Amid the rustle of falling paper, a figure abruptly appeared, standing silently behind the sofa.
Just as Jiraiya had once watched the sleeping Watanabe Ichiro, Watanabe Ichiro now leaned against the crossbar at the back of the sofa, silently watching Jiraiya's every move.
This was a disposable Disguise he had bought from the Shop. What Black Zetsu had taken away was merely an empty shell left on autopilot by the system.
Right from the start, when Jiraiya had stood outside his door, Watanabe Ichiro had noticed that Black Zetsu's location on the system was very close by.
That guy wouldn't hang around watching for no reason. There had to be something here he wanted... and if it was here, that meant [Leaf Dragon].
Black Zetsu's intelligence-gathering abilities were first-rate. Keeping any information in the Shinobi World completely hidden from him was no easy feat.
And given Black Zetsu's hatred of Konoha, it was easy to deduce that he wanted to kill Leaf Dragon.
So Jiraiya, who shouldn't have been here, was Black Zetsu's weapon?
That made sense. Jiraiya had never displayed any particular resistance to Genjutsu in the original story. At most, he was quick at breaking out of it.
Against Black Zetsu, the still-immature Jiraiya, whom he had already badly frightened, really didn't stand much of a chance.
Watanabe Ichiro had played along as events unfolded, waiting for Jiraiya's killing move.
Given Black Zetsu's twisted sense of humor... he probably wanted to recreate Jiraiya's nightmare and make him kill me from behind again.
But Jiraiya's actions had surprised him somewhat. He had only wanted to take him away.
He didn't know whether Black Zetsu had never issued the order to [kill], or whether Jiraiya had overcome the Genjutsu's control through sheer willpower.
*Still, unfortunately, the Leaf Dragon Disguise couldn't