If his luck were any worse, it would have been impossible for him to blindly cast a Reverse Summoning and just happen to summon himself to Mount Myōboku, becoming a contractor for a group of toads—without those toads, he would have been far from catching up to the footsteps of Tsunade and Orochimaru, becoming one of the "Sannin," and would have faded into obscurity! He might have even been lost in an unknown space during that summoning long ago—and the Ninja World would have had one less Jiraiya.
From being "unknown" to being "unknown"... the difference in between was merely a matter of luck.
Spending these years outside Konoha, gathering inspiration and traveling everywhere, relying on various rich intelligence and clues combined with his own "good luck," he truly managed to obtain a lot of information that others could never get—when a clue broke and there were no more leads, he could often encounter a new clue quite by accident after a while.
Two beauties, one on his arm and one on his lap, lying drunk in a beauty's lap; the wine doesn't intoxicate, but the person intoxicates themselves. Jiraiya soon fell into a drunken sleep.
When he opened his eyes the next day, it was already nearly noon. Before he could even sit up, his stomach made "gurgle, gurgle" sounds, followed by a wave of hunger.
"Oh, time to go eat something..."
Jiraiya sat up and reached for his wallet... it was a green frog-shaped wallet with its mouth wide open. As soon as he touched it, he felt the weight was wrong. Jiraiya hurriedly grabbed the frog's bottom and shook it hard with the mouth facing down... the wallet was empty, not even a single coin was left for him.
"My money..."
The expression on Jiraiya's face quickly collapsed.
That was over a hundred thousand Ryo.
The "over a hundred thousand Ryo" that was enough for Princess Tsunade to play grandiosely for a dozen rounds had flown away just like that... those two young ladies really didn't leave him a single bit.
"Forget it, forget it, I'd better go withdraw some more..." Jiraiya rubbed his hair and left the inn. He withdrew ten thousand Ryo from a money changer hanging a sign with a round hole in a square coin, replenishing his wallet—this time he learned his lesson and put in less. Even if he were picked clean by the ladies again, the loss wouldn't be too great. Jiraiya lamented his own downfall, "Sigh, I never expected, never expected... that a battle-hardened Ninja World Drifter like me would actually have a moment of failure... I'll go eat something first..."
Just as he was coming out of the money changer, he saw a glimpse of a very familiar sleeve and a flash of black hair out of the corner of his eye.
Jiraiya's playful demeanor instantly vanished, and only one thought remained in his mind—
Was that Orochimaru?
...Jiraiya gave it no second thought and gave chase. Reaching the street corner, he looked in the direction where that sleeve and black hair had just passed. There was another "flash," and a familiar back view leading a small child entered a bathhouse.
Jiraiya's train of thought was extremely bizarre: "How does Orochimaru have a child? When did he have an affair... I didn't even know he liked women..."
Then he felt something was off: "No, that kid's hair color isn't right..."
But—
It was strangely harmonious.
As Orochimaru and Kimimaro walked together, Orochimaru looked like a larger version of Kimimaro, and Kimimaro looked like a smaller version of Orochimaru—they looked exactly like father and son.
"Relax properly here..." Orochimaru led Kimimaro into the hot bathwater and sat down, teaching Kimimaro how to relax his body in the water. "Relax your muscles, let the power of the water float your body, the temperature of the hot water will open your pores..."
"It feels so good, Lord." This was Kimimaro's first time taking a bath in his life, and he felt it was the most ultimate enjoyment in the world.
Hmm...
Just as he was about to continue speaking, Orochimaru suddenly paused. He spoke to Kimimaro with a serious face, "Kimimaro, I have some matters to attend to. You soak for a bit, and when you're done, leave on your own... the Land of Rice Fields—we'll meet there!"
Lord?
Kimimaro looked bewildered, not knowing what had happened and unable to understand why Orochimaru wanted to separate from him.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru had no time to give him any more explanations. Orochimaru sank into the water and then disappeared into the soil beneath the water.
He vanished so naturally, as if he had never appeared. Meanwhile, Jiraiya, who was peeping through a small gap above the bathroom with a self-made periscope, immediately realized: he had been discovered. He relied on his intuition to give chase, following for over ten kilometers until he saw Orochimaru at some ruins outside the small town.
Orochimaru grinned with a sinister smile, but inwardly he was cursing Jiraiya's "dog-like intuition"... However, after being teammates for many years, he was already used to it... If it weren't for this persistence, he wouldn't have left Kimimaro behind to head to the Land of Rice Fields on his own.
Orochimaru wasn't afraid of pure "technical types"—any professional tracking or scouting Ninja from Konoha was better than a "poor student" like Jiraiya, yet those people lost the trail while Jiraiya stumbled upon him—facing such a "cheating" player, especially one who specifically "cheated" against him, Orochimaru had no moves at all.
Perhaps... I can only make him stay in bed for a few months!
However, as fellow "Sannin," his strength was nearly equal to Jiraiya's. Making Jiraiya stay in bed for a few months was no easy task... Orochimaru's mind whirled... "No, I still have to find a way to escape first. I can't get entangled with him, or it will be very troublesome. Fighting is not a good choice..."
"But..." Orochimaru looked at Jiraiya, and his mind gradually brightened, "This guy always encounters some unexpected situations—if I can use some accidents to stall him, I'll have plenty of time to leave—what a nuisance..."
Jiraiya, on the other hand, was excited. He spread his arms and legs, adopting a "Talk no Jutsu" posture similar to the later Naruto, and shouted at the same decibel level: "Why? Orochimaru, why are you conducting inhumane human experiments? Why did you leave Konoha? Why..." The veins on Orochimaru's forehead and temples throbbed as he heard this—he thought to himself, "Damn it, if only Tsunade were here right now, one punch and the world would be quiet."
Orochimaru's head was buzzing and even starting to ache slightly. This terrible feeling of clearly sensing his thoughts and state of mind being disturbed, with the noisy babbling in his ears, was simply the worst!
Shut up!
Orochimaru, you... er, ah... Orochimaru, come back with me. The Old Man will revoke your Rogue Ninja punishment, and everything will be the same as before. The Old Man said he won't hold you accountable for the human experiments, you...
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