After seeing Jiraiya off.
Karatachi Yagura looked at Araki. "What did you get from him just now that made you so happy?"
"Are you interested in the Sage Mode he mentioned?"
Araki smiled mysteriously.
"Of course!"
Hozuki Sengetsu grinned. "A technique that can raise your combat strength by at least one level—who wouldn't want it? Too bad, even if he said all that just now, he probably won't really tell us everything. At the very least, he won't tell us all of it."
The people of Kirigakure were not naive enough to be casually fooled by Jiraiya's empty promises.
Although Araki, who knew something of Jiraiya's personality from the original story, guessed that Jiraiya himself might not have intended to go back on his word, Orochimaru was the one calling the shots in Konoha now!
Even if they really handed over the so-called Sage Mode later, who could guarantee it was not an experimental variant of the Snake Cursed Seal?
So, if Mist Village wanted to truly become self-sufficient, it still had to rely on its own hands.
"If they won't give it to us, we can make it ourselves!"
"How? By taking it by force?"
Hozuki Sengetsu reached back and gripped the hilt of Hiramekarei. A bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face, as though he were ready to rush out and chop Jiraiya into pieces at any moment.
"Wait, Sengetsu!"
Karatachi Yagura hurriedly stopped him, then stared suspiciously at Hozuki Sengetsu. "You aren't Chief Steel Bone in disguise, are you?"
"Mm-hmm."
Araki nodded repeatedly from the side as well.
That charging in headfirst at the slightest disagreement really did have the style of those flat-headed Kaguya Clan maniacs.
"Joking? That old bastard could disguise himself as me?"
With a twist of his wrist, Hozuki Sengetsu swung Hiramekarei backhanded. Without