After hearing the Great Toad Sage's latest prophecy, Jiraiya immediately canceled his plan to spend the night in Utamachi, in the Land of Grass.
He rushed back to the village without delay and had the messenger toad he'd left behind notify Tsunade and Orochimaru to meet him at the Hokage Office.
Inside the Hokage Office.
The instant a figure with long white hair appeared by the window, a flash of steel was already upon him.
Jiraiya immediately raised both hands. "Sakumo, it's me! It's me! Hurry up and put the White Fang away!"
Hatake Sakumo's masked face showed no expression. The White Fang remained at Jiraiya's throat until Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, and only then did he lower it.
"I asked him to come. It's fine."
"Jiraiya, next time, use the front door. Don't make trouble for Sakumo."
"White Fang, you may leave."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
After sheathing his Ninja Blade, Hatake Sakumo vanished in an instant. Tsunade and Orochimaru appeared in the office shortly afterward.
Hiruzen Sarutobi read the scroll Jiraiya had submitted and frowned. "Are you sure these are the only terms Kusagakure asked for in its alliance with Konoha?"
The proposed terms were far more modest than Hiruzen had expected.
They only wanted twenty thousand Kunai and fifty thousand Shuriken, and required Konoha to keep food prices from rising during the war.
The former were ordinary supplies for shinobi and hardly worth much. Kusagakure hadn't even asked for Explosive Tags. As for food, they weren't asking Konoha to lower its prices, either—just to keep them fair.
Though they called it an alliance, Hiruzen knew this was, at most, a large-scale mission. And Kusagakure wanted only these things?
Could Jiraiya actually be a diplomatic whiz, a rare talent in that field?
Hiruzen wasn't the only one surprised. Tsunade and