As Kurotsuchi questioned him, she kicked toward Aoba.
"..."
Aoba casually reached up and easily caught Kurotsuchi's smooth, delicate ankle.
He could see her rounded toes, clear beneath the ninja sandal, curl slightly.
No wonder she was a ninja, even after walking all day, there was no unpleasant smell on her feet. [T/N: đ]
Feeling the heat of the palm gripping his ankle, Kurotsuchi suddenly remembered what Karin and the others had quietly discussed earlier.
That Aoba guy seemed to really like girls' feet.
If she kicked him with her foot, wasn't that a kind of reward?
Thinking that, Kurotsuchi's face turned even redder and she struggled.
"You bastard, let go of me!"
Aoba didn't read too much into it; he figured she was embarrassed, so he let go and began to explain.
"I wasn't lying, that really was what your grandpa said. If you don't believe me, you can ask him."
"Also, the rumors about you and me in Iwagakure were probably spread by your grandpa," Aoba added.
"W-what?", Kurotsuchi, who had been struggling, collapsed back onto the sofa, staring at him in shock.
She clearly hadn't expected something like this.
"But that's just what I inferred from what your grandpa said just now. Believe it or not, it's up to you." Aoba gave a quick disclaimer.
Kurotsuchi fell silent, bowed her head, and thought it over.
Even if it was only Aoba's guess, when she considered it carefully, only her grandpa could have pulled something like that off.
Otherwise, why had she, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, been unable to find the mastermind for so long? It turned out the mastermind had been right beside her.
Once she worked through the details in her head, Kurotsuchi suddenly stood up, still keeping her head down so her expression remained hidden.
"Kurotsuchi?"
"I'm going to find that old man and make him tell me the truth!"
She said coldly, then, without looking up, strode toward the exit.
But judging by her flushed earlobes, it looked less like she was going to confront him and more like she was fleeing in embarrassment.
Aoba watched her go and couldn't help but laugh.
He had said it on purpose, who could stand that Onoki would scheme like that against his own granddaughter? It annoyed Aoba, so he let Kurotsuchi go stir up trouble for Onoki.
"Onoki really wanted you to marry his granddaughter?", Tsunade opened the door and leaned against the frame, hands cupping her chest.
She couldn't understand it, 'Doesn't that old man know Aoba is a scoundrel? Why push your granddaughter into the fire?'
"I don't really know. That's just what Onoki said," Aoba shrugged and briefly recounted their earlier conversation.
Tsunade frowned after hearing it.
She no longer cared much about Aoba talking about unifying the ninja world, 'With the way things were, this kid might actually unify it by charm alone. Only one Cloud Village stands in the wayâŠ'
"So you want to have Kurotsuchi's child and use that to control Iwagakure?", Tsunade eyed him suspiciously.
"Cough! Cough!", Aoba was caught off guard and started coughing, "Sensei, what are you thinking? I'm still so young."
"Is that so?", Tsunade raised an eyebrow and teased, "So when you're older, you plan to have kids with Kurotsuchi?"
"...", Aoba had no energy to refute; he realized Tsunade was deliberately teasing him.
He strode to her, scooped Tsunade's ample body up around the waist, and held her.
"You brat, what are you doing?"
"There's a lot I don't understand about having children. As a Sensei, shouldn't you set an example and demonstrate it to your student?"
"You little brat, I'm the Sensei!"
âââ
After leaving Konoha lodgings, Onoki saw Kitsuchi and Akatsuchi waiting outside.
Although father and son, they mostly addressed each other by rank.
"Tsuchikage-sama, does Kurotsuchi refuse to come back?", Kitsuchi asked, puzzled to see his father come out alone.
"Hmm!", Onoki replied casually and fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.
Seeing Onoki like that, Kitsuchi also remained quiet and didn't disturb him.
Onoki calmly mulled over Aoba's words.
The other had not stated it outright, but the implication of his words revealed his ambition.
Konoha did indeed appear to want unification, and even Onoki found himself partially agreeing with Aoba's perspective.
But agreement was one thing; blind acceptance was another. As for surrender, that was merely talk.
Back when Aoba first made his name in the Chunin Exams, Onoki had already had people investigate him thoroughly.
They tracked even the minutiae of his daily life.
The conclusion: this kid's personality was the type to take the soft approach over the hard one.
His biggest flaw was that he was a real womanizer.
This guy, not only was he a womanizer at home, he had several others outside as well.
Even most people who were a bit lecherous wouldn't be this extreme.
But despite being lecherous, it didn't mean Aoba was a bad person. In the current ninja world, he could even count as a good man.
Even if someone was powerful, as long as you treated him politely, he would respond politely.
But if you tried to morally blackmail him like the Fourth Raikage, he really would flip the table.
And, as Aoba suspected, the rumors about Kurotsuchi and him were indeed being fanned from behind the scenes, by Onoki.
However, Onoki did it on the premise that Kurotsuchi did not actually dislike Aoba.
Although Iwagakure's strength didn't match Konoha's, they wouldn't actually sell their granddaughter.
The reason for this move was simply to buy Iwagakure some time to observe.
With Kurotsuchi as a pawn, even if Konoha wanted to unify, Iwagakure would not be the next target.
That would give Iwagakure enough time to prepare for any future war.
Of course, if Konoha could easily resolve the Cloud Village problem and deal with Akatsuki, then Iwagakure would surrender cleanly.
He wouldn't fight an opponent they had no hope of beating.
That would only cause unnecessary casualties, and the whole village rested on his shoulders, he must be responsible to the villagers.
But if Konoha paid a heavy price, then they would struggle at the end.
"OLD MAN!", While Onoki was still considering Iwagakure's future, a shout suddenly came from behind.
The three looked up and saw an enraged Kurotsuchi raising her stone fist and smashing it down toward them.
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