But it was only for a second.
"Heh, Manda-san is still so irritable. I am Orochimaru-san's ally, so I can tentatively be considered Manda-san's comrade too, right? Acting so distant is hurtful."
Menma chuckled lightly. Beneath the seemingly calm words, a trace of terrifying aura flowed faintly.
And the fox-like pupils faintly revealed in his eye sockets.
"!?"
This blatantly felt dangerous aura...
Made Manda's expression change involuntarily.
This aura seemed even more terrifying than Orochimaru's.
"Of course, I was indeed a bit presumptuous. I will definitely offer an apology gift to Manda-san later. Please be forgiving, Manda-san."
After a slight pause...
Menma added with a smile.
"Hmph, hmph, in that case, forget it! This Great One won't fuss about it!"
Manda grunted twice, taking the opportunity to step down. Although this giant snake from Ryuchi Cave had a nasty personality, he still had a brain, and a very smart one at that.
Why could Orochimaru command Manda?
Besides satisfying Manda's demands, the most important thing was that Orochimaru had the strength. The current Menma was the same. Creatures like Manda had extremely accurate intuition.
Kabuto Yakushi, who followed closely behind Menma but didn't dare to step onto Manda's head, also revealed a look of emotion at this moment.
He could be considered a witness to Menma's growth. Seeing that the current Menma could possess such might... it would be false to say Kabuto felt no fluctuation in his heart.
As for Utakata...
He didn't appear with Menma and Kabuto. This was also Menma's request; he didn't want to expose the news of Utakata joining his side too early. Although it might not be hidden for long, dragging it out for a while longer was better.
"Didn't expect to meet you two here. However, Jiraiya-san, what you said is exactly the same as Kakashi and that bunch. Did they really learn it from here? No novelty, no sincerity, no shame!!! Are you all so naive? So ridiculous? So foolish!?"
Menma looked at Jiraiya opposite him with a look of mockery and said.
In his previous life when he first watched Naruto, including the period when Jiraiya died in battle and even until Naruto was about to end, Menma liked the character of Jiraiya very much and truly felt he was a man worthy of the title of hero.
However, the deeper his understanding of Naruto became later, especially after coming to this world, Jiraiya, in Menma's view, became a character full of irony.
For his tragic story, he himself had to bear at least half, or even more, of the responsibility.
Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan were a huge problem.
Regardless of whether Madara Uchiha had other backup plans in this, Jiraiya not bringing Nagato back to the Leaf from the beginning was a mistake.
To put it bluntly, he could have failed to do so because of inability, various accidents, or being stopped by the foreshadowing and preparations laid by Madara Uchiha.
The only thing unacceptable was that he didn't do it himself!
This is a fundamental difference!
Then to Naruto in the original story, and Menma in this life.
Jiraiya was again a coward blatantly shirking responsibility.
Therefore.
Menma no longer viewed Jiraiya with the filter from his previous life. If he didn't stop him, Menma could refrain from doing anything to Jiraiya for his parents' sake. But if he tried to stop him...
Then there was only one choice.
"Menma, I know whatever I say now is too late. The village's mistakes, the Old Man's mistakes, and the mistakes I made myself are all irreversible. But at the very least, there is still a possibility of making amends. I hope you can give us such a chance. I also believe Minato and Kushina wouldn't want to see you become enemies with the village and face Naruto with swords, right!?"
Jiraiya looked at Menma with a very sincere expression and said.
Jiraiya still had a bit of conscience, and he cared about face. He wouldn't really spout empty talk about so-called righteousness like Danzo, saying he was never wrong and everything was for the village.
Wrong was wrong.
Jiraiya would regret and admit it.
Not to mention Menma's identity was so special.
"Make amends? Hey, Jiraiya-san!"
Menma seemed to have heard a very funny joke. Laughing out loud, he waved a single hand.
Whoosh!
A kunai was thrown directly.
Bang!
Rumble!!
The explosive tag attached to the tail end exploded directly upon embedding into a large tree on the left.
Crash!
That large tree, thick enough for several people to hug, broke directly from the middle.
While Naruto still had an expression of complete incomprehension...
Jiraiya's expression changed slightly.
"Did you see? This tree has been destroyed. Then I say now, 'Sorry, I can make amends.' Can this tree be reborn? Hey? Jiraiya-san? What do you think?"
Menma looked at Jiraiya with infinitely cold eyes and asked.
"Moreover, do you really think I left the Leaf solely because of my own reasons? I don't deny that this is indeed the main and most direct reason. But equally, I am thoroughly disappointed in this decaying village! This village is filled with darkness and filth everywhere. Is my case just an isolated one? Jiraiya-san? Hmm? As the disciple of that Third Hokage, you should know many, many things better than I do, right?"
Menma's face was full of sarcasm.
"The death of the White Fang of the Leaf back then? Hinata Hyuga being kidnapped, followed by Hizashi Hyuga's death? And the even more ironic annihilation of the Uchiha clan? In these matters, those few high-ranking officials of the Leaf played quite good roles, didn't they? Jiraiya-san!"
Every word was almost a heart-killing condemnation.
Making Jiraiya's expression extremely ugly.
Only Naruto still had a completely uncomprehending expression, knowing only that Menma seemed to be talking about topics related to the Leaf and the Third Hokage.
But when Menma mentioned the annihilation of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke looked up abruptly at Menma.
His own clan annihilated? Related to the Leaf!?
In this moment, Sasuke seemed to hear nothing else, only this sentence!
"Menma? The Uchiha clan!? Wasn't it destroyed by that guy!?"
The question asked directly carried a very obvious urgent tone.
"That guy? Itachi Uchiha? One person annihilating a ninja clan—even with the Mangekyo Sharingan, so what? How old was your brother then? How many people were in your Uchiha clan? Could Itachi kill them all alone? Taking a step back, even if he could really do it, could he keep the entire ninja village unaware? Sending out not a single distress signal? Sasuke, do you think this is possible? Is this normal!? Moreover, no matter how weak the Leaf is, it's still one of the Five Great Ninja Villages. It wouldn't go so far as to detect nothing abnormal during this process, right? The grand Number One Ninja Village in the Ninja World—if it were truly this useless and incompetent, it would have been destroyed countless times already!"
Menma looked at Sasuke, speaking with a tone full of mockery.