"A, how are you?"
Inside Kumogakure Hospital, the ninja, his entire body wrapped in bandages and connected to dozens of monitors, slowly woke up.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw his father, the Third Raikage. After taking a moment to recover, A finally remembered why he was lying there.
"Father, where are the others?"
The Third Raikage said in a deep voice, "You were the only one who returned through the Heavenly Transfer Technique. I've already sent out Scout Ninja, but no news has come back yet. Who did you run into? Why did this happen?"
"Father, we found that Uchiha, but before we could make a move, that bastard summoned a—something like a Tailed Beast."
"It had three heads and was roughly three times the size of the Eight-Tails. But once that monster spread its wings, it might have been ten times the size of the Eight-Tails. It could spit out lightning attacks with power comparable to a Tailed Beast Bomb. I wanted to stop that three-headed monster, but it was far too powerful."
Hearing this, the Third Raikage understood what had happened.
It was three times the size of the Eight-Tails, and its attack power was nothing to scoff at.
Moreover, once it spread its wings, it was ten times the size of the Eight-Tails. The Third Raikage could no longer imagine how enormous that would be.
The Eight-Tails rampaging was a natural disaster for Kumogakure. Even he could only barely subdue it by himself. As for A, he needed many Cloud Ninja assisting him just to sever one of the Eight-Tails' horns.
Without Sealing Jutsu, A could never have been a match for the Eight-Tails, let alone a monster even more powerful than it.
"A, rest and recover for now. As for Osai and the others, I'll have the Anbu find them and bring them back."
After finishing, the Third Raikage left. This time, Kumogakure had truly lost face. Not only had they lost three Jonin, but they had also lost Mabui, who possessed Space Ninjutsu.
If something happened to Mabui, then once war broke out, the Cloud Ninja would have to change how they transported supplies.
Thinking of this, the Third Raikage suddenly felt that they might have fallen into Konoha's trap.
Had they deliberately sent out that information to scheme against Kumogakure?
As for the monster A had mentioned, it also needed to be thoroughly investigated. Its strength was at least equal to the Eight-Tails, and perhaps even greater. If Konoha had control over such a monster, then before declaring war on Konoha in the future, they would have to carefully consider how to respond.
"Young Yoichi, you're back. How did the mission go?"
Once the tea had been brought over, Elder Kenji asked with a smile. He had come to visit immediately after returning to the village, so Elder Kenji guessed that he must have encountered some unexpected situation during the mission.
"The Second Elder is indeed extraordinarily wise. I haven't even said anything, yet you've already seen through my thoughts."
Uchiha Yoichi did not hide anything. He did not like beating around the bush, so he said directly, "Two unexpected things happened during this mission. The first was that I brought back Uzumaki Mina."
"Uzumaki?"
Uchiha Kenji froze for a moment. Then his eyes turned into Three-Tomoe, and he looked solemnly at Uzumaki Mina.
"Her Chakra is very unusual, and she seems to have even more than our Uchiha Clan. It seems she really is from the Uzumaki Clan. I heard that the Land of Whirlpools vanished amid the flames of war, and the surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan went into hiding throughout the Ninja World. Yoichi, are you planning to settle her in the village?"
"No, Second Elder. She'll join the Uchiha Clan and become a member of my squad!"
Uchiha Yoichi shook his head and said, "Mina doesn't want to join Konoha, and her abilities are very special. She'll be a great help to me in the future. I hope the Second Elder can help train her. Once developed, Mina's abilities will be exceedingly rare throughout the entire Ninja World."
"Is that so?"
Uchiha Kenji was stunned. It was rare for Uchiha Yoichi to be so earnest, so after thinking for a moment, he said, "All right, Young Yoichi. If you need anything, you can speak directly to Masato. Guidance in combat, various Ninjutsu—anything I have, you can ask for."
"There's one more thing. During this mission outside the village, Kakashi and I were betrayed by someone from the village. He told Kumogakure that I had left, causing the Cloud Ninja to hunt us down when we returned. The one leading them was A, the Third Raikage's son."
Uchiha Kenji's expression immediately turned serious. He asked in a deep voice, "Young Yoichi, are you certain?"
Uchiha Yoichi said calmly, "The Cloud Ninja believed we were certain to die, so they told us everything. However, I had a means of escape. I only barely survived and managed to get away. Kakashi experienced this as well. Konoha's White Fang should know by now."
"Yoichi, since you've told me, you must have a plan by now. Let's hear it."
"Danzo definitely erased all the evidence, so it'll be extremely difficult to trace this back to him. Moreover, Root acts in secrecy, making it unlikely that we can lie in wait and take revenge. But Elder Kenji, what about the people of the Shimura clan?"
Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Uchiha Kenji's face. He then said, "You know about Danzo's Root. I can vaguely guess how far it has developed by now. But training so many people can't be done with the village's funding alone. After all, Root isn't the Anbu."
"Is the Shimura clan helping Danzo amass wealth and providing the funds to train Root Ninja?"
Uchiha Yoichi asked. When he saw the affirmative look on Uchiha Kenji's face, he confirmed that his guess had been correct.
Rapidly training Ninja was extremely expensive. Secret medicines, the consumption of Ninja tools, medical supplies, and so on—all of it cost money. Root was different from the Ninja Academy's regular training. They had to rapidly train weapons capable of killing, so naturally, they had to spend much more.
There were plenty of places in Konoha that needed funding. It was impossible for the village to allocate so much money to Root, so Danzo often had to raise funds himself.
"That's right."
"If Elder Kenji is willing to help me, I'll lead this operation."
"During the Warring States Period, the Shimura clan head had to come to our door and smile apologetically at our Uchiha Clan. Yet after entering the village, they dared to lord it over us. Young Yoichi, the Uchiha aren't people others can bully at will. Moreover, cracking down on criminals and guarding against spies are also the duties of the Security Force."
"I understand, Elder Kenji!"
"I'll have Masato cooperate with you on this matter. You'll be in charge."
Uchiha Kenji spoke with a sigh. The Uchiha Clan had compromised too much when dealing with outsiders, to the point that most of its members had forgotten how imposing the Uchiha Clan had once been.
During the Warring States Period, whenever someone hired the Uchiha Clan, the opposing side had to hire the Senju as well. Otherwise, they would be unable to deal with them.
Although the Uchiha Clan had lost to the Senju, that did not mean just anyone could step on them. For a minor clan like the Shimura, if they dared to act arrogant today, they might be wiped out tomorrow.
"Thank you, Elder Kenji. I'll arrange things for Mina first. After that, I'll visit Senior Masato at the Security Force."
After Uchiha Yoichi finished speaking, he prepared to rise and take his leave. However, he paused before leaving and reminded him, "Elder Kenji, remember to eat the mutton soon. It should taste pretty good."
With that, Uchiha Yoichi left. Only after some time had passed did Uchiha Kenji shake his head and call over his daughter-in-law, Rie.
"Rie, let's eat the mutton Young Yoichi sent over tonight."
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