Madness: Jiraiya Sees the Truth

Huh?

Jiraiya paused as he put on his straw hat, and at last, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.

Only then did he realize that Tsunade had not seemed very interested along the way. He had been the one talking the whole time, while Tsunade and Shizune followed behind him, listening to him speak!

It had been like this before too. He would chatter away at the front while Tsunade watched from behind.

But—

Tsunade was even quieter than usual today, as though something weighed heavily upon her.

Still, he only hesitated for a moment before holding the straw hat in his hand and looking at Tsunade. "What did you just say?"

"You don't need to wear the straw hat anymore!" Tsunade looked at the still-confused Jiraiya and slowly said, "No one here knows about what happened to you!"

There seemed to be no emotion in Tsunade's tone, as if she were discussing something utterly ordinary. The people here were struggling to live while treading carefully every day—how could they know what was happening over at the Uchiha Police Force?

No need to wear the straw hat?

Jiraiya finally reacted, muttering, "That can't be possible. What happened to me is practically common knowledge over at the Uchiha Police Force. How could no one here know?"

Could it be?

Had the two factions even cut off the flow of information?

"Just follow me and you'll see!" Tsunade did not answer Jiraiya any further and headed straight toward her home.

This time, Jiraiya followed behind Tsunade. Obediently, he did not put the straw hat on his head. Instead, he looked around, wanting to see the state of the area governed by the Sarutobi Police Force.

But—

The farther he walked, the more something felt wrong.

The surroundings were still somewhat