December, Year 39 of Konoha.
Akaseki, who had not returned to Konoha in over a year, received orders ending his assignment and sending him back to the village to recuperate.
Though the war was not over and Konoha was short-handed, going an entire year without a chance to rest was still very rare in Konoha.
Partly, this was because Akaseki played a crucial role, especially in the Land of Grass. It was also because he had never been stationed on the very front lines-he only fought three to five times a month, nowhere near the pressure faced by the Konoha Ninja in the Land of Wind.
Still, with another New Year approaching, Akaseki returned to Konoha.
Orochimaru and Tsunade were returning with him this time...
As for Jiraiya, he simply did not want to return.
Jiraiya insisting on looking after local orphans halfway through a war gave Sarutobi a headache and left him fuming.
Faced with such behavior, all Sarutobi could say was...
Damn you, Orochimaru! Why couldn't you stop him from being an idiot?
Despite his private complaints, Sarutobi provisionally agreed, though he laid down some ground rules: Jiraiya could not cut off contact entirely, and in an emergency, he had to drop everything and carry out his mission immediately...
After all, far too many Konoha Ninja had developed trauma responses from the fighting lately. Sarutobi naturally interpreted Jiraiya's behavior as another such response-which, in fact, it was.
His hitting it off with the three little ones came later.
The reason Jiraiya had stubbornly insisted on having his way, even rebelliously acting without permission, was that the war had already traumatized him.
Although Hanzō's ambition had directly sparked the war, and Amegakure had even bared its fangs at Konoha before the fighting began, earning itself a harsh lesson...
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