It's Him!

"It is definitely Masaki Uchiha!"

"Hiruzen, we must capture him immediately; we cannot let him get away."

Shimura Danzō felt as if he had finally caught Masaki Uchiha by the tail.

Masaki Uchiha, so this day has finally come for you.

If I don't lock you in a cell for a few years, it wouldn't make up for the days I've suffered recently.

Just as Shimura Danzō was lost in these fantasies, Sarutobi Hiruzen first glanced at Minato Namikaze.

Seeing that the latter remained expressionless, he knew that Shimura Danzō had made another mistake.

The current Hokage is Minato Namikaze; why must you, Shimura Danzō, always overstep your authority?

Was the lesson from last time not enough?

Thinking of this, he sighed inwardly.

With a helpless tone, he asked Shimura Danzō: "Danzō, under what pretext do you intend to arrest Masaki Uchiha?"

Still lost in his fantasies, Shimura Danzō naively replied: "On the charge of kidnapping a village ninja, of course. Is that reason not sufficient?"

As he finished speaking, Shimura Danzō seemed to realize the implication and fell silent, though his fists were clenched so tightly they creaked.

Ninjas from Root are not part of the official Konoha roster.

In the past, they always carried out missions under the name of Anbu.

In other words, Root is an illegal organization, not an official body recognized by Konoha.

It was only because Sarutobi Hiruzen backed them that the well-informed ninja clans knew what Root was all about.

Therefore, when forced, they would cooperate with Root's operations.

But now that Minato Namikaze has taken office, he feels that Root tarnishes the image of Konoha he holds in his heart.

He will not allow such a dark organization to exist within Konoha!

Out of respect for Sarutobi Hiruzen, he hasn't wiped them out, but he is letting them wither away on their own.

Root can forget about recruiting any more personnel within Konoha.

Therefore, that reason will not hold up.

Some might ask, would it work to arrest Masaki Uchiha on the charge of kidnapping a villager?

That won't work either, due to Konoha's regulations.

As long as a villager possesses chakra, they must report to the Hokage Building for registration.

Otherwise, if caught, they are arrested and sentenced for espionage.

Although this rule existed in name only during Sarutobi Hiruzen's administration, the official Konoha government never repealed it.

It was primarily to prevent an influx of spies.

The reality is that the families of the Konoha F4 have even more members who possess chakra but remain unregistered.

So, most of the time, they just turn a blind eye.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen and his peers cannot be the ones to expose this issue themselves.

After all, you rarely see someone stab themselves, do you?

"Since that is the case, let us send someone to invite Masaki Uchiha to come over."

"We shall have a talk with him; if he truly is the one who did it, then we will have him return the person."

"Minato, I leave this matter to you."

Minato Namikaze detected a hint of exhaustion in his voice, and looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen's furrowed brows, he understood that this matter required a proper resolution.

Wood Release must remain in the hands of the Hokage.

After an exchange of glances, the two reached a consensus.

"Very well, I will handle the communication for this matter."

"If it truly was him, I believe he will certainly hand the person over."

All of the above were judgments Minato Namikaze made based on his understanding of Masaki Uchiha.

After all, even I cannot fathom the true depth of Masaki Uchiha's strength.

Thinking of this, Minato Namikaze suddenly felt a sense of despondency.

"Knock, knock."

"Come in."

Seeing that the person entering was his student, Hatake Kakashi, Minato Namikaze looked at him with a smile and asked: "Kakashi, is there something you need?"

"Lord Hokage, a child of about ten years old in a comatose state has inexplicably appeared at the entrance of the Hokage Building."

"Furthermore, he was wearing a tag with a single character written on it: Kinoe."

"Because the situation was unclear, I came up to report it to you."

Shimura Danzō, originally immersed in anger, snapped back to reality upon hearing the words "about 10 years old" and "Kinoe." He commanded, "Take me to see him at once."

The others were all somewhat puzzled by this news.

What was going on?

Why would they take the initiative to send someone back?

Could it be a trap?

Just as everyone was deep in thought, Shimura Danzō grew impatient, his tone harsh: "Hatake Kakashi, are you deaf to my words?!"

Hatake Kakashi didn't even glance at him, waiting solely for his teacher's command.

Minato Namikaze, displeased by Shimura Danzō speaking to his student in such a manner, retorted directly: "My student, naturally, only listens to his teacher."

He then turned to Hatake Kakashi and said in a gentle tone, "Let's go, take me to see him."

Seeing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over: "Kakashi, this 10-year-old child is connected to a very important matter, so Danzō is a bit anxious. Don't take it to heart."

"Of course not."

"Please follow me."

Hatake Kakashi, with his single dead-fish eye, didn't even look at Shimura Danzō as he turned and walked away.

"You..." Ignored by Hatake Kakashi, Shimura Danzō was incensed and just about to speak.

He was urged to leave by his two old classmates behind him, who patted his shoulders: "Let's go, Danzō. Let's see if it's that child. Be careful, or someone else might snatch him away if we're late."

Shimura Danzō snorted coldly, twisted his body to shake off the two hands on his shoulders, and quickened his pace to follow.

The two men behind him exchanged a glance and followed closely.

Watching these three old classmates bickering, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but smile, as if seeing them back in their childhood.

"It's him."

Shimura Danzō said with certainty.

Having received confirmation from Shimura Danzō, Minato Namikaze immediately had Kinoe sent to the hospital for a check-up.

After more than an hour of examination, they learned there were no physical issues and that he was expected to wake up in about 10 minutes.

The group decided to question Kinoe right there in the hospital room.

Before long, Kinoe slowly drifted back to consciousness.

Upon seeing Shimura Danzō, he reflexively dropped to one knee and began to report the details of his abduction.

Seeing a 10-year-old child act like a puppet, Minato Namikaze felt even more disgust toward Shimura Danzō's methods.

If Root was entirely composed of people like this, then such an organization should not exist.

Just as Minato Namikaze was considering how to dismantle Root, Kinoe stated that two people had knocked him unconscious and taken him from the training base.

He had been woken up once midway, a fight had occurred, and then he was knocked out again.

He only realized he was here after waking up.

Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered for a moment before asking: "Did you see the faces of those two people clearly?"

Kinoe didn't even look at Sarutobi Hiruzen and did not answer.

Seeing this, Shimura Danzō felt a hint of pride; his people only listened to him.

He immediately repeated the same question Sarutobi Hiruzen had asked.

"No."

Kinoe's tone was devoid of fluctuation, like a corpse, and his face remained expressionless.