Victor's medical research base was quickly dismantled. Since it was a decision jointly made by the Five Great Ninja Villages, Konoha and the Hidden Cloud Ninja took direct action, only notifying the Land of Valleys afterward.
The matters discussed by the Five Great Countries concerning the Divine Tree meant that no country in the Ninja World could resist; no one wanted to see the Fourth Great Ninja War break out again.
Although the surprise attack was nearly perfect, at the last crucial moment, the Divine Tree was taken by someone else.
Even though it wasn't a complete Divine Tree, no one knew whether this tree would grow into the same Divine Tree from the Fourth Great Ninja War, eventually becoming the complete Ten-Tails.
Uchiha Sasuke gathered some information inside Victor's base before he saw Sai and Omoi from the Hidden Cloud Village approaching him and asked, "How is it?"
"The enemies have been cleared out and completely controlled. Next, we need to take them back for interrogation, but many critical materials are missing—they were likely taken by that masked man..."
Sai said, "Sasuke, is that person... Uchiha Obito?"
"Uchiha Obito is already dead. Naruto and I saw it with our own eyes. Resurrection is absolutely impossible."
Uchiha Sasuke spoke with certainty. At that time in Otsutsuki Kaguya's dimension, Uchiha Obito was killed, and resurrection was absolutely impossible... but that Mangekyo pattern and space-time ability were undoubtedly Obito's Kamui Dojutsu.
"Let's clean up here and head back. I need to talk to Naruto and Kakashi."
"Understood. Omoi, you come along too; the Fifth Generation Raikage should be at Konoha by now."
Sai tilted his head towards Omoi of the Hidden Cloud Ninja, noting that although this was a joint operation between Konoha and the Hidden Cloud Ninja, the final interrogation would take place in Konoha.
In terms of interrogation, Konoha's unique Mind Body Transfer Secret Technique is arguably the strongest interrogation method in the Ninja World.
"Got it, let's go."
Omoi nodded and said, and then the group cleaned up the scene. After placing Victor and Deepa into custody and leaving thirty ninjas to interrogate the remaining staff of Victor's pharmaceutical company, they headed back to Konoha.
Among the Kage of the Five Great Ninja Villages, apart from Kurotsuchi and Chojuro, the other three followed Uzumaki Naruto to Konoha; the Hidden Rock and Hidden Mist couldn't come due to ongoing village construction but would still receive interrogation intel via video meetings.
When Konoha and the Hidden Cloud Ninja took their captives away, a frog hid in the grass beside the road, taking in the entire scene.
At the same time, a few kilometers away in a forest, Kashinkyoshi witnessed this and shook his head, saying, "Uchiha Sasuke has made a move, now even silencing them is impossible. I believe Konoha will soon know the Shell Organization's intel...."
Two Inner Array members are caught, and with Konoha's interrogation methods, they'll probably soon reveal their intel, messing up his plan... or it might need adjusting.
Kashinkyoshi thought for a while, then left. With Uchiha Sasuke around, there was no need for him to act.
——————————————
"Lord Hokage, this is our project plan. If all goes well, we might need to film in Konoha for the next month. At that time, we entrust the accompanying ninjas to your recommendation, Lord Hokage."
Uzumaki Naruto took the filming project plan and glanced through it. After looking at the filming locations and timetable, he closed up the plan, saying, "Alright, I understand. I will assign you a ninja familiar with Konoha who will ensure you can achieve whatever setting you need."
"Thank you for the trouble. By the way..."
Director Wada paused his speech, carefully sizing up Uzumaki Naruto, and asked, "Lord Hokage, do you have any interest in guest-starring in a role? I think your aura would really fit well in this drama. I happen to have a...."
"Eh? A cameo... haha, I'll pass. I've got more important matters to handle and can't spare the time at the moment."
Uzumaki Naruto declined, although the thought of appearing on TV made him a bit happy, he knew what was more important, especially given pressing matters within the village.
"That's a pity. We'll wait for the Konoha ninjas to arrive, Lord Hokage."
"Yes, a ninja will be dispatched to you shortly, Director Wada."
Just as he managed to send Director Wada off, Sai arrived with a task report.
"Naruto, the mission failed. The people have already withdrawn from there...."
Sai handed the task report scroll to Uzumaki Naruto, who received it with a grave expression and read through it carefully, confirming that, as Sai stated, the mission had failed.
"I'll contact the aides of the other Kage and convene a Five-Kage meeting. They should have some feedback by now."
Nara Shikamaru interjected, proceeding to make the arrangements.
Ten days ago, after Victor and Deepa were brought back, Konoha began interrogations; through the continuous probing of the Mind Body Transfer Jutsu, the intel within the two individuals' minds couldn't be withheld and was entirely accessed by Yamanaka Ino.
The Shell Organization, Ten-Tails, Artificial Divine Tree, Inner Array and Outer Array members, and a mysterious masked man with the same Mangekyo Sharingan as Uchiha Obito.
Because of this masked man, even Kakashi got involved in the matter. Though why, after Obito's death over a decade ago, someone else would now possess his Mangekyo Sharingan was a mystery, Kakashi would not permit anyone to misuse Obito's Sharingan.
Upon acquiring the intel, the Five Great Ninja Villages promptly dispatched teams to search Shell Organization locations and reported anyone potentially colluding with Outer Array members to their respective Daimyo for immediate capture.
However, the Shell Organization reacted faster than anticipated; despite the rapid deployment of pursuit squads by the Five Great Ninja Villages, Shell Organization personnel managed to escape.
Strongholds were abandoned, and intel related to the Shell Organization in the underground world was destroyed, capturing only individuals with peripheral connections to the Shell Organization. These individuals shared two characteristics: possessing financial power or social status and being entirely unaware of Shell Organization matters.
Soon after, Uzumaki Naruto exchanged information with the other four Kage via video conference. Upon realizing they had also achieved no results, their expressions grew somber.
However, the Five Great Ninja Villages didn't give up. Through a video conference, they discussed and finalized the next steps.
Increase the number of ninja squads for search operations. No matter what it takes, they must find the entire Shell Organization and eradicate them from the Ninja World; the Divine Tree is related to Otsutsuki Kaguya and could potentially destroy the entire Ninja World. Before dealing with this matter, everything else can be set aside.
In the face of this mysterious Shell Organization, the unity of the Five Great Ninja Villages became even stronger.
After the video conference ended, Uzumaki Naruto stretched out. He had been sitting there all day, yet the Hokage tasks were still not completed.
"Shikamaru, do you have any suggestions about the search squads?"
Nara Shikamaru touched his chin, thought for a moment, then said, "I'll first consider a list. Once the personnel are decided, we can discuss it... But Naruto, you should handle other matters first. Director Wada's mission hasn't been confirmed. If it's delayed until tomorrow..."
"Almost forgot... Luckily you reminded me, Shikamaru."
Uzumaki Naruto clapped his hands together as he spoke, thought for a moment, and then decided, "Leave it to Fireworks. Director Wada's commission is about the level of an A-Class Task, having Fireworks come will highlight Konoha's commitment."
"As long as you've decided, that's fine. By the way, isn't it Uzumaki Boruto's birthday today? You've been mentioning it for the past couple of days, don't end up working overtime today."
Nara Shikamaru said, and noticing Uzumaki Naruto's momentary expression, he guessed he had already forgotten about it.
"No matter how busy you are, you can't forget about home. I'm heading back, Naruto."
As he spoke, Nara Shikamaru suddenly remembered he hadn't given the vitamin pills he bought for Temari last time. He decided to give them to her when he got back tonight.
After saying goodbye to Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru went back to work and only stopped to stretch when it got dark; before heading home, he reminded Uzumaki Naruto again, then walked towards his house.
"I'm back."
Upon returning home, Shikamaru caught the aroma of the dishes, figuring his timing was just right.
He arrived at the dining table in front of the kitchen and saw his son already seated, with Temari serving the meal.
"You're back, let's have dinner, it's just ready.... ugh~"
Temari greeted Shikamaru as she saw him, but before she could finish, she couldn't hold back a bout of dry heaving, overwhelmed by a strong wave of nausea.
Nara Shikamaru, seeing this, concernedly asked, "Temari, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing, maybe I ate something bad for lunch. Alright, let's eat dinner."
Temari shook her head, suppressing the nausea, and urged Shikamaru to start the meal.
But then, Nara Shikatai suddenly interjected, "You should really get checked, Mom, you were retching several times already, it seems pretty serious."
Having heard this, Nara Shikamaru slightly furrowed his brow and said, "It's better to get it checked out. If something's wrong, you can get treatment sooner."
"Alright, I know, let's just eat!"
Reluctantly persuaded by her husband and son, Temari agreed, "I'll go to the hospital for a check-up tomorrow."
During dinner, the three ate in silence; it's been this way for ten days now. Previously, Nara Shikamaru would chat with Nara Shikatai at the dinner table, but recently he's been too busy, devoting 90% of his thoughts to village affairs.
After they finished eating, Nara Shikamaru suddenly recalled the matter, went back to the room to get the vitamin pills he bought, and said to Temari, "By the way, Temari, you were running low on the vitamins you left in the wardrobe last time, so I bought you a new bottle."
"What vitamins...."
Temari emerged from the kitchen, saw the bottle of contraceptive pills on the table, and, slightly panicked, quickly picked it up, loudly questioning, "Where did you find this?"
"What's wrong? It's just a bottle of vitamins, Temari, why are you so mad?"
Nara Shikamaru was taken aback and then said, "I found it in the wardrobe. I thought they might be expired, so I checked with Shizune-senpai, and it was just a bottle of vitamins, Temari you...."
"Nothing, it's nothing, I was just upset because I couldn't find it last time...."
Temari, seeing Shikamaru hadn't realized, felt a bit relieved.... but she quickly figured it out, considering how smart Shikamaru was, why was he certain they were vitamins after finding them, and even consulted Shizune-senpai.
How could Shizune-senpai see the pills and not find out...
".... Shikamaru, did you just say Shizune-senpai told you what kind of pills these were?"
"Vitamins, Temari, aren't these the pills you bought!"
In that instant, Temari fully grasped the situation, no contraceptive pills could fool Shizune-senpai, these were just vitamins, what she's been taking all along was always vitamins!
All those doses, all swallowed into her body, along with the recent intense nausea....
As she thought of this, another strong wave of nausea swept over her.
"Ugh... ugh ugh~"