"Uh…"
The medical ninja thought for a moment.
"With his condition, he'll probably be unconscious for one to two days."
"Then while Akashō is unconscious, I'll have to ask you all to wait here quietly."
Jiraiya cast a cold glance at the four children standing nearby.
Cough, cough…
At that moment, a weak coughing sound suddenly came from the hospital room. Jiraiya froze, then immediately turned around.
"Akashō!?"
"Jiraiya… is that you…"
Akashō pretended to have just woken up, licking his dry lips.
"I'm here, I'm here!"
Jiraiya rushed forward and grabbed Akashō's hand.
"How are you? Does anything hurt?"
Akashō gave a bitter smile. "Everything hurts…"
Jiraiya's expression dimmed. Of course—how could a five-year-old child who suffered such injuries feel okay?
Thinking this, he unconsciously tightened his grip on Akashō's hand.
"I'm sorry…"
"Sorry my ass."
Akashō forced a grin. "What's it got to do with you? You weren't the one who hit me."
Jiraiya rubbed his eyes. Even after being hurt like this, the kid was still trying to comfort him.
"Oh, right."
Jiraiya suddenly stood up and pointed toward the four children by the door.
"The one who beat you like this—was it that one called Kabuto, or those three boys next to him?"
Akashō followed the direction Jiraiya pointed, but his body suddenly trembled violently. His grip on Jiraiya tightened, and he shrank back behind him.
Jiraiya's expression changed. He quickly reached out and pulled the trembling Akashō into his arms.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm here. You don't need to be afraid. Tell me—who hurt you? I'll make sure you get justice."
After quite a while of Jiraiya's comforting, Akashō finally stopped trembling. Then, under the tense gazes of the four children, he buried his head in Jiraiya's chest and slowly raised a finger.
"Huh!?"
The three troublemakers froze instantly. They stared in disbelief at the finger pointing at them, feeling the air around them turn cold.
"N-No, it wasn't us!"
"Akashō, Akashō, lift your head and take a good look—did you mistake us for someone else?"
"No way! It must've been Kabuto who attacked you from behind after we left! Don't let him fool you!"
One of the troublemakers reacted the most strongly. In his eyes, this was all Kabuto's scheme. He quickly stepped toward the hospital bed, wanting to pull Akashō over and clear things up.
But before he could take more than two steps, Jiraiya's cold gaze had already locked onto him.
"The evidence is already clear, and you're still arguing? Why are you coming over here—planning to keep hurting Akashō and force him to change his statement!?"
"I…"
The boy's breath hitched. Frightened by Jiraiya, he froze in place, not daring to say another word.
Jiraiya swept his cold gaze over the three of them.
"As orphans taken in by Konoha, instead of improving yourselves, you bully your peers and beat someone younger than you half to death."
"I really want to slap trash like you to death!"
In an instant, Jiraiya's powerful chakra surged, even his hair lifting and swaying.
The three troublemakers were already collapsed on the ground in terror, shaking uncontrollably.
They might not understand Jiraiya's status in Konoha, but one thing was certain—if he truly wanted to act, no one would step in to save them.
"Jiraiya-sama."
At that moment, a voice suddenly reached everyone's ears. They turned to look and saw Yakushi Nono standing at the doorway.
"Nono, I know you're kind-hearted, but you'd better not interfere in this matter."
"That's not it, Jiraiya-sama. I'm not here to plead for them."
The smile had vanished from Yakushi Nono's face. She glanced at the boys, who looked at her as if seeing hope, but there was disappointment in her eyes.
"After all, you wouldn't really bring yourself to kill three children, would you?"
Jiraiya let out a cold laugh. "So? You're here to do it for me?"
"No."
Yakushi Nono adjusted her glasses, the lenses flashing with a cold glint.
"Compared to expelling them from Konoha and letting them fend for themselves, wouldn't it be a better punishment to have them join Root?"
"Root?"
Jiraiya paused, falling into thought.
The three boys' eyes lit up with hope as well. Though they didn't know what Root was, compared to being slapped to death or thrown out of Konoha to survive on their own—could anything be worse?
After a long while, under everyone's gaze, Jiraiya finally nodded faintly. "Fine."
Yakushi Nono bowed slightly. "Then I'll take them away."
She then hauled the three limp boys up like sacks of mud and said to Kabuto beside her,
"I have something to take care of. You can head back on your own later."
"Okay."
Kabuto nodded blankly, then looked ahead at Akashō, who was lying in Jiraiya's arms.
From his angle, he could clearly see that Akashō was smiling at him.
Then Akashō moved his lips silently, and Kabuto instantly understood the unspoken words.
"No need to thank me."