"..."
"Keep that misplaced kindness of yours to yourself!"
"Jiraiya!"
With a dark expression, Tsunade gave Jiraiya a scolding.
Because Jiraiya had once taught and helped Shihōin Naraku, certain things were inappropriate for him to say.
But Tsunade had no such problem.
She paid no attention to anything else and simply tore into Jiraiya.
"Ahem... I wasn't actually planning to do anything reckless. I just wanted to know exactly how Konan was doing."
Jiraiya explained somewhat awkwardly. When facing Tsunade, he always felt a little cowed unless she was in the wrong.
"Besides, look at the state I'm in. Even if I wanted to go to Amegakure, I couldn't."
Oh, so he was even using his severed arms as an excuse.
Tsunade rolled her eyes, then glared at him and warned him, one word at a time, "Everyone's very busy lately. Don't let me hear anything I shouldn't."
"I know, I know." Jiraiya nodded hastily. He would never provoke Tsunade in this state-that would be asking for trouble. "I was just a little anxious earlier."
After one final glare at Jiraiya, Tsunade turned to Naraku. "This is the experiment I designed based on the information and data. How serious do you think the problems are?"
Naraku turned the last page, finishing his cursory read, before looking up. "You know there are problems with this experiment too, Sensei?"
"Of course. This is the first time, after all. It's normal to overlook some things."
Tsunade did not deny that she had been too hasty, drawing up an experimental plan just after finishing reading the data and information.
But she had not intended to succeed on the first attempt, either. Even Orochimaru, who was so familiar with Hashirama cells, had taken a long time to complete his experiments.
And even then, failures had