"Good."
Jiraiya nodded, finally reassured, and leaned back against the window.
Tsunade sat to Naraku's right and yawned.
Over the past few days, Konoha had been packed with visitors from the other villages, and the gambling houses had grown livelier too.
Though she had work to do, Tsunade had still stolen some time to go gambling.
Of course, with her luck, she had lost miserably over the first few days.
To pay off her gambling debts, Tsunade had specifically helped herself to Jiraiya's private savings.
Strangely enough, however, she had won quite a bit of money yesterday.
Even after subtracting her losses from the previous days, she still had a sizable surplus.
This left Tsunade at something of a loss.
In her experience, every time she won money, something bad would happen.
Because of that, Tsunade had slept poorly all night.
Yet right up until now, everything in Konoha had been fine, without a single unexpected incident.
Only then did Tsunade gradually begin to relax.
Beside her, Naraku glanced at his yawning teacher and shook his head helplessly.
Just as he was about to say something, his pupils abruptly contracted.
His body leaned forward slightly, his previously relaxed shoulders and back instantly tensing. He was like a wild beast startled awake.
"Naraku?" Tsunade was the first to notice something wrong, and wariness entered her voice.
Jiraiya straightened up. His instincts told him that something very bad had happened.
"Naraku? What happened?"
Naraku rose from his chair so quickly that it slid half an inch backward with a piercing screech.
His gaze swept over everyone in the room, and his lips moved. "The Communication Technique has been dispelled!"
"Naruto and the others have been attacked!"
The instant those words fell, the atmosphere in the conference room froze.
Jiraiya's pupils contracted sharply.