A few days later, early morning.
Something rattled at the window of the Hokage Office.
A snow-white ninja cat jumped in from the windowsill, its paws still damp with rain.
It hopped onto the desk with practiced ease, set the bamboo tube on its back down on the stack of documents, and settled onto its haunches, its tail sweeping lazily across the desktop.
Uchiha En put down his pen, picked up the bamboo tube, and tipped out the tightly rolled slip of paper inside.
He unrolled it. There were only a few lines.
Assessment location: abandoned iron smelting works, thirty li outside Amegakure, Land of Rain.
Assessment date: the twentieth day after the summons, lasting three days.
Two assessment rounds: a fight to the death for the first round, followed by a personal interview with the leader.
Semi-public rumors, passed by word of mouth among outlaws. No official documents.
This information had come from the shopkeeper of the Bounty Office in Stone Mouth Town.
He took out the information he had obtained from Orochimaru two days earlier and compared them. The two reports were identical.
"Looks like the information was accurate."
After reading it, Uchiha En held the slip of paper to the candle flame.
The flame licked the corner. The paper curled, blackened, and crumbled into a pinch of ash.
That morning, the Think Tank held its regular meeting as usual.
After reporting on the implementation of the point system, Shikaku Nara added a few words about training arrangements for the Five Great Forces, then remarked with apparent casualness:
"Lord Hokage, you haven't been looking well lately."
"I've been working nonstop for a month. Even a body of iron couldn't take that." Uchiha En flipped through the documents on his desk without looking up. "I'm planning to go