Wait... to die?
The abrupt voice made the already stunned ninjas and ordinary people in Konoha freeze again.
Those words were clearly directed at them. Besides, the only people here who could be waiting to die were them.
It couldn't possibly be Uchiha Nobuhiko, who had launched the attack, or Lord Chiba, who was currently fighting Uchiha Shingan, could it? Neither of them looked like they were waiting to die.
But even if they were the only ones who could be waiting to die, they still could not quite process it. Or rather, they did not understand how they had ended up waiting to die.
After several bouts of despair and terror—especially after suffering several moments of despair in such a short span of time—the ninjas of Konoha had repeatedly strained their nerves. Or rather, the excessive mental activity in so little time had pushed their minds into a state of exhaustion. Thinking had become exceedingly difficult; their heads had grown sluggish.
"L-Lord Jiraiya!"
Then, a sudden cry interrupted everyone's thoughts about the words "waiting to die." Someone had finally spotted the source of that voice.
Lord Jiraiya! At those words, nearly everyone turned their heads faster, their gazes abruptly falling upon the tallest building in the area.
On top of that tallest building stood a white-haired man with his arms folded, looking down at them. Amid his flowing long braid, his once somewhat carefree face no longer bore any trace of its usual expression. There was only gravity, heaviness, and a faintly angry look of reproach.
As though he were blaming them.
That white-haired man was none other than Lord Jiraiya, one of Konoha's Sannin.
Jiraiya? At this moment, Jiraiya's words had drawn not only the attention of Konoha's ninjas and the few civilians, but also that of Black-robed