You're not planning to invade Ryūchi Cave, are you?" Jiraiya hoped Yoruha wasn't that crazy. Yoruha laughed and shook his head, "Of course not, I'm not that insane."
"But, I will have them test Sasuke first. I believe that even if he can't summon Manda, he should have no problem summoning other large snakes from Ryūchi Cave. I'll ensure he's not in any life-threatening danger."
After hearing this, Jiraiya thought for a moment and said, "That's not a problem, but by doing this, Ryūchi Cave might recognize you instead of Sasuke."
"Take it slow. Sasuke has great potential for the future. For now, he can subdue some of the less powerful snakes. Once he's strong enough, subduing Manda shouldn't be an issue."
Jiraiya nodded, "That's true, but I think you should have Sasuke sign a summoning contract with Mount Myōboku instead. At least it's not as terrifying as Ryūchi Cave, and gaining the recognition of the summoning beasts is easier."
"Sasuke didn't agree. I discussed it with him before, but he doesn't want to use the same summoning beast as Naruto. He feels that toads don't suit him," Yoruha explained.
Jiraiya thought about it and agreed, "With Sasuke's personality, he wouldn't get along with the toads."
"Alright then, when Sasuke returns, take him to see Anko Mitarashi. She was once Orochimaru's disciple and has a summoning contract with Ryūchi Cave. You can find Ryūchi Cave through reverse summoning with her." Yoruha nodded, "Anko-sensei, huh?"
"A troublesome person," Yoruha thought as he recalled the first time he met Anko. Her approach was just like Orochimaru's, making Yoruha feel awkward for days, not wanting to see her.
However, Anko had a cheerful personality, though she had also adopted Orochimaru's style of ignoring gender differences.
Honestly, if it weren't for her being a beauty, her actions would have been quite off-putting. After chatting leisurely with Jiraiya on the rooftop for a long time, Yoruha called it a day. This was how Yoruha spent his days.
Being Tsunade's guard didn't involve much work. Even Genma Shiranui and the others were often idle. Yoruha even suspected that the reason those three hadn't made much progress in their skills was because they were stuck as Hokage guards.
They rarely trained or went on missions. Of course, Yoruha didn't train much either, but he had an idle system. The effect of his hard training wasn't much better than just taking it easy.
Still, Yoruha persisted in training, but not by reviewing the original jutsus. Instead, he focused on learning jutsu knowledge and creating new jutsus. He also went through all the jutsus in Konoha's database.
Now, the number of jutsus Yoruha mastered was definitely not less than the Third Hokage, perhaps even more, as he had derived many new jutsus from the original ones.
He was even researching Kekkei Genkai. Kekkei Genkai were actually created by ninjas and, unlike ordinary jutsus, could be passed down through bloodlines once developed.
For instance, the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, developed the Lava Release and Boil Release Kekkei Genkai herself.
If they could do it, Yoruha certainly could too, perhaps even more easily. If he wanted, he could even develop Wood Release. However, Wood Release was too sensitive; even if Yoruha developed it, he wouldn't use it.
Over a month later, Kakashi's team finally returned to the village. After more than a month of training, Sasuke could now enter Sage Mode instantly, though he could only maintain it for a minute before exiting.
The advantage was that he could maintain Sage Mode steadily without any side effects. Within that minute, Sasuke's strength could temporarily reach Kage level. Combined with his Sharingan, Itachi Uchiha would have a hard time defeating Sasuke without resorting to Izanami.
Meanwhile, Naruto had started adapting to the Nine-Tails' chakra, at least being able to maintain consciousness in the Two-Tails state.
In this form, he already possessed Kage-level destructive power. When the four of them entered the Hokage's office, they saw Yoruha and Jiraiya chatting by the window.
Tsunade was busy handling paperwork with a look of resentment. The reason was that she wanted Yoruha to help her with the paperwork, but he refused, even when she used her Hokage status.
While Tsunade was dealing with the paperwork, Yoruha and Jiraiya were having a pleasant conversation.
Tsunade somewhat regretted agreeing to become Hokage; wouldn't it have been better to let Jiraiya take the role?
When Naruto and the others saw Yoruha, they joked, "Yoruha, you're living the easy life, huh?"
Naruto teased. Sasuke smiled at Yoruha and said, "Yoruha, I've mastered Sage Mode." He wasn't worried about others knowing this secret.
Or rather, Sasuke trusted everyone in this office. Sakura looked at Sasuke with admiration, purely out of admiration for someone she liked.
After all, Yoruha was stronger, but Sakura didn't admire him as much. Kakashi looked at Yoruha with satisfaction. He was relieved to have nurtured such a talented individual for Konoha.
With Yoruha around, Kakashi wasn't worried about Konoha being threatened. He always felt that taking Yoruha as his disciple was the best decision he ever made.