"Is this what Konoha looks like now?"
"Doesn't seem like much has changed."
At that moment, a white-haired ninja appeared outside Konoha.
The two ninjas guarding Konoha's gates grew extremely excited when they saw him and hurried forward to greet him.
"Hello, Lord Jiraiya. Have you returned to Konoha too?"
"Lord Jiraiya, are you planning to stay in Konoha for a while this time?"
It was no wonder the two ninjas were so delighted to see Jiraiya.
After all, the man standing before them was the direct disciple of Konoha's Third Hokage, as well as the author of Make-Out Paradise.
Furthermore, Jiraiya's contributions to Konoha during the previous war had been heavily promoted by the Hokage's upper ranks, giving him a fairly upright image in the hearts of the common people.
"Yo, hello there!"
"You two have worked hard guarding Konoha's gates."
Jiraiya did not answer their questions directly. Instead, he deftly evaded them, greeted the two men, and entered Konoha.
The moment Jiraiya stepped into Konoha, he moved briskly, as though something important awaited his attention.
His destination was clear: an old, shabby little apartment in the village.
The apartment looked rather aged. Its walls were mottled, and its doors and windows were somewhat worn down.
Yet Jiraiya did not seem to care about that. He simply stood quietly outside the apartment, his gaze fixed on the window of one particular room, as though waiting for someone to appear.
Second by second, time passed, but Jiraiya's patience did not diminish in the slightest.
Finally, as he waited, the window of that room slowly opened, and a small figure poked out from inside.
The child did not look all that different from an ordinary kid. His hair was a relatively rare shade of blond; while not uncommon throughout the ninja