Plans of Their Own

After a night of interrogation, Fugaku had uncovered numerous spies hidden in the city. They came from the Five Great Nations, including Konoha, and even from several Small Nations.

Kumogakure's spies operated independently, each sending the intelligence they gathered to Kumogakure's intelligence network. Fugaku killed each one he found. He also uprooted every other nation's spy network in the city.

Only a handful of Konoha spies and Kumogakure spies who had yet to be exposed remained in the city.

He had quietly carried the bodies of those he killed outside the city and destroyed all traces of them.

Each nation's spies operated in secret. The nations and Ninja Villages behind them would notice only that their own spies had vanished, not that nearly every spy in the city was gone.

In Konoha, Kumogakure's secret letter had reached the Hokage.

The Advisory Council and the Elders Council had gathered in the Hokage's Office.

Mitokado Homura said, "Viroi acted on his own, yet they're asking for his body. What are they after?

"That doesn't sound like the Third Raikage. He's always been shrewd beneath his rough exterior, and he holds grudges over the slightest offense.

"Viroi was one of his most trusted men. There's no way he'll let this pass so quietly. He must have another objective.

"Hiruzen, we can't rush to hand over Viroi's body. First, we need to find out what they're plotting."

"The Raikage's letter stresses that Viroi killed Konoha shinobi without cause and acted alone, with no connection to Kumogakure. Even a three-year-old would know that's a lie.

"But Kumogakure has a legitimate reason to ask for Viroi's body, and we're still allies. It would be difficult to refuse.

"We've searched Viroi thoroughly. Explosive tags left his body so badly mangled that we can't even examine his brain.