Found You

After hearing Tsukimi's deduction, all five of them tensed. Now they understood how Danzo had slipped past the surveillance and spread the confidential files throughout the village overnight.

He had never used Root's personnel. Instead, he had activated a sleeper agent and quietly made his deadly move.

Once Kakashi understood what had happened, some of the tension left him, and he made a suggestion.

"If the problem is an insider, shouldn't we report it to Lord Hokage right away?"

He looked at Tsukimi, urgency in his voice. "If Lord Hokage investigates the archives, he can follow the trail and find Danzo's sleeper agent. Then the rumors will fall apart, and my father's name will be cleared!"

"Exactly." Asuma nodded vigorously. "This involves village secrets. It's no small matter. We should tell the old man and use the village's resources to investigate. That's got to be better than the few of us doing it on our own!"

Obito, Rin, and Kurenai agreed, looking intently at Tsukimi. As they saw it, the only quick way out was to report everything to the Third Hokage and use the village's power to quell the rumors.

Tsukimi shook his head without hesitation, rejecting their proposal outright.

"It's no use. Even if we tell Lord Hokage now, it won't change the situation."

His cold certainty extinguished their hope in an instant.

"Why?" Obito asked, baffled. "We've traced it to an insider. If we report it and catch them, we can prove that Sakumo was framed. How is that no use?"

Tsukimi felt a little helpless at their idealism.

Danzo's sudden offensive had caught the young shinobi completely off guard. They still hadn't recovered.

"Let me ask you this. Sakumo is clearly being targeted by this smear campaign. Do you think Lord Hokage and the others can't