"..."
After hearing Aoba's words, Kurotsuchi stopped walking as well.
Then her eyes looked straight at him.
"Oh."
After a brief silence, Kurotsuchi only softly said "oh," then turned her head back and continued walking again.
She even took a sip of the juice she was holding in her other hand.
She looked completely calm and unbothered.
"Ah… uh…"
Such a calm reaction, now it was Aoba's turn to be stunned.
He had thought Kurotsuchi would at least throw a bit of a tantrum at him or something.
But she only said a light "oh," leaving him unsure how to react. All the lines he had prepared suddenly became useless.
Meanwhile, Kurotsuchi, who was already continuing forward while still holding his hand, quickly noticed that Aoba was standing still behind her.
She couldn't help tugging him lightly and said with dissatisfaction,
"Didn't you say you'd walk me home? Are you coming or not?"
"Oh, right."
Aoba quickly stepped forward to catch up.
"Are you curious why my reaction was so calm?"
After the two of them walked for a while together, Kurotsuchi asked the question Aoba had really wanted to ask.
"Yeah."
Aoba nodded naturally.
Kurotsuchi lowered her head, walking while looking at the tips of her own toes.
She didn't need to worry about bumping into anything, because Aoba was there.
Then she began explaining quietly, "Because after becoming Tsuchikage, I also came to understand a lot of things."
"Iwagakure might be large, but in the end it's only a ninja village. It's a village under the administration of the Land of Earth. For a very long time in the past, Iwagakure had to rely on funding, resources, and commissions provided by the Land of Earth in order to exist."
"But you should also know that ever since you, the Hokage of Konoha, became the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, and the old man also defied the orders of the Daimyo of the Land of Earth and didn't launch a war against Konoha, the Daimyo of the Land of Earth had already withdrawn all support from Iwagakure."
"But now, even without the support of the Land of Earth, Iwagakure not only hasn't been affected or declined, it's actually become more and more full of vitality. Of course I know why that is. The old man and my dad know it too."
"No matter how you look at it, right now it's not that Konoha needs Iwagakure. It's that Iwagakure can't live without Konoha."
By the time she finished speaking, Kurotsuchi's tone was already filled with relief.
What happens to a ninja village without a nation's support, just look at Sunagakure in the past.
No commissions, no funding, no resources.
Back then, even Rasa, the dignified Kazekage of a village, had to use his bloodline ability every year to sift gold at high intensity just to barely maintain the village's operation.
And even then it was barely enough to keep people fed. The whole village often struggled to make ends meet.
At the beginning, when Kurotsuchi had just become Tsuchikage and learned that the Daimyo of the Land of Earth had stopped supporting Iwagakure, she inevitably panicked as well. She thought Iwagakure was going to become the second Sunagakure.
But after some time passed, she realized that although there were far fewer commissions and their income had dropped significantly, they hadn't fallen to the miserable state Sunagakure once faced.
Because ever since Iwagakure started cooperating with Konoha, merchants and tourists coming to do business in the village had been providing a steady income every month.
That allowed the village to continue maintaining itself.
The biggest problem, however, was that most of the ninjas could no longer receive commissions, which basically meant they were unemployed.
Without commissions, Iwagakure simply didn't have the money to keep supporting so many ninjas.
Then Kurotsuchi remembered the days when she had worked construction and carried bricks back in Konoha.
If there was one thing Iwagakure had the most of, it was definitely ore.
But since ninjas only knew how to fight and kill, they had no understanding of these things at all.
So Kurotsuchi specifically asked Aoba to give some guidance, and then opened quite a few quarries in the mountainous areas around Iwagakure.
Those unemployed ninjas naturally went to operate those quarries.
For most ordinary Iwagakure ninjas, a job where they only needed to use a few Earth Style jutsu each day and could earn a good income, compared to the old commissions where they had to risk their lives every so often, it was far better.
Because of that, after losing the support of the Land of Earth, Iwagakure not only didn't fall into hardship, it actually grew better and better with Konoha's support.
With things like this, Kurotsuchi naturally didn't feel much resistance toward the outcome that awaited Iwagakure, merging into Konoha and becoming part of it.
After listening to Kurotsuchi's explanation, Aoba realized she had truly come to terms with it, rather than pretending to be strong. He couldn't help letting out a breath of relief as he smiled and squeezed her fragrant, soft little hand.
"It's good that you understand."
However, after hearing that, Kurotsuchi suddenly became a little curious.
"What if I hadn't understood? What would you have done?"
Aoba's expression turned serious again.
"If you hadn't figured it out, then of course I would've spent some effort talking to make you understand."
"So what was the speech you prepared?"
"None."
"Huh? Then what do you mean by 'spending effort talk—'MM!"
Before Kurotsuchi could finish speaking, her mouth was suddenly blocked.
Only after Aoba had tasted the flavor of the juice did he let her go. He even nodded slightly and gave a compliment.
"The juice tastes pretty good."
Hearing that, Kurotsuchi looked at him with embarrassment and irritation.
"The 'effort talking' you mentioned wouldn't happen to mean this, would it?"
"You tell me, isn't this 'talking'?"
Aoba replied as if it were only natural.
"You! Don't say something so improper with such a serious expression!"
Kurotsuchi was extremely embarrassed and annoyed. She immediately lifted her foot and stomped hard on the top of his foot.
Aoba only smiled and didn't say anything more.
The two walked a little further, and from a distance they could already see Kurotsuchi's house.
Aoba glanced at the moonlight in the sky, thought for a moment, and dropped a bombshell.
"Kurotsuchi, I like you."
"?"
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Kurotsuchi, who was drinking juice to replenish the large amount of moisture that had been taken from her earlier, suddenly heard Aoba's confession and immediately choked, coughing violently.
"How do you manage to choke on a drink?"
Aoba quickly started patting her back.
Kurotsuchi's face was still flushed as she slapped his hand away.
"Who told you to suddenly say something so strange!"
"Is it strange?"
"Of course it's strange!"
Kurotsuchi said angrily.
Then, not giving him a chance to turn that sentence into a joke, she directly pushed the cup of unfinished drink toward him.
Looking closely, you could see faint bite marks left on the end of the white straw, along with a bit of unknown glistening liquid.
He was just about to remind her of something, but Kurotsuchi had already stuffed it into his mouth.
"I can't finish it. If you think it tastes good, you can drink the rest!"
After saying that, she released his hand with a red face and ran off, darting straight into her house.
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