"Kuming means the will of the village. Those appointed will carry out the orders."
When Minato Namikaze spoke those words, every ninja in the conference room changed expression. No one who had entered this room was a fool; everyone understood what Minato's words meant.
Anyone with even a little political instinct knew that, from this day onward, Konoha had officially entered a new era. Uzumaki Kuming, who had remained silent for years, had formally stepped out from behind the scenes and returned to the forefront.
The moment they heard Minato's words, some people immediately thought of Uzumaki Kuming's recent deployment of troops into the Land of Rain and the Land of Hot Water. Looking at it now in conjunction with Kuming's actions, that order had evidently never been as simple as it seemed.
They were merely missing ninjas—was there really any need to mobilize troops on such a grand scale? And the leaders of those two units were no insignificant figures. One was the head of the Uchiha clan, while the other was the head of the Hyuga main family. Just from the people leading them, it was obvious that these two search parties had never been ordinary.
Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, standing behind Uchiha Fugaku, both wore worried expressions. They exchanged a glance before looking toward Uzumaki Kuming, the confusion in their eyes utterly undisguised.
Yugito Nii of Kumogakure was ultimately unable to control her emotions. She slammed her hand down on the table, turned, and stormed out of the conference room. Killer B, on the other hand, remained seated in silence, without saying a word.
Killer B was no fool. He had sensed the intent behind Uzumaki Kuming's decision to send troops into the Land of Hot Water and remained in the conference room in hopes of