Jiraiya left after all, leaving Naruto's Small Wooden House that night.
He headed toward the Land of Rain, the country once ruled by Hanzo of the Salamander, where his three students lived.
The next morning, Naruto rubbed his eyes and got out of bed.
When he instinctively sensed his surroundings, he froze.
Where was the old guy's chakra?
Naruto expanded his sensing range, searching several kilometers in every direction. Nothing.
Naruto climbed straight out of bed and went outside, where he found a drunken Tsunade slumped over the table, with a blanket Shizune had draped over her.
"Aunt Tsunade, Aunt Tsunade."
Naruto woke the hungover Tsunade. Her head felt a little fuzzy; it seemed she had drunk too much last night after all.
Looking at the panicked Naruto before her, Tsunade realized he might already know Jiraiya had left.
A green glow flashed over her, and under the effects of medical ninjutsu, the alcohol in her body rapidly metabolized.
Something like a cloud of steam rose around Tsunade, and then her flushed face turned fair and smooth again.
She gently stroked Naruto's head and nodded as she looked into his uncertain eyes.
Naruto's face turned deathly pale. He soon pieced together the changes in the old guy's mood over the past few days.
So it was all to fool me.
"Don't worry. Jiraiya's no slouch. He's only gathering some intelligence."
"Let's go back to Konoha first. Once I become Hokage, I'll order him straight back. How's that?"
Tsunade bent down, looking into Naruto's slightly tearful azure eyes as she spoke.
"...Okay."
Naruto nodded. Grandpa Third had told him to keep an eye on the old guy, and he had made a pinky promise with him, too.
But the old guy had still sneaked away.
Why?
Because of bonds?
Naruto grew