Jiraiya's Whereabouts

The Land of Rain's border.

The gloomy sky occasionally rumbled like beating drums, and the damp air carried the fragrance of earth.

So this was the Land of Rain? It felt like living here year-round would give someone rheumatism.

Feeling the chill mixed into the air, Feng Xun shivered uncomfortably.

"Hey, crazy woman, where exactly is Lord Jiraiya? We've been following you around for half the day."

Tsunade pinched her chin and replied calmly, "Don't rush. We'll find him soon."

Feng Xun rolled his eyes at her. "Hehe, you've already said that four times."

As for why they were looking for Jiraiya, it had started half a day ago.

Shortly after arriving at the Land of Rain's border, they had happened to find an animal pattern carved into a tree trunk with a sharp weapon. According to Tsunade, it was Jiraiya's personal marker, and only she and Orochimaru, as fellow Sannin, could understand it.

In Feng Xun's opinion, though, it was nothing more than graffiti from some elementary school kid who had wanted to draw a toad but ended up drawing a turtle instead!

Then came the problem: Feng Xun wanted to meet Jiraiya. More precisely, he wanted to meet the current trio of children.

After all, they were the founders of the greatest villainous organization in the future. Feng Xun was quite interested in them. Ideally, he could build a relationship with the three of them now; perhaps they would prove useful someday.

However, his suggestion had met with everyone's opposition.

"Have you lost your mind? We're on a mission right now. Where would we find extra time to visit Lord Jiraiya?"

"Xun, don't be willful."

"He's just a lecherous idiot. What's there to see? You'll have plenty of chances to meet him in the future."

Seeing all three oppose his suggestion, Feng Xun felt troubled. He would definitely be able to meet Jiraiya in the future, since Jiraiya would become his brother's teacher. But meeting the trio at this point in time would not be so easy. Once Jiraiya finished teaching them, they would go into hiding in the Land of Rain. Whether he could find them in the future was another question entirely.

He also knew why everyone opposed it. They were still in the middle of a mission, and they could not delay it over personal feelings.

But that only applied to Tsunade and the others. As far as he was concerned, as long as the mission was completed and he got his share of the reward, nothing else mattered.

After thinking it over, Feng Xun decided to use his trump card on Tsunade. "Crazy woman, if you take me to find Lord Jiraiya right now, I'll tell you where Brother Nawaki hid his secret stash of money."

At that, Tsunade's ears twitched, though she still looked completely unruffled. However, the glances she kept casting his way thoroughly betrayed her feelings.

Seeing this, Feng Xun smugly continued, "I seem to remember there being several million."

That heavy blow finally made Tsunade unable to keep pretending to be calm. She grabbed Feng Xun by the shoulders and said earnestly, "I'll take you to find that idiot, but we can only stay for half a day at most. When the time comes, remember to tell me where he hid it."

"Lady Tsunade... isn't that against the rules?" Uchiha Ryu's mouth twitched.

What was wrong with this master and disciple? Each one was more unreliable than the last!

Tsunade showed no reaction and merely said flatly, "It's only half a day. It won't delay anything important."

Everyone knew what happened afterward. Tsunade, that unreliable woman, had spent half the day without finding Jiraiya's hiding place.

The sun was about to set. If this continued, Feng Xun's plan would probably fall through.

"Found him!"

Just as Feng Xun was about to give up for the moment, Tsunade pointed at a very ordinary-looking tree and said with complete certainty, "That idiot must be nearby."

"Oh? Why are you so sure?" Feng Xun carefully examined the tree Tsunade was pointing at, but no matter how he looked at it, he could not see anything special.

Even Minato and Uchiha Ryu failed to notice any difference.

Tsunade smiled proudly, running her finger over the nearly identical graffiti on the tree trunk. "That idiot Jiraiya has a habit. Whenever he settles down somewhere, he carves his marker a little deeper."

As she spoke, she had Feng Xun look more closely. "Look. Compared to the earlier markers, this one is about two millimeters deeper."

"Is that so?" Feng Xun's teeth hurt a little. Honestly, even after Tsunade explained it, he still could not sense the difference.

When Tsunade saw that Feng Xun could not tell the difference, she became even more smug, like a proud swan. "Brat, learn from this in the future. Your perception is still too green. Only a powerful ninja like me can detect such subtle differences."

Emmmm, it's only a mark two millimeters deeper. It's not like you defeated Kaguya. What are you so proud of?

Feng Xun could not understand how that crazy woman's thought process even worked.

Inside the crude Wooden Cabin, Jiraiya, who had been teaching Nagato and the others, suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Someone entered the barrier I set up? And one of those presences feels familiar. Could it be Tsunade?

Stopping his lesson, Jiraiya said to the puzzled Nagato and the others, "That's enough for today's lesson. Your teacher has something to do, so I need to head out first."

"Teacher, when will you be back? Should we make you dinner?" Konan blinked sleepily as she asked.

"I'll be back soon. You three better not run around."

With that, Jiraiya left the Wooden Cabin with a grin.

"Teacher looked really happy. Did something good happen?" Nagato asked curiously, tugging at the long bangs hanging over his forehead.

"Tch, what good could happen to that old pervert? Looking at his attitude, he's probably going off to fool around with some shady woman again." Yahiko's eyes rolled as he lowered his voice. "How about we follow him and take a look?"

"Isn't that a bad idea? Didn't Teacher warn us not to run around?" Konan tried to dissuade him hesitantly.

"Who cares what he says! I'm going to become the person who saves the ninja world someday. How could I be scared off so easily by one sentence from him?" Yahiko stood up from the mat and said to the other two, "Anyway, I'm going after him. If you don't want to come, stay here."

With that, Yahiko ran out of the Wooden Cabin.

Seeing this, Nagato hesitated slightly before quickly following him out.

"Hey, you two... slow down... I'm coming too." Left alone, Konan had no choice but to run after them as well.