"Then how much do you want? Ten million is absolutely impossible!"
"Then Ten…"
"Ten thousand is also impossible!"
"Ten…"
"Not even a hundred thousand!"
"Forget it then. Go by yourself. I have my limits, you know. Giving you a chance to bargain was already me being nice!"
Naruto waved his hand like he was shooing him away.
But how could Jiraiya just give up?
He already saw Naruto as the child of destiny from the prophecy, and he had to take him along for training!
"One thousand ryo!"
Jiraiya shouted, "That's the highest I can go! Any more and forget it! I'll just go interview that beautiful, curvy woman by myself!"
"As one of the Legendary Three of Konoha and a best-selling author, you've got over a hundred million in savings, right?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "If you're this stingy, are you planning to take that money to the afterlife to spend?"
"You don't understand, kid. I need this money for important things!" Jiraiya pouted. "So? Ten thousand ryo. Want to come with me or not?"
"Ten thousand a day?"
"Uh…"
"So you really just want to give ten thousand, huh?"
"Ten thousand a day! Happy now?"
Jiraiya sighed helplessly. "How can someone your age care so much about money? Besides, don't you still have that gold coin toad? Just make it spit out a few more coins and you'll be fine."
"You think I want your money? I need it to survive!"
Naruto snorted. Most of his savings, including the coins from the gold coin toad, had already been blown by Jiraiya!
Ten thousand a day was way too little!
"When do we leave?"
"The sooner the better, of course."
"Then today."
Naruto jumped up, looked at the sun still high in the sky, and held out his hand to Jiraiya. "Today's ten thousand ryo. Hand it over!"
"…"
"I'll give it to you later!"
"Yeah right, you'd never give it to me later!"
"You don't trust your teacher?"
"Even if you were my dad, I wouldn't trust you, you idiot!"
"You just called me an idiot? Idiot!"
"Give me the money, idiot!"
"I'm not giving you anything! Idiot!"
"No money, no trip, idiot!"
"Fine, don't come then, idiot!"
"Fine, I won't come, idiot!"
Before they knew it, the two of them were just trading insults over nothing. In the end, Jiraiya gave in and handed Naruto ten thousand ryo, ending the pointless shouting match.
"What a greedy little brat," Jiraiya grumbled.
"You're the last person who should say that," Naruto said, giving Jiraiya's bankbook a mocking glance.
"Forget it, I don't feel like arguing with you. Go pack your things, we're leaving right away. Time's tight!" Jiraiya urged.
He had no idea exactly where Tsunade might be, so they could only search the places she was most likely to stay.
It was basically a game of luck, so Jiraiya had to make every minute count.
Even though he didn't want the Hokage position, deep down he still cared about Konoha.
Tsunade was the same way…
Naruto went home and quickly packed two sets of clothes, ready to leave the village with Jiraiya.
"If I leave now, won't it count as abandoning my post? Is that really okay?" Naruto suddenly asked.
Jiraiya gave him a speechless look.
Now you remember to ask?
"Don't worry, I already spoke to Kakashi about it. It's fine," Jiraiya said.
"That's good."
With his backpack on, Naruto asked again, "So where's our first stop?"
"Let's head to the station town first. She might be there," Jiraiya said.
Station town?
Naruto remembered that Jiraiya met Tsunade by chance in Tanzaku Street, but he didn't tell Jiraiya to just go there.
First, he couldn't explain how he knew about Tsunade, or why he'd guess Tanzaku Street.
Second, spending a few extra days searching didn't hurt him—it was a chance to earn more money.
Right now, staying in Konoha meant no paid missions… and he wasn't about to work for free.
After leaving the village, they walked about ten kilometers and reached a bustling little town.
The place was full of entertainment venues.
Bars, music halls, casinos…
Looks like this really might be the kind of place Tsunade would go… but it also feels like somewhere Jiraiya would show up too!
"Let's just rest here for today," Jiraiya said after getting a room at an inn.
"Whatever."
Naruto didn't care, took the room key, and was about to leave when Jiraiya pulled him back.
"Once you put your stuff down, remember to come with me to gather material! I'm paying you, so don't think about running off!"
"Got it."
Naruto rolled his eyes, shook off Jiraiya's hand, and went upstairs.
But when he came back down, Jiraiya was nowhere to be seen.
"?"
"Telling me not to run, but he's the one who ran off?"
Naruto was confused at first, but quickly stopped thinking about it.
If he left, he left. Naruto didn't want to go anyway.
So-called gathering material was just him doing some dirty peeping on women.
Back in his room, Naruto lay on the bed planning to rest for a bit.
After walking this far, he wasn't exactly tired, but he still needed to save his energy for staying up all night.
But he hadn't been asleep long when someone knocked on the door.
After months of life as a ninja, Naruto's sleep had gotten lighter—any small sound could wake him.
He looked toward the door, a bit puzzled.
Was Jiraiya back?
No… that guy would be yelling his name the second he returned.
If it wasn't Jiraiya, then it could only be those two…
Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame!
Still, these two were kind of polite. They'd come to catch him, but they actually knocked instead of sneaking in for a surprise attack.
Were they underestimating him?
Naruto got out of bed, walked to the door, and slowly opened it to see two people in black cloaks with red clouds.
One was human, one was shark-like.
"So the Nine-Tails is sealed inside such a little brat?" Kisame looked surprised to see Naruto for the first time.
Itachi's face stayed blank. He calmly said, "Naruto, come with us."
"Sure."
Naruto stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him without the slightest sign of panic. "Where to?"
??
Kisame froze for a second, then grinned. "Heh, I was wondering if I should cut off one of his legs so he couldn't run, but looks like this kid knows what's up!"
Itachi wasn't as optimistic.
He noticed Naruto's expression was far too calm—nothing like how a kid should look when facing dangerous strangers.
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