The Advisors Arrive

Morning came the next day.

After saying goodbye to Yakushi Nonō, Kazashiro walked along while forming the hand seals needed for the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"Kazashiro, you're practicing ninjutsu so early in the morning?" A soft, gentle voice rang out. Looking up, Kazashiro immediately spotted Rin Nohara waiting for him at the intersection.

"Just you? Kakashi didn't come?" Seeing Rin alone, Kazashiro was somewhat puzzled.

Normally, Kakashi should have been the first to arrive every time. What, Obito was not even dead yet, and Kakashi had already started inheriting his "will"?

"I don't know either. Maybe something held him up?" Rin shook her head. She had not expected to be the first one at the meeting point today.

The two waited there for a while. It was not until Anko popped out from the roadside, humming a tune, and roughhoused with Kazashiro for a bit that Kakashi finally arrived.

"What's wrong, Kakashi? If you'd come any later, even Obito would've shown up." Unable to see Kakashi's expression behind his mask, Kazashiro teased him.

"It's nothing. My father came back yesterday." Kakashi glanced at Kazashiro, shook his head, and said no more.

Sakumo had returned home at dawn. Kakashi, who had gotten up after hearing the noise to greet him, had witnessed something strange.

His father had been brought back by two Anbu. Before leaving, they had whispered something to his father in extremely low voices.

Yet when Kakashi asked his father what had happened, the answer he received had been full of evasions.

Though Kakashi had not pressed further, his instincts told him that Sakumo was hiding something.

Anbu...

Watching Kazashiro chase Anko beside him, Kakashi wrestled with himself for a long time before finally making a difficult decision.

"Has anything happened in the village recently? Something involving your father?"

During break, Kazashiro came to a secluded rooftop at Kakashi's invitation, utterly bewildered.

Right. The easiest way to learn certain things was through Kazashiro, Danzo's son.

Given Kakashi's personality, he would never have asked such a question unless it concerned his father.

"What could have happened? Hmm?" The words slipped out before Kazashiro abruptly cut himself off, his brow furrowing deeply.

Danzo had gone out on a mission, the Third Hokage had personally visited, and Kakashi was asking strange questions...

Sakumo was going to die?!

"Kakashi, hurry! Tell me what you found!" Kazashiro asked anxiously.

Seeing Kazashiro even more flustered than himself, Kakashi realized that he must have thought of something. He told Kazashiro everything he had seen and heard the day before.

After hearing Kakashi's account, Kazashiro was ninety percent certain that the story had reached the part where Sakumo died.

He could not just stand by and watch Sakumo die.

Meanwhile, over at the Hokage Building.

Hiruzen, convinced that the matter concerning Sakumo had been settled, leaned back in his seat and leisurely smoked his pipe.

Although he was somewhat reluctant about the sizable compensation, money could always be earned back. There was no need to fret over it for the moment.

If it could make Sakumo more grateful to the village, then the loss would be worth it.

Glancing up at his Hokage Rock outside the window, a faint smile crossed Hiruzen's lips.

"Third Hokage, the two advisors request an audience." This rare moment of comfort did not last long. The arrival of the two advisors shattered the peace.

Extinguishing his pipe, Hiruzen looked back at the Anbu reporting to him, unease flickering through his mind.

Why had those two come at a time like this?

"Let them in." The moment Hiruzen finished speaking, the two advisors forcefully pushed open the office door.

"Hiruzen, I heard that the mission entrusted to us by the daimyo failed?" The instant she entered, Utatane Koharu interrogated Hiruzen with an aggressive air.

The question caught Hiruzen so off guard that he did not even have time to put down the pipe he had just extinguished. He asked in astonishment, "How did you know?"

After saying that, he realized something was wrong and hurriedly corrected himself. "I mean, where did you hear that?"

Seeing Hiruzen's reaction, the two exchanged a glance, already certain that it was true.

"We heard it from the village's shinobi. Not only that, they said the mission's failure was entirely caused by Hatake Sakumo. Is that true?" Mitokado Homura slowly asked.

Bang. Hiruzen slammed his pipe heavily onto the desk.

Not only had news of the mission's failure leaked, but even the identity of the person who carried it out had become known to others?!

This had been a top-secret mission. Aside from those who carried it out, only the higher-ups knew the details.

Who was it? An enemy village? One of the higher-ups? Or one of the people who had carried out the mission?

Startled by the sound Hiruzen made, Utatane Koharu softened her tone. "Hiruzen, we came this time to verify whether this is true. After all, it concerns the daimyo. We need to know whether these rumors are real."

"Yes, the mission failed." With things having reached this point, Hiruzen had no choice but to admit it. However, he did not mention Sakumo.

The two exchanged another look upon receiving their answer, and each saw a trace of regret in the other's eyes.

"This money could have been used to procure military supplies..." Utatane Koharu sighed.

Since the Second Shinobi World War, there had been no more large-scale conflicts among the five great hidden villages. After so many years of peace, the daimyos had tacitly agreed to cut military funding for their respective hidden villages.

There was no helping it. The shinobi could only intensify competition and try to obtain commissions through more channels in order to maintain the village's number of shinobi.

"There was no helping it. Of course, I did not intentionally keep this from you. I handed the matter entirely over to Danzo, so that may have been his decision." Afraid that they would bring up how he had deliberately kept them in the dark, Hiruzen simply pushed everything onto Danzo.

"Danzo?" The two were first stunned upon hearing Danzo's name, then nodded in unison. "It is indeed appropriate to leave this matter to Danzo. The details of the mission must be thoroughly investigated. If it truly happened as the rumors say, and Sakumo abandoned the mission for someone, then he must be severely punished."

"Hiruzen, this is not the time to be softhearted. If everyone could abandon missions as casually as Sakumo without punishment, the shinobi who view him as a role model would surely follow suit. The village's interests would suffer enormous losses."

Mitokado Homura looked at the silent Hiruzen and continued, "We will speak with Danzo later to ask about the specifics. You have no objections, do you, Hiruzen?"

"Of course. That is your right." Hiruzen had a headache after listening to their lengthy speech, but he did not dare say much and could only nod silently.