"This mission was too dangerous!" Tsunade shot Hiruzen Sarutobi an angry look. "If Grandmother hadn't been there, I, Kushina, Yi, and Hyuga Rinka might all have died. The enemy wouldn't even have needed to attack—Konoha could have fallen into chaos from within."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked embarrassed. He gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. That was my oversight.
"I never expected them to send Jirabi on this mission.
"If I had, I would have gone myself."
In fact, Hiruzen Sarutobi had considered going himself from the start. But as soon as he raised the idea, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu stopped him.
Unless there was an urgent reason, the Hokage could not leave Konoha. That rule existed to prevent a repeat of what had happened to the Second.
The Second's death had nearly plunged Konoha into civil war.
Hiruzen Sarutobi regretted his decision now. If he had known, he would have gone himself. Thankfully, Lady Mito had left a safeguard on Kushina Uzumaki, or this would have been a disaster.
No one was a fool. Uchiha Yi, Tsunade, Hyuga Rinka, and Kushina Uzumaki had clearly been sent as bait. But their identities made them different. If anything had happened to them, the fighting might have started inside the village. Plenty of people in Konoha still did not accept him as the Third Hokage.
"Forget it." Tsunade rubbed her temples, then took out a Storage Scroll and tossed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen Sarutobi caught it with a puzzled look. Trusting Tsunade, he opened the Storage Scroll anyway. When he saw several White Zetsu inside, he looked at her in confusion again.
They were just white figures. Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen all kinds of things over the years. There were even people in the Land of Water who looked like sharks.