"I understand, old man."
Although Jiraiya was somewhat reluctant, he knew what took priority, and the old man was clearly paving the way for his student. Although he was far from Konoha, he was not cut off from news, and still received reports from Konoha from time to time.
Konoha now had two genius ninja. The most renowned of them was Nawaki of the Senju Clan, who had inherited the power of Wood Release, possessed immense chakra, and had powerful regenerative abilities. He was on practically every Ninja Village's kill list.
They did not want to see another Hashirama Senju dominate the Shinobi World, so they constantly sent spies to Konoha to gather intelligence. Even losing several squads of ninja would be worth it if they could kill Nawaki.
However, Orochimaru had taught Nawaki well. Having personally watched Nawaki get himself killed once, Orochimaru had not gone easy on him at all after saving him. Nawaki was now so vigilant that his senses were practically as sharp as someone using the Byakugan.
The second renowned ninja was Minato Namikaze. He completed missions at an extremely high rate, finishing over thirty A-Rank missions in a little over six months without a single failure. During his clashes with ninja from other countries, information about his Flying Thunder God Technique had already leaked.
One had inherited the First Hokage's Wood Release, while the other had inherited the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique. The leaders of every other village regarded both of them as targets who had to be eliminated.
Nawaki's bounty at the Underground Bounty Station had now reached seventy million ryo, while Minato Namikaze's stood at forty million.
After seeing Jiraiya off, Hiruzen Sarutobi silently began smoking his dry tobacco again. He was no longer in the mood to rest.
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