As Inoichi Yamanaka's words fell, Shikaku Nara did not react at first.
"Oh, you said Soji went to Kirigakure to become the Mizukage? I thought... Hm? Wait, Inoichi, say that again!"
Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka had originally been whispering off to the side, so no one else had paid them much attention.
But by the end, Shikaku Nara's voice suddenly shot up several octaves!
At once, everyone else in the command headquarters turned to look at them.
"Mr. Shikaku, what's wrong?"
"What happened?"
"Mr. Shikaku, do you have new orders?"
"Has something changed on the battlefield?"
"Have orders arrived from the Commander-in-Chief?"
For a moment, quite a few people in the command headquarters spoke up, prompted by Shikaku Nara's loss of composure.
Fortunately, Shikaku Nara had only suddenly raised his voice in disbelief during that final sentence.
If the others had heard the first half of what Shikaku Nara said, their expressions probably would not have been much better than his were now.
"Ah, no, it's nothing. Just continue with your respective duties. I merely have something I need to discuss with Inoichi Yamanaka."
Realizing he had lost his composure, Shikaku Nara quickly gave the instructions while pretending to remain calm.
Hearing that, no one asked any further questions.
After all, Shikaku Nara's arrangements had indeed always been extremely reasonable.
Throughout this war, his every deployment had thoroughly impressed the shinobi from the other villages.
Since he had said so, naturally, no one doubted him.
Seeing this, Shikaku Nara finally let out a breath of relief.
Then, without any hesitation, Shikaku Nara pulled Inoichi Yamanaka into a more distant corner, and the two continued their conversation.
"Inoichi, you can't say things like that carelessly. It could affect the alliance between Konoha and Kirigakure!"
Shikaku Nara spoke in an incomparably