In Konoha Hospital, medical staff rushed to the operating room one after another, looking in a hurry.

The reason is that Jiraiya, one of the three ninjas, went out on a mission and was seriously injured and was in critical condition. This was by no means an easy matter. Naturally, it attracted the attention of Konoha's top management and gathered Konoha's best medical staff here to try their best to save himself.

Come to life.

Jiraiya is not only the disciple of the previous Hokage, but also the mentor of the current Fourth Hokage. He is also a Konoha ninja who has made outstanding contributions to Konoha.

If something really happened to Jiraiya, it would be a huge loss to Konoha.

Outside the operating room, many people gathered.

As the Fourth Hokage, Minato also declined his afternoon work from his busy schedule and rushed here as soon as possible to understand the situation.

Teacher Jiraiya is dying, and as his disciple Minato, it is his duty to stand here and take care of him.

I don't know how much time passed, but the door of the operating room finally opened, and Tsunade walked out of it with a pale and tired face.

"Tsunade-sama, how is Jiraiya-sensei doing?"

Minato stepped forward with an anxious look on his face, wanting to know what was going on inside.

Tsunade looked up at Minato.

"It's you Minato. Don't worry, Jiraiya's injury has been initially suppressed and will not worsen. But the next step of surgery is still needed to allow him to recover."

Tsunade replied tiredly.

The feeling of surgery was disgusting to her. Even though she was not the one performing the surgery, she still felt a chill in her heart.

But Jiraiya has become like this. As a friend, I must go all out to heal Jiraiya's injury.

"Is that so?"

Minato let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Tsunade with gratitude and solemnly said: "Thank you very much, Tsunade-sama."

"No need, this is what I should do."

As if she failed to save the lives of her lover and brother, if even Jiraiya's life could not be saved this time, Tsunade would not be able to forgive herself at all.

"Speaking of which, I need a ninja from the Aburame clan and a ninja from the Hyuga clan to come and help."

Tsunade stated her request.

"Aburame and Hinata?"

"Yes. Jiraiya's injuries were probably caused by some kind of special explosive bug. I need the Aburame clan's knowledge about bugs. In order to ensure that the operation is completed safely, I also need the cooperation of Byakugan."

Although there is a high probability of completing the operation with her own ability, Tsunade wants to complete the operation as much as possible.

Besides, there are these resources within Konoha, and it would be a waste not to use them.

"I see."

Minato nodded and asked the two ANBU accompanying him to go to the Hinata and Aburame clans respectively.

Just as the ANBU left, another person came to visit Jiraiya. It was the former Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen who had retired.

When he heard that his disciple Jiraiya was dying, he immediately put down what he was doing and rushed over in a hurry.

"Minato, Tsunade, how are Jiraiya?"

"The deterioration of the injury has been suppressed, and there will be no major problems with subsequent surgeries."

Tsunade didn't say that it would be 100% successful, because the explosive bug in Jiraiya's body was really weird, and it had merged with Jiraiya's body. It was not that simple to remove it safely.

Even Tsunade, who is well-informed, saw this kind of injury for the first time.

Inviting ninjas from the Aburame clan and Hyuga clan will avoid more risks.

"Is that so?"

Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, he looked at Minato and asked, "Speaking of which, Minato, how did Jiraiya become like this?"

Hiruzen only knew that Jiraiya was seriously injured and dying, but he didn't know the specific reason.

Tsunade also looked at Minato with a curious expression. She was also curious about who hurt Jiraiya.

Among the famous ninjas known to the five major countries, not one of them used this explosive bug inhabiting the human body to kill their enemies.

Therefore, after treating Jiraiya, she also wanted to record this injury case in Konoha's medical system to prepare for any problems.

Minato said without hiding anything: "It's the Xuan Yuan Zhong, a bounty hunter group in the underground black market."

In the underground black market, there are both maverick individual bounty hunters and team-based bounty hunter groups. These bounty hunters known as groups are more difficult than lone bounty hunters.

"Xuan Yuan Zhong?"

Both Hiruzen and Tsunade couldn't help but frown when they heard this name.

If you remember correctly, these guys also appeared during the battle with Iwagakure more than two years ago. They were hired by Onoki, the third generation Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, to attack Konoha's supply points several times and caused a lot of trouble to Konoha.

However, the Konoha ninjas who had fought against the Xuanzu at that time had not suffered the same injuries as Jiraiya.

Are you hiding your clumsiness?

"Yes. There are a total of five people in the Xuan Yuan Zong. The bounty for each person is not very high, but the combined bounty for the five of them is also among the best in the underground black market. According to the information collected by Konoha, when they first debuted, It should have been six or seven years ago. Because he has become more famous recently, he is called the 'ninja hunting ninja' by many people. He has contacts with many wealthy businessmen and high-ranking officials in the ninja world, and handles some shady things."

Minato told what he knew.

Hiruzen nodded, as he understood almost everything.

"Five people can hurt Jiraiya to this extent. This is not something that ordinary bounty hunters can do."

Tsunade looked cautious.

Generally speaking, bounty hunters are unattractive guys.

But there are also those free ninjas and samurai who are powerful and not affiliated with the country and the ninja village system, and are engaged in underground black market work.

Obviously, Xuan Yuanzhong is such a group.

"yes."

Minato also sighed.

His teacher, Jiraiya, is one of the three ninjas after all, and is the most powerful ninja in the ninja world. There may be some carelessness in this, but being able to defeat Jiraiya also explains something.

The Xuan Yuanzhong are by no means ordinary ninja mercenaries.

The combined strength of the five of them is even greater than that of the Sannin.

It was also the first time that Minato felt that the underground black market was really a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger. Although there were not many powerful bounty hunters like Xuan Yuzhong, there were definitely many.

"Besides, I'm more worried about Kakashi's safety than Mr. Jiraiya."

Minato frowned, the cloud lingering.

"Kakashi? What happened to him?"

"In order to allow Mr. Jiraiya to escape safely, Kakashi alone diverted the pursuers of the Xuanmen. There is still no news."

Minato replied.

Hiruzen and Tsunade both fell silent.

If Jiraiya was seriously injured and unable to fight at that time, it would indeed be the best choice for Kakashi to divert the pursuers alone and let the rest of the ANBU safely return Jiraiya to Konoha.

But that was a powerful enemy that even Jiraiya, one of the three ninjas, could defeat. With Kakashi's strength, he was probably already in danger at this moment.

Compared to Tsunade's sigh, Hiruzen's face not only sighed, but also felt guilty.

Konoha and him owe a lot to the surname Hatake.

Not long after, the ANBU returned and brought over the ninjas from the Hyuga clan and the Aburame clan.

Hinata Hizashi, and Aburame Shiwei were the Hinata and Aburame ninjas brought over by the ANBU.

Tsunade took the two of them in and started the follow-up surgery.

After Minato saw Tsunade and others entering, only he and the Third Hokage Hiruzen were left in the corridor, as well as the ANBU who were safely guarding the surrounding area.

"Sandaime-sama, I have something I want to discuss with you. Can you come over?"

Minato made a certain decision and said to Hiruzen.

"Eh? Of course."

Hiruzen was stunned for a moment, followed Minato out of the corridor outside the operating room, and found a quiet and uninhabited place to stop.

"You can say it here, Minato."

Hiruzen was curious about what Minato was going to tell him.

Minato did not speak immediately, but took out a scroll from his arms and placed it in front of Hiruzen.

"This is the information brought back by Mr. Jiraiya and the ANBU. Moreover, I have sent people to the specified dens to conduct on-site investigation. I believe there will be results soon."

Minato's nonsensical words made Hiruzen even more confused.

I had no choice but to take the scroll, open it and read the contents.

His face looked normal at first, but after a while, Hiruzen's face was covered with an ashen color, and he was so gloomy that he could not speak.
To be continued...