The information gap in the communications blackout and the deputy representative's probe beyond his authority

The meeting room door closed behind him, shutting out all the clamor and scheming.

Namikaze Minato did not move.

He simply sat in silence, his gaze resting on the black fountain pen before him.

Minutes ago, that pen had been a mountain weighing on his convictions, a coffin sealing away his reputation as a hero. Now, that S-Rank military report had swept in like a sudden gust, scattering the dark clouds yet leaving him suspended in midair, unable to rise or fall.

He had been saved.

In the very way he least wanted.

Baki had mutinied?

The timing was too perfect. So perfect that it resembled a carefully staged play, its curtain rising precisely as he was about to put pen to paper and sign his name.

Namikaze Minato did not believe in coincidences.

Especially not at a gaming table controlled by Baishi.

His gaze slowly shifted from the pen to the empty seats of the Sunagakure delegation. The sight of Advisor Chiyo rushing out in a daze still lingered before his eyes.

He could all but picture Chiyo at that moment, desperately trying to contact Sunagakure, only to be met with the dead silence of a communications blackout.

Baishi had halted the proceedings with an unexpected military report, then locked all information within Konoha through his order for a "protective communications cutoff."

This was an island of information.

Everyone, including Namikaze Minato himself, had become a prisoner on that island, forced to wait passively for whatever news they were fed.

No.

He could not keep waiting like this.

Namikaze Minato rose, the hem of his Hokage Haori sweeping through a heavy arc. He had to know what was really happening along the border.

*Was the mutiny real? How large was it? Had the troops truly broken away from the