Jiraiya walked into the Mizukage's office with a stern expression, his wild, hedgehog-like white hair draped down his back.
"Greetings, Lord Mizukage."
He bowed slightly, then asked somewhat anxiously,
"Regarding the proposal we made..."
"Ah, wait. There's no rush for that."
Araki interrupted him from the side. "We still have a few doubts about the matters described in the Hokage's letter. Would you be willing to help clarify them?"
Jiraiya turned to glance at Araki, who was sitting on the sofa. Seeing that the Mizukage did not object, he barely suppressed his inner anxiety. "Of course. Please, go ahead."
"Someone, bring Mr. Jiraiya a seat!"
Karatachi Yagura called out to an Anbu, who brought Jiraiya a chair.
During this process, Araki happened to glance at Jiraiya's hands.
It was not because of some peculiar habit of murderers returning to the scene to admire their work. It was simply that, after making eye contact, he remembered that this was someone he had personally chopped up, so his gaze instinctively drifted toward where he had struck before.
To his surprise, Jiraiya's hands were completely intact, without even a bandage!
"Hiss~"
Araki drew in a soft breath and immediately felt that things were not so simple.
He had a good sense of how hard he had struck. Jiraiya's fingers had clearly been severed at the time.
If Tsunade could heal such injuries, then why had the Third Hokage's hand still been hanging limp when he came with Namikaze Minato last time?
So Araki probed cautiously. "I accidentally injured your hand last time, and I was worried that I might have struck too hard. Seeing that you have fully recovered now is truly reassuring."
Jiraiya: ...
Hearing Araki's words, he suddenly felt his hands begin to ache again, even though they had clearly been