Elder Ishihara's words plunged the office into silence, as this was the matter everyone had worried about the most beforehand, yet unexpectedly, it was still brought up.
Facing external enemies, Konoha could stand toe-to-toe with any other single shinobi village among the Five Great Nations thanks to its formidable military might.
However, if it came from within, things became rather complicated; being able to make two elite guards of the archive vanish without a sound spoke volumes about the opponent's strength.
The scope narrowed down considerably at once, but every single Konoha shinobi capable of pulling off such a feat was a backbone of the village.
Investigating any given shinobi might provoke their dissatisfaction, especially dissatisfaction with the senior officials.
This was a thankless task; if they didn't investigate, it would only condone this kind of behavior, and there were quite a few strong individuals in Konoha who had the capability but lacked the qualification to view the Scroll of Seals.
If everyone came and had a go, the entire Konoha would probably descend into chaos.
"The best approach is to reinforce the archive's defense system. Once they see that success is impossible, whether they're from inside or outside the village, they'll likely abandon their previous plan," Homura said.
"We can only do that," Third Hokage said.
High atop a building in the village, a figure flashed as Orochimaru appeared beside Fugaku.
"Senior's leisurely demeanor suggests you haven't taken Konoha's actions to heart."
"Fugaku-kun seems certain that the archive incident was my doing. There are many suspicious shinobi in the shinobi world; how can Fugaku-kun be so sure it's me?"
Fugaku smiled. The two had already begun cooperating, yet Orochimaru was still hedging and hiding things regarding many matters.
"There's a wealth of material on Impure World Reincarnation. With Senior's