"Asuka, long time no see! This sage missed you to death. You're still just as fresh and lovely a girl as before."
Emerging from the gray-skinned toad's belly, the Toad Sage Jiraiya grinned at Mineko Yuki, his eyes openly roaming over her full breasts, which threatened to burst out of her clothes.
"Lord Jiraiya, we only met at the beginning of the month." Mineko Yuki gave him a polite but distant smile.
"Did we? Isn't there a saying about one day apart feeling like three autumns?"
That Pervy Sage, honestly!
Despite her delicate, timid appearance, the corners of Mineko Yuki's mouth twitched, and veins faintly bulged on her forehead.
How dare he flirt with me! If I weren't completely outmatched, I'd make that old lecher taste my iron fists.
Ahem, I can't get angry. Uchiha is watching. I have to remain ladylike.
Asuka was the alias Yuki had used to introduce herself at Mount Myōboku.
Uchiha Senmon's eyes flickered as he carefully studied the Toad Sage Jiraiya.
The Toad Sage was finally here!
From Mount Myōboku to Sapporo City, Jiraiya's appearances had repeatedly put him in direct conflict with the Akatsuki. They were like fire and water.
Judging from what Jiraiya had said, he knew a great deal about the Akatsuki's inner workings.
There was no way he would refrain from interfering with their operations and sabotaging them.
Uchiha Senmon had expected Jiraiya to appear here. In fact, with such an uproar on Mount Fuji, his arrival only now was rather surprising.
Jiraiya wore the same blend of kabuki and samurai attire he had worn in Sapporo City, but conspicuously strapped to his back was an earthen-yellow bottle more than half a person's height...
A bottle?
*Its shape was more like a pot, its size closer to a large jar.