Trees Chapter 350 Our Condolences

The two figures ahead were dressed in standard Konoha’s Shinobi attire… green flak jackets, black pants, and sandals on their feet.

They also wore Konoha’s forehead protectors on their heads.

At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly wrong.

But...

This outfit had been outdated for years!

Not to mention...

The Ninja Tool pouches at their waists made Naruto want to facepalm.

In recent years, Konoha had been frequently targeted by attacks.

In order to enhance the overall combat effectiveness, Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, decisively abolished the traditional Ninja Tool pouches and signed a decade-long arms deal with the Scientific Truth Society and the Cult Mechanicus to bolster the village’s combat strength.

Now, every Konoha’s Chunin and Jonin...

Carried two guns at their waists… one a Scientific Ninja Tool capable of casting defensive Ninjutsu, and the other a bolt pistol that fired miniature rockets.

Though Tsunade was usually unreliable, she took equipment upgrades for her subordinates very seriously.

‘What the hell...’

‘Were these two idiots brain-dead or something??’

‘Did they not even bother to gather proper intel before trying to fool us?’

Naruto and Sasuke, who had been chasing each other, instinctively sensed something off and stopped in front of the two.

But before they could even ask anything, the two spoke first.

"Yo, Naruto, Sasuke."

"I didn’t expect to run into you guys here!"

Naruto: “???”

Sasuke: “???”

Since Sasuke hadn’t brought his Heavy Xuan Ruler when he left camp, and his black cloak had been washed after he pissed himself that morning…

Their current outfits weren’t too different from their original appearances.

The two Reincarnators, seeing the two protagonists, enthusiastically greeted them.

But Naruto and Sasuke were utterly baffled.

‘Huh?’

‘What the hell was this??’

‘Since when did anyone in the Shinobi World greet us so warmly??’

‘And with such enthusiasm??’

‘Had the sun risen from the west today??’

Team 7’s reputation across the Shinobi World had always been terrible.

‘Not only was their disguise sloppy...’

‘But this level of friendliness was just ridiculous!’

Sasuke nodded coldly, but his gaze fell on the two idiots’ wrists.

He noticed they were both wearing red wristwatch.

‘Wait…’

‘Were these the Reincarnators Naruto had mentioned yesterday?’

‘Damn it!’

‘Naruto's goddamn jinxing mouth!!’

"Hey, hello, both of you!"

Naruto squinted his eyes, his smile bright and sunny, his entire demeanor radiating harmless stupidity.

As if telling them, ‘I’m an idiot, easy to trick, come at me.’

The moment Naruto spoke, the two Reincarnators inwardly rejoiced.

‘Just as expected!’

‘Uzumaki Naruto is just a hot-blooded idiot!’

‘So easy to manipulate!’

They immediately lowered their guard against Naruto and shifted their focus to Sasuke.

Because in their eyes, Sasuke was far more perceptive than Naruto.

However...

For a first meeting, they seemed to have successfully fooled both protagonists.

Sasuke nearly gagged at Naruto’s acting.

He had never seen the yellow-haired delinquent make such an expression before.

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, and after a brief exchange of looks, they gave each other a subtle nod.

Then, Sasuke cast a Genjutsu on Naruto.

The two began communicating within the Genjutsu.

"There's something wrong with those two."

Inside the Genjutsu Space, Naruto spoke first, making Sasuke fall silent for a few seconds.

"That..."

"Are they the Reincarnators you mentioned?"

Naruto was just about to say that it was impossible, but then he heard Sasuke's well-reasoned analysis.

First, they both had red wristwatchs.

Second, their expressions...

No matter how friendly they acted, the disdain and condescension in their eyes were impossible to hide.

‘Damn it!’

‘It actually matched up!?’

Naruto’s heart sank.

Realizing these two might actually be Reincarnators, his expression darkened instantly.

And then came the rage.

‘Goddammit!!’

‘Did they really have to keep invading our world like this!?’

Sasuke, noticing his good brother’s anger, patted his shoulder and said solemnly, "Let’s play along for now."

"See if we can extract any intel from them."

Sasuke was very wary of those two.

Because Naruto had mentioned that these people possessed abilities from other worlds.

Right now, they were completely in the dark, with zero information on their opponents.

Rushing into a fight might be satisfying, but it wouldn’t bring any real benefits.

"Fine."

"Let’s see how things play out first."

Naruto reluctantly agreed with Sasuke’s suggestion. He wasn’t entirely sure about the enemy’s strength either.

But...

He wasn’t particularly worried.

If worst came to worst, he could just call his son for backup.

And if these guys were from some overpowered world like the Primordial Chaos...

Well, he’d just have to pull out the Sword of the Cosmos and see who came out on top.

After their brief exchange, Sasuke dispelled the Genjutsu.

To the outside world, they had only frozen for a few seconds.

"Naruto..."

"We heard about your master..."

"Our condolences."

"Jiraiya-sama would surely be so proud of what you’ve achieved now."

The Reincarnator named Chen Feng assumed Naruto’s momentary pause was due to grief over Jiraiya’s death.

Even if it wasn’t, no big deal...

He planned to use Jiraiya to build rapport with the protagonist.

After all, this tactic had worked wonders in previous worlds.

Most protagonists ate that stuff right up.

A question mark slowly formed in Naruto's head.

‘Jiraiya... condolences?’

‘Wait...’

‘Did these idiots not do any research at all??’

Sasuke nearly lost his composure when he heard that.

Opportunities always come to those who are prepared.

Realizing these two morons had zero information and were mistakenly assuming this was the original work, Naruto almost burst out laughing.

But to avoid tipping them off, Naruto hid his right hand behind his back and pinched his own waist hard.

‘I, Uzumaki Naruto, is now going to start showing off my acting skills!’

"Sigh..."

"My master..."

"Sacrificed so much for Konoha!"

Naruto’s face twisted with sorrow, his voice thick with guilt.

"It’s all my fault..."

"I was useless… I couldn’t even recover his body..."

Sasuke: "..."

Naruto’s acting was scarily convincing. If any Konoha’s Shinobi were present, they might actually believe Tsunade had beaten Jiraiya to death.

Sasuke turned his head away, gritting his teeth to suppress the smirk threatening to break out. He couldn’t risk laughing in front of the Reincarnators.

The two Reincarnators exchanged subtle glances, their eyes flashing with the same thought:

‘We’ve got this in the bag!’

‘Uzumaki Naruto had completely let his guard down!’

Seizing the moment, Chen Feng stepped forward to offer comfort, hoping to solidify their bond.

"Yeah! We’ve all seen Jiraiya-sama in action..."

"His sacrifices for the village will never be forgotten!"

"Sigh..."

Meanwhile, the supposedly deceased Jiraiya was currently lurking in a bookstore, acting suspicious.

"Achoo! Achoo! Ach—hah... choo!!!!"

Jiraiya sneezed seven times in a row, startling Kakashi beside him.

"Jiraiya-sama, are you alright?"

"Weird... I’m not sick or anything. What’s going on today?"

Jiraiya muttered in confusion before waving Kakashi off.

"Kakashi..."

"Take these CDs and sell them first."

"Just make sure Tsunade doesn’t find out."

"That woman has no idea how much we’ve contributed to the Shinobi World."