Shikaku reached up and rubbed his stubbly chin, pondering for a while.
"As for Lady Tsunade, as Lord Hashirama's granddaughter and Konoha's princess, she is highly skilled in medical ninjutsu and formidable in her own right. She also has considerable prestige in Konoha, so she truly is a good choice."
"It's just that... Lady Tsunade has been gone from the village for so many years that I didn't think of her right away. Are you confident you can bring her back?"
Shikaku looked at Senya skeptically.
"That's none of your concern. A sage has his own clever plans—I have my ways."
With that, Senya turned around, intending to slip away as quickly as possible. Before Shikaku remembered, he had to make his escape!
Senya had only taken a few steps when Shikaku called out and stopped him.
"Senya, trying to sneak off again, are you?"
Hearing Shikaku's gritted voice behind him, Senya turned around with an awkward expression.
"How could I? Is there anything else, Shikaku?"
"Go clean up Root's mess! I already have more than enough on my plate. I'm leaving it to you—no problem with that, right?"
Shikaku's smile that wasn't a smile, along with his seemingly polite request, made Senya realize that he could not slack off anymore. Otherwise, Shikaku might really flip the table and fight him!
"Don't worry, Brother Shikaku. We're practically family—leave it to me, haha."
With that, Senya quickened his pace and left the office, leaving Shikaku alone to continue processing documents.
Senya hurried to Fugaku's home, intending to drag Itachi out as free labor.
After asking Mikoto, he learned that Itachi was currently at the clan training grounds, accompanying little Sasuke during training.
When he arrived at the training grounds, he found Itachi watching his younger brother Sasuke with a doting smile.