Raikage thoughtfully drummed his fingers on the table, poring over the lines of the report on the training of the Eight-Tails' jinchuriki — Be turned out to be very stable, thanks to the use of an improved fuin, which was much more reliable than the previous one.
The long search for a suitable specialist and his recruitment to the village had cost a great deal, but it was worth it, especially when compared to how much the Bijuu rampage had cost Kumogakure in the past, not to mention the loss of manpower.
And the recently found jinchuriki Shinji no Taki (Waterfall of Truth) greatly improved his control over the power of Hachibi, making Ai's younger brother an even more formidable combat unit on the battlefield than before.
Considering the looming world war of the Shinobi, for which all the Great Hidden Villages were preparing, extra trump cards would not hurt. It is a pity that Yugito is still too young to confidently control her tailed beast, despite her impressive successes on the path of the ninja and her recently obtained chunin vest. Perhaps in two or three years...
"Raikage-sama," the door to the ruler of the hidden village suddenly burst open, interrupting his thoughts, and a young jonin appeared in the doorway with a bandage over one eye, dressed in standard uniform and a mushroom hat on his head. "Urgent report from a spy from Konohagakure!"
"Something happened with those monkeys again, Dodai?" The muscular blond raised his eyebrows, adjusting his hat.
Usually, nothing important happened in the Great Villages for years, but this year Konoha not only distinguished itself by holding a Chuunin Exam that was very unsuccessful for them in terms of reputation, but also managed to suffer an unexpected attack by "nukenin" from Kirigakure no Sato a few months ago, who had somehow managed to sneak into the very center of the village and were quickly slaughtered within a couple of minutes after their failed attack on the Hatake clan.
Upon learning the details of what had happened, Ai only laughed at the bloodthirsty losers — managing to lose the village's treasures and fail in their attempt at revenge with the return of two of the seven Great Swords!
"Yes, Raikage-sama, Shinobi no Yami is dead," the shinobi said with a bow, handing over the scroll.
"Dead!?" Ai was greatly surprised, quickly unfolding the paper and reading the text.
His surprise was understandable — usually, S-rank fighters died only in large-scale wars or in clashes with their equals in power, which happened quite rarely, but never in peacetime, especially if they were the heads of elite forces at the top of power in their villages.
But as he read the agent's report, the blond man began to frown more and more, and the massive desk under his elbows creaked plaintively. Finishing reading the scroll, he raised his heavy gaze to his subordinate.
"Add why this report ended up on my desk only now, after so much time has passed, and not a couple of weeks after the execution of Shimura Danzo?" Despite the outward calm of the seated figure, a sense of menace began to emanate from him. "What is our intelligence doing?!"
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