Naruto watched Jiraiya run toward him. As expected, the Third had already passed on the news of Orochimaru infiltrating Konoha to Jiraiya.
Jiraiya had returned to the village on the third day of the second stage of the Chunin Ninja Exams.
And while fleeing from the angry women chasing him, Jiraiya noticed Naruto watching the spectacle with great interest.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"
After the violent clatter of wooden sandals striking the ground, Jiraiya appeared before Naruto in the blink of an eye.
"Kid! Judging by your forehead protector, you're a Konoha ninja, right? A ninja's duty is to help ordinary people like me! Here, I'll trouble you to hold this for a moment."
Without giving Naruto a chance to speak, Jiraiya rattled off a whole string of words at breakneck speed before forcibly stuffing the binoculars into Naruto's hands.
Naruto looked down at the binoculars that had suddenly appeared in his hands... Jiraiya was far too practiced at shifting blame. Naruto had no time to react at all.
By the time he looked up again, Jiraiya had completely vanished.
In his place stood a group of women glaring furiously at Naruto, surrounding him with murderous intent.
"You're that peeping creep's accomplice, aren't you?!"
Someone noticed the binoculars in Naruto's hands and arbitrarily decided who he was.
"Wait, isn't this that brat?"
Someone in the crowd said that, and the women's attitudes suddenly shifted again.
Their anger at Jiraiya's peeping turned into disgust for Naruto.
"Look at the forehead protector on his head! Lord Third Hokage actually allowed someone like this to become a ninja."
"Even if he became a ninja, his evil nature won't change—he's only twelve or thirteen, and he's already peeping into women's bathhouses!"
"..."
They seemed not to realize that mockery and slander were supposed to