To avoid letting the seasoned Jiraiya notice anything amiss, Zou Hyuga did not lead the way. He merely used his Byakugan to tell Jiraiya about the road ahead.
The three joked around just as they had several years ago, and Jiraiya watched Zou Hyuga and Oto sticking close together.
Jiraiya felt considerably younger, and ripples gradually stirred in his once placid heart.
I'm only in my forties. I'm still young, and so is Tsunade. Maybe my next confession will succeed. She must have been lonely all these years, too.
Zou Hyuga knew nothing of the lonely older man's thoughts, but he had noticed that Oto had become more clingy.
They had always eaten and lived together, yet things felt strangely different now.
Was it because they had begun to face their feelings for each other?
On their way to the Ancient Kingdom of Roran, they inevitably passed the oasis where Sara lived, but they merely skirted it. Nothing unexpected happened there.
Aside from Sara, its former queen, there was nothing remarkable about that oasis.
The next morning, Jiraiya and the others arrived at the Rōran Ruins.
Jiraiya gazed expressionlessly at the collapsed ruins, then followed Zou Hyuga to the place where the Leyline had been sealed.
The seal and Flying Thunder God Kunai left by the Fourth Hokage soon caught Jiraiya's attention.
As Minato Namikaze's teacher, he easily recognized the seal as his student's work. It also bore numerous traces of the Uzumaki Sealing Technique.
After inspecting it, Jiraiya's expression changed.
He could see signs that someone had tampered with the seal. Someone had indeed set their sights on the Leyline Minato had sealed.
Poof...
As the white smoke dispersed, Fukasaku appeared on Jiraiya's shoulder.
Although Jiraiya could sense the abundant energy of the Leyline inside the seal, this was