The commander thanked the clan fighters for their assistance, and after loading some of the Anbushiki with small things, ordered them to move towards Konoha, while the remaining Doton users began to systematically bury the base with earth - there was no point in using it at such a distance from the village, and leaving empty rooms for bandits or anyone else just didn't make sense. In case of need, you could always make one in a couple days, anywhere else.
Returning home very early in the morning, I regretfully postponed sleep until the next night - there was a sent shadow clone waiting for me in the basement.
He'd returned with a sizable haul, though not as much as I'd expected-who'd have thought Orochimaru would also decide to keep his nose to the grindstone and scare the shadows away, preventing them from stealing more of Root's documentation?
Even so, the various profitable establishments located in the three major cities of Ho no Kuni will bring me a solid income, in addition to those under the control of the perfect marionette in the capital.
In fact, the documents would go to him, as I would not be able to realize them from Konoha on my own - too many questions would be raised by those around me if I tried to do so - unlike Hiroshi, who was very fortunate to find himself among the aristocrats and the court of the Fire Daimyo.
But that wasn't even the most important part of Anbu Ne's archive - in all times and places, accurate and timely information was more valuable than money.
Now, I had access to some of the important informants that Root had recruited not only in some countries, but also in the two Great Villages of Kumogakure and Kirigakure.
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to get to the files with the informants from Iwagakure and the smaller villages surrounding Konoha, otherwise, I would have intercepted some of Anbu Ne's spy network in their territory as well.
I don't need the whole network - I can't leave Anbu completely without information, but one or two people among the officials, who are greedy for money and leak important information about what's going on around them, will be quite useful for me to orient myself in what's going on not only with the help of clones, which is not a very convenient way of espionage, albeit covertly.
Unfortunately, the clan network is well developed only on the territory of Ho no Kuni, in neighboring countries is already much worse, and about information from direct competitors in the political arena can only dream - not the same clan budget, unlike the village, and have to be satisfied with only rumors and speculation.
I sat at the paperwork until almost breakfast time, and after eating with my family, I went about the most urgent business of the day, keeping my ears to the ground about what was going on in the village.
Actually, ordinary shinobi and kunoichi already knew about the arrest of Elder Shimura Danzo yesterday, except for the attack of nukenins from Kirigakure with an attempt to slaughter the Hatake clan, confirming the lightning speed of rumors, and the whole Konoha was literally buzzing, digesting what had happened and giving birth to assumptions one crazier than the other.
In any other case, the Hokage would have made an official statement to the armed forces, but he had more important things to do - the Anbu Ne's documentation was revealing one surprise after another, uncovering skeletons in the organization's closet and shedding light on the many incidents that had taken place in the elemental lands.
And not all of Root's operations were to Leaf's benefit, rather, on the contrary, they added enemies and vigilantes.
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