72 Make Love... And War.

(Tsunade POV, Konoha – Hokage Office)

Shinobi of different ranks stood at the office, amongst them also two toads, clearly summons by their attire, the shinobis' eyes looking wide at the sentence uttered by the Hokage.

'He's lying to me… he has to… Jiraiya…' – I thought as my eyes widened with each passing moment.

'It has to be some kind of cruel joke, to make me take action, to give him an excuse… it has to.'

My thoughts spun and my vision became shaky. Even then, I tried my best to not show him any opening as to what I was thinking. Jiraiya was certain that the Godaime had gotten rid of Kakashi using Orochimaru… and it was a very big possibility he was going to do it again if someone got in his way.

I had to keep my head down time and time again in order to seem defeated. It was supposed to last only until Jirayia discovered something we could use against him… and he was getting close, having discovered some kind of connection between the Hokage and Akatsuki, more specifically a pattern that tied the Hokage with the Red Demon.

'Sending him straight to Akatsuki at such a time… that bastard dangled the bait right into Jiraya's face… a bait he couldn't ignore. He definitely killed him.' – I thought to myself as my eyes met Kei's rotating three tomoe Sharingan.

"I killed him… just like I kill every shinobi who leaves this office with a mission approved by me and ends up not returning. So… if you want somebody to blame at this moment, blame me." – he said, making me almost lost control and attacked him at that moment, mocking me with his words and winning the sympathy of the others, especially in the younger generation.

He was toying with me, clearly admitting what he did in front of me with his first words, and throwing flowery words to cover the fact for the ones who didn't know better… and yet nobody could refute it. Jiraiya was probably the strongest shinobi in the village after the Hokage himself.

Sending him on such a dangerous assignment was a given, especially seeing as a Kage couldn't possibly just up and leave the village so easily on some hearsay unconfirmed information.

I calmed down as I tried to hold back from falling to a much simpler bait than what the Hokage had given Jiraiya.

'First the councilors, then Kakashi, now Jirayia… if I act rashly I will only end up wasting their sacrifices.' – I thought as I calmed down, excusing myself as I left the office.

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(MC POV)

I looked at the departing figures of the shinobi, each going about their way to grieve about Jiraiya, with the exception of my student.

As I felt Neji's eyes on me I raised a hand and waved for the anbu hidden in my office to disperse.

As Neji saw them leave with his Byakugan he directly asked his question.

"Why antagonize lady Tsunade at this point? Isn't it better if we take care of her quietly?" – Neji asked as he looked at me inquisitively.

I looked at Neji and nodded simply.

"Indeed, that is a good way of wrapping this up. She is a loose cannon that fires whenever someone says not to, which is why I essentially told her to fire, and as you can see… she didn't. She will think of ways to outsmart us, making it so Jiraiya's death doesn't go to waste… except some individuals are incapable of understanding that just because you want to do something differently doesn't mean you can. She's not going to become an expert at planning, strategic thinking, or politics just because she wants to take revenge."

(A/N: This isn't some low-budget revenge movie.)

"But someone might have hidden talents. Just like lady Hinata had a surprisingly high talent for medical ninjutsu." – Neji pointed out as I shrugged.

"That is true, and who knew you could actually be the opposite. But then again gambling on some hidden talent… with Tsunade's luck… yeah that is not happening."

Neji perked up a little at that, his indifferent expression changing to a small smile as he commented.

"The Legendary Sucker right?" – He asked a little too happy.

"Yep."

(5 min later.)

We stood silently for a few moments as the conversation ended and I had already finished my work… while Neji's work was to stay at my side all day.

It was a usual day, the awkwardness of having nothing to do for both of us being relatively new as I usually sent Neji on month-long assignments.

"So… what's new on your side?" – I said as I looked at Neji once again, my finger tapping boringly at the table.

All I got in return was a strange look that just made me sigh. Most of the clones only got boring jobs, while the original had fun going around doing his experiments. I could always try and do what Naruto's clones did, but then again I am not an idiot… and my boss is much, much scarier than Naruto. I don't want to find out if clones can be tortured in any shape or form…

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(Meanwhile, Hidden Base, Sound Village.)

Kei's Kotoamatsukami shone brightly in his right eye as it rotated, taking a few minutes as he slowly had his fun with the person in front of him, a smile growing on his face as he did so.

It didn't take long for Kei to finish using his eye as it turned to a normal, matured Sharingan and the figure on the bed started to wake up.

Looking at the small face look at him with confusion, Kei extended his hand and rubbed her blue hair affectionately, slowly reaching lower to her cheeks as he used his thumb to touch her lips.

The girl blushed as she moaned and enjoyed the display of affection from the towering figure in front of her, slowly reaching out with her hand as she grabbed his arm and slowly pulled him towards her.

'Well, don't they always say to make love and not war… I think a healthy combination of both is just right.' – Kei thought as he grinned and let her pull him closer.

(A/N: Given Konan's age we are in the clear… right? No FBI at my door yet so my FBI agent seems cool with it. P.S: I can't write smut so I'm just going to leave it at that and not ruin it…)