Chapter 522: Reunion
"What a familiar voice..." A boy's voice came from behind the door, "Who could it be?"
The orange-haired boy pushed the door open and walked in with a bright smile all over his face.
"It's Naruto..."
The corner of Haruno Sakura's mouth rose, and she narrowed her eyes, smiling faintly.
"Long time no see!"
"Sakura!?" Naruto's eyes lit up. He walked over in two or three steps and laughed, "It really is you!"
"Ah, and Granny Tsunade too!"
"...You're back, Naruto!" Tsunade sized up Naruto's appearance, responded, and her gaze unconsciously drifted outside the door again.
As she expected, that rough and bold man followed in.
Wearing wooden clogs, with oil paint on his face, and a free and easy, uninhibited smile.
The corner of Tsunade's mouth curled up slightly.
"Long time no see, Sakura." The man casually waved his hand, greeting Haruno Sakura, and then set his gaze on Tsunade's face.
"Hn... and Tsunade." The man said faintly.
The two met eyes in the air. Tsunade smiled faintly, her eyes rippling. She lowered her eyelids and said: "It's been a long time, Jiraiya."
"More than a year."
Jiraiya, of course, still remembered that the last time they gathered in Konoha was after the Chunin Exams last year.
From then till now, it had been a year and three months.
"Yeah, a year." Tsunade sighed softly.
Jiraiya smiled mockingly, walked over, sized up Tsunade twice, his gaze very properly staying on the woman's face, and said: "You haven't changed much... seem to have even gotten younger."
Tsunade burst into laughter.
"Stop flattering me." She cast a sidelong glance at the man, her eyes rarely carrying a bit of a woman's tenderness, "Still as glib as ever!"
Not knowing what funny bone this remark hooked, the two looked at each other and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Alright." Tsunade waved her hand, stopped laughing, and said seriously, "Let's get down to business. Now that you're back, you won't be leaving again, right?"
"Who knows?"
Jiraiya looked deeply into Tsunade's eyes and said meaningfully.
"Might stay for a while before leaving, or might just stay here for good." He seemed to be expecting something.
"Oh?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"At least for the near future, I'll stay in the village." Jiraiya smiled freely and explained, "Before the Akatsuki issue is resolved, wandering outside the village rashly, even I would be in danger."
"It would be troublesome if I ran into that person."
This sounded more like an excuse to Tsunade.
"Say..." Tsunade pursed her lips, paused, and said softly, "Since you're back, don't be in a hurry to leave."
Jiraiya was silent for a moment.
He looked straight into Tsunade's eyes. The woman's clear eyes, like autumn water, were downcast, not meeting his gaze.
Is this asking me to stay?
"Hn..." The man responded vaguely.
"You've been wandering outside for so many years, it's time to stop... This is your home." Tsunade fiddled with the pen in her hand, her eyes wandering, and said softly, "Konoha needs you."
"We... need you."
The man's resolute and rough face softened for a moment, as if solid ice melting.
He quietly looked at the blonde woman in front of him. She was strong on the surface, but her loved ones had died in front of her time and time again, and her heart was already riddled with scars. Although her hemophobia had been cured, the deeper heartbreak had never healed, so much so that she dared not face Jiraiya's feelings.
This wasn't the sentence he wanted to hear.
But he knew this was already Tsunade's limit.
"Ah..." Jiraiya hesitated and opened his mouth. He, who was good at bantering, suddenly found himself so clumsy with words.
Jiraiya, who wandered the ninja world like a prodigal son and moved among the flowers, was good at peeping, drinking with hostesses, writing erotic novels, and teasing little girls, but when it came to his own emotional issues, he was adorably clumsy.
What should I say?
How should I respond?
So in the end, he didn't say anything. He gave a self-deprecating smile, wanting to speak but stopping, and instead said: "This... let's talk about it later. By the way, what were you and Sakura discussing just now?"
Wanted to speak but stopped, yet said, 'What a cool autumn day.'
Tsunade's smile dimmed for a moment. When she raised her head, her smile was still bright and showed no signs of abnormality: "Sakura was just talking about Cloud Ninja's Jinchuriki training. She said she could let Naruto go try it. Before she finished, you guys arrived."
"Cloud Ninja?"
"Yes, Cloud Ninja's Waterfall of Truth. It's also my first time hearing about this."
Tsunade nodded. Speaking of business, her expression completely lost the girlish demeanor from just now, leaving only the firm and strong look belonging to the Hokage in her eyes.
After briefly introducing the situation of the Waterfall of Truth, she said: "So Sakura wants to let Naruto also go try it..."
"We should first confirm the authenticity of the intelligence. I can go make a trip." Jiraiya subconsciously didn't feel very reassured about single-source intelligence, "But rashly spying on such classified intelligence might affect the alliance, right?"
"No need."
Tsunade shook her head: "Just ask Cloud Ninja directly. If Cloud Ninja really wanted to keep it a secret from us, Killer B wouldn't have mentioned the Waterfall of Truth."
Cloud Ninja wanted Konoha's medical ninjutsu data, but they had no chips in hand that could be used for exchange, and Konoha didn't really think much of Cloud Ninja's swordsmanship.
So they simply brought up the Waterfall of Truth to see if Konoha was interested in talking with them.
"Hmm... is that so. Alright then." Jiraiya rubbed his chin.
He wasn't interested in understanding this kind of political exchange.
"Sakura still cares quite a bit about Naruto." He chuckled and glanced at the two young ninja beside him.
When those two got along, there was completely none of the entanglement between Jiraiya and Tsunade.
"Truly enviable!"
Jiraiya looked at the pure and passionate smile on Naruto's face and sighed with emotion.
He hadn't seen Naruto so happy for a long time.
Seeing Jiraiya turn his head, Naruto waved his hand excitedly and shouted: "Perverted Hermit, come quickly and see if I'm much taller than Sakura!"
Since childhood, Naruto had been completely suppressed by Haruno Sakura... Remember the first chapter? Since the era of Sakura the Boss, Naruto had been firmly suppressed by her by a head. Now finding that he had surpassed her in height, this heartless guy was instantly overjoyed.
"Look, I'm this much taller!" Naruto said with a sly smile.
He made a gesture, his thumb and index finger spreading a full five or six centimeters wide, provoking Haruno Sakura to angrily give him a chestnut to the head.
"Where are you that much taller!" The girl gave him a fierce glare with her eyes, "At most a palm taller! You idiot, don't count the hair!"
"Stand up straight!"
She walked over, stood back-to-back with Naruto, and gestured with her palm above her head.
Then she very solemnly showed her palm: "See, it's only this much difference! Two centimeters at most!"
Speaking of which, Sasuke was also taller than her now, and Haruno Sakura had no objections to that.
But seeing Naruto smiling so slyly and smugly showing off to Jiraiya that his height had greatly surpassed hers, Sakura got angry and felt it was very necessary to correct his mistaken perception!
Many people must have encountered this kind of best friend who can always lower your IQ and bicker with you.
Jiraiya turned his head, met eyes with Tsunade, and they laughed together.
"Alright, stop fooling around, you two." Tsunade finally reined in her smile, waved her hand, and said, "Let's talk business."
"Ahem."
The woman looked seriously at Naruto and said sternly: "Sakura just told me about a Waterfall of Truth in Cloud Ninja Village, which is said to be helpful for Jinchuriki's training. So, later I will discuss this matter with the Raikage, and you should prepare to go train abroad."
"Going out again right after coming back?" Before Naruto could say anything, Haruno Sakura frowned.
"It won't be that urgent."
Tsunade shook her head and said.
She explained briefly: Naruto's Tailed Beast transformation training would proceed in the village until reaching a bottleneck, and then they would consider the matter of going to Cloud Ninja to train.
"Let's consolidate first." Jiraiya patted Naruto's head and smiled, "First master the Six-Tails state."
"Sakura, come help out when the time comes too, okay?"
"Sure." Haruno Sakura nodded as a matter of course, "I'll call Sasuke too. Actually, if it's just the Six-Tails form, just the two of us is enough."
"That's good too." Tsunade nodded and smiled, "You guys haven't trained together for a long time. It's a good opportunity to recover Team Kakashi's tacit understanding. When the time comes, I might—"
Tsunade stopped midway through her sentence.
A rapid knocking sound came from outside the door.
"Come in." The Fifth Hokage said in a deep voice.
"Tsunade-sama!" An Anbu ninja walked in hurriedly, presented the classified document in his hand to Tsunade, and said slightly panting, "Urgent dispatch from the Land of Water!"
"Land of Water... Mist Ninja Village?"
The woman frowned slightly and took the letter.
She opened the letter, her eyes quickly sweeping over the text on it. The relaxed expression from just now quickly dissipated from her face and became solemn.
After reading the urgent dispatch, Tsunade put it on the desk, raised her head, and her gaze swept back and forth between Haruno Sakura and Naruto.
"It seems... the reorganization of Team Kakashi is already imperative." The Hokage-sama smiled playfully and said slowly.
"Konoha Jonin Haruno Sakura, Genin Naruto Uzumaki, listen to my command!"
Sakura and Naruto instantly put away the smiles on their faces and stood up straight.
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"
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