(Adjusted the timeline at the end of the previous chapter.)
In the days just after the second stage of the Chunin Exams ended.
Rumors about Naruto Uzumaki and Karin, a spy from Kusagakure, had reached nearly everyone in Konoha.
At a Konoha bathhouse, Jiraiya was gathering material for his novel while his ears caught the idle chatter of two middle-aged men nearby.
"So, that red-haired girl must be a spy sent by Kusagakure," one of the middle-aged men said with absolute certainty.
"But why isn't Lord Hokage doing anything about it?" the other asked in confusion.
"Hmph, the Third is old. His heart's gone too soft," the man said in a lowered voice.
Jiraiya let out a quiet sigh.
He had heard this sort of talk far too often over the past two days. At the same time, he had often "run into" Naruto—sometimes at the training grounds, sometimes on the streets.
Jiraiya tried to discern the boy's true thoughts through their everyday interactions.
Yet Naruto always remained polite toward him. Aside from the grand goal of "changing the ninja world" that he had revealed upon their first meeting, he was unwilling to discuss anything more deeply.
Jiraiya had tried jokes to close the distance between them, asked after him with an elder's concern, and had even bluntly voiced his worries about the village and Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki. But Naruto always answered smoothly, without revealing the slightest hint of what he truly thought.
"This assignment the old man gave me is really too troublesome."
Thinking that, Jiraiya scratched his head of white hair in frustration.
He could tell that Naruto was quite protective of Sasuke, the Uzumaki girl called Karin, and even the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan.
That concern did not seem feigned, nor was