"You don't need to worry about that. Naruto is already a ninja capable of standing on his own, and Kei and Kakashi will be accompanying him on this mission. There's absolutely no need to worry about Naruto's safety." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and said with a smile.
"Mm. With Kei along, it is indeed much more reassuring." Danzo's sudden remark caught both Ueno Kei and Tsunade off guard. Kei barely stopped himself from looking at Danzo in astonishment.
However, Kei turned an inquiring gaze toward Tsunade. Tsunade gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head, indicating that she did not quite understand what Danzo meant either. Danzo was Danzo, after all—whether in his actions or his words, he always gave people the feeling of trying to see flowers through fog.
"It is only that this old man needs to assign someone to Naruto's team. That request should be acceptable, shouldn't it? After all, Team 7 is currently short one member, is it not?" Danzo said with a faint smile, as though it were a perfectly normal and reasonable matter. In truth, it was indeed perfectly reasonable.
Yet why did Kei keep feeling that something strange was hidden within this matter? It was merely a Root member. Even if it were one of Root's elite members, Kei was confident he could keep them under control. But was that old fox Danzo really just sending a Root member to protect—and monitor—Naruto and the others?
Just like that trip to Kyoto, Kei felt that he had still been too careless. He had underestimated Danzo and relaxed his vigilance toward him over the past three years. Was this the consequence of focusing too much on matters concerning the other villages? Kei thought inwardly, troubled and regretful. Now he did not even have