She wasn't blinded by the flashy outside world and determined to abandon her responsibilities at Iwa.
Rather, she realized that if she wanted to leave, she had to do it while the old man was still healthy.
If the Tsuchikage position fell into her hands, she wouldn't be able to leave anymore.
She had to take advantage of being young now. Otherwise, once she took that seat, she'd be just like her grandfather, spending every day in the office dealing with endless paperwork and slowly growing old.
"Kurotsuchi!"
A deep voice sounded behind her. She turned and asked puzzled, "Dad, what is it?"
"Your grandfather wants to see you."
Kitsuchi said with a serious expression, "What does Grandpa want? Is he going to retire and give the Tsuchikage seat to me?"
Kurotsuchi half-joked.
Kitsuchi's mouth twitched, then he tapped her on the head, "Even if your grandfather wanted to retire now, it still wouldn't be your turn to be Tsuchikage as a chunin."
"Hurry up and go. You'll know what it's about when you get there. I've got other things to do."
With that he left without giving her a chance to reply.
Kurotsuchi snorted, jumped down from the rock, and ran toward the Tsuchikage office building.
"Grandpa, what do you want with me?"
Kurotsuchi pushed open the door and entered the Tsuchikage's office.
Onoki glanced at her, put down the documents in his hand, and said directly, "Kurotsuchi, there's a mission, you need to go to Konoha."
"Ah?"
———
Information from the other villages arrived by letter; only Kirigakure's intel came in person from Aoba.
Mei Terumi, who was handling affairs, raised an eyebrow when Aoba suddenly appeared before her again.
She remembered seeing him the last time she woke up, leaning on the wall.
"Has that masked man been dealt with?", Mei stopped her work.
"Yes, that guy is dead."
Aoba nodded, then, looking at the pile of paperwork on the desk, walked behind Mei and started rubbing her shoulders.
"So you came just to tell me that?"
Mei leaned back and enjoyed Aoba's shoulder massage, a look of pleasure on her face.
"Of course not. We got a lot of important information from that guy. Some of it concerns Kirigakure, so I came to tell you."
Aoba lowered his head; his eyes couldn't help being drawn to the sight of the deep hollow between her shoulders.
Watching his hands move the shoulders, the shoulders rise and fall like waves, it was a beautiful sight.
It was one of the perks he used to get when kneading Tsunade's shoulders.
Although Mei didn't match Tsunade, it was still spectacular.
"What are you doing now?", Mei teased, looking up at Aoba, locking eyes with his mischievous gaze.
Aoba wasn't embarrassed, they were practically an old married couple.
"I saw you working so hard and came to help ease some of the fatigue."
"Is that so?", Mei smiled seductively.
The next moment the world spun for Aoba, he found himself sitting in the seat Mei had been in, and Mei had taken the seat on his lap.
"More than shoulders, I prefer you help press other places."
Mei lazily leaned against him and tilted her head with a flirtatious look.
Aoba's mouth twitched, "Mei-neesan, let's finish the serious stuff first."
"No problem, we can talk while we—"
"..."
"Don't you want to get revenge for last time?", Mei provoked.
"I remember you were the one who lost consciousness last time."
"But you did lean on the wall, didn't you?"
"..."
Aoba was speechless; he had just steadied her on the wall and they'd remembered it for so long.
"Mei-neesan, don't plead for mercy later."
"Is that so?"
Mei narrowed her eyes, licked the corner of her mouth, and, she'd fully recovered these days and returned to her peak. She stood up.
"Looks like you can't wait either."
Of course, if he could restrain himself, he wouldn't be a normal man. Aoba cursed inwardly.
Mei adjusted her posture, placed her palms on the desk for balance, then sat back down.
"Mei-neesan, do you always like doing this in the office?"
Aoba hadn't expected her to be so decisive and to jump straight to the point.
Wasn't this making it seem like every time he came by, it was for this?
He did have something important this time.
"Don't you like it?"
Mei shot him a glance, her body pressing urgently against his.
"I do..."
Aoba answered honestly. To prove it, he nearly tried to flip the heavy desk over.
In the end, Mei felt like she was flying.
But because of last time's office incident, Mei had replaced the office furniture with heavier, sturdier pieces.
So the heavy desk shook violently but held out to the end.
———
"I didn't expect that masked man's case would be tied to so many things."
Mei panted as she continued to sit on Aoba, smoothing her clothes; then her expression turned angry.
"So this means Kirigakure's trouble wasn't entirely a fluke?"
"I always said, how could Kankuro possibly come up with the idiotic plan of sealing tailed beasts into enemy village shinobi? Turns out he was under Uchiha Madara's control."
"Seriously, that damned Uchiha Madara, why did he pick on our Kirigakure?"
At the end Mei slammed her fist on the desk.
"That's because you asked for it, who told you to attack Konoha at that time?", Aoba teased.
"What did you say? I can't hear you," Mei narrowed her eyes and grabbed Aoba's soft ribs.
"Ooff! I said that Uchiha Madara truly is damned."
Aoba quickly backtracked.
He wondered why all these older sisters liked threatening people like this.
"Good boy."
Mei soothed him a bit and her tone turned concerned again.
"If that Uchiha Madara really revives, do you have any way to deal with him?"
Aoba pretended to think, then said earnestly, "It'd be fifty-fifty, but if it's for you Mei-neesan and the others, I'll definitely win."
"Smooth talker… but you really don't seem worried at all."
Mei's hands paused.
At this point, soothing with just touch wouldn't be enough.