Night lay like ink beyond the windows of the Hokage's Office.
Baishi had not turned on the lights.
He sat quietly behind his desk, his fingertips tracing the cool surface of an Encrypted Scroll without thinking. The "medical report" Tsunade had sent back was like a precise probe driven into the seemingly solid body of the Daimyo Residence. It had returned with signs of rot.
He had the evidence in hand.
But he did not release it yet. A powerful bomb detonated at the wrong time might hurt no one but himself.
He needed a better moment—one that would leave his opponent no room to deny it and every onlooker nothing to say.
He pressed a concealed button on his desk.
Moments later, a figure wearing a pure-white mask appeared soundlessly in the office shadows and knelt on one knee.
"Lord Hokage."
"Some so-called 'Life-Extending Potions' circulating on the Underground Black Market have unknown ingredients and unclear origins. They pose a serious safety risk." Baishi's voice was calm in the silent room, betraying no emotion. "The village's stability comes before everything else. I don't want ninja abusing these things and causing consequences we can't control."
"ANBU must step up market patrols and regulate distribution channels. Shut down any illegal trade operating without the proper qualifications or permits."
The ANBU commander bowed his head lower.
"Yes."
He asked neither why nor who the specific targets were. An order from the Hokage only needed to be carried out.
"Go."
The figure melted back into the shadows and vanished, as though he had never been there.
Baishi locked the Encrypted Scroll in the innermost safe.
Now he only had to wait.
Wait for the fish stung by the hook to surface on its own, driven by pain and fear.
He did not