After leaving Orochimaru's courtyard, it was nearly sunset. Jiraiya looked up at the setting sun and felt that Orochimaru had been acting rather strangely today.
It was a feeling he could not quite put into words. Orochimaru seemed even more gloomy than he had been during their previous meetings.
"That guy, an old friend he hadn't seen in years, and he couldn't even treat me to a meal." Jiraiya muttered under his breath. After thinking it over, he said, "Forget it. He's always been like this. I'd better go have a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen."...
The moon set and the sun rose; with the rooster's crow at dawn, a new day began.
For the people of Konoha, this was one of countless ordinary days. Yet something far from ordinary had happened last night.
The Third Hokage personally announced it at noon today. Even many of Konoha's higher-ups were stunned the instant they heard the news, Jiraiya among them.
In fact, saying Jiraiya was shocked would have been more accurate.
Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin who had rendered countless services to Konoha, had defected from Konoha last night. The reason was that Orochimaru had conducted human experiments and had been discovered by the Third Hokage.
Konoha's villagers were shocked by this, and they fiercely condemned Orochimaru as well.
Among Konoha's higher-ups, the incident also added another stain to the Third Hokage's record. What dissatisfied them was not Orochimaru's wrongdoing itself, but the Third Hokage's way of handling it. He had waited until the man escaped before making it public—what exactly was that supposed to mean?
Some even suspected that the Third Hokage had deliberately indulged Orochimaru, allowing him to act without restraint, and that he had personally let Orochimaru go last night.
Of course, because of the Third Hokage's prestige