Chapter 500: Is Nadeshiko Village Going to Be Renamed Sage Village?
Jiraiya was completely stunned by the scolding.
"Uh, first of all, this doesn't seem like a bad thing, right? How can you say 'whenever something bad happens, you think of us'? Maybe the village head's disciple is a stunning beauty?"
As he said this, Jiraiya looked toward Tokiwa, signaling her to quickly back him up.
"To be precise, it's our current village head and not the one you made a promise with, Jiraiya, our former village head… Well, never mind that. Anyway, our current village head really is a beauty."
Tokiwa gave a confirming nod.
Jiraiya struck a pose as if to say, "See? I was right."
"So what if she's a beauty? What does that have to do with me?"
Konan's teeth were practically grinding.
"Maybe the village head has very nimble fingers… I mean, she might be very fast at forming hand seals—ah—!"
Before Jiraiya could finish, he was sent flying.
He shot straight out of the towering command tower and fell down below.
"Please go ahead. Your village's promise—go find Jiraiya's disciple, Uzumaki Naruto, to fulfill it. It has nothing to do with us."
Konan said coldly as she dispersed the paper wings she had just formed.
Tokiwa turned around awkwardly and left.
She hadn't expected that after so many years, Jiraiya was still so obscene.
And he was even making jokes like that about his own disciple.
No wonder he got thrown out.
Wait! Something's wrong!
Tokiwa suddenly realized something and quickly sped up toward the outside.
That height meant nothing to a ninja, especially not to someone like Jiraiya.
But what if he used being knocked away as an excuse to escape?
To her surprise, Jiraiya hadn't run this time.
After falling, he was sitting on a rooftop, looking depressed.
"If only I had taken more disciples back then… would Naruto really work for this?"
Jiraiya scratched his head in frustration.
Putting aside Naruto's crush on Sakura and Sakura's feelings for Sasuke, Naruto also had the Tailed Beasts inside him.
During his time in Amegakure, Jiraiya had already learned from Sage Shima that after he left, Naruto went to Mount Myoboku and received that prophecy.
With so many "backup candidates" around Naruto, how could a mere Nadeshiko Village village head possibly bind him down?
"Jiraiya, neither of your disciples accepted. What are you going to do now?"
Tokiwa walked up beside him and asked.
"Ahem… actually, I did that to save face for your village head. I deliberately acted this way."
Jiraiya put on an air of deep wisdom.
"What do you mean?"
Tokiwa didn't understand.
"What do I mean? Tokiwa, do you really think the promise between me and your village head… the former village head… was about letting our disciples go on blind dates?"
"Our promise was to let our disciples have another duel—according to your village's rule of 'marriage as the wager', they would fight again."
"If your village head truly wants to succeed, she'd need to defeat Nagato or Konan."
"I don't know how strong your current village head is after training, but she is definitely not a match for Nagato and Konan."
Jiraiya sighed as he spoke.
"Nagato and Konan won't give your village head any special treatment. They absolutely won't hold back. As for Naruto… maybe he could—"
"Yeah, our village rules are indeed like that… that's why our village head sent me to Amegakure to seek technical support. But now… sigh."
Tokiwa sat down beside Jiraiya and sighed as well.
After a moment of silence, Tokiwa spoke again.
"So what are you going to do? Let your other disciple Naruto try?"
"Even Naruto's strength isn't something your village head can withstand. Even if Naruto is kinder and might go easy on her, he would never compromise. In the end, the best outcome would be no different from mine."
Jiraiya shook his head and refused.
This time, he didn't throw Naruto under the bus again.
Although blaming Naruto would have been the easiest solution—It could at least delay things for a long time, even if it didn't solve anything.
"I've got it!"
Jiraiya suddenly thought of an idea.
"What's 'got it'?"
"I've got a solution."
Jiraiya said excitedly, "Anyway, Naruto is already preparing to spread Sage Mode across the entire shinobi world. We can take this opportunity to let your village learn it early."
"If you master Sage Mode, you won't have to worry about your village declining under those rules anymore."
"Then your village head won't need to struggle over fulfilling that promise with my disciple, right?"
"Sage Mode? Really?"
Tokiwa was shocked.
She hadn't expected Jiraiya to be willing to teach them something like that legendary technique.
Wait—no.
"Do we even have the talent to learn it?"
Tokiwa voiced her doubt.
This wasn't self-doubt. It was genuine self-awareness.
"Of course. My disciple Uzumaki Naruto has developed a shortcut. Let me tell you—"
Jiraiya suddenly wore a lecherous grin.
Bang.
Something smashed into Jiraiya's head and fell into Tokiwa's arms.
A scroll.
"Ow! Who did that?"
Jiraiya held his head and turned around.
It was Nii Yugito.
After handing the secret scroll to Shiromo, Shiromo immediately scanned and uploaded its contents to Orochimaru.
The original scroll was no longer needed, so it was returned to its owner, Nii Yugito.
As for the matter of the Two-Tails' jinchūriki, Yugito felt it would be better to discuss it somewhere more private.
Talking about it in front of Nagato and Konan while speaking with Shiromo just didn't feel right.
So Yugito arranged a dinner with Shiromo to discuss matters related to the Tailed Beasts and left the command tower.
On her way out, she just happened to hear Jiraiya boasting.
Jiraiya's intention to spread Sage Mode to Nadeshiko Village was good, but with that lecherous smile, it clearly wasn't entirely pure in intent.
So the warm-hearted passerby Nii Yugito directly threw the compiled Sage Mode manual at him.
"This is the technique manual Uzumaki Naruto and the others compiled. With this, your Nadeshiko Village won't need this perverted guy as a teacher."
Nii Yugito said calmly before leaping away.
"…Huh?"
Jiraiya hadn't expected that while he didn't betray Naruto, Naruto had instead stabbed him in the back from miles away.
He opened it and saw the contents were extremely complete.
Some of the details were even things he himself didn't know, and reading it was genuinely beneficial.
Now he was truly useless here.
Jiraiya fell into depression.
"What? This shortcut is… is this fake?"
Tokiwa only read the beginning before being completely shocked by the so-called "shortcut."
This reaction was completely normal—any reasonable person would be shocked.
"It's real. Even if you don't believe me, you should believe that person. And even if you don't believe her, you can ask Nagato and Konan."
"I suspect she was just there to deliver this to Nagato and the others anyway."
(End of this chapter)