Looking at Tsunade in front of him, Jiraiya froze on the spot.
He simply hadn't imagined that, in Tsunade and Orochimaru's eyes, this was how he appeared.
He fingered the oil-character protector on his forehead; recalling Tsunade's words, he could only sigh—no words came.
He wanted to explain, but he knew full well Tsunade would never listen.
Searching for a Savior?
It seemed no one believed in him except himself.
So… alas!
He let out a helpless sigh; his plan had utterly failed.
However—
He still wanted one last try: "Tsunade, don't you care about the Village?"
"Maybe the Old Man and the others have their faults, but if we really hand the Village to the Uchiha, with their extremist nature, aren't you afraid they'll drag us into war?"
To that—
Tsunade, sipping her tea, looked more and more disdainful.
She gave Jiraiya one last glance, then said calmly, "I don't see Uchiha extremism; I see extremism at the top of the Village—slandering and cornering the Uchiha at any cost."
"When my grandfather was Hokage, the Uchiha had grievances, but both sides could still talk."
"Once the Old Man took over, the Village and the Uchiha grew hostile."
"Did the Uchiha give little during the wars? So many of them died—why did the Village never acknowledge it? They can't even get their names on the Memorial Stone."
"And let's not go too far back—just look at the Third Great Ninja War."
"They made the entire Uchiha Clan face one whole hidden Village, and it had to be the Mist—whose styles counter the Sharingan the most. You dare claim that fits the Will of Fire?"
"The Nine-Tails Attack had nothing to do with the Uchiha; just because the controller had a Sharingan eye, they pinned the blame straight on the Uchiha…"
"Are the Uchiha the Hyuga? They've no Bird in a Cage; plenty of Sharingan eyes have been lost. Does the Village have any proof it was the Uchiha?"
"And I remember that night of the Nine-Tails rampage: the Uchiha were ordered by the Old Man not to help Minato Namikaze—and they swallowed that insult and obeyed."
"Under Minato, life for the Uchiha had actually improved—why would they move against him?"
"Did they want their lives to get worse again so the Old Man could stay in power and keep squeezing them?"
"Are the Uchiha insane?"
"Since the Old Man regained office, the Uchiha were told to leave their clan district—they moved. Anbu and Root surveillance—they endured. Uchiha go missing daily—they still put up with it."
"How much longer do you expect them to endure?"
"Now, under the Village elders' pressure, the clan has produced one Uchiha Jin—and you call the Uchiha extremist?"
"Well, sorry!"
"All I see is Uchiha restraint; even after all this, they still choose to hold back."
"Do you really think, given their current strength, that an armed revolt would be hard? With the Old Man's lot in charge, could they actually stop an Uchiha uprising?"
"Even now, if they want power, they still choose restraint, trying to weaken the Village as little as possible—so that, should they succeed, the Village can stay intact."
"You say they're extremist—where exactly?"
Tsunade's tone was thick with irritation; the way she looked at Jiraiya was as if he were a fool.
Exactly!
If she hadn't seen, in the Uchiha's methods, their calm restraint, she—born a Senju and naturally biased against the Uchiha—would never have joined them, even drunk.
She was a Senju; she'd been born with an instinctive dislike for the Uchiha.
Yet even she sided with them—could you still call the Uchiha radical?
And… do you really think every clan in the Village is stupid?
If the Uchiha were truly extremist, no matter how hard Hiruzen Sarutobi suppressed them, the clans would never flock to the Uchiha side.
Clearly—
the clans also saw the Uchiha's restraint; after suffering Hiruzen's oppression, they chose to join the Uchiha.
To Tsunade, Jiraiya's words reeked of damnable prejudice.
And so—
she held Jiraiya in ever greater contempt.
Jiraiya: "…"
He was stunned.
Tsunade's words exploded in his mind like thunder.
It… really did seem that way!
If the Uchiha hadn't kept restraining themselves, the current Konoha High-Rankings would never have survived a revolt.
At this moment, he had nothing left to say!
In the end—
Jiraiya left without a word, helpless and defeated.
As for that—
Tsunade didn't bother seeing him off; she simply watched him go.
Draining her teacup, she mused, "No wonder that Uchiha brat likes tea—it really is better than booze!"
Tsunade felt a relaxation she couldn't describe.
Watching the Village high command fade into obscurity gave her a thrill she couldn't put into words.
Moreover—
she felt the present Uchiha resembled the Village her grandfathers had envisioned.
As for today's Village leaders—what a joke!
"Lady Tsunade."
Just then, Shizune stepped out of the room.
There was discomfort in her eyes. She hadn't been close to Uncle Kato Dan—he'd died when she was small—but hearing Tsunade and Jiraiya confirm he'd died in a plot still weighed on her like a stone.
It felt suffocating.
To that—
Tsunade took one look at Shizune and knew what she wanted to say.
Finally—
after a long silence, she spoke: "What I said was true. Dan's death is linked to me—and to the fact he was a genius."
"Under the Old Man's Konoha, talented Ninja are accepted—so long as they serve him."
"If not… they die."
She would never have told Shizune before, but now that they'd joined the Uchiha, there was no need to hide.
With the Uchiha camp's strength, protecting Shizune was easy.
Shizune sighed softly.
She couldn't describe her feelings—only that they were tangled.
In the end—
she simply nodded, asking no more.