Chapter 487: The End of the Tale of the Gallant

It was an unremarkable little tavern in Konoha Village, with nothing in his memory that left a deep impression.

If there was anything to say, it was the person drinking with him across from him.

"That country... the Land of Rain, it seems there has been a civil war for a long time, and the Village has been split in two. The leader of one side is rumored to be the leader of the ’Akatsuki’ organization."

The white-haired man set down his wine cup, the bottom of the cup making a soft clinking sound against the wooden table.

His gaze moved past the wine cup, looking at the woman opposite him with a proud figure and a mature, beautiful face.

At this moment, there was not a trace of his usual lust or frivolity in his eyes, only gravity, seriousness, and resolution.

This man in his fifties, who usually called himself the Toad Sage, the gallant Jiraiya, was unusually reliable when it came to serious matters, especially those concerning the safety of the Ninja World and the safety of his Disciples.

The dim tavern, Tsunade sitting opposite him, the unfinished wine on the table, and the intelligence he had just spoken about the Land of Rain and ’Akatsuki’, suddenly realizing, this was exactly the conversation he had with Tsunade before coming to the Hidden Rain Village.

He remembered it very clearly.

At that time, Tsunade had drunk too much and wanted to throw up, so he helped her, and after she finished, they sat together on a public bench in a nearby park.

Was his lantern of life not over yet?

Jiraiya smiled bitterly in his heart.

It seems he was really unlucky!

A lantern of life that lasted so long, yet his body happened to fall into the sea.

On the park bench, Tsunade leaned weakly against the cold back of the bench.

She was naturally beautiful, with her long golden hair tied into two low ponytails, her delicate face, at this moment, because of the alcohol, was stained with a moving crimson on her fair cheeks, breathtakingly beautiful in the sunset, so much so that even the Jiraiya in the memory couldn’t take his eyes off her.

However, the "himself" in the memory did not gaze at this beautiful woman he had pursued all his life with obsession or appreciation as usual.

He didn’t even look, his gaze cast towards the setting sun sinking in the distance.

Because, by this time, he had already prepared himself to die.

Yes...

Jiraiya sighed inwardly.

He had clearly made up his mind before seeing Tsunade, and was prepared for the possibility that he might not come back.

Sneaking into the Hidden Rain Village to collect intelligence and reveal the true face of the ’Akatsuki’ leader was a mission with a slim chance of survival.

The Tsunade in the memory also did not look at the Jiraiya in the memory.

She lowered her head slightly, her golden hair falling down, covering part of her expression.

She had already vaguely sensed the resolution, like going to one’s death, hidden beneath the calm surface of her old friend.

This filled her with unease and a sense of powerlessness.

Even though she had become the Hokage, even though she was the leader of Konoha Village, one of the Five Great Nations...

Why was she still so powerless!

"Akatsuki... just how powerful is the person who can command those guys, it’s impossible to guess."

The voice of the Tsunade in the memory was a bit hoarse, carrying deep worry and trembling.

She paused: "Moreover, you even went all the way to the enemy... as if to send yourself to your death."

The Jiraiya in the memory seemed not to have heard these slightly sarcastic words from Tsunade, or rather, he had heard them, but his mind was made up and would not be shaken by any words.

He actually didn’t drink much; for a gallant like him, when he made up his mind, he only needed a taste, just enough for the alcohol to relax his tense nerves.

Liquid courage?

But he was the gallant Jiraiya!

When he made up his mind, he wouldn’t rely on alcohol.

Alcohol, perhaps, just added a less heavy atmosphere to this conversation, which might be a farewell.

The Jiraiya in the memory placed his hands on his knees and stood up slowly, but with unusual firmness.

His silhouette was drawn long in the sunset, blocking some of the light shining on Tsunade.

"Well... it’s about time to go."

His voice was calm, even carrying a hint of ease, as if he were just going out to complete an ordinary mission.

...

"You must come back alive!"

Just as Jiraiya turned and was about to step away, the sound of Tsunade’s voice, carrying a sob, yet trying to suppress it, as if she had used all her strength to shout, rang out fiercely behind him!

Jiraiya trembled and turned his head sharply.

He saw that the beautiful woman who was always strong, overbearing, and even a bit rough, now had a bitter expression, biting her lower lip, and her beautiful eyes were already filled with tears, sparkling with broken light under the sunset.

Tsunade was also in her fifties.

Even though she looked like she was in her twenties because of the Yin Seal, her eyes, her temperament, and everything she had experienced.

Made it so that when she cried, it was no longer the feeling of a little girl "about to shed tears."

She was a woman who had experienced "loss" countless times: grandfather, grandmother, lover, younger brother, teacher...

The people she loved most had left her one by one, leaving her only with endless pain and a psychological trauma called "hemophobia."

Although the hemophobia had been cured, but...

Now, she might lose another important companion.

Even if that companion was an old pervert who had no decency all day, liked to peek into women’s bathhouses, wrote erotic novels, and made her both angry and amused.

But he was also a companion who had accompanied her through long years, who could understand and support each other at critical moments, and was one of her few old friends with whom she could truly let down her guard and talk.

Thinking that the person in front of her might also be like the others, never to return, turning into a cold corpse, or not even being able to find the corpse, Tsunade felt a wringing pain in her heart, so painful that she could barely breathe.

"If even you die... I..."

"Will you cry for me?"

Jiraiya interrupted Tsunade’s words. He laughed with feigned gallantry, even a bit frivolously, trying to dilute the sadness of parting in this way.

"Then I would be very happy!"

But immediately after, his tone changed, becoming somewhat low and complex: "However... it probably won’t be as sad as it was when Kato Dan died!"

This sentence of his, seemingly teasing, actually contained too many complex emotions.

Tsunade knew the meaning of Jiraiya’s words.

She didn’t look up, just lowered her head, and with a tone that wasn’t heavy but seemed to have exhausted all her strength, she scolded:

"Idiot..."

"Then let’s make a bet with your favorite gamble."

Jiraiya’s voice sounded again, with a calmness that seemed to see through fate.

Upon hearing this, Tsunade looked up sharply, her eyes blurred with tears, looking at the man with his back to the sunset, whose figure was tall and seemed to be blending into that orange-red light.

Jiraiya’s figure was indeed tall, blocking part of the sunset, but the warm, golden afterglow of the sunset cast a sacred and tragic yellow halo around his entire outline.

Standing there, he was like an ancient hero statue.

"You should bet that I will die."

Jiraiya stated the bet.

Afterwards, he seemed to feel that this bet was too heavy, or to make the atmosphere less desperate, he turned his head slightly and added in a low voice:

"Anyway, you always lose when you gamble."

Recalling this, the Jiraiya in reality couldn’t help but reveal a bitter and complex smile on his face.

This time...

Tsunade seems to have won.

He thought self-deprecatingly that he never seemed to be very lucky.

He had let Tsunade bet that he would die, and now he was indeed about to die.

Tsunade, who always lost at gambling, was finally going to win for once?

He remembered that in the scene in the memory, he continued by saying: "If I can come back alive..."

The rest of the words were not spoken.

What were they?

Nothing more than words like, would you marry me.

But thinking about it now, there was nothing to regret.

Some words, not spoken, might be better.

Some thoughts, understood by each other, were enough.

If spoken out, they might instead become shackles or regrets.

Just like what he had said at the time:

’If a man doesn’t have the magnanimity to laugh it off, he wouldn’t be a real man.’

Now, it should be his turn to laugh off the coming death, right?

Consciousness, like sinking into the deep sea, gradually blurred and dissipated.

The perception of reality regained dominance.

Jiraiya, who had lost an arm, was seriously injured, and his Chakra was almost exhausted, had his consciousness flickering between clarity and blur in the boundless seawater.

Just as he felt he was about to be completely swallowed by eternal darkness.

A glimmer of light pierced through the deep, dark seawater and reflected in his eyes, which were gradually losing focus.

It wasn’t sunlight; sunlight couldn’t penetrate such deep seawater, nor was it the fluorescence emitted by deep-sea creatures.

It was a...

Golden Dragon!

It swam elegantly in the pitch-black seawater like the most agile spirit of the sea, and wherever it passed, it dispelled the darkness, bringing light and a trace of... faint warmth.

The swimming Dragon returns to the sea...

In Jiraiya’s blurred consciousness, these words emerged inexplicably.

The Dragon returning to the sea was both a destination and a rebirth.

This golden Dragon... who was it?

Was it a messenger from the Pure Land coming to welcome him?

Or...

He no longer had the strength to think.

That glimmer of golden light became the last and warmest thing he saw in his sinking consciousness.

Perhaps... this was the end?

The tale of the gallant Jiraiya ended here, and the next volume should be the tale of Uzumaki Naruto...

Jiraiya slowly closed his eyes, and a bitter yet relieved smile seemed to remain on the corners of his mouth.

His body continued to sink into deeper, colder darkness.

And that golden Dragon was swimming rapidly towards him...

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