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Tsunade did not return to her residence until evening. In her left hand she carried two fresh young chickens, and in her right she held a large jug of clear sake.
She handed the items to Shizune, then walked into the living room, glanced at Midorima standing by the window, and sat down cross-legged on the floor.
"Why exactly did the Hokage want to see me?" Midorima asked directly.
"You already know the Hidden Leaf is in a precarious position right now," Tsunade replied. "Although Akatsuki is an enemy of the village, the problems we face go far beyond them. In fact, Akatsuki is not even the most urgent threat we need to deal with. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Midorima took a slow, deep breath and nodded silently.
The conflict between the Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf had to be resolved using this opportunity. At the same time, the increasingly dangerous situation with the Uchiha clan posed a severe internal threat to the village. If the Uchiha suddenly rebelled, the Leaf could collapse long before Akatsuki launched any full-scale assault. That would mean one fewer powerful opponent standing in Akatsuki's way.
To the village, the survival of the Hidden Leaf itself took absolute priority. If the village fell, the rest of the world's fate would no longer matter to its leaders.
"What exactly can I do?" Midorima asked, looking at Tsunade with genuine surprise.
"Help the Hidden Leaf get through this crisis," she answered plainly.
Midorima let out a short laugh, though there was little warmth in it. "Are you joking?"
He had no real connection to the Hidden Leaf Village.
At best, he had decent personal relationships with Tsunade and Itachi.
"I'm not joking," Tsunade said seriously. "Do you know what I regret most?"
Midorima shook his head.
He wasn't inside her head. How could he possibly know?
"Not keeping a closer eye on Itachi… and completely losing control over the village's direction," Tsunade said quietly. "There was once a real chance for the Hidden Leaf to reconcile with the Uchiha clan."
Midorima's brows rose slightly.
He had been quite confident in his earlier plans, but the sudden change in Hokage—Hiruzen Sarutobi taking over—had disrupted everything.
Among all the Hokage in the village's history, Hiruzen was not considered particularly outstanding. He certainly could not compare to the Senju brothers. During his tenure, the Leaf had faced numerous major crises, the most significant being his tolerance of Danzō's actions, which ultimately led to Itachi's defection and the near-destruction of the Uchiha clan.
However, the current crisis facing the Leaf was not entirely Hiruzen's fault.
After Tsunade stepped down, Hiruzen had needed time to familiarize himself with the policies and changes she had implemented. During that vulnerable transition period, Obito had intervened, deliberately inflaming tensions between the village leadership and the Uchiha clan, undoing much of Tsunade's earlier progress.
Even so, this was still the Hidden Leaf's internal problem. It had little to do with him.
"So what do you expect me to do?" he asked.
"A deal," Tsunade said, her expression turning solemn. The sudden shift caught Midorima off guard, and he became serious as well.
"What kind of deal?"
"Well… it's not exactly a deal," Tsunade admitted, scratching her head with a sigh. The carefully built atmosphere collapsed in an instant. "If the Hidden Leaf can resolve its internal troubles, it will have far more energy and resources to deal with Akatsuki. That is what you want too, isn't it?"
"Yes," Midorima agreed. "But I have two points to make. First, I am still an outsider. Why would the Hokage listen to anything I say?"
"I will personally guarantee you," Tsunade said, thumping her chest. "I will stake my reputation as the previous Hokage and vouch for you to the Third Hokage."
"That still might not be enough," Midorima muttered.
He found it hard to believe the Hokage would trust his words simply because Tsunade guaranteed them.
"The current situation doesn't leave him much choice," Tsunade said gravely.
The Leaf Village's position was indeed extremely fragile.
"Even if the Hokage believes what I say, it may not make any difference. When it comes to the Uchiha clan issue, the Hokage alone cannot decide the clan's fate," Midorima pointed out.
"You already knew that?" Tsunade asked, surprised.
Midorima tapped his temple. "It doesn't take much thinking to figure out. If the Hokage had full authority over the matter, you would have resolved it during your own tenure as Hokage."
"You're right," Tsunade admitted with a nod. "The Uchiha issue involves not only the Hokage but also the village elders and the heads of several major clans. Pushing any meaningful change through that system is incredibly difficult. Still, I want to try one more time. And I won't be doing it alone…"
The corners of Tsunade's mouth curved upward. She lightly tapped her arm twice. A sudden gust of wind rose behind Midorima.
He turned quickly—only to see Jiraiya standing there, smiling broadly at him.
"You?" Midorima said, visibly startled.
Although he had been in this world for quite some time, he had only encountered Jiraiya once before—and even then, Akatsuki members had been actively pursuing the Sannin, so Midorima had been forced to keep his true identity hidden.
This was essentially their first proper meeting.
"So you're Midorima Asachi, the former member of Akatsuki?" Jiraiya said cheerfully. "Don't worry, I bear you no ill will. How should I put it? Thank you for letting me escape last time. Unfortunately, I left in too much of a hurry and never managed to uncover Pain's secrets. Let me ask you directly—was the Pain who attacked me actually Nagato?"
"No," Midorima answered.
"Ah?" Jiraiya looked somewhat disappointed. "But only Nagato possesses the Rinnegan."
"How should I explain this… You did manage to come back alive, didn't you?" Midorima said with a small smile.
"But Pain might not have been able to kill me anyway," Jiraiya replied, shaking his head.
"If he truly wanted you dead, you wouldn't have escaped," Midorima said calmly.
In the original story, Jiraiya had a genuine opportunity to flee but chose to stay and gather more intelligence on Pain, ultimately losing his life in the process.
Even if Jiraiya had known Pain's full secret, without locating Nagato himself, he still would not have been able to defeat the Deva Path.
Jiraiya frowned, looking slightly displeased.
Midorima added, "I know you can use Sage Mode. But Sage Mode alone is still not enough to defeat Pain. His true power is something you cannot fully comprehend until you see it with your own eyes. The reason the Hidden Mist became known as the 'Bloody Mist' is because both of its Mizukage were killed by him."
Jiraiya's brows rose. He coughed lightly but said nothing more.
Tsunade interrupted their exchange. "Whether we can stand up to the village's upper echelons depends entirely on us. Midorima has already helped us once. This time we must seize the opportunity no matter what."
"I…" Midorima began, raising a hand to speak, but he caught the unusual look in Tsunade's eyes and stopped.
"Uh… never mind. It's nothing," he said with an awkward laugh.
He genuinely could not understand why Tsunade placed so much confidence in him.