"Genius?!"
The senior operative froze, suspicion flickering in his eyes.
But after thinking it over, he realized that the village had indeed acted strangely toward the noodle shop owner's subordinate in the past. They had kept a lot of crucial information from them.
Seeing the senior operative hesitate, the noodle shop owner, whose memories Shinji had altered with genjutsu, urged him on. "The village is undergoing a major shake-up. If we do nothing, and they choose a new leader, do you think any of us will have a good ending?"
The senior operative's expression darkened.
Kusagakure had made enemies of everyone this time. The main reason it had narrowly escaped destruction was its sensitive location. Whichever great nation it sided with would arouse the suspicion of the others. With the Five Great Shinobi Villages keeping one another in check, Kusagakure had managed to limp along.
So no one knew whether the newly elected leader would sell them out to Konoha in exchange for its support.
The noodle shop owner continued, "This is our best chance. If we let it slip by, our fate will be in someone else's hands!"
After weighing it for a long time, the senior operative still shook his head. "It won't work! At the end of the day, we're all remnants of the Grass Fruit faction. Now that the Grass Flower faction has regained power in the village, even if we wanted to do something, we'd be far too weak!"
"Didn't I tell you? We have the village's hope for the future in our hands!"
The senior operative snorted. "Even if she really is a genius, what can a child do? We don't have time to wait for her to grow up! Give it up. Our glory ended long ago. If we can just scrape by