The Third looked at his apprentice standing in the doorway with both hands bound, then at the two little fellows escorting him on either side, and froze for a moment.
Then Hayashi stepped out from behind Naruto and began to explain:
"Grandpa Third."
"Tonight, we caught this lecher peeping outside Konoha's women's bathhouse. We caught him red-handed and brought him straight to you."
"Oh-"
As soon as the Third heard that and saw Hayashi approaching, his face broke into a smile.
"You did exactly the right thing, Hayashi."
"When you run into someone with no sense of public decency, this is what you should do. Tie them up good and tight!"
"Hehe." Naruto puffed out his chest. "Hayashi and I tied him up together!"
"We used my rope, and Hayashi did the tying. I stood beside him... and cheered him on!"
Jiraiya: "..."
A trace of alarm appeared on Jiraiya's face.
He had followed the old man for so many years, yet he had never seen him wear that expression or say anything like that.
Even back when he doted on Tsunade, that fondness had often come with a helpless look.
But with these two children?
The old man was smiling so broadly his beard curled upward, praising them for doing the right thing and tying him up well. Where was even a shred of his dignity as Hokage?
"Old man!!" he couldn't help shouting. "I wasn't peeping! I was gathering material! Gathering material, understand?!"
"Writing a book means experiencing life! Without research, where does inspiration come from? Without inspiration, what are the readers supposed to read?!"
The more Jiraiya talked, the more smoothly the words flowed and the more justified he felt. By the end, he had nearly moved himself to tears.
Naruto blinked and quietly asked Hayashi, "What's