Jiraiya's Crimes Laid Bare

Konoha Village.

Hokage Office.

The office, which had originally contained only the Third Hokage, now had one more person.

"The matter of cutting funding for this batch of the Police Force is unclear. It should be reviewed and approved again."

Nara Shikaku held an old government order and circled a section of it with a red pen.

Then he pushed it toward the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage glanced at it and said slowly, "Luhe, the Uchiha will not care about such petty gains."

Luhe raised his head and said unhurriedly:

"Lord Third Hokage, a village's peace should come from stability and harmony."

"We of Ino-Shika-Cho have always wanted to make Konoha stronger."

"Though these may seem like minor issues, they cannot go unchecked."

"After all, an ant hole can bring down a great dike."

The Third Hokage's hand tightened, his expression darkening.

As Konoha's leader for decades, his prestige had once been unparalleled.

No matter what he did, no one questioned him.

But from the day Danzo dug out Shisui's eye, everything had changed.

Using Konoha's coveting of other ninja clans' bloodline limits as an excuse, the Uchiha had torn a massive breach in the major ninja clans' trust in Konoha's upper ranks.

Then, in several consecutive incidents, the Third Hokage had been left passively taking blows.

Especially when he had tried to control the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, only for a mistake in judgment to cause Nine-Tails chakra to leak out, nearly bringing about a second Nine-Tails disaster.

Even his position as Hokage was now hanging by a thread.

Rather than saying Nara Shikaku had come to assist him, it would be more accurate to say he represented Ino-Shika-Cho in supervising him.

Just as he was about to speak, hurried knocking interrupted their conversation.

After knocking urgently, an ANBU immediately entered and reported:

"Lord Hokage, Lord Advisor, Lord Jiraiya was caught peeping into the women's bath by Zhengye. He has now been stripped naked and hung from the railing outside."

"What!?" The Third Hokage's pipe slammed onto the desk with a series of clanging sounds.

Even Nara Shikaku shot to his feet in shock.

The two of them went to the window and looked outside together.

Zhengye had already hung the unconscious Jiraiya from a utility pole.

Beside him, a loudspeaker kept broadcasting at full volume:

"This man is Jiraiya, disciple of the Third Hokage. He was arrested by the Police Force for peeping into the women's bath and has been hung here as punishment."

The Third Hokage nearly blacked out, his blood pressure instantly skyrocketing.

His body swayed, and he barely managed to steady himself.

Without even bothering to retrieve his pipe, he threw open the window and jumped out!

Luhe went to the desk and set the Third Hokage's pipe upright to prevent a fire.

He walked to the window, looking both amused and helpless.

"This Zhengye..."

With his intelligence, it was easy enough to guess that only Zhengye could have come up with such a method.

This time, the Third Hokage will lose every shred of face he has left.

Zhengye stood beneath the eaves nearby with his arms folded across his chest. He looked up at Jiraiya hanging in midair, his face expressionless.

Beside him, Soji had already directed the Police Force members to put up a cordon, keeping the spectators more than ten meters away.

Shisui was still somewhat unable to process what had happened. He quietly leaned close to Zhengye and asked:

"Zhengye, is it really okay for us to humiliate Jiraiya like this?"

Zhengye shot Shisui a glance, frowning. "Didn't I tell you? Never let any opportunity to strike at the Third Hokage's faction pass by."

"Don't forget how the Uchiha were smeared over the past five years."

Shisui's eyes shifted as he recalled the villagers' cruel words and the Third Hokage's attempts to smooth everything over. He fell silent.

"Come on, come take a look!" A Police Force member called out with great emotion through a loudspeaker.

"This is one of the legendary Three Ninja, the Toad Sage Jiraiya! The Third Hokage's personal disciple!"

"Take a guess at what he did! He peeped into the women's bath! He used ninjutsu to make holes in the walls and spy on young women bathing!"

"He even refused to spare ten-year-old girls. His morals are utterly rotten—scum among scum!"

More and more villagers gathered. Some covered their mouths as they snickered, some looked on with contempt, while young women flushed red with fury.

"He's the Hokage's disciple, and he's this shameless?"

"Exactly. I used to think he was a hero... ptooey!"

Seeing the mood build, the Police Force member added fuel to the fire. "And this isn't even his first time!"

"This Lord Jiraiya traveled all over the world, claiming he was 'gathering inspiration,' when in reality he was peeping on women everywhere. Then he drew what he saw into pictures, printed them into books, and sold them throughout the ninja world!"

"What!?"

"He did something like that?"

The crowd instantly erupted. Several young women's faces went from red to white, their eyes filled with shock and anger.

They could not imagine what it was like for those women to unknowingly have their naked bodies spread throughout the ninja world.

"I heard that book he wrote, something called Make-Out Paradise, is full of that kind of thing!" a middle-aged woman said indignantly.

"My daughter is still at the Ninja Academy. If she gets corrupted by books like that..."

"Ptooey! Shameless!"

Curses rose one after another.

There was not even the slightest exaggeration or falsehood in what Zhengye had exposed.

Jiraiya had always been a libertine who drew obscene pictures, wrote obscene stories, peeped on women everywhere, and visited prostitutes.

Transportation in this world was extremely inconvenient, and many ordinary people never left their own cities in their entire lives.

They had no idea that their naked bodies had been spread throughout the ninja world.

Even if some knew, they still could not afford to provoke Jiraiya.

The only person above him was the Third Hokage of Konoha Village, one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

No one could punish Jiraiya at all.

Under such circumstances, ordinary people could only swallow their blood along with their broken teeth.

Zhengye's upbringing since childhood had made him deeply disgusted by such objectification and humiliation of women.

Even if there were no other benefits to gain, he would still deal with Jiraiya.

Not to mention that there were other gains to be had now.

He looked up. The Third Hokage had already leaped down from the Hokage Building and rushed to the cordon in just a few strides.

He was dressed casually and had not even brought his hat. The wrinkles on his face seemed to have deepened by several years overnight.

"Move aside!" he barked in a low voice.

Soji of the Police Force did not spare him the slightest attention and instead looked toward Zhengye.

Only after seeing Zhengye give a slight nod did he step aside and make way.

The Third Hokage walked up to Zhengye and looked at Jiraiya hanging in midair without even a pair of underwear on. The corner of his eye twitched violently.

"Uchiha Zhengye!" The Third Hokage lowered his voice, every word seeming to squeeze through clenched teeth.

"You've gone too far! Even if Jiraiya has done wrong, he should be handled by Konoha's judicial authorities. What right do you have to strip him naked and hang him in the street? There are so many children in the village!"

Zhengye turned around and faced the Third Hokage, coldly demanding:

"Lord Third Hokage, you are right. But do you know that your precious disciple turns the women he peeps on into drawings, prints them into books, and sells them across the entire ninja world?"

The Third Hokage choked.

"The naked bodies of the women he peeped on have already spread across the Five Great Nations without their knowledge."

Zhengye's voice rang clear, and everyone around him heard every word.

"How do you think their children, husbands, and parents would feel when they saw those drawings?"

"Do you know how many families Jiraiya has destroyed with his 'art'?"