The next day, Rikuto and Kan, who were seated at their desks, received the intelligence report.
"Lord Hanzo has only been gone for a short time and something like this has already happened!"
Kan was clearly terrified, and Rikuto beside him didn't look much better.
"When Lord Hanzo left, he entrusted both Amegakure and the Land of Rain to us. And now something like this occurs—how are we supposed to explain it when he returns?!"
"First we verify the truth of the matter. There must be some reason behind it," Shenda said, far calmer.
"Sunagakure just suffered a loss against us. They wouldn't be foolish enough to repeat their mistake so soon."
"And how did those two manage to come back alive? Don't forget the Sand had over a thousand troops. Even if someone stayed behind to cover their retreat, escaping wouldn't be easy."
"So why didn't the Sand pursue them?"
Kan paused and thought carefully, rereading the report.
"There are indeed many suspicious points here… Rikuto, put everything else aside. We need to personally go question those two."
After the two left, Hanzo's Shadow Clone quietly emerged from the wall, picked up the report, and read it.
"What's going on? As long as the Suna shinobi aren't idiots, they wouldn't do something like this."
"Something must have happened there."
He placed the report back where it was. His body gradually turned transparent before slipping away in pursuit of Rikuto and Kan.
"They still don't know I'm here."
"Good. Let me see whether Amegakure still has people capable of holding things together without me."
---
Meanwhile, on the Kirigakure battlefield, Hanzo was having the time of his life slaughtering enemies.
During this period, he had collected quite a number of bloodline-limit shinobi.
To avoid attracting attention, he created seven or eight Shadow Clones and disguised them as a small squad.
Whenever he encountered Konoha forces, he transformed into a Mist shinobi. Whenever he encountered Mist shinobi, he became a Konoha shinobi instead.
Thanks to his sensory abilities, he always struck first.
On this battlefield, he cut down anyone he saw. When he encountered a bloodline user, he knocked them unconscious, slapped a sealing tag on them, and then used Flying Thunder God to send them straight to Amegakure.
Both Kirigakure and Konoha soon noticed this mysterious "enemy squad." Each side dispatched elite teams to eliminate them.
But every attempt ended the same way—either the elite squad was wiped out, or they found nothing.
Finally, under Hanzo's manipulation, elite units from both Mist and Konoha ran into each other.
The brutal battle lasted half a day, leaving both sides with heavy casualties. Just as they were preparing to withdraw, Hanzo's disguised "Mist squad" arrived as reinforcements and launched a surprise attack from behind Konoha's lines.
When Konoha turned around, they were greeted by a chaotic barrage of Water Release techniques.
By the end of the battle, only a few Konoha shinobi escaped.
Afterward, Hanzo separated from the Mist squad under the pretext of going to support another front.
It couldn't be helped.
Recently, Danzō's assassination contracts had dried up.
So aside from collecting bloodline users, he also needed to earn some extra money.
Otherwise, his efficiency management would be terrible.
If there were no contracts, he would simply create some himself.
The Mist shinobi he secretly killed could easily be used as identities for bounty claims.
---
At the same time, two other people were worried about Danzō.
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura.
Two Root operatives secretly slipped past all of Konoha's surveillance and placed a document on their desks.
That night, neither of them slept.
Early the next morning, they met.
One look was enough for them to realize they had both experienced the same thing.
"Koharu… what do we do?" Homura asked, panic evident in his voice.
"You know Danzō's methods. With this leverage, he'll have us by the throat for the rest of our lives."
"He already stated his demands. If we refuse, he'll send this evidence to Hiruzen—and announce it publicly to every shinobi on the Mist battlefield."
"At that point we're finished. Even Hiruzen won't be able to save us!"
The worst part was that they didn't even know if Danzō had additional contingencies.
They hadn't skimmed supplies from just the Mist front.
Nearly every battlefield's logistics had been touched.
And the most dangerous fact of all—
Although Danzō's crimes had been confirmed, he had not yet been punished.
Furthermore, Danzō's methods were ruthless. The victims of his actions—Uzushiogakure and the Senju clan—were almost entirely dead.
Ironically, many in Konoha had benefited from those events.
So while the crimes were severe, most shinobi only reacted with anger and condemnation.
Danzō could still offset his crimes with military merit.
He was currently earning victories on the Mist battlefield.
But what did they have?
If their corruption were exposed, the shinobi returning from the Mist front would tear them apart.
Even the wounded shinobi lying in Konoha's hospitals would not forgive them.
Those men had risked their lives on the battlefield—only to discover their own village had stabbed them in the back.
No one would tolerate that.
"First we follow his demands and stabilize him," Koharu said coldly.
"You and I are tied to the same rope now. Neither of us can escape."
"Send him the money he requested. Then restore the original supply levels on the Mist front."
She looked directly at Homura.
"You know Danzō's personality. Even if we obey him, he won't let us go."
"He'll only push further."
"At this point, Danzō must die."
"If he doesn't die, we will."
Her eyes hardened.
"You must cooperate with me. We have to make Hiruzen kill him."
"The only person who can kill him… is Hiruzen."
At this stage, friendship meant nothing.
Danzō held their lives in his hands.
"Very well," Homura said, adjusting his glasses.
"We'll deliver what he asked for with the next supply shipment."
"After that… we must give Hiruzen some hints."
"Understood."
The two left with heavy hearts.
As Homura walked away, he had the strange feeling he had forgotten something important.
But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't remember.
"Forget it. The urgent matters come first."
---
Not long after, Shimura Danzō stared wide-eyed at the two Root shinobi kneeling before him.
"I am a sinner… a sinner of Konoha!"
He grabbed one of them by the collar, disbelief filling his face.
"Tell me you're lying! Tell me this is a lie!"
He roared hysterically.
"Lord Danzō… it's all true," the other Root operative said.
"We followed your instructions, avoided all of Konoha's surveillance, and completed the mission."
"But on the way back we discovered the Senju clan compound had been reduced to ruins. Judging from the condition, it had been like that for some time."
"Something of this scale happened, yet Root never reported it."
The shinobi continued grimly.
"That's when we realized something was wrong."
"So we secretly infiltrated Root headquarters."
He clenched his teeth.
"When we returned, we discovered everyone in Root had been placed under house arrest. The shinobi responsible for maintaining our communications had all been put under genjutsu control."
"Even the Shimura clan was no exception."
"But we still gathered intelligence in secret. While infiltrating Root and the Shimura clan, we learned the truth."
The shinobi took out a scroll.
"This information was sent to you by the Shimura clan."
Danzō opened the scroll.
Sweat streamed down his face.
"How… how could this be…"
"Hiruzen!"
---------------------------------///
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