"All right, leave it to me!"
Jiraiya nodded gravely, inwardly furious at Kumogakure's attitude. They clearly thought they had Konoha over a barrel.
Afterward, Jiraiya raced back at full speed. To reach Konoha as quickly as possible, he even summoned Gamahiro to carry him.
Two days later, Jiraiya finally made it back.
By then, Jiraiya's face was sallow and haggard, the dark circles beneath his eyes like ink stains. His eyes were bloodshot, every muscle ached, and his whole body radiated the exhaustion of someone pushed to his absolute limit.
Seeing the village in the distance, Jiraiya finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Lord Jiraiya, what happened to you?!"
Izumo Kamizuki, one of the Two Great Gate Guardians, spotted Jiraiya from afar and was horrified by his haggard appearance.
"Izumo Kamizuki, it's you..." Jiraiya's voice was hoarse and dry as he struggled to smile. "Quick, take me to see the Old Man!"
"Yes!" Izumo Kamizuki's expression turned grave.
In fact, after entering the Land of Fire, Jiraiya had encountered other Konoha shinobi along the way.
But none of them were as fast as he was, so in the end, Jiraiya had still had to push himself desperately to get back.
The Hokage Building.
Inside the Hokage Office.
After hearing Jiraiya's account, Danzo was so furious that he wanted to lead Root straight into an attack on Kumogakure!
"This is outrageous!"
"The Raikage's demands are absolutely exorbitant! I think they've gone mad for money. We absolutely cannot agree to their demands!"
The Third Hokage looked grim as well, his chest heaving.
Leaving aside the demand that Konoha send its own people to rescue Kumogakure's Jinchūriki, they could not even come up with those two billion ryo!
The third condition, sharing information, was barely acceptable.
After all, once the Five Great Villages