Being a rogue ninja is worse than being Hokage.

Naruto watched quietly as the farce that suddenly unfolded in the street began.

The protagonist of this farce is truly infamous among ninjas—

—One of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, on par with Orochimaru and Tsunade—

—Jiraiya.

Chapter 52 I Hate Toads

Naruto watched as Jiraiya ran towards him. Sure enough, the Third Hokage had already passed on the news of Orochimaru's infiltration of Konoha to Jiraiya.

On the third day of the second Chunin Exams, Jiraiya had already returned to the village.

Jiraiya, who was fleeing from the angry women, also noticed Naruto, who was watching him make a fool of himself with great interest.

"Oh oh oh oh!"

After the loud thud of his wooden clogs, Jiraiya appeared in front of Naruto in the blink of an eye.

"Little brat! Judging by your headband, you're a Konoha ninja, right? A ninja's duty is to help ordinary people like me! Here! Then please hold onto this for me for a while."

Jiraiya didn't give Naruto a chance to speak, and talked a lot on his own at a very fast pace, before forcibly shoving the binoculars into Naruto's hands.

Naruto glanced down at the extra binoculars in his hand... Jiraiya's use of the "mischief in the east" tactic was so skillful that Naruto had no time to react.

When he looked up again, Jiraiya had completely disappeared.

Instead, a group of women surrounded Naruto with a menacing aura, glaring at him angrily.

"You're an accomplice of that voyeur, aren't you!"

Some people noticed the binoculars in Naruto's hand and arbitrarily defined Naruto's identity.

"Wait a minute, isn't this that kid?"

Someone in the crowd said something that suddenly changed the women's attitude.

What started as anger at Jiraiya's spying turned into disgust for Naruto.

"Look at the headband on his forehead! The Third Hokage actually allowed someone like that to become a ninja."

"Even if he becomes a ninja, his evil nature won't change—he was peeping into the women's bathhouse when he was only twelve or thirteen!"

"..."

These people seem oblivious to the fact that ridicule and slander are meant to be talked about behind the person's back.

After all, the habit of constantly criticizing Naruto to his face can't be changed overnight.

Naruto listened quietly to the rumors and slander against him, only correcting the "false information" they were spreading.

“I was also framed – personally, I have no interest in seeing older women without clothes.”

The women in front of him weren't actually old enough to be called "aunties," but it wouldn't be a problem for twelve or thirteen-year-old Naruto to call women a generation older than him "aunties."

Age is always a sensitive topic for women.

One of them immediately pressed Naruto for evidence in his words: "What evidence do you have to prove you're not a pervert! Not an accomplice of that peeping tom!"

Naruto remained silent; arguing with an unreasonable woman would only be a waste of breath.

He raised the binoculars in his hand, his five fingers spread wide.

Without the fingers to hold it, the telescope fell to the ground, its lenses shattering with a crisp sound.

—Click. That kind of sound.

Or a louder, more emotional sound.

—"Oh, no!"

Jiraiya, who had been hiding in the street corners and alleyways to observe, reappeared in front of everyone.

Jiraiya held his head in his hands, staring in disbelief at the telescope that Naruto had smashed.

That was my dearest friend who had accompanied me through countless battles in women's bathhouses!

But before Jiraiya could mourn the "death" of the telescope, he was immediately confronted by the group of women he had been spying on while bathing.

If you were captured by these terrifying women, something horrific would surely happen!

"Damn it!"

Jiraiya was terrified and quickly turned to run away.

The women chased after him just as before.

The farce continues, but it no longer happens around Naruto.

Naruto looked down at the telescope he had smashed, but his attention was elsewhere.

Jiraiya only "passed by" Naruto, and the "Root" organization, which was originally monitoring Naruto, voluntarily reduced the number of people they were monitoring.

They must have gone to inform Danzo.

The remaining "Roots" could monitor Naruto from a great distance.

It was as if they were trying to curry favor with Jiraiya.

Danzo was indeed wary of Jiraiya.

Then, Naruto looked down and those familiar wooden clogs reappeared in his vision.

"Wow! You brat! Do you know how many lonely days and nights my telescope has kept me company?!"

Jiraiya has already shaken off those women.

Naruto looked up at Jiraiya, who was sadly holding the wreckage of the telescope. Jiraiya was undoubtedly the most absurd of the three legendary Sannin.

"You framed me first, didn't you?"

Naruto ignored Jiraiya's moral blackmail.

"You didn't have to break my binoculars! As a ninja, you could have just gathered your chakra and run away!"

"I hate being misunderstood."

Naruto's answer made Jiraiya look away from the binoculars.

Jiraiya looked at Naruto, thinking, "This kid is just like the intelligence report said."

Because he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto was constantly ostracized and slandered in the village, which made him extremely hate being misunderstood. During his time at the Ninja Academy, he caused a huge uproar because Yamanaka Inoichi's daughter misunderstood him, and he even dared to slap her in front of Yamanaka Inoichi.

"And the fact that you could suddenly appear in front of me means you're a ninja too, right? I just returned your suggestion verbatim. Does that mean you actually enjoy being pursued by women?"

Jiraiya stared at Naruto with curiosity, but Naruto didn't seem to care.

In Jiraiya's eyes, Naruto was his disciple's orphan and the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki...

It would be strange if Jiraiya wasn't curious about him.

"Hmph, you really are a clueless brat. Listen up, this is called practical assessment! A charming man will be entangled with countless women in his life, and I'm experiencing—an emotion that only someone as charming as me can understand—you, a brat who hasn't even grown his hair yet, will be more charming than my fingernail in three or four years!"

As he said this, Jiraiya even extended his little finger and hooked the nail side towards Naruto.

Naruto stared speechlessly at Jiraiya. It was truly rare to see someone explain lechery in such an extraordinary way.

Jiraiya made jokes at Naruto, confusing Naruto's previous question with his answer.

One reason he ended his travels and returned to Konoha was because he had received information that Orochimaru had infiltrated the village.

Partly because of Naruto.

Jiraiya learned that an organization called "Akatsuki" in the ninja world was coveting the tailed beasts of the five great hidden villages.

Orochimaru, who defected from Konoha, spent some time in the Akatsuki organization.

Because his return to the village coincided with the second Chunin Exams, Jiraiya didn't rush to meet the Third Hokage and Naruto. Instead, he easily gathered material for his novel in Konoha's public bathhouse.

After being caught spying... no, taking material without the interviewee's authorization, Jiraiya never expected to run into Naruto on the street.

Although things didn't go as planned, Jiraiya still used the fact that he was being chased by a woman to get closer to Naruto.

Taking advantage of various random events to get close to the target is a fundamental principle of ninja spying!

"You must be a genin, right? Didn't you participate in the Chunin Exams?"

Jiraiya not only didn't answer Naruto's question, but instead seized the initiative in talking to Naruto.

"I've been eliminated."

"What? You're not that great after all."

"The guy who got chased down the street for peeping into the women's bathhouse has no right to judge how amazing I am."

Naruto's tone was indignant.

"Hum hum……"

Jiraiya suddenly chuckled, then said mysteriously, "Listen carefully, I'm very powerful—people call me the Toad Spirit Sage of Mount Myōboku! You can just call me the Toad Sage!"

As he said this, Jiraiya formed the hand seals for summoning spirits.

After a cloud of smoke cleared, a giant toad, half the height of a person, appeared at Jiraiya's feet, who was posing in a strange posture.

However, Naruto did not give Jiraiya the response he wanted.

Surprise, curiosity, excitement—none of it!

Naruto glanced indifferently at the toad, then at Jiraiya in his strange pose.

"I don't like toads."

With that, Naruto walked past Jiraiya and left.

Jiraiya was left alone, bewildered in the wind.

Chapter 53 One of the Legendary Sannin: A Certified Ninja Genius

There's a deeper reason why Naruto dislikes toads.

The three great sage lands of the ninja world are: the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave, the Slug Sage of Shikkotsu Forest, and the Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku.

Only the toads of Mount Myōboku are deeply involved in the politics of the ninja world.