Jiraiya jerked his head up, pointed at Tsunade in the future footage on the Sky Screen, and shouted on the spot.
"How am I supposed to accept this, Tsunade?!"
"Tell me what's going on!!"
"Your future self! The mighty Fifth Hokage! How did you end up so tiny?!"
At those words, the room fell deathly silent.
Tsunade followed his pointing finger. Veins instantly bulged across her forehead as fury rushed to her head.
All the shock, distress, and irritation she had bottled up erupted at once!
"Drop dead, you bastard!!"
Bam!
Her merciless fist landed squarely on Jiraiya's face.
Before Jiraiya could even finish his scream, he went sailing out of the meeting room in an arc, howling as he smashed through the outer wall and vanished into the skies over Konoha without a trace.
Peace instantly returned to the meeting room.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the empty doorway and let out a long, helpless sigh, exhaustion written all over his face.
"What did I do to deserve this..."
"Every one of my students is an extraordinary talent, yet not one of them gives me a moment's peace."
"Tsunade is hotheaded and impulsive, Jiraiya is lecherous and flighty, and Orochimaru is obsessive and unhinged..."
At the mention of Orochimaru, deep worry crept back into Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes.
He knew this student of his all too well.
Orochimaru was bound to grow even more unhinged.
Meanwhile, the very Orochimaru occupying Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts was alone in a secret underground research facility.
He had watched every truth the Sky Screen revealed, from the secrets behind the Uzumaki Clan's destruction and the transformation within the Death God's belly to souls taking physical form and attaining immortality. Every word and every image was seared into his mind.
Now Orochimaru's eyes shone, his breathing quickened,