"Where have you been all these years? I hadn't heard any news of you in the Land of Fire," Tsunade asked.
Jiraiya casually waved a hand. "I traveled around some small countries, then went to the Land of Water. Their country went through a disaster. It'll probably be hard for them to recover, and their strength will fall far behind."
Hearing all this talk about countries and wars again, Tsunade found it utterly dull.
She had always hated war more than anything, and she absolutely did not want war to come again.
"Have you seen the old man?"
Jiraiya nodded. "I did. He's changed a lot. Some of the things he said were so unbelievable, I could hardly believe they really came from him."
Tsunade smiled. "He changed far too late. The village has already been ruined beyond recognition by those old fools."
"Now they dusted off their hands and left, dumping a huge mess on Minato to clean up. If that kid weren't so talented, he definitely would've been held back."
Jiraiya agreed with Tsunade, but there was nothing to be done. People who had held power their entire lives would inevitably grow somewhat muddleheaded in old age.
All they could do was be grateful that the old man had not caused Konoha too much harm. By now, Minato had made up for everything, and that was already the best possible ending.
"There's no helping it. The old man had both merits and faults, so let them cancel each other out. We can't blame him either. After all, everything we know was taught by him."
Tsunade neither agreed nor disagreed. She did not deny that Hiruzen Sarutobi had taught her the skills she possessed today.
But their clashing ideals made it impossible for her to accept Konoha's many dark