Watching the scene before them, every member of Hatake Squad standing outside the Hokage's Office had the overwhelming urge to turn around and leave immediately.
What was going on?
Were Konoha's higher-ups playing werewolf?
Was this really something ordinary Jonin like them were supposed to witness?
Already finding this sort of thing incredibly troublesome, Hatake Sakumo curled his lips in obvious impatience. Pretending he had heard nothing, he looked up at the female Anbu perched on the roof—those curves seemed rather suited to that new strongest Taijutsu in Konoha he had developed, didn't they?
Namikaze Minato frowned slightly, apparently not expecting the conflicts within the village to be so intense. He felt somewhat displeased.
Uchiha Yayoi wore an expression of complete indifference, lowering her head to count the little stones on the ground. Her fair toes, exposed beyond her ninja sandals, bobbed up and down as though she were lost in thought.
Meanwhile, Sahara Mizu looked with an extremely subtle expression toward Pot Kage Danzo, who stood at the very back of the crowd.
Of everyone present, only he knew—
This time, it really wasn't Danzo's doing.
However, as a professional dirty-work man, Konoha's foremost scapegoat contractor, and the man in charge of Root—the Konoha CIA responsible for foreign intelligence gathering, planting spies, and developing safehouses—whose funding was tightly controlled by the Hokage, he was also the senior official most likely to have had contact with foreign ninja.
At this moment, Shimura Danzō had to step forward and say something.
"Foolish!"
With his one eye, he glared coldly at Tsunade. As though the suspicious gazes around him were stabbing into him, he shouted, "Tsunade! As a Jonin of Konoha, you actually believe the enemy's attempt to sow discord? How utterly foolish!"
"Furthermore, can your one-sided account prove that the Third Raikage said those words?"
"What do you take Konoha's verification procedures for?"
He had only just gotten that far when a young man at the doorway suddenly took a step forward and loudly said,
"Reporting to Lord Third Hokage."
"When the Third Raikage said those words, I had just arrived at the scene."
"At the time, Lord Tsunade had already lost the ability to fight or flee and was about to be captured. There was indeed a strong possibility that the other side accidentally leaked the information."
Tsunade froze at his words and instinctively turned to look at the young man behind her.
Everyone in Sakumo's Team also looked at him in astonishment.
When Tsunade noticed that the one speaking was Sahara Mizu, her gaze became even more complicated.
When someone was desperately arguing their case yet stood isolated and unsupported, suddenly receiving someone else's backing was always especially reassuring.
However, the impression Sahara Mizu had previously left on her was simply too complicated.
Even Tsunade herself found it difficult to describe how she felt at that moment.
Perhaps, she felt gratified?
That brat.
Sahara Mizu's reasons for stepping forward were far more complicated.
Given his identity as an undercover agent, he had been on the opposite side from Danzo from the very beginning. It was simply that he had remained in the shadows before, and Danzo had not known of him.
But now, he had already displayed his strength in battle against the Raikage. If he did not immediately find himself a sufficiently powerful backer, then being forcibly recruited by Danzo in the future was almost inevitable.
Those who planned ahead would thrive; those who did not would fail.
Obviously—
Tsunade's soft, fragrant, snow-white thigh was perfectly suited for him.
To seize that thigh in a timely manner by offering help in her hour of need, Sahara Mizu had to take on the risk of possibly becoming Danzo's enemy and firmly pin this accusation of colluding with foreign powers onto Danzo's head.
Thinking three steps ahead was a required course for spies.
However, Konoha F4 had not noticed his little scheme. Instead, they all turned to look at Danzo once more.
Shimura Danzō was clearly getting a little heated. He anxiously said,
"Who do you think I am?"
"Selling intelligence, colluding with enemy ninja, betraying the village, harming our elites, taking bribes—"
Halfway through, Shimura Danzō suddenly noticed that Sarutobi Hiruzen was holding a little notebook, scribbling something down as he listened. His voice abruptly stopped.
"Hiruzen, what are you writing?"
"Nothing. Go on," Sarutobi Hiruzen said, waving a hand to signal him to continue.
Shimura Danzō's one eye widened at once, and he raised his voice again.
"Even you don't believe me!?"
"Everything I have done has been for Konoha!"
After yelling that, he immediately began chanting as though reciting a curse—things like, "You are Konoha basking in sunlight, while I am the Root buried in darkness," "I never spent a single cent of the money I earned on myself; it all went to Konoha's funding," "If you hadn't seized the opening before I could raise my hand back then, I would be the Hokage now," and "Our teacher was shrewd his entire life, but he became muddleheaded on the day he chose the Hokage"—a bunch of whining nonsense that nobody could understand.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's head throbbed as he listened, and he practically wanted to cover his ears on the spot.
Just as it looked like the two old men were about to derail the topic into "I saved your life thirty years ago"—
Tsunade finally could not take it anymore. "(Konoha profanity*), enough!"
"I don't have time to listen to you babble about these old grudges."
Without the slightest politeness, she raised her hand and pointed at Shimura Danzō's nose, then looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen and said coldly, "Old bastard! The Senju Clan needs an explanation for what happened today, and all of Konoha needs one too!"
"I don't care how you deal with it in the end, but the fallen heroes deserve to know whose hands they died by."
"..."
The entire room fell silent once more.
The moment Tsunade invoked the name of the Senju Clan, this was no longer a matter between the Hokage and ninja, or superiors and subordinates. It had escalated into one of Konoha's founding clans questioning a Hokage.
Everyone understood that this matter could not be settled peacefully.
After a long silence, Sarutobi Hiruzen puffed on his tobacco pipe before finally saying,
"Tsunade."
"I will give you—and Dan and the others—an explanation."
"..."
Tsunade gave him one final look, then turned around, passed by Sakumo's Team, and walked straight out the door.
Yet before she left, her eyes crossed with Sahara Mizu's and lingered for a moment.
Behind the desk, Konoha F4 exchanged glances, but no one spoke first.
"Lord Third."
Instead, Hatake Sakumo stepped forward first and asked, "Should we settle our team's mission first?"
"Mm, oh!"
Only then did the solemn-looking Sarutobi Hiruzen react. The kindly smile of an elder returned to his face.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
It was only after quite some time, once they had finished reporting the entire course of the mission, that Sakumo's Team finally walked out of the Hokage's Office, which now had a huge hole blasted through it.
Walking at the front, Hatake Sakumo turned his head to look at Sahara Mizu, who seemed completely unfazed. He patted his shoulder helplessly and reminded him,
"Mizu, don't be so impulsive next time."
"Those matters aren't something little people like us can get involved in."
He had noticed it earlier.
While he was reporting the mission, Shimura Danzō had stared straight at him and the subordinate behind him with the look one gave the dead.
Clearly, they had already been written into his little notebook.
But Sahara Mizu was not afraid in the slightest. Instead, he said frankly, "Even if I hadn't spoken those details aloud, Lord Sakumo would have written them in the mission report."
"Rather than letting certain people resent Lord Sakumo alone, it would be better to spread that hatred around."
"Compared to facing them alone, if Lord Tsunade, Lord Sakumo, and I are tied together, they should be at least a little wary of us, right?"
As Sahara Mizu spoke, there was not the slightest fear in him. Instead, he looked up at Hatake Sakumo with a cheerful grin.
Hatake Sakumo froze at his words.
Clearly, when this child had spoken earlier, he had already considered the consequences he might face and understood what it meant.
Yet to prevent him from bearing the danger alone, he had still spoken without hesitation.
That meant he had not been reckless then. He had been brave.
"You brat."
Looking at his smiling face, Hatake Sakumo suddenly felt a pang in his heart. He did not know why the village had become a place where children needed to think about such things.
Namikaze Minato listened quietly, his thoughts becoming increasingly chaotic.
Was this the mindset of a Hokage?
"Let's go!"
Hatake Sakumo suddenly raised a hand and vigorously ruffled Sahara Mizu's hair. Smiling, he said, "Although the village issued this mission, the reward for this round is a full five hundred thousand ryo. Everyone gets a share!"
"Awesome!"
As they spoke, the group walked out of the Hokage Building.
However, the moment they stepped outside, they saw Tsunade, who had left earlier, leaning against the entrance. She was clearly waiting for them.
Everyone could not help but freeze.
"Hey, brat."
Tsunade crossed her arms, her heavy breasts lifted by them and appearing even more impressive than before. Yet her tone was anything but polite as she called toward them, staring directly at Sahara Mizu amid the group.
"Come with me!"
Thanks to reader Jiaoyanyu for the tip!
Thanks to readers 20210725173827439, Ulisse, and 20220415174606872 for the monthly tickets!
Still asking for votes and follow-up reading! The more, the better—I won't complain!
The next chapter will still be at 23:55!
Ciallo~(∠▽<)⌒☆
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