Meanwhile, within the Land of Rivers.
A white figure raced through the forest. It was Jiraiya, who had left Hoshigakure and immediately set off for his next mission site without stopping.
According to the coordinates Naruto had provided, his destination was a mining village in the Land of Rivers known as Katabami Gold Mine.
Raiga Kurosuki... one of the former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, wielder of the Lightning Blades: Kiba...
As he traveled, Jiraiya recalled the information in the scroll Naruto had given him.
When he read the descriptions of the man's temperament and methods, Jiraiya's normally carefree, easygoing expression could not help but tighten into a faint frown.
He liked to punish villagers in the form of "funerals"... meaning burying them alive?
Thinking of the details mentioned in the intelligence, a flicker of disgust crossed Jiraiya's eyes.
And he wept as if he truly meant it?
What a twisted kind of amusement...
Most of the ninja who had defected from the Bloody Mist Village were cruel by nature and regarded human lives as worthless.
In Jiraiya's eyes, Raiga Kurosuki's actions had already gone beyond the usual motives of rogue ninja seeking money or fleeing danger. He seemed more like a psychopath who took pleasure in tormenting others.
Jiraiya snorted inwardly. Indiscriminately killing innocents, and doing it with such ritualized cruelty...
He's utterly without limits, feeding on the suffering of others.
There was no value in recruiting someone like him. He would only taint the new future Naruto wanted to build.
Almost the instant he finished reading all the intelligence, Jiraiya had made his decision.
Besides, Naruto had placed this man's life and death entirely in his hands.
So Jiraiya's plan was simple.
Kill Raiga Kurosuki and remove this festering tumor.
That would be the best answer he