"Lord Danzō left the village about twenty minutes ago," the ninja said hurriedly upon seeing Minato Namikaze.
"Twenty minutes?" Minato Namikaze frowned. At Danzō's speed, it would be difficult to catch up after that much time had passed.
His Flying Thunder God could indeed ignore spatial distance, but he still needed a direction. Outside Konoha lay the vast Ninja World, and they had no idea which way Danzō had gone.
"Did something happen, Lord Hokage?" the gate guard asked quietly. In the distance, Hyuga Hiashi and several Elite Jonin were hurrying over, and he vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
"Shimura Danzō and Root launched a rebellion just now. It has been suppressed, but Danzō, the leader of the rebels, escaped. Did you let him leave?" Hyuga Hiashi asked gravely as he approached, casting an indifferent glance at the gate guard.
There was no anger in his tone, yet the ninja still shuddered upon hearing it. Even if the higher-ups did not pursue the matter, such a stain would be devastating to his future.
"Danzō... he had a written order issued by the Hokage," the ninja hurriedly explained, handing over Danzō's authorization.
Minato took it and gave it a cursory glance, his gaze turning icy. "I didn't issue this."
"This authorization is fake?" Hyuga Hiashi frowned, sweeping an unfriendly look over the gate guard. If he could not even recognize a Hokage's written order, that was a grave offense.
"No, it's genuine. It was issued during the Third Hokage's era, granted under special wartime circumstances during the Second Shinobi World War. I didn't expect Danzō to have kept other copies besides the one from before."
Minato sighed. Although everyone in Root had been subdued, failing to capture Danzō was still a hidden danger. His understanding of Konoha far surpassed Orochimaru's.