Konoha Has an Inside Man, and He Holds a High Position

Since they wanted to restrict me, why the hell would I attend their meeting? They could slowly mess around on their own. Don't call me for something like that.

Yan refused outright.

Fugaku knew that Yan was expressing his dissatisfaction with the restrictions placed on him.

After Fugaku left, Izumi curiously leaned in.

"Captain, why aren't you attending such an important meeting? The clan head has already asked you to be there."

In other people's eyes, this might have been a good thing, since it meant the clan head valued him.

But to Yan, it was complete bullshit.

"Attend for what?"

Yan said irritably, "Those so-called meetings are just the elders and the clan head arguing endlessly. I think you need to compromise, while you think I'm trying to strip you of your authority. They argue and argue without ever reaching a conclusion."

"Then, once they can't keep up appearances anymore, they start saying that you don't respect your elders or the clan elders."

Ever since the incident with the Sixth Elder, the clan elders had constantly been on guard against Yan. They were afraid that one day he would do the same to them. Aside from the humiliation, their old bones might not be able to withstand it.

More importantly, they did not want Yan to ruin the rules.

If a problem could be solved with words, why resort to force?

A precedent had already been set. If Yan kept doing this, which of the younger members of the clan would still respect them in the future?

Whenever there was a disagreement, activate the Sharingan first and hit them with a genjutsu?

"Uh... hehe."

Izumi gave a dry laugh and was completely speechless.

After all, her captain really had done that before. It was no wonder the elders were always worried he might act recklessly.

"What? You seem pretty curious, huh?"

"How much of the study assignment I gave you have you finished?"

"Let's go to the training ground and check."

"..."

Pretend I didn't say anything.

Izumi shrank back and hurriedly slipped away, shutting the door behind her.

Although she had been working very hard, she was still a long way from reaching the standards Yan had set, especially when it came to learning genjutsu.

Fortunately, Izumi was not someone who gave up easily. Otherwise, Yan's scolding would have driven her into depression long ago.

The matter of reforming the Police Department was dragged out like this. The elders were unwilling to compromise, and Fugaku could not force them to yield. The two sides remained locked in a drawn-out tug-of-war.

Danzo's plot to assassinate the daimyo grew increasingly serious.

After Konoha was condemned by every village, even the daimyos of the various countries stepped forward and issued a joint statement, demanding that the Third Hokage provide a reasonable explanation.

The daimyos had no choice but to be nervous about this.

No matter what happened, even if war reached the village itself, the daimyo could not be touched. That was the bottom line.

Now Danzo had stepped one foot over that line. The daimyos would have been foolish not to worry.

What if this was the beginning of something terrible? With Danzo setting the precedent, what if other villages became dissatisfied with their daimyos and started targeting them as well?

The daimyo of the Land of Wind was especially frightened. Everyone knew that his attitude toward the Hidden Sand Village was notoriously vile.

What if he pushed the Hidden Sand Village too far and they came after him too?

Thus, the daimyo of the Land of Wind began rallying the daimyos of the other nations to act against Konoha together.

A travel-worn Anbu squad returned to Konoha and immediately went to see the Third Hokage.

After returning from the Daimyo's Mansion, the Third Hokage had felt that something was wrong. Why had the daimyo obtained such intelligence so inexplicably?

Why did the intelligence describe even a department as secretive as Root in such detail? It was practically one step away from recording Root's entire history.

The intelligence had definitely been leaked by one of their own.

Among the Five Great Ninja Villages, the existence of certain special departments was not a secret. For example, Konoha had Root, while the Hidden Mist Village had its Hunter-nin Corps. The Five Great Ninja Villages all knew perfectly well about these special departments that outsiders knew nothing about.

Other villages knew that Konoha had a department called Root, but they did not know Root's details or scale.

The fact that even detailed information about Root had been recorded so clearly already explained the problem.

Therefore, the Third Hokage dispatched an Anbu squad to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.

The person in charge of this matter was Kakashi, whom the Third Hokage trusted greatly.

"Lord Hokage."

In the office, Kakashi knelt on one knee and carefully reported the squad's findings from this mission.

"After investigating through the staff of the Daimyo's Mansion, we traced the source of the intelligence all the way to the Bounty House. We eventually confirmed that the intelligence came from the Bounty House. The Bounty House has already sold this intelligence many times, and it is difficult to determine the specific buyers."

The Bounty House.

The Third Hokage frowned deeply. "Did you find any information on the seller?"

"The seller disguised their identity. Even the people at the Bounty House had no way of confirming who the person was."

Kakashi lowered his head. It was not that he had not tried hard enough; there truly was no way to investigate further.

The other party had been too cunning.

They had deliberately chosen a Bounty House on the border of the Land of Fire to sell the intelligence. Because it was remote, few people came and went there. A small branch like that would not dare provoke a customer who looked vicious and dangerous.

There was naturally no way to find out who had sold the intelligence.

Unless Kakashi had the ability to travel through time.

"Lord Hokage, I believe the person who sold the intelligence must have come from the village and must hold a high position."

Ordinary people did not even know Root existed. How could they sell intelligence about it?

They even knew detailed information about Root. That alone explained the problem.

The traitor was in the village, and they held a high position.

"It can't be them."

The aged face of the Third Hokage was clouded with uncertainty. Though he said it was impossible, he had already begun to suspect them.

His greatest suspects were his old companions.

Danzo probably would not do something as foolish as digging his own grave, so he could basically be ruled out. Other than Danzo, the remaining suspects... were the two advisor elders, the fat man Akimichi Torifu who had retired at home, and Shinnosuke, who held an important position in the Anbu.

Danzo was basically beyond suspicion.

Unless he had lost his mind. Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had no reason to do something like this either.

Could it be Shinnosuke?

The moment that thought arose, the Third Hokage shuddered and shook his head repeatedly. That was his son.

If Yan knew that the Third Hokage had even begun suspecting his own son in order to catch the traitor, he would probably laugh himself to death.

The others had little motive to betray the village, so the possibility of Akimichi Torifu was also extremely low—unless he was unwilling to stay away from the center of power and had decided to stab them in the back.

People obsessed with power were often suspicious.

The Third Hokage was no exception. At that moment, he kept guessing and doubting, wondering who had betrayed the village and sold its important intelligence.

"You've worked hard, Kakashi. But you can't rest yet. I need you to lead your squad and infiltrate the Daimyo's Mansion."

"Lord Hokage, you mean..."

Kakashi froze, his eyes full of shock and disbelief.