Only after a long silence did Jiraiya slowly ask:
"Do we really have to do this?"
Tsunade did not answer. She only looked out the window.
The evening sunlight fell across Hokage Rock. The face of the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku, stood silently, while beside it, the face of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, gazed gently over the village.
One was Naruto's former "Uncle Fugaku"; the other was the biological father Naruto had never met.
Yet what they were about to do was continue stripping Naruto of his memories of the former, while remaining ready to snuff out everything he was whenever necessary.
Tsunade withdrew her gaze, her eyes gradually growing resolute, and said in a tone that brooked no argument:
"I am the Hokage."
"I have to answer for the entire village."
"But he's Minato's child!" Jiraiya was unusually agitated. "He's a boy you and I watched grow up! Are we really going to tamper with his memories over and over, and even... even prepare to kill him?"
Tsunade turned to face Jiraiya, complicated emotions in her eyes.
"Then tell me, what other choice do we have? Let him go? Konoha would lose the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, severely weakening our strategic strength while bolstering Dragon Release Village's."
"And if we don't? Once he regains his memories and turns against Konoha, we'll face threats from within and without. He won't be the only one who dies then!"
Jiraiya had no answer.
It was not as though he did not understand all of that.
It was just...
"I'll make arrangements with the Yamanaka Clan."
Jiraiya sighed, turned around, and walked toward the door.
At the doorway, he paused. Without turning back, he said quietly:
"Naruto... don't blame us."
The door closed softly.
Tsunade sat alone in the office. She picked up her