Return to the Village

In a spacious, luxurious bedroom, Fugaku stood quietly in the dark, watching the middle-aged man fast asleep before him.

This was the Land of Fire's Logistics Minister. Ninja stood guard all around the bedroom.

The Black Mist surrounding Fugaku's body expanded instantly, enveloping the Logistics Minister. Even a faint noise would not alert the ninja outside.

Fugaku lifted the man's eyelids, revealing two vacant eyes that stared straight into his slowly rotating Mangekyo Sharingan.

The man was drawn in at once. Fugaku planted a suggestion in his mind to tell the Daimyo that the war was going badly for Konoha. He expected the man to bring it up within days.

Most ministers in the Capital cared chiefly about their own interests. Fugaku also planted a suggestion to follow his own inclinations.

Once that suggestion took hold, the minister would probably start looking for mistakes Konoha had made during the war on his own.

Fugaku withdrew from the Logistics Minister's home and returned to the hotel to rest.

The night passed. The next morning, the Logistics Minister went straight to the Daimyo's Imperial Palace for work.

On the way, thoughts of Konoha's Battle Report kept rising in his mind. He reached his office and had reviewed only two documents when the report came to mind again.

The Logistics Minister rose and headed for the Daimyo's hall. He needed to brief him on Konoha.

Twenty minutes later, the Logistics Minister entered a hall in the Imperial Palace.

The Daimyo of the Land of Fire knelt on a cushioned couch, a paper folding fan concealing half his face.

"What brings you here in such a hurry, Logistics Minister?"

"It concerns Konoha. Lately, troubling rumors about Konoha have been circulating in the Capital.

"The fighting in the Land of the Moon is fierce, and