"How do you plan to handle the Grass Ninja Village?", Jiraiya asked for Tsunade's opinion.
Tsunade pondered for a moment, "I'm not that old man, I have plenty of strength and means."
"Since they dared to tear up the treaty, then they'd better be prepared to pay the price."
"But... there's another, more important matter to deal with right now."
"What is it?", Jiraiya asked curiously.
A sly curve rose at the corner of Tsunade's mouth, "Jiraiya, it's rare for you to return to Konoha, I want to ask you to help me with something."
"What is it?"
"A small matter."
"Say it."
"Help me deal with a few people."
"Who?"
"Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado."
"Why deal with them? Isn't Konoha stabilizing?"
"Jiraiya, do you really think those two guys can help me manage Konoha properly?"
"They've been Hokage advisors for so long, they should have more experience, right?"
"You really think they can be trusted? They turned Konoha into such a mess, and now they want to mess with me too."
"If they can't be trusted, then who are you going to rely on?"
"I've already finalized a new list. When the time comes, as long as you support me in kicking those two old things down, that'll be enough."
"This... isn't that a bit inappropriate?", Jiraiya scratched his head, still a bit hesitant.
He had never done something like this before.
Tsunade's expression didn't change, "So are you going to help or not?"
Jiraiya was silent.
Tsunade was a little speechless too, "Forget it, let's not talk about this for now."
"You finally came back, have you gone to see Minato and Kushina's child?"
"Uh... not yet, I was just planning to go take a look."
"Then go first, the old man's death hit him quite hard."
"I'll go right now," Jiraiya, hearing that, ran off like he was escaping.
Letting him fight with other villages' ninjas was fine, but in this kind of situation, he really didn't know how to handle it.
"Sensei, you've gone bad," Aoba couldn't help but complain.
"What did you say?", Tsunade looked over.
"I said you're really smart, sensei."
"Hmph! Hurry and help me prepare the speech draft for tomorrow's funeral!"
———
[Night]
After hemophobia treatment.
Aoba quietly lay in Tsunade's arms.
Neither of them had fallen asleep yet.
Judging from Tsunade's current state, the hemophobia was mostly cured.
Although she still felt afraid when seeing blood, it no longer affected her normal actions.
It had become a fear she could overcome.
It's just that habits are a terrifying thing. Tsunade was already getting used to hugging Aoba to sleep.
"Sensei, how do you plan to resolve the Grass Ninja Village matter?", Aoba suddenly asked.
Tsunade was stunned for a moment, then shook her head with her eyes closed, "I still don't know. That village... even if I send someone over to assert authority and give a warning, I doubt anything will change."
Back in the Second Ninja World War, the Grass Ninja Village was already behaving like fence-sitters, even selling fake intel everywhere, and got destroyed. But now they've still jumped out to cause trouble.
This is called barefoot people not fearing those wearing shoes.
Since they already have nothing to lose, they've got nothing to fear anymore.
"Sensei, why not let me handle it," Aoba eagerly volunteered.
"You?", Tsunade opened her eyes, "You want to go to Grass Ninja Village?"
Aoba nodded.
"No way, too dangerous!", Tsunade refused decisively.
"My strength is already better than most Jonin," Aoba still spoke a bit modestly.
"You're still young," Tsunade said righteously.
"..."
'When you need me to do something, you don't say that, huh.'
"Then let Yugao-nee and Kurenai come with me, sensei, didn't you think I had personal bias? This way is perfect to show their strength."
"No! Too dangerous!", Tsunade's attitude was also very firm.
Grass Ninja Village lies between Konoha and Iwagakure she was worried that a ninja squad from Iwagakure might already be stationed in the Grass Village.
Aoba could feel Tsunade holding him tighter.
He couldn't help but sigh in his heart and buried his face into the softest part of Tsunade.
He rubbed against it, like acting spoiled.
"Sensei, I'll become a ninja eventually, I can't always stay in a safe environment."
He felt like he needed real combat now. Always bullying Sasuke and Naruto was starting to fall behind the meta.
Tsunade felt the warm breath from Aoba's speech and breathing against her chest, her body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
After hesitating for a long while—
"I'll think about it...", After saying that, Tsunade fell asleep.
Aoba felt like she must've had a nightmare.
Almost suffocated him.
———
[The Next Day]
Just at dawn.
Tsunade and Shizune left early.
Today was Sarutobi Hiruzen's funeral.
She was the new Hokage, and would have to give a speech and deliver the eulogy. Shizune had to go help as well, so they needed to go prepare in advance.
As for Aoba, just going by himself was fine.
In fact, not going wouldn't be a problem either, it wasn't mandatory.
But not going might not look good.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, as the Hokage with the longest tenure, although he had done many dishonorable things later in life, hesitating and being indecisive on many issues, almost ruining his legacy. But in the hearts of most Konoha villagers, he was still a good Hokage.
After breakfast, Aoba also put on a black mourning outfit and left the house.
At this time, light drizzle had just begun to fall.
Aoba held up an umbrella but didn't go directly toward the memorial stone.
Instead, he first went to the Yamanaka flower shop.
To buy flowers.
Even though it was Sarutobi Hiruzen's funeral, Tsunade hadn't even prepared flowers, it was a bit too much for a student to be more filial than their teacher.
More importantly, the Yamanaka flower shop had tons of customers today. Inoichi's wife had already used some kind of clone technique to handle the guests.
Little Ino was also running around, busy to the max.
It felt like the flower shop's revenue these past two days might exceed a whole previous year.
Luckily, Inoichi had known the funeral time in advance, or else white chrysanthemums would already be in short supply.
"Ino!", Ino's mother, who was busy, suddenly called out to Ino.
"Huh?", Ino looked at her mother in confusion.
"Look outside the window."
Ino looked toward the window in confusion. Dressed in all black, Aoba was standing under a green tree holding an umbrella.
He seemed to be hesitating whether or not to go line up.
"Aoba!", Ino's eyes lit up. They hadn't seen each other in a few days since the festival.
"You go first," Ino's Mother said.
The light in Ino's eyes dimmed a bit, "But the shop is so busy..."
Ino's Mother stuffed a few white chrysanthemums into her arms and pushed her out, "It won't matter if you're not here, girl."
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