Konan raised her head, tears welling in her eyes as she asked:
"Jiraiya-sensei, can't you stay with us forever? I don't want you to leave. Yahiko and Nagato feel the same way."
All three of them hoped they could keep living with Jiraiya and never see him leave.
Unfortunately, that was impossible.
Jiraiya had already done very well by staying in the Land of Rain to teach and accompany them for more than two years.
If it had been anyone else, it would have been utterly impossible.
They would probably have been listed as missing after losing contact for a while.
A ninja like Jiraiya, who was not exactly missing but had deliberately hidden from the village, would have been branded a rogue ninja outright.
Sometimes, silence was the best answer.
Seeing this, Konan did not press the matter. She knew that no matter what she said or how hard she tried, Jiraiya would eventually leave. They were not family, so they could not live together forever.
Yahiko was carefree, while Nagato was quiet and reserved, but that did not mean they failed to notice something was off between Konan and Jiraiya.
The two children quickly realized that Jiraiya-sensei was leaving.
Just as they had expected, after replenishing their supplies and leaving them some money, Jiraiya gave the three of them a brief farewell.
Then, beneath their reluctant gazes, he resolutely chose to leave.
During that time, Konan chased after him through the pouring rain for a long way, but even her final effort could not make Jiraiya change his mind.
Before he had even left the Land of Rain,
Jiraiya stopped walking and repeatedly looked back in the direction where the three lived. He could not quite put his mind at ease.
He was not worried that the three