"I think the cost of his future predictions isn't as great as he claims. Why not let him make a prediction? That would give us better odds, wouldn't it?"
After Hawking left, Tsunade looked at Jiraiya with some confusion.
Although she could not verify Hawking's claim that predicting the future consumed one's lifespan, she knew deep down that there had to be something suspicious about it. It could not possibly be as serious as Hawking had made it sound.
Especially since Hawking had been unusually proactive about predicting the future today, which only confirmed her suspicions.
Thinking it over carefully, Hawking had come from another world. He had not grown up in Konoha Village, so why would he help them so much? Even if it was for ninjutsu, there was no reason for him to pay such a huge price.
And when she considered everything Hawking had done since arriving in Konoha—
It was clear that Hawking had never been the type of fool who did good deeds for nothing, nor was he someone willing to suffer losses. On the contrary, he was exceptionally clever and shrewd.
Hawking's gift-giving and social tactics might fool Naruto and Sakura, but deceiving old hands like them, who had seen the world for decades, would not be so easy.
It was only because everything Hawking had done so far benefited Konoha that she had been willing to tacitly engage in equivalent exchanges with him.
"Are you worried he'll demand too much of Konoha's ninjutsu? It wouldn't matter if we gave it to him. He isn't from this world anyway."
"No, I'm not worried about him taking too much of Konoha's ninjutsu. I'm worried we won't have enough ninjutsu left when the time comes."
Jiraiya shook his head.
"Tsunade, a master like Hawking has no