Chương 165: Regressor.

"Tobi… how are we going to go down if Tsunade won't allow Haruto to transform into a spirit anymore?" Hashirama asked softly.

"We have to dissuade her somehow and remind her that she has to resurrect us soon."

"Tsunade will do so when the time is right. She is not ignorant of the dangers, she simply wants to assert her position and the position of the mysterious person that contacts her often so that she is not walking into a trap of some kind. Moreover there are other things that worry me right now." Tobirama said calmly.

"Other things?" Kushina asked politely.

"I suspect Haruto's new fire resistant body is a gift from the other room connected to him."

"How do you know that?" Hashirama asked dumbly.

"Maybe he's like me, he has a special body?" But Tobirama shook his head, "That is not really possible since he suffered from extensive burns the first time I saved him from the explosive tags explosion."

"But what about it worries you, Lord Second?" Kushina asked again prompting Minato to step in and explain Tobirama's worries.

"If Tsunade-sama gets to know that Haruto suddenly developed a fire resistant body it'll be bad for him. She'll think he was replaced by someone, or worse.." Gasp!

"I did not think of it like that!" Kushina said softly.

"So we have to prepare a plan to save Haruto from that in case Tsunade figures out that something is wrong with him before she summons us." Tobirama said with a tinge of worry in his voice.

"Hmmm…" Mito instantly caught onto the worry in Tobirama's voice, and she ruthlessly exposed him for it, "Prepare a plan to save him? Who was it that wanted Haruto to get caught earlier and thought he was a spy?" Tobirama's cheeks reddened slightly before he spoke up, "No spy would've nearly sacrificed their lives to save the village."

"Oh? So you think Haruto-kun is a good boy now do you?" Mito asked much to Tobirama's chagrin.

"Let's leave that discussion there and really figure out how we're going to save Haruto if he gets caught." Tobirama said, trying to divert the topic much to everyone's amusement.

Under the cover of darkness, Tsunade slipped out of the Senju compound and arrived at the I. T department. Tsunade spotted the hidden guards patrolling around the department and frowned.

'Should I go in through the normal route? Or…'

'No… can't leave any traces for what I'm about to do… or if someone figures out that there's a spy in Konoha and he takes drastic actions to harm the village it'll be a mess.' Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Tsunade quietly reduced the chakra in her body to the absolute minimum to pretend she was a stray animal to fool the sensors before she used that minimum chakra to slip past the patrols and enter the records office.

'Hmm… Kakashi said that brat left the academy about three months ago now…'

'Registers from three months ago… should be around here…'

'Aha! Got it.' Tsunade quickly opened the register and began looking for pages with doodles. She's already consulted Kakashi regarding Haruto's habits and knew that he doodled on the margins of the register during his time as a guard. She quickly found one such page and studied it intently.

'This is the same handwriting that he has now…' Tsunade noted. But she didn't stop there. Tsunade pulled out a different page from her shinobi tools pouch. She unfolded the paper and began comparing the handwriting in it to the register. If one looked carefully, the paper Tsunade was using was a test paper. Yes, it was Haruto's test paper from before the current 'Haruto' had transmigrated into his body. Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she looked at the handwriting.

'They're…'

'... different.' It was at that point in time that Tsunade suddenly heard a voice beside her.

"So you were here… are you really going to try and pin my existence on a little boy? Do I really sound like a boy who hasn't even properly lost all his milk teeth yet?" Tsunade's body tightened since this was the first time she was actually seeing the person who had always stolen her body before. Only she felt a little disappointed.

"Then get out of that ridiculous costume you're in and show me your face." Tsunade said politely but firmly.

"Or are you going to possess me too and then replace me like you replaced the boy?"

"Oh? You think I killed the boy?" Ultra Fighter asked.

"Then? Why would his handwriting change otherwise if you didn't? You're clearly piloting the body of the boy. You dropped out of the academy so that no one would recognise you and then joined the workforce so that you can generate a cover story while spying on the village. Is that wrong?"

"You are wrong… I don't know how you deluded yourself into believing all that, but you're wrong." Ultra Fighter said calmly.

"If you really think I'm piloting the body of the young brat, why don't you ask him questions about his time in the academy? Surely he shouldn't know about it in detail if I just took over the body, right?" Tsunade shook her head, "You could've read his memories before you killed him."

"And I didn't care to copy his handwriting?" Ultra Fighter countered. Tsunade ground her teeth but then spat out, "If not what other reason could there be for the change in his handwriting?" Ultra Fighter took a deep breath and spoke quietly, "Remember I told you about an oracle before?" Tsunade nodded.

"The boy was prophesied to save the world from a great disaster. Or rather prophesied to be its only hope when it was in great disaster." Ultra Fighter said.

"What's that got to do with his handwriting?"

"I don't know if you'll believe me when I say this…" Ultra Fighter said slowly, "... but he's already been through this, saving the world business, once… and failed… to put it simply… he's a regressor… a failed regressor."

"Huh?" Tsunade's brain short circuited.

"I simply took away his memories of his regression so that he wouldn't try and kill himself."

"HUH!?"

Haruto felt someone sucking his toes and shot awake instantly.

"Wha- oh it's you Tonton." Haruto said, scratching his stomach lazily.

"Oink!" Haruto pulled his leg back from Tonton and looked at the window where he saw a man sitting on the ledge reading a scroll.

"Jiraiya-sama… to what do I owe you the pleasure… this late in the night?" Haruto asked, looking at the moonbeams shining through the window in the dead of the night. Jiraiya laughed softly.

"Nothing Haruto-kun… Tonton was just being naughty… I'll take her elsewhere… you can go back to sleep now."

"Huh?" Haruto looked super confused for a second before he simply shook his head and fell back into the pillow, fast asleep. Jiraiya looked at Tsunade and then at the floating apparition beside her before looking back at her.

"There you have it Tsunade… Haruto-kun is not related to any of this… he's innocent."

"But… But…" Tsunade's eyes trembled rapidly.

"But how!?" Tsunade whispered in terrible shock and horror. She repeatedly looked at Ultra Fighter who had just told her something absolutely unbelievable and then at Jiraiya who knew nothing about it.

"Sometimes… Truth is stranger than fiction." Ultra fighter said calmly as if he were speaking wise words.