"Master, what's wrong with you?"
Naruto greeted Jiraiya with genuine concern. The Toad Sage lowered his head, shoulders trembling slightly as if fighting back tears. He waved his hand in a half-drunken, half-melancholic gesture and muttered:
"I really didn't expect it, Naruto… you've been reborn once, you've become perfect in every sense, and yet I—your master—am still as pure as untouched jade!"
Naruto blinked in surprise, his blue eyes widening. "No way, Master. Haven't you already established a relationship with Granny Tsunade?"
Jiraiya gave a heavy nod, but his expression darkened. "The relationship is real, confirmed… but it hasn't gone any further."
Naruto tilted his head, recalling the gestures and closeness between Tsunade and Jiraiya in recent months. "That's weird. Granny Tsunade seems really good to you. Don't tell me… she doesn't want to?"
Jiraiya gave a bitter chuckle and nodded. "It's not that she doesn't want to."
"Then why are you here sulking, Master?"
Jiraiya clicked his tongue, clearly embarrassed to explain such matters to his apprentice. But after everything they had been through together—pain, loss, war, even resurrection—there was nothing left that couldn't be said.
So, with a deep sigh, Jiraiya confessed:
"Tsunade… well, she's fine with something like a dragonfly skimming over the surface of the water, but when it comes to a downpour… she always stops me!"
The old Sannin's face turned gloomy. He had no choice but to pour himself another cup of sake and drown his frustration.
Naruto frowned slightly and shook his head. "That's strange! What's Granny Tsunade doing? If she's already with you, Master, then why stop there?"
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, swirling the cup in his hand. "I don't know. I can't figure it out. Every time I get to the last step, Tsunade catches me and won't let me move forward!"
Naruto couldn't help it—he burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. He could already imagine his master's frustrated face in that kind of moment.
If a man couldn't advance for too long, anyone would go mad!
Naruto suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for Jiraiya. He was a man too, after all, and he understood just how depressing that kind of restraint could be.
"Pervy Sage, have you tried talking to Granny Tsunade about it?"
Jiraiya took a long swig before answering. "I did. But she just said… 'the time hasn't come yet.' No reason, no explanation, just that."
He frowned deeply, his voice low and full of frustration. "Naruto, Tsunade and I… we're not young anymore. She's Hokage, she maintains her body with medical ninjutsu and that Infūin technique, but me? I don't have that luxury. In another six or seven years… I might not be able to…"
He stopped abruptly, face reddening.
Naruto understood immediately. Jiraiya wanted a child. That was why he was anxious—time was not on his side.
Seeing his master's sorrowful expression, Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Pervy Sage, I have a guess!"
Jiraiya turned to him, cheeks flushed from the alcohol. "What do you think?"
Naruto leaned in and said: "This time, when I resurrected my mom, Kushina, she and Dad went with me to the Hyūga compound to propose marriage to Hinata's family. That's how the marriage was officially confirmed!"
His voice grew firmer. "I'm thinking, Master… maybe you should formally propose to Granny Tsunade. Give her an official title, make it real. If you do that, she won't stop you anymore."
"So maybe, Granny Tsunade is waiting for you to marry her properly, Pervy Sage."
Jiraiya froze, shocked at first that Naruto had resurrected Kushina and Minato for such a moment, but then… Naruto's words began to make sense.
Yes. Tsunade was Hokage, one of the Legendary Sannin, a woman of unmatched pride and strength. Their relationship was already known in Konoha, and no one dared to speak against it. But for a woman, especially one like Tsunade, an official bond—marriage—was a matter of dignity, not just love.
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, realization dawning. Maybe he really hadn't been fair to her all this time.
Looking at Naruto, he asked earnestly, "So what do you think I should do next?"
Naruto thought for a while, recalling Tsunade's tragic past—Dan, Nawaki, the losses that scarred her heart. "I heard Granny Tsunade once loved someone when she was young. You've been with her for so long and finally won her heart, Pervy Sage. So what you should do… is recreate that feeling of youth. Make a romantic proposal that takes her back to that time, but with you as the man who fills that void."
His voice carried determination. "If you can make her heart beat like it did in her youth, then when the two of you are together again… nothing will stop you."
Jiraiya nodded, his eyes gleaming like a student about to take notes from a teacher.
"Then… Naruto, you'll help me, right?"
Naruto grinned and slapped his master's shoulder. "Leave it to me, Pervy Sage!"
With that, Jiraiya put down the sake, ordered a bowl of sobering soup, drank it, and went to wash up. Together, he and Naruto left the bathhouse.
But just as they stepped outside—
"Jiraiya!"
A familiar voice rang out.
"Ah! Tsunade… why are you here?"
Tsunade's golden eyes narrowed as she glared at the two of them. She looked from Jiraiya to Naruto, her anger fading just slightly when she saw her godson.
"So… you were with Naruto?"
At that moment, Jiraiya looked at Naruto, and his panic eased. With a sly grin, he pretended to be calm.
"Yeah. I was in a bad mood, so I asked my apprentice to keep me company. Is that a problem?"
Tsunade folded her arms. "That's not what I meant—"
Jiraiya raised his hand, cutting her off. "I know what you're thinking. You suspect I was drinking and fooling around in there. Haha! I might be the Pervy Sage, but that was the old me!"
His voice grew firmer, almost poetic: "Now I walk among thousands of flowers, but not a single leaf clings to me. I only want one scoop from the spring… but sadly, the one scoop that belongs to me is never given to me to drink."
He then threw an arm around Naruto and began walking away, leaving Tsunade momentarily speechless.
Of course she understood his metaphor. Last night, at the crucial moment when they had embraced, she had stopped him again. Jiraiya hadn't said a word after that, his mood ruined. He had left at dawn, and when he didn't return all day, Tsunade sent ANBU to track him.
The report had said: Jiraiya-sama was at the bathhouse with three attendants.
Furious, Tsunade had stormed over immediately… only to see him with Naruto.
If not for Naruto, Jiraiya would have been pounded into the ground.
"That was close…" Jiraiya muttered once they were far enough away. He leaned against a wall, letting out a long sigh of relief. Then he looked at Naruto and chuckled. "Naruto, luckily you were here. Otherwise, I don't even know what excuse I would've come up with!"
Naruto sighed too. "Pervy Sage, you're really something… lying with a straight face like that."
Jiraiya smirked, giving him a meaningful look: Learn from the master.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, this is perfect. Tsunade must think I'm heartbroken right now. That means it's time—I'll prepare everything and give her the most romantic proposal she's ever seen!"
His eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, right! I need to find Orochimaru!"
Naruto froze. "Huh? What for?!"
Jiraiya only laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "Don't ask too many questions. Just follow me!"
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