"Mm."
The Third Hokage did not hide anything further from Jiraiya's words that were difficult to continue, nor from the shock that uncontrollably surfaced on his face. He simply nodded directly.
Though he offered no verbal confirmation, that nod alone was already an affirmative answer.
Taki Chiba was still alive.
"Is... is that so?"
Hearing words that amounted to an absolute confirmation, Jiraiya drew a slight breath before speaking. "Was it that child's idea again?"
"Mm!"
The Third Hokage nodded again in affirmation.
Concealing the fact that he was alive and declaring him dead amid the turmoil of the Nine-Tails' Rampage had indeed been Chiba's idea.
The purpose was to secretly investigate Uchiha Nobuhiko.
Of course, there was also an element of deterrence involved.
That was right—deterrence.
It was also meant to deter the other four great shinobi villages, lest they get any restless ideas because of the Nine-Tails' Rampage.
After all, Konoha had announced the death of a ninja of Chiba's caliber at a time when it had been gravely weakened by the Nine-Tails' Rampage. That alone was rather unusual.
In the eyes of the other villages, after the Fourth Hokage's death, the one supporting Konoha's deterrent power was undoubtedly Konoha's Little Monster, Taki Chiba—the youth who had become famous with a single battle during the Third Great Ninja War and shone just as brightly as the Fourth Hokage.
Even if that Little Monster had truly died, his death could not possibly have been announced at the same time as the Fourth Hokage's.
Wouldn't that seem as if Konoha were telling every other shinobi village that it was at its weakest point in history, badly depleted, with countless ninja dead and two of its main pillars broken? Come attack us now.
Then, combined with the image Chiba had in