Hearing this, the despair and the price they had paid for their own recklessness filled them with deep regret. Helplessly, they looked at each other.
In the end, neither of them seemed able to hold on any longer. They simply closed their eyes and fell unconscious.
After that morning, there seemed to be no further developments.
It was as though this had truly been nothing more than a coincidence.
After failing to find the two advisers, Shizune could only return to the Hokage Building helplessly.
After learning of the situation,
they were all surprised and confused. Where could the two advisers have gone at a time like this?
That was what they desperately wanted to know.
Yet from that morning through noon, afternoon, and into the night, there was still no news at all.
The ninja guarding the two advisers' residences could only say that the advisers had left in a hurry that morning.
They had not taken anyone with them, making it even more impossible to know where they had gone.
This could only mean two things—there were only two possibilities.
First, the two advisers had been forced to leave because of some important matter.
The second possibility went without saying. It was highly likely, and it fit the two advisers' usual personalities: they had gone alone to find Danzo. But for some reason, they had either been temporarily imprisoned by Danzo.
Or, looking at it in a worse light, it was very possible that the two advisers had truly been killed.
No matter which was the case, neither was good news.
At this critical juncture,
they could only order everyone to keep a close watch on all movements within the ninja village.
But because that order had been issued, countless pieces of similar intelligence arrived within just two