"Tsunade, long time no see!"
Only after doing some mental preparation did Jiraiya step forward and arrive before that familiar figure.
But when he raised his head, Jiraiya discovered that the space before him was empty.
There was no one in front of the slot machine anymore.
"Hm?"
Jiraiya quickly looked around. Only then did he see two figures not far away being chased by a group of people.
"Catch them!"
"Pay back the money! Pay it back!"
The two being chased were precisely Tsunade.
Jiraiya also recognized the other person.
Shizune.
Someone who made Jiraiya recall certain unpleasant memories.
Back then, during the Second Great Ninja War.
First, Hatake Sakumo had displayed his famous might on the battlefield, defeating countless powerful enemies with his swordsmanship.
After that came the Sannin's path to fame.
Later, even younger shinobi were also sent onto the battlefield.
Tsunade's younger brother, Nawaki, had been one of them.
But Nawaki's luck had not been very good. Or perhaps he had wanted too badly to prove himself on the battlefield, to the point that he lost his sense of caution. Very quickly, he fell into an enemy trap, and his internal organs were blown apart.
There was no saving him at all.
Tsunade had been utterly devastated by that.
Jiraiya was still thinking about how to comfort Tsunade when—
In the end, some Dan Kato, who had appeared from who-knew-where, suddenly jumped out.
Before Jiraiya could comfort Tsunade, Dan comforted her first.
Afterward, the two naturally became lovers.
That made Jiraiya regret it so much that his guts nearly turned green.
It was just like Shimura Danzo regretting not being the first to speak up when Senju Tobirama asked who was willing to take the initiative and stay behind as rearguard.
Jiraiya felt that if he had been the first one to effectively comfort Tsunade back then, Tsunade would certainly have been moved and fallen for him. Everything would have become completely different.
First, he was strong and would not die.
He would not have brought Tsunade a second injury the way Dan Kato had.
Second, if he did not die, Tsunade would not have left Konoha. The two of them might even have had children by now, perhaps already grown.
If he and Tsunade had always remained in Konoha, they could have detected Hiruzen Sarutobi's changes.
They could have stopped him in time.
If they truly could not stop him, then they could have directly launched a coup and driven Hiruzen Sarutobi down from the Hokage position.
With the abilities of himself, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, it would have been impossible for them to fail.
"If that had happened, Minato would not have died."
"The Uchiha clan might not have defected either."
"Previously, I held prejudice toward the Uchiha clan. But looking at it now, perhaps I was misled by Teacher Sarutobi and the others."
"The Hyuga clan would not have defected either."
"The current Konoha would still be the number one shinobi village in the shinobi world."
"The kind of number one shinobi village that could contend with the other four great shinobi villages at the same time."
"It was all because of me."
A powerful look of self-blame appeared on Jiraiya's face.
"All because of that one moment of hesitation, because Dan Kato beat me to it, all the tragedies that followed happened."
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade and Shizune's backs and knew that this was likely their daily routine.
Tsunade loved gambling, but she often lost.
After losing too much, she ran out of money.
When she did not have money, she would owe money.
Naturally, people would come to collect debts.
Jiraiya's whole body was wrapped in bandages. He wore a cloak and a large hooded hat.
This was the disguise Jiraiya had made for himself while in his fused state with the Iron Wall Toad.
The appearance of a toad-man was far too frightening, making it very inconvenient to enter towns.
But because of his disability, Jiraiya could only rely on the toad-man form to move.
Therefore, a disguise became the best option.
Jiraiya leapt forward, blocking the path of the debt collectors.
"Stop!"
"I'll pay the money they owe!"
The debt collectors had been unhappy at being blocked, but upon hearing the latter half of his sentence, every one of them instantly revealed delighted expressions.
"Wonderful! Pay mine first. This is the IOU!"
"And mine!"
One after another, they crowded forward.
The moment Jiraiya saw the numbers on the IOUs, his face darkened.
This was far too much.
Fortunately, Jiraiya had made preparations before coming and brought quite a lot of money.
However, after paying these debt collectors, there was not much left.
And these were only part of Tsunade's debt collectors.
Jiraiya did not even dare imagine how much money Tsunade owed in total.
"Tsunade, how did you spend these years falling this far?"
Jiraiya turned around, but Tsunade and Shizune were already gone.
Shizune followed behind Tsunade, holding the small pig in her arms. As she ran, she looked back with a troubled expression.
"Tsunade-sama, isn't this bad? That person paid back the money for us, and we still ran away."
Tsunade glanced at Shizune indifferently.
"Shizune, do you know who that person is?"
"I don't…"
"That person should be Jiraiya. If he came looking for me, it definitely isn't anything good. The current situation in the shinobi world is one giant mess. I don't want to get dragged into that trouble."
Tsunade said, "I'm already tired of the shinobi world."
But Jiraiya still caught up.
"Tsunade!"
Looking at the figure appearing before her, Tsunade had no choice but to stop.
"It's me, Jiraiya."
At the same time Jiraiya removed his mask, he also ended his fusion with the Iron Wall Toad.
His half-crippled body was revealed before Tsunade just like that.
Tsunade had already heard about Jiraiya's condition. But seeing it with her own eyes still caused the gaze she used to look at her old classmate to shift.
Shizune looked at Jiraiya, a trace of pity appearing in her eyes.
"Tsunade, long time no see!"
Tsunade shook her head.
"Jiraiya, you shouldn't have come."
Jiraiya's expression changed, but he still said firmly,
"No, I had to come."
Tsunade said impatiently,
"I'm no longer interested in the shinobi world. I just want to live out the rest of my life like this. Konoha's matters have nothing to do with me. Don't drag me back into that whirlpool."
"Those people disgust me!"
Jiraiya frowned.
"But Tsunade, you cannot avoid this. You are the granddaughter of the First Hokage. Senju blood flows in your body. Can you really sit by and watch Konoha be destroyed?"
"This is the life's work your grandfather personally created!"
"After Teacher Sarutobi has done so many excessive things, only you can save Konoha now!"
"For Konoha's sake, Orochimaru even sold himself to Sunagakure."
"Countless people have suffered at Teacher Sarutobi's hands."
"Teacher Sarutobi has completely changed."
"If we allow him to continue like this, who knows how many more people in Konoha will suffer?"
"Is that really what you want to see, Tsunade?"
"And…"
Jiraiya took out the trump card he had prepared to persuade Tsunade.
"Tsunade, I suspect that Nawaki's death back then may also have had a certain connection to Teacher Sarutobi."
"After all, with Nawaki's identity, as long as he grew up, the Hokage position would inevitably have been his."
"And he longed to become Hokage."
Tsunade's pupils suddenly contracted.
"What did you say?"