Two of them grabbed his legs, while another pinned each arm. With a concerted effort, they brought him down onto the stone-paved ground beside the hot spring.
Choji, who had been slower to react, saw that the pervert's limbs had all been restrained. He stomped over with a thud, thud and plopped down right on the man's stomach.
"Pfft—"
Jiraiya's eyes bulged. That little fatty had picked far too perfect a spot to sit on; he felt like he was about to throw up the breakfast he had eaten that morning.
"What do we do next?"
They had subdued him, but they were at a loss over how to deal with him.
"Of course we hand him over to the security force!"
Naruto shouted.
"Do you little brats even know who I am? Untie me right now."
"Aren't you just a pervert? Who else could you be?"
Jiraiya said, "You little brat..."
Then, in no time at all, the group tied Jiraiya up with a scarf and stuffed his mouth shut.
"Um... esteemed guests, what are you doing?"
A waiter looked at Jiraiya on the ground and asked with a twitching mouth.
"You came at just the right time. This guy was sneaking around and peeping over there. You should send him to the security force."
"This..." The waiter looked at Jiraiya, whose mouth was stuffed shut and who could not speak, then muttered, "But Young Miss Hinata seems to be looking for this guest."
"What did you say? Little Hinata is looking for me? Where is she?"
Jiraiya stepped forward and placed both hands on the waiter's shoulders. No one knew how he had freed himself from his restraints.
"She's... she's waiting outside."
The waiter pointed outside.
Jiraiya headed outside wearing nothing but a scarf.
"I think I heard you mention Hinata's name just now?"
Hearing the name Hinata, Naruto stepped forward to question the waiter.
The others also came over. Since Hinata had graduated, they had not seen her even once.
"Little Hinata, what do you need me for?"
Hinata looked at Jiraiya, who was wearing only a scarf, and raised a brow. Wasn't he afraid of being seen by passing pedestrians?
"Teacher is looking for you. It seems he has a job for you."
"Seriously, that old man won't even let me rest a little longer." Jiraiya scratched his head.
"Last night, Danzo, the leader of Root, died."
Jiraiya froze. He truly had not known about that.
He had heard last night's explosion, but seeing that Hidden Leaf Village's Anbu had already gone over, he had not bothered to meddle.
He had not expected something so major to have happened.
Even so, even though Danzo was gone and Hidden Leaf Village had lost a major fighting force, he was not worried about Hidden Leaf Village in the slightest.
On the contrary, he was still celebrating inwardly that Danzo had finally died.
"Danzo's death is nothing, but he had been researching some things that alarmed Teacher. However, the materials related to his research have not been found, so he asked me to find you."
"This..." Jiraiya looked troubled. The moment he thought of research materials and all those words on a page, his head began to hurt. Novels did not count.
"I'm not good at looking for materials. Why ask me?"
"I don't know." Hinata answered decisively.
"You should hurry up and get dressed, then go. Don't keep Teacher waiting too long."
"Hinata, wait for me."
Jiraiya ran back and quickly got dressed.
As he was getting dressed, the little brats who had just tied him up like a caterpillar were getting dressed too.
"What are you doing? Aren't you soaking in the hot spring anymore?"
Shikamaru looked utterly unmotivated. "I wanted to go back and keep soaking, but Naruto dragged me here."
"Hey, pervert, how do you know Hinata?"
Naruto pointed at Jiraiya.
"What pervert? I am Jiraiya, known as the Toad Immortal!"
Jiraiya pointed his thumb at himself with a proud expression.
"What Toad Immortal? I think you're more like the Pervy Immortal."
"I won't lower myself to your level, brat."
Jiraiya glared at Naruto.
But now that he thought about it, looking at Naruto gave Jiraiya a strangely familiar feeling.
Jiraiya asked, "You know Hinata?"
Shino Aburame said, "We are her classmates, but she graduated in the test a few days ago. We haven't seen her these past few days."
"Oh, classmates."
"Me, me!"
Naruto raised his hand. "I'm Hinata's friend."
Jiraiya looked at Hinata. The more he looked at him, the more familiar he seemed, especially that head of blond hair.
Jiraiya asked, "Hey, brat, what's your name?"
Naruto put his hands on his hips. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to become Hokage someday!"
"Uzumaki... Uzumaki..."
So it was you.
Jiraiya looked at the six whisker marks on Naruto's face. Is this your child, Minato? He looks so much like you.
Before long, Jiraiya had gotten dressed, and Naruto's group was nearly done as well.
Men's clothes were just that simple.
"Hinata, let's go."
Jiraiya and Hinata headed toward the Hokage Building, but they moved slowly, as though waiting for something.
Hinata tilted her head toward Jiraiya. "Are you... waiting for something?"
Jiraiya smiled. "Your friends, and those classmates of yours."
"Friends..."
The first person Hinata thought of was Naruto. Other than him, she truly had no one else she could call a friend.
Hinata looked back. In just the time it took to walk a couple of steps, several children had come out of the hot spring's entrance.
They were Naruto and the others.
"Hinata!"
Naruto spotted Hinata too and happily waved at her.
Hinata stopped and waited for Naruto and the others.
"Hinata, where have you been these past few days? I went to your house, but I couldn't find you. They said you weren't there."
"Idiot Naruto, Hinata obviously went to train under Hokage-sama!" Sasuke looked smug as he stared at Naruto as though he were an idiot.
"Is that so... Hehe." Naruto scratched his head and gave a foolish grin.
"Classmate Hyuga, long time no see..."
"Woof, woof, woof—"
Akainu barked repeatedly as well. Even though no one could understand him, it was obvious that he was happy.
Shino, Shikamaru, and the others greeted Hinata one by one. They had missed her quite a bit too.
They simply had not expected Hinata to become Hokage-sama's final disciple.
Sasuke stared into Hinata's pupils. They were Tenseigan, azure-blue eyes unlike the Byakugan.
He had heard that they were the evolved form of the Byakugan, even more powerful than his family's Sharingan.
Sasuke pressed his lips together. He felt a wave of helplessness. He had originally thought he could get closer to Hinata, but instead, she was only getting farther and farther away.
Could he really catch up to Hinata?
"All right, it's only been a few days since we last met." Hinata comforted Naruto, who looked lonely. It was not hard to tell from his face that he must have been very lonely without seeing her these past few days. "In a few days, when I have time, I'll get together with all of you."
"Okay, it's a promise."
Hinata said, "It's a promise."
Then, Hinata and Jiraiya set off for the Hokage Building.
This time, Hinata used her spatial ability to arrive directly at the Hokage Building.
Before you continue