The administrative section of the Hokage Tower had become a pressure vessel, its corridors and offices filled with the particular tension of a bureaucracy approaching its breaking point. Four days remained before the reconvened Jōnin Council, and the weight of that deadline pressed against every clerk and administrator who moved through the building's halls. The atmosphere contrasted sharply with the quiet isolation of Renjiro's estate; where the suspended commander's home was wrapped in silence and surveillance, the Tower was consumed by controlled chaos, its personnel scrambling to address a crisis that seemed to grow more complex with each passing hour.
Crowded offices overflowed with exhausted clerks, their desks buried beneath stacks of red-stamped reports that demanded immediate attention. Emergency requisitions piled up in overflowing trays, each one a request for supplies that could not be fulfilled. Border complaints arrived by messenger hawk and courier, their contents growing increasingly desperate as units discovered that replacement equipment was either unavailable or dangerously inferior. Merchant petitions flooded the administrative offices, their authors demanding compensation for losses incurred during the shortage. Clan demands arrived with the particular entitlement of founding families, their representatives expecting immediate resolution to problems that had no easy solutions.
Every report ultimately pointed toward the same problem; Renjiro's workshops remained closed. The village could not reproduce his seals at equivalent quality, the Allied Clans were refusing to turn against him, Danzō's original evidence remained circumstantial, and the Yamanaka Clan had rejected involuntary memory extraction. The Elder Council was no longer controlling the narrative; it was reacting to events, its authority eroding with each passing day.
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane sat inside a restricted logistical sub-committee chamber, their faces illuminated by the pale glow of oil lamps that did little to dispel the shadows that had gathered in the corners of the room. Several senior bureaucrats were present but mostly silent, their presence a formality that neither elder acknowledged. Tables were buried beneath border reports, seal shortage statistics, clan petitions, and market-price reports that painted a picture of systematic collapse.
Homura's collar was damp with sweat, his composure cracking under the weight of accumulated pressure. Koharu was more composed but visibly worried, her fingers drumming against the arm of her chair in an irregular rhythm that betrayed her inner unease. The original accusation had been supposed to isolate Renjiro, to strip him of his influence and render him politically radioactive. Instead, the Uchiha had rallied around him, the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi had resisted the mental probe, Minato had blocked the most extreme measures, and Renjiro's economic importance had become painfully obvious. Kumo had now exploited the resulting military weakness, and every day without proof made Danzō's original accusation look increasingly political.
"We need a witness," Homura said, his voice carrying the particular desperation of someone who had exhausted every conventional avenue. The words hung in the air, their implications settling over the room like a shroud.
Silence.
Koharu's eyes narrowed, her analytical mind already working through the possibilities. "Who?"
Homura looked down at the reports scattered across the table, his gaze fixed on a document that detailed Orochimaru's known movements along the Rice Country border. "Orochimaru."
The room went completely still. The bureaucrats who had been pretending not to listen suddenly found their attention captured, their faces reflecting varying degrees of shock and disbelief.
Homura presented the proposal with the particular confidence of someone who had convinced himself of its necessity. An elite ANBU recovery team would be dispatched toward the Rice Country border, their mission to locate one of Orochimaru's known laboratories or temporary bases. They would establish contact rather than immediately attacking, offering conditional immunity from immediate pursuit in exchange for a formal deposition.
Orochimaru's statement would be recorded, his chakra signature authenticated, Yamanaka specialists would verify the testimony, truth-enhancing serum would be administered, and his testimony would be sealed and submitted to the Jōnin Council.
The desired testimony was simple; Orochimaru would confirm that Renjiro had supplied Hashirama cells, that Renjiro had received something in exchange, that the exchange had involved forbidden ocular experimentation. The procedure supposedly explained Renjiro's abnormal ocular power. Therefore, Renjiro's power was connected to prohibited experimentation.
Homura believed that even if Orochimaru was a criminal, a magically authenticated deposition could give the council something tangible, something that could survive the scrutiny of the upcoming assembly.
Several officials stared at him, their expressions ranging from disbelief to barely concealed horror. One quietly asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "You're suggesting we negotiate with a missing-nin?"
Homura insisted this wasn't negotiation; it was controlled evidence acquisition. The distinction convinced nobody. Koharu's expression shifted, her composure cracking to reveal genuine unease. Even she recognised the political danger; they would effectively be admitting that Konoha could not prove its own accusation, that it needed a wanted S-rank criminal to prove it.
Danzō sat silently throughout the presentation, his single visible eye fixed on Homura with an intensity that made the air around him feel colder. Unlike Homura, he immediately saw the political disaster unfolding. He didn't defend Renjiro; he simply recognised that Homura's idea was strategically terrible.
Orochimaru was unreliable; he could lie, bargain, manipulate the team, demand concessions, expose Root secrets, or deliberately contradict Danzō. Worse, publicly relying on Orochimaru would give Renjiro ammunition.
"You would place the credibility of this council in the hands of a man who abandoned the village," Danzō said, his voice carrying the particular coldness of someone who had already calculated every possible outcome.
Homura responded that they needed evidence.
Danzō's response was immediate, his voice carrying the weight of absolute finality. "Then find evidence. Do not purchase it from a snake."
The memorandum was prepared despite internal objections, its contents stamped with restricted administrative classification. The title alone was enough to make Minato's blood run cold; SPECIAL DEPOSITION PROTOCOL: SUBJECT OROCHIMARU — EVIDENCE ACQUISITION. It included proposed ANBU deployment, immunity terms, interrogation conditions, Yamanaka participation, and evidence requirements.
Minato received the scroll before it reached the official docket, his hands moving through it with the particular precision of someone who had spent years reviewing intelligence reports. He read it once. Then again and again. His expression went completely flat, all emotion draining from his face like water from a cracked vessel.
He refused to authorise it. His objection was not simply that Orochimaru was evil; his objection was institutional. Konoha would be offering immunity to a fugitive, conducting an unofficial negotiation, asking a traitor to authenticate treason charges against a loyal officer, potentially exposing classified information, and creating precedent that criminal testimony could replace legitimate investigation.
"This is an insult to every shinobi buried in the Memorial Stone," Minato said, his voice carrying the particular weight of someone who had personally carved too many names into that granite surface. The room became silent, the words landing with the force of a physical blow. "Those people died believing Konoha could uphold its own laws. If the village cannot establish its case without bargaining with Orochimaru, then the problem is with the investigation. Not Renjiro."
Homura refused to withdraw the draft, arguing that Renjiro's own actions were putting the village at risk, that the council could not sit helplessly while the evidence disappeared.
"The evidence isn't disappearing," Minato replied, his voice carrying the particular sharpness of someone who had reached the limits of his patience. "We simply don't have enough of it."
"Then we acquire it."
"Not from Orochimaru."
Minato formally refused authorisation, his decision final and absolute. But Homura, in his desperation, left the memorandum on an administrative registry desk. The gesture seemed insignificant at the time; clerks had access, registry runners moved between departments, and clan liaison personnel monitored emergency filings. One exhausted administrative runner saw the title, recognised Orochimaru's name, and read enough to understand what the elders were proposing.
But somehow this news spread.
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