The night air was cool. On the lakeshore behind Amegakure, a boardwalk led to an octagonal pavilion in the middle of the lake.
Beneath its roof, Tsunade and Jiraiya shared their thoughts after their reunion.
Naturally, the conversation turned to Naruto.
Tsunade had drunk plenty of sake, and her face was flushed.
Having already endured losing him once, she rested her cheek against Jiraiya's shoulder in her tipsy state. She watched the ripples on the lake, uncertainty clouding her eyes.
"I can't read Naruto at all anymore. I don't know why he left the village, much less what he intends to do next,
"Or how Konoha and I should treat him. Jiraiya, you're his teacher. Can you tell me what you think?"
Jiraiya pondered for a long while and picked up his pen, but he had run out of paper.
Tsunade raised her hand, opening her palm, and whispered, "Write it here..."
Jiraiya paused briefly, then gently held her slender hand and wrote a single word on her palm.
-"Trust"!
A breeze stirred the ripples on the lake, sweeping away the uncertainty in Tsunade's eyes along with them!
"Jiraiya, if that's your choice, then I'll stand firmly by your side!"
After leaving the Hall of Eternal Life on Mount Myōboku, Naruto politely declined Sage Shima's invitation to a bug banquet and returned to Amegakure that night.
With the key to the Four Symbols Seal in hand, he now had what he needed to undo the Nine-Tails' seal. His next destination was the Waterfall of Truth on Paradise Island in the Land of Lightning!
Before he departed, Tsunade came to say goodbye.
Naruto said, "Heading out, Granny Tsunade?"
Tsunade said, "Yes. I'm leaving Jiraiya in your care!"
Naruto said, "Of course. That's only right. Oh, about Sakura..."
In the small hours