After politely declining Jiraiya's invitation, Naruto stared deeply at the latter's back.
After witnessing the power of the Spiraling Ring, Jiraiya seemed to have lost his interest in sightseeing. With his back to Naruto, he walked toward the center of Uzushio Village.
Naruto did not immediately follow Jiraiya. He did not believe Jiraiya would take the opportunity to stir up chaos in Uzushio.
In his impression, Jiraiya was a well-meaning old man who pursued world peace—provided that peace was achieved under Konoha's leadership.
Yet paradoxically, Jiraiya had always wanted to find the Child of Prophecy who would bring peace, rather than become that Child of Prophecy himself.
Placing the future and hope in some vague, ethereal savior was an extremely unreliable course of action. It would be better to become Hokage and, as the leader of the greatest shinobi village in the shinobi world, take the initiative to create the future.
Compared to that most fundamental issue, whether his identity as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had been exposed was secondary.
Jiraiya and the Third Hokage could not possibly reveal his identity to the public. As for Danzo, he did not even count as a threat. If Danzo truly dared to leave Konoha, there would be many, many people who wanted to deal with him.
After that brief reflection, Naruto leapt onto the roof of Uzumaki Shrine. Looking out over the distant streets of Uzushio Village, he fell into thought.
Seeing that no conflict had erupted between Naruto and Jiraiya, Minato Namikaze breathed a sigh of relief.
Naruto had formed a bond with the Nine-Tails, and his strength had reached the so-called Kage-level. Jiraiya-sensei, who had mastered Sage Arts, was likewise a shinobi on the level of the Five Kage. There was no such thing as holding back in a battle between