Jiraiya rose from the head seat, his loose haori swaying with the movement.
He walked up to Naruto. "Naruto, when you heard Naraku say it back then, did he really say he'd return within a day?"
"Of course he did!"
Naruto Uzumaki nodded vigorously. "I heard it myself! Big Brother Naraku said one day. I remember it perfectly!"
"I remember too," Sasuke said. "That was exactly what he said."
"If Naraku said it, then knowing him, he certainly wasn't just talking," Tsunade added from beside them.
Yes, Shihōin Naraku never said anything he wasn't sure of.
If he said one day, he meant one day.
If he said he would return, then he would definitely return.
Yet even now, he still hadn't come back.
"Could he have... been delayed along the way?"
Jiraiya tried to find a reasonable explanation. "Maybe he chased the enemy too far-"
"It was an alternate space, after all. He fought for so long and used up a lot of chakra. Getting back certainly couldn't have been easy."
That explanation made some sense, but not much.
"Let's wait a little longer. Naraku might appear in front of us any moment."
"We'll wait until dawn. If there's still no news..."
Tsunade didn't finish.
If there was still no news at dawn, it meant something really had happened to Naraku.
Then they would have to face the worst-case scenario.
Jiraiya slowly sat back down in his chair.
He had been playing Naraku all day.
But in the end, he wasn't Naraku.
"It's already late at night."
Shikaku glanced out the window and said softly, "Lord Jiraiya, you can take it off now. No one will come to visit the Hokage at this hour."
Jiraiya paused, then realized what he meant.
At this hour, practically no one would come