Tenzo felt that he had truly been wronged.
Kakashi Hatake also believed Tenzo had been wronged. Kakashi had always known Tenzo was an honest man; he could not possibly commit such senseless murder.
Akihara Kagura knew even better that Tenzo had been wronged. As the person framing Tenzo, he naturally knew best just how wronged Tenzo was.
"Is there a possibility..."
Tenzo's face turned pale as he carefully offered his hypothesis. "Kagura, could there be another Wood Style Ninja hidden in the village besides the two of us?"
"That possibility can't be ruled out."
Kakashi Hatake looked up at the sky and rambled on. "No matter what happens in the ninja world or who appears, I wouldn't find it strange."
Kakashi Hatake vaguely had a strange thought: someone wanted this kid to stay farther away from Shimura Danzō. That was not necessarily a bad thing; the method was simply a little too extreme.
Of course.
He definitely could not say such thoughts aloud. Otherwise, this kid, who always had Shimura Danzō's name on his lips, might start fighting him on the spot...
Who would do something like this?
Who stood to benefit from driving a wedge between Shimura Danzō and Akihara Kagura?
Kakashi Hatake involuntarily recalled the conduct of the old man in the Hokage Building. Could another Wood Style Ninja be hidden under the Third Hokage's command? When had that Wood Style Ninja appeared?
But...
Killing Aburame Ryoma...
Did not seem like the Third Hokage's style.
However, as a ninja who had spent many years in the Anbu, Kakashi Hatake had witnessed plenty of darkness. He would not use his own fixed way of thinking to speculate about a Hokage's intentions.
Of course.
This matter had to be investigated thoroughly.
A Wood Style Ninja was hidden in the village and had murdered a fellow villager. At the very least, they needed to find out whether that person was an enemy who had infiltrated the village or a subordinate concealed by one of the higher-ups.
"Enough. I'll investigate this."
Kakashi Hatake planned to take this trouble upon himself for his two subordinates. He lowered his head in thought. "If this person wanted to drive a wedge between you and Danzo but failed to achieve his goal, he will definitely emerge again in the future and use Wood Style to kill..."
As Kakashi Hatake spoke, he looked at Akihara Kagura again. "Don't doubt your squad leader. Tenzo would never frame anyone..."
"Senior Kakashi..."
There was obvious gratitude in Tenzo's eyes.
"Oh."
Akihara Kagura nodded, clearly looking unconvinced.
Was he really someone who liked framing others? If there had been any other choice, how could he have dumped the blame on Tenzo's head?
Forget it.
His goal had already been achieved.
As long as Kakashi Hatake was willing to investigate, that was enough.
Even if the Mysterious Masked Man lurking in the shadows would not reveal any flaws, Akihara Kagura would find a way to make Kakashi Hatake uncover some clues.
At the same time.
The Pitcher Plant Monster, which had been lurking underground and eavesdropping all along, quietly relayed the exchange between Kakashi Hatake, Tenzo, and Akihara Kagura to the Mysterious Masked Man.
"Tch..."
Upon receiving the news, the Mysterious Masked Man could not help but sneer first. "That idiot Kakashi is truly overestimating himself. What does he think he can uncover? Tonight, I'll kill another person and see what that idiot can do!"
"Wait..."
You aren't very smart either!
You clearly just wanted to go head-to-head with Kakashi Hatake!
The Pitcher Plant Monster felt that the Mysterious Masked Man was getting carried away and hurriedly advised him, "They already know someone is secretly stirring things up. Our plan to use Wood Style to frame that brat Akihara Kagura will be very difficult to succeed with..."
The Pitcher Plant Monster paused before continuing its persuasion. "Even if you kill another person, there won't be much point, right? It might even confirm that the brat is being secretly framed..."
"..."
The Mysterious Masked Man suddenly fell silent.
Kakashi Hatake had disrupted his train of thought for a moment, and he had actually forgotten that his original goal was to recruit that brat Akihara Kagura...
"Zetsu."
The Mysterious Masked Man took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Keep watching that brat for now. Let's see whether there are any other opportunities..."
Naturally.
There had been no opportunity all day.
Akihara Kagura had only just joined the Anbu, so he certainly could not act alone.
Kakashi Hatake led Tenzo and Akihara Kagura through a full day of routine Anbu duties, mainly protecting the Hokage, relaying the Hokage's orders to other departments, and inspecting defenses and patrols to prevent enemy incursions.
"When can we rest?"
Akihara Kagura felt that routine Anbu duties were fairly easy. "Where do Anbu members rest at night? The dormitory? Why haven't I seen one?"
"Rest at night?"
Kakashi Hatake and Tenzo both looked at Akihara Kagura in surprise.
"We... don't rest at night?"
Akihara Kagura looked even more surprised than they did.
"Of course not."
Kakashi Hatake quickly shook his head and continued, "Other than when we leave the village on missions, Anbu generally carry out more than sixteen hours of patrol duties during routine village patrols. Someone will come relieve us tomorrow morning."
"Working sixteen hours a day?"
Akihara Kagura's expression changed involuntarily.
There were so many streetlights in Konoha; why were there no Hokage corpses hanging from them?
"Anbu work is somewhat tedious to begin with."
"Compared to going out on missions, remaining in the village to protect the Hokage and prevent enemy incursions is already quite easy."
Tenzo seemed long accustomed to this and continued, "Only ninjas truly capable of endurance can become Anbu."
As Tenzo spoke, he handed Akihara Kagura a soldier pill. "Can you adapt to Anbu work on your first day? Here, have dinner first."
"This is... dinner?"
For the first time, Akihara Kagura experienced the work culture of the ninja world.
If Anbu members lived like this every day, could the Hokage's corpses really not be hung separately from the streetlights?
"It may be a little hard."
Kakashi Hatake bit into a soldier pill and said softly, "The Anbu's full name is the Special Force of Assassination Tactics. We are Konoha's military during peacetime; we cannot be as relaxed as other ninjas are when carrying out missions."
"Oh."
Akihara Kagura immediately understood.
"By the way, you don't have a code name yet, do you?"
Kakashi Hatake glanced at Akihara Kagura. "Anbu members cannot use their real names during missions, nor can they address one another by name. To prevent enemies from discovering an Anbu member's identity, it's best to use a code name."
"Is that necessary?"
Akihara Kagura looked at Kakashi Hatake's white hair and could not help saying, "There aren't many people in the entire ninja world who can use Wood Style, and there aren't many with white hair like Captain Kakashi's. Do we really need code names? I didn't see the Third Hokage call you by a code name today either."
"..."
Kakashi Hatake was rendered speechless.
"It really does seem unnecessary..."
Tenzo stood nearby and cautiously joined their conversation.
"Let's go patrol the village first!"
Kakashi Hatake did not intend to argue with Akihara Kagura and turned to business. "You two should keep an eye out and see if you can find any traces left by that Wood Style Ninja..."
After all, the other hidden Wood Style Ninja was very likely a subordinate of the Third Hokage. Kakashi Hatake did not dare let too many people know and could only entrust the matter to Tenzo and Akihara Kagura.
"Okay!"
Akihara Kagura immediately felt energized.
By helping his future boss, the Mysterious Masked Man, create new trouble and forcing that boss to come recruit him to solve it, Akihara Kagura was indeed highly motivated about this matter.
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