Setting down her phone, Tsunade let out a long sigh.
"You came to persuade me to return to the village, didn't you?"
Seeing that Tsunade already knew why he had come, Jiraiya stopped beating around the bush.
"Tsunade, come back to Konoha with me. Konoha needs someone to step up and lead the village forward, and you're the best choice."
Tsunade didn't answer. She simply went on drinking her red wine.
Silence. Suddenly, they had fallen into silence.
Jiraiya watched Tsunade quietly savor her wine. She said nothing, yet somehow seemed to have said everything.
"Tsunade, this isn't the time for you to be willful. The village needs you."
Clink!
Tsunade set her wineglass down hard on the dining table.
"That's right, this isn't the time to be willful. Jiraiya, since you know that, why do you insist on continuing to indulge your own whims?"
The sudden question left Jiraiya at a loss for an answer.
"Me? I'm being willful?"
"Aren't you?"
Tsunade slapped a hand on the dining table, startling everyone.
"After the Second Shinobi World War ended, you left the village to look for that so-called Child of Destiny. Wasn't that willful?"
"I did that for the entire shinobi world!"
"For the entire shinobi world? What a fine excuse! Just because of something an old toad said, you abandoned the village that raised and trained you?"
"But I..."
"Jiraiya, what are you running away from? You call me willful, but aren't you just as bad?"
"I..."
For a moment, Jiraiya was speechless, unsure what to say.
Tsunade sighed.
"Look, I know I have no right to criticize you. After all, I was terribly willful myself, leaving the village without a thought for anyone else.
"Do you think I wanted to leave the village?"
"Tsunade."
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade