A thorough examination of Kurotsuchi's memories unfortunately revealed Sakura's earlier hypothesis about the Hidden Stone's movements to be correct: Iwagakure had indeed divided its forces, sending a small contingent by sea to bypass the Leaf's north-western defensive line.
According to what Kurotsuchi knew of her grandfather's plan, the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki himself had taken his village's elites and the inactive Box of Ultimate Bliss with him to rendez-vous with the Fourth Raikage's forces in the Land of Iron, from where they planned to launch an offensive into the Land of Fire.
Armed with that knowledge, Sakura could hardly remain in the safety of Mt Shumisen.
With the annihilation of the Hole, along with the ten thousand Iwa-nin who had invaded it, the pressure on the western front had greatly eased, leaving nothing to do in the north-western wastes but clean up the stragglers who had escaped the Tsuchigumo duo's Fury Jutsu, a task she was confident Shikamaru could handle without difficulty.
And so, Sakura left Mt Shumisen behind to support the struggling north-eastern front.
…
"Ooh, fancy. Very nice ryokan," Sakura remarked as the inn that was their destination came into sight. "Are these really our accommodations? It's almost enough to make you forget we're at war… almost."
The north-eastern front was not nearly as unpopulated as the north-western wastes, and as it happened, the Leaf's north-eastern forward operating base this time was a fancy hot spring resort; certainly a good deal more comfortable than the dreary, gloomy interior of a dead volcano repurposed as a mad scientist's lair.
Indeed, a succession of high-class hotels, gambling parlours, and red-light districts lined the road that ran from the Land of Fire's capital to the Land of Hot Water, a popular destination amongst the country's elite, including captains of industry and nobles. Unfortunately for the proprietors of these resort towns, the Hidden Leaf had requisitioned their establishments for the war effort— for the greater good of the Land of Fire, naturally.
"How nostalgic," Minato sighed forlornly. "Sixteen years ago, Kushina and I spent our honeymoon here, right after I became the Fourth Hokage and we got married…"
"Really? I never knew that," Sakura asked, startled. "Then, is this also where you and Kushina—"
On second thought, Sakura reconsidered, perhaps it was not really appropriate to finish that sentence. Still, in all likelihood, the answer was yes— this was probably where they had made the beast with two backs and conceived baby Naruto.
After all, newlyweds tended to get rather… frisky.
"Yes, Kushina insisted that we come here after reading about this place in a lifestyle magazine; she always dreamed of seeing all the sights our beautiful country has to offer," Minato sighed. "It cost me a month's pay for just three nights, and in the end, we had to cut our stay short and return to the village after only one day because of an emergency... ugh."
Ironically, Minato used to earn more as a mission shinobi than as Hokage.
In his heyday as an elite jōnin, he could complete even the most difficult S-rank missions with ease and in record time, raking in the ryō, but as a civil servant his pay had become fixed... and, as an honourable man, he naturally declined to accept bribes, which was apparently where men of power and influence was supposed to make the real money.
"Ah, but don't get me wrong, I was happy to do it for her!" Minato quickly added. "Kushina deserved to be treated right, after a lifetime spent as a prisoner in her own village… I'm glad the Lord Third took good care of Naruto, so that he wouldn't have to go through such suffering…"
Even though his wife was (still) dead, it seemed Minato had remained thoroughly whipped. After all, from his perspective, he was still a spry twenty-four-year-old newlywed, rather than a forty-year-old father.
"Is that so?" Sakura said, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. "Is that also why you didn't leave Naruto any money?"
Minato winced.
"No, what would have been Naruto's inheritance all went into the mortgage payments for the mansion," he groaned. "Getting ourselves killed hadn't really been on the cards, you see…"
Before Sakura could say anything snarky, the welcoming committee finally emerged from the ryokan in the form of a mega pervert… Jiraiya. The three members of the Hokage Guard Platoon bowed slightly in a gesture of respect towards the legendary Sannin, but Sakura kept her back straight to prevent him from staring down her plunging neckline… not that it did her any good.
That man was freakishly tall.
"Jiraiya-sensei!" Minato exclaimed. "It's good to see you, master!"
"Sorry Orochimaru couldn't come out to say hi," Jiraiya said, jabbing his thumb towards the north. "The A-B combo appeared on the battlefield, so he had to come out and match them… though night's falling, so he should be back in an hour or two, if we're lucky… or unlucky, if you happen to hate his guts. Ha!"
"So how come you're not out there helping him?" Sakura said bluntly. "Aren't you his best friend?"
Jiraiya did his best to look offended.
"It's those injuries Nagato gave me flaring up again," he said, wincing. "You and Tsunade patched me up as best you could, but remember, my old disciple shot me full of holes… difficult to come back from that sort of thing, you know?"
There was only so much regular iryō ninjutsu could do. This wasn't true mitotic regeneration like Creation Rebirth, which could repair any injury using the subject's DNA as a blueprint. This was healing, and not everything could be restored to the way it had been before. And what's more, Jiraiya was no spring chicken himself…
"Well, I'm sure you're bound to be exhausted after running all the way here from Takigakure," Jiraiya added, grinning as he leered at Sakura with a lewd glimmer in his eye. "There likely won't be any more fighting today, so why don't you head on over to your rooms, enjoy the amenities, and relax before we get back to murdering each other… you know, ping pong tables, saunas… hot springs."
Sakura peered at Jiraiya suspiciously. Even Hokages weren't safe from him; she already knew he would gladly peek at Tsunade bathing, but what about his disciple's barely-adult, maybe-maybe-not girlfriend…?
"I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!" Jiraiya called as Minato dragged him away to reminisce.
The ryokan's okami came out to guide Sakura and her guards to their rooms, and since they were travelling light, they were quickly settled into their accommodations.