"Lord Tsuchikage, did something happen?"
As soon as Kitsuchi came in, he saw the extremely ugly look on Onoki's face.
Onoki took a deep breath, trying hard to calm himself down.
"Where is Aoba?"
Kitsuchi froze for a moment, then immediately replied, "I had Kurotsuchi take him to look around Iwagakure."
"Sigh!"
Onoki let out another long sigh before saying, "Aoba wants me to pass the position of Tsuchikage to Kurotsuchi."
"What?"
Kitsuchi immediately frowned when he heard this.
Although among the younger generation in the village, Kurotsuchi was indeed the most promising candidate to become Tsuchikage, if this proposal came from Aoba, then the meaning of the matter was completely different.
They were all aware of the intelligence from Sunagakure and Kirigakure's upper echelons.
Mainly because Aoba had no intention of hiding anything, so they were able to obtain it easily.
You had to know that the Kazekage election in Sunagakure, as well as the so-called changes in personnel of Kirigakure's council of elders, had all been carried out under Aoba's direction.
From this point of view, the affairs of those two villages were actually already being decided by Konoha.
Now he wanted to replicate this in Iwagakure as well?
"Lord Tsuchikage, what should we do now?", Kitsuchi asked with a heavy expression.
Onoki shook his head helplessly, "I thought we could keep things peaceful like this forever, but Aoba just made it clear that Konoha is going to make a move against Iwagakure."
As he spoke, he gave a self-mocking smile, "Heh! Still, luckily there's Kurotsuchi's face to consider. At least we're lined up behind Kumogakure. We can cling to life for a little while longer."
Kitsuchi fell silent at his words, and a bold thought suddenly arose in his mind, "Lord Tsuchikage, Aoba is inside Iwagakure right now. Do you think we could take him down the same way we dealt with the Third Raikage back then?"
Although Aoba had a good relationship with Kurotsuchi, this was a matter of the village's survival.
But after hearing his idea, Onoki let out another low sigh.
"That's impossible. The reason the siege of the Third Raikage succeeded back then was because he chose to stay behind on his own to cover the retreat of Kumogakure's ninja forces."
"But Aoba has no such concerns now. He also has the Flying Thunder God. He can come whenever he wants and leave whenever he wants."
"Then… what can we do? Join forces with Kumogakure?", Kitsuchi's face immediately fell. They really had no way to deal with Aoba.
If they truly stood on the opposite side of Konoha, then at present, aside from cooperating with Kumogakure, there was no other option.
As for the past conflicts between the two villages, it could only be said that there were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.
Onoki's gaze was deep, "I'm afraid it's too late. Kumogakure is Konoha's next target. And Aoba wants to use Kumogakure's destruction to give us a warning. Since he said that, it means he isn't afraid of us joining forces at all."
"Then is there really no way at all?", Kitsuchi also fell into pessimism.
"At the very least, we should first figure out the gap between us," Onoki, after all, was a ninja of the older generation and quickly made a decision, "During this period, send more scouts toward Kumogakure. If there's any movement at all, report it immediately. At the same time, you can also leak the news that Konoha is planning to make a move against them soon."
"Yes!", After receiving the order, Kitsuchi immediately went to carry it out.
Onoki's body, however, floated up and flew to the window. Looking at Iwagakure in the cold wind, he stared off into space.
Right now, the most important thing was to know Aoba's exact strength.
The last time Aoba made a formal move was half a year ago in Kirigakure.
Although the specific details were unknown, according to the scouts' intelligence, it had been a battle between two wooden giants over a hundred meters tall.
And the result of that battle had been completely one-sided. Aoba not only casually sealed the Three-Tails that had been released, but also dealt with the other gigantic wooden figure in an extremely short amount of time.
When he received this news, he even felt as if he had returned to the Warring States era.
Because he had personally faced that kind of monster back then. Even Dust Release seemed utterly powerless in front of it.
Not to mention that Aoba also had the Flying Thunder God, an ability that could be called a natural counter to Dust Release.
———
At this moment, Aoba, whom Onoki regarded as a monster, was wandering around Iwagakure with Kurotsuchi.
It was obvious that Kurotsuchi, who had not been back for some time, felt a little unfamiliar with Iwagakure now, yet at the same time there was a strange sense of familiarity.
After walking around a few times, they finally realized something.
'Why is all of Iwagakure full of things from Konoha?'
.
.
.
Aoba did not stay in Iwagakure for very long.
Mainly because there really was nothing in Iwagakure worth his attention.
Other than rocks, there were still just rocks.
And ever since he had made his intentions clear, there had always been people secretly watching him. Onoki and Kitsuchi were also not very welcoming toward him anymore.
Especially Kitsuchi. Toward this white-haired guy who not only wanted to snatch his daughter away but even wanted Iwagakure itself, he no longer had any goodwill at all.
However, what surprised him was that Kurotsuchi also returned to Konoha with him.
Originally, Kitsuchi had planned to keep Kurotsuchi in the village no matter what, but Onoki stopped him.
Just like their initial thinking, if they really went to war with Konoha, then the odds were that they would lose. Even though they had the resolve to be shattered like jade, they could not drag the villagers into mutual destruction with Konoha.
Kurotsuchi staying in Konoha could be considered another path.
Based on their investigation of Aoba's personality, even if fighting really broke out, with Kurotsuchi there, at least they would not be completely wiped out.
As the shadow of a village, Onoki deeply understood the principle that you should not put all your eggs in one basket.
Moreover, with Kurotsuchi's current strength, even if she were forcibly kept in Iwagakure, she would just be one more piece of cannon fodder.
And so, after Kurotsuchi returned home to visit her family for two days, she left again with Aoba.
The two of them then went to Takigakure to pick up Fu.
After Shibuki learned from Fu about her life in Konoha, he felt greatly relieved.
When facing Aoba, he no longer had just the feeling of dealing with a blond punk. After warmly hosting the two of them, he let Fu go back with them.
———
Time quickly arrived at the last day of the year.
On this day, aside from the Hokage Building and the security forces, basically all of Konoha was on holiday.
The former concerned the operation of the village, while the latter concerned village security, and both operated year-round without rest.
However, Tsunade was not in the Hokage's office at the moment. The one on duty in the office now was Aoba.
Even Shizune was not there.
As the sun completely sank behind the towering Hokage Rock, the streets outside the building grew even brighter. One lamp after another lit up, and Konoha at night was even more dazzling than during the day.
Aoba also finished reviewing the last document from Sunagakure. After seeing how popular Konoha Amusement Park had been this year, Gaara hoped, under Konoha's guidance, to build an amusement park in the desert within Sunagakure, tailored to local characteristics.
Naturally, he agreed with the idea, but once it was completed, Konoha would definitely take a cut.
After organizing all the documents and placing them into the adjacent filing cabinet by category, he noted that since it was a holiday today, they could only be delivered tomorrow.
After finishing all this, he sat in the Hokage's chair, looking at the lively scene outside, waiting for the end of work.
"Aoba!"
But that atmosphere did not last long. Shizune's voice sounded from outside the door.
The half-closed office door was opened. Shizune first poked her head in to take a look, and at a glance she noticed Aoba, who looked like a lonely widower.
She immediately smiled, pushed the door open, walked over, and reached out to hug his head.
"All done already?"
"Mm."
Aoba responded, also reaching out to hug her legs, pressing his face against her flat lower abdomen.
He suddenly felt a bit surprised.
Because today Shizune was wearing a red kimono, and on her feet were...
"Shizune-nee is wearing white stockings today?"
Shizune's cheeks flushed slightly, and she even lifted the hem of her kimono, revealing the long white stockings underneath, "Trying a different style. Do you like it?"
"Of course…"
Aoba blinked, wanting to take a closer look.
"You two, that's enough!"
However, before his hand could even reach out, Tsunade, dressed in a tea-green kimono, appeared at the doorway, frowning as she glared at them.
"This is the Hokage's office, not a place for you to mess around!"
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