The Second Phase

In the Underground Chamber, cold crept up the walls from the corners.

The Scroll in Naruto's hands was thin, as though made for quick destruction. Its writing was not in Konoha's usual record-keeping style. The strokes had been deliberately cramped, with code names and symbols mixed throughout.

The first line sent a chill through everyone.

"Once the target escapes isolation and control, priority should be given to drawing in the Five Great Shinobi Villages."

Jiraiya stepped closer.

"Keep reading."

Naruto turned to the second paragraph.

"Once trust within Konoha collapses, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki will enter a state of high alert. If external pressure appears at the same time, it may hasten his break from Konoha."

"Kumogakure is the best party to draw in."

"Reason: Kumogakure has a long-standing grudge against Konoha. The Hyuga Incident can be reopened to provoke an external conflict."

Kakashi's expression changed sharply.

Kumogakure had not simply come because it had heard the news.

Someone had predicted they would come, and might even have passed the information to Kumogakure.

The Third Hokage's fingers tightened.

"The intelligence leak at the Border wasn't just the work of spies."

Naruto kept reading.

"If pressure from Kumogakure fails, the Land of Fire's Daimyo's Residence may be brought in to create a second round of internal pressure through finances and the authority to appoint or dismiss the Hokage."

Jiraiya's gaze darkened.

"So the letter from the Daimyo's Residence came from them too."

The Scroll went on.

"If the target continues to settle accounts with Konoha, guide the interests of the Sarutobi, Uchiha, and Hyuga clans into conflict."

"Sarutobi seeks to preserve its power."

"Uchiha seeks to overturn its wrongful conviction."

"Hyuga harbors an old grudge."

"If any one side loses control, the target's break with Konoha as a whole can be widened."

Naruto turned to the end of the Scroll.

A line of small writing stood at the bottom.

"Final objective: make the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki reject Konoha of his own accord and become the key to opening the rift."

No one in the chamber spoke at once.

At last, they understood.

Everything that had happened since last night was both a reckoning with real crimes and a trap.

Danzo's crimes were real.

The Advisors' crimes were real.

The Sarutobi Old Storehouse was real.

The blame placed on the Uchiha was real.

The Hyuga's old grudge was real too.

The person behind it all had invented none of those conflicts. He had picked apart the places where Konoha had truly rotted, one by one, then waited for Naruto to tear them open himself.

The more disappointed and furious Naruto became, and the further he broke from Konoha, the closer that so-called "rift" came to opening.

Jiraiya looked grim.

"This person knows Konoha too well."

"And people too," Kakashi said quietly.

The Third Hokage stood motionless for a long time before speaking.

"If Konoha didn't have these problems in the first place, he couldn't have used them."

Hearing that from the Third Hokage, Jiraiya glanced at him.

Naruto closed the Scroll.

"Good. As long as you understand."

The appearance of a mastermind did not make him any less inclined to hold the Konoha High Command accountable.

The pieces were guilty.

So was the player moving them.

Kinoshita Shinji knelt by the door, trembling. "I really didn't know any of that. I just took the records like he told me to."

Naruto looked at him.

"How does he contact you?"

Kinoshita Shinji struggled to remember.

"There's a hidden compartment in the wall of the Morgue's Old Medicine Storehouse. Each time I put the records inside, I'd receive instructions the next day."

"Who takes them?"

"I don't know."

"What was your last instruction?"

Kinoshita Shinji went pale.

"Take the Safety Bell from Minato's Old Residence and deliver it to the Third-Floor Storage Room for transfer. If that failed, go to the Underground Morgue and destroy the Scroll."

Naruto studied him.

"Who else knows about the Underground Morgue?"

"The Hospital Director."

The medical ninja's expression changed abruptly.

"The director went to the front line last night to treat the wounded. He hasn't returned to his office since."

"Where did he go?" Kakashi asked at once.

"He said he was going to the Foreign Guesthouse to arrange medical care for the wounded members of the Kumogakure Delegation."

Jiraiya swore.

"Kumogakure."

Naruto had already turned around.

If the Hospital Director had also been used, or replaced, then the Kumogakure Delegation's wounded ward might be the next contact point.

The Third Hokage immediately issued orders.

"Lock down the hospital. Control every entrance and exit. No medical records are to leave."

He turned to Kakashi.

"Take a team to the director's office."

Kakashi nodded.

"I'll go to the Foreign Guesthouse," Jiraiya said.

Naruto glanced at him.

"We'll go together."

Jiraiya did not object.

By the time they left the morgue, the Konoha Military Police Force and ANBU had sealed off the hospital corridors. Patients were kept in their rooms while medical ninja checked everyone's identity one by one.

Utatane Koharu sat in her hospital room. When she heard what had been found in the Underground Morgue, she looked hollowed out.

She might have known about plenty of dirty dealings.

But this was plainly beyond anything she had controlled.

Naruto paused as he passed her door.

"Have the Hokage Advisors ever had access to the hospital's hidden archives?"

Utatane Koharu looked up. For the first time, there was no sharpness in her face.

"No."

Her voice was low.

"Homura and Danzo may have known some of it, but the hospital's deeper archives were outside the Advisors' system."

Naruto watched her.

"Then who do you think could bypass the Advisors, Root, and the Hokage Office to run a network inside the hospital for three years?"

Utatane Koharu's lips moved.

She wanted to say no one could.

But in a single night, Konoha had proved that nothing was impossible.

At last, she gave them a name.

"The Former Medical Department Advisor, Yakushi Nonō."

Jiraiya's expression shifted.

"Root's former Wandering Miko?"

Utatane Koharu nodded.

"Years ago, she worked with hospital orphans and intelligence networks. She later became closely involved with Danzo. But she should have been out of the inner circle for some time."

Naruto committed the name to memory.

Yakushi Nonō.

She might not be the one behind this, but the hospital, orphans, Root, and intelligence were certainly connected.

Just as they reached the hospital entrance, a muffled boom came from the direction of the Foreign Guesthouse.

It was not a massive explosion.

It sounded more like a barrier being smashed open.

An ANBU dropped from a rooftop.

"Naruto! Lord Jiraiya!"

"There's been an incident in the Kumogakure wounded ward. The Hospital Director was found unconscious, and Darui is demanding an explanation from Konoha."

The ANBU gritted his teeth and added,

"One of the Kumogakure wounded is dead."

"A Black Ring Mark was left beside him before he died."