"The one who fought this person?"
Hearing the Third Hokage interrupt him, the intelligence ninja froze slightly and repeated the question instinctively.
"Yes!"
Before the Third Hokage could speak, a voice suddenly came from outside the secret chamber.
It was familiar, yet somehow unfamiliar.
"Lord Jiraiya!"
The intelligence ninja looked up almost reflexively, then froze again as the words slipped from his mouth.
At some point, the secret chamber door had opened. A man slowly emerged from behind it, his long white hair spiking down his back, an Oil Forehead Protector on his head. It was Jiraiya, one of Konoha's Sannin.
Of the Sannin, he was also the one with the most contact and closest ties to the intelligence division.
"That's right."
However, before he could continue, the Third Hokage interrupted him once again.
The information on the corpse before them was certainly important—important enough to influence the future situation.
But that did not mean this corpse was everything.
In fact, this corpse, from which no further information could possibly be obtained, might instead become a misdirection—or rather, a smokescreen.
"The other person... this..."
At those words, the intelligence ninja suddenly realized something. His face instantly went pale, and cold sweat rolled down his cheeks.
"Looks like something was overlooked."
Jiraiya turned as he entered, examining the corpse on the mortuary rack, which looked like a wooden statue.
"W-We are terribly sorry! This was our dereliction of duty! Please punish us, Lord Third Hokage!"
The Anbu Ninja trembled, then sharply bent into a ninety-degree bow toward the Third Hokage, loudly apologizing.
Overlooked?
This was far more than an oversight! It was dereliction of duty! Their intelligence division had focused all its attention on this corpse and forgotten an even more important piece of information.
The person who had fought this