At Konoha's main gate.
The morning light had just crested Hokage Rock, bathing the entire village in a warm golden glow.
Pedestrians were already out on the streets. Steam curled up from breakfast stalls, shops along the commercial street opened one after another, and the cries of newspaper boys echoed at the mouths of alleys.
Everything was as it always had been: lively, prosperous, brimming with life. A burly figure strode down the main road from afar.
His long white hair fluttered in the morning breeze. He wore a red outer robe, and his wooden sandals clacked crisply against the stone pavement.
He did not walk quickly, but every step was heavy, as though something weighed on his heart.
When the Anbu Ninja at the gate recognized his face, his expression changed. He immediately signaled to the person beside him, then hurried toward the Hokage Building.
Jiraiya.
One of the Konoha Sannin, the legendary Toad Sage, had just returned from Mount Myōboku.
He stood at the Leaf Village's main gate and raised his head, gazing at the village he had not seen for several months.
Crowds streamed through the commercial street, the amusement park's Ferris wheel turned slowly, and shops lined both sides of the broad streets, their signs bearing all sorts of names, some familiar to him and others not.
Farther away, the four carved faces on Hokage Rock gleamed in the sunlight. Tsunade's likeness quietly watched over the village she protected.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes slightly, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
Prosperity. That was the Leaf Village now. A few years ago, it had been little more than a rough outline, plans on paper and scaffolding on construction sites.
Now, everything had been built, everything was running, and everything was racing forward at a speed he