"Tsunade, what did you call me here for?"
Jiraiya pushed open the door and walked in, looking curiously at Tsunade in the Hokage's seat.
"Mm, take a seat first."
Tsunade looked up, then waved him toward the chair beside her.
"Naturally, I called you here because there's something to discuss."
"Right."
Not long after Ōnoki and the others had left, she had sent an Anbu member to find Jiraiya. She had something else to discuss.
As for those two stooges, she had never trusted them.
Her crackdown had targeted not only spies, but also parasites.
Among those she had purged were several clansmen of those two stooges. Though she had never said it outright, it was still a very real slap in their faces.
They wanted a guarantee that they could keep enjoying the benefits of their positions until the day they died.
But Tsunade stubbornly refused to understand their hints.
In the end, they had parted on bad terms. Sulking, they stopped coming to see Tsunade of their own accord, and she was happy to have some peace. As long as they did not cause trouble, she did not care.
If she needed someone to talk things over with, she would find Jiraiya. Even if that did not work out, she could consult her subordinates.
She certainly would not turn to Utatane Koharu or Mitokado Homura.
Jiraiya pulled out the chair and sat down, giving Tsunade a curious look.
"What's going on?"
"Weren't you meeting with Iwagakure's Tsuchikage? I'm still getting things ready for my mission to Cloud Shadow Village."
Now that Jiraiya had made his decision, he naturally intended to prepare for every possibility. He had no desire to become the top-tier intelligence source whose information only arrived after his death.
He wanted to come back alive.
If