Progress

"The Land of Earth?" Danzo eyed the file on the desk, puzzled.

"The Land of Earth!?" Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the file and found himself thinking of Onoki, that stubborn old man with the bulbous red nose.

"So the Land of Earth once hired this mercenary organization called Akatsuki." After flipping through the file, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a rough idea of what the intelligence said about the group.

It was a mercenary organization. Whoever paid them got their services, whether the job was an assassination or a war.

Konoha's intelligence showed that the organization's structure was highly secretive. Its members often appeared on the Underground Black Market, and it seemed to have dedicated bounty hunters.

Intelligence officers suspected that the organization might secretly instigate wars between smaller nations, then accept wartime contracts as mercenaries to rake in enormous profits.

"There's no intelligence on its members? This organization keeps its secrets well." Hiruzen Sarutobi took a long drag on his pipe.

The file contained no information on the organization's personnel, let alone where it had originated.

Smoking his pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Danzo and pointed to the file on the desk. "See for yourself."

After reading it, Danzo was disappointed. "Just a name?"

"Hmph!" Hiruzen Sarutobi said coldly. "You can have your Root investigate the organization."

"I've already sent Root out. I only came here on the off chance you had something. As expected, it was a waste of time." Danzo spoke calmly, though his words carried a barbed edge.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened. He, too, was dissatisfied. Konoha's intelligence department had grown far too sluggish over the years.

Keeping his face composed, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Danzo. "I'll speak with Jiraiya and have him look into the organization."

Jiraiya had long remained away from Konoha for a reason. Besides searching for the Child of Prophecy spoken of by the Great Toad Sage, he was also responsible for gathering intelligence for Konoha.

Jiraiya was Konoha's true set of eyes. Ordinary intelligence officers could not match his ability to gather information.

"Let me know if you hear anything. This organization is too dangerous. That mysterious man who calls himself Madara Uchiha is no ordinary opponent. I still can't figure out why ninjutsu had no effect on him," Danzo said, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"If that's all, you can leave." Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him a cold look and said nothing about sharing intelligence.

Danzo snorted. He knew Hiruzen Sarutobi well enough: if Jiraiya found anything, Hiruzen Sarutobi would certainly tell him.

What a waste about Nonō. Otherwise, Root would still have an ace to play. Danzo thought of the Wandering Miko, the master spy he had personally plotted to kill by pitting her against the boy she considered her son.

Yakushi Nonō had once left Root and become the director of an orphanage. Danzo had threatened to cut off the orphanage's funding to force her back into Root's service.

Worse, Danzo had forced one of the orphans Yakushi Nonō had taken in to become a spy as well. In the end, he had personally arranged for mother and son to turn on each other.

To the boy named Kabuto Yakushi, Yakushi Nonō, the orphanage director, was his mother.

Back at Root, Danzo ordered a Root ninja standing in the shadows, "Pass on my orders. Have our people embedded in Iwagakure start searching. They must find intelligence on Akatsuki."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

Root had trained many spies and planted them across the major ninja villages. Those spies had been sending intelligence back to Root without pause.

Even Kirigakure, closed off under the Bloody Mist, had Root spies inside it.

Meanwhile, Neji had successfully steered Konoha High Command's investigation toward Akatsuki in the Land of Rain. For his part, he was working tirelessly to study Sealing jutsu.

To learn the Sealing jutsu he had acquired as quickly as possible, Neji had gone so far as to create two shadow clones. Hidden in Uchiha Clan territory, they studied Sealing jutsu day and night.

He had never done this before, for a simple reason: until now, he had never needed to.

When Neji had learned the Gentle Fist, he could grasp every move at a glance and use it as soon as he learned it. He had never needed to spend time honing his technique.

Neji truly had a gift for the Gentle Fist. But when it came to Sealing jutsu, that ability to master something at a glance had vanished.

That might have been because the Gentle Fist was not particularly difficult to learn. As a Secret Technique of the Byakugan, it had no formal difficulty ranking.

"Don't work yourself to death. That's not how you're supposed to use the Shadow Clone Technique." Sasuke looked surprised when he returned from training and found Neji at the Uchiha clan head's residence.

Using the Shadow Clone Technique for training could speed up progress enormously, but the risks were just as great. When a clone dispersed, both its experience and its fatigue returned to the original.

By having two shadow clones study Sealing jutsu at the same time, Neji gained twice the progress—but also twice the fatigue.

One misstep, and exhaustion could kill him outright.

Ordinary people could not bear that cost. Only those born with enormous chakra reserves could endure it to some extent.

Only a truly exceptional person could use the Shadow Clone Technique, or even the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, without restraint.

One of Neji's shadow clones looked up. "I have to do this now. Hyuga Hiashi told me a while ago that I'm to serve as a guard when the Hyuga Clan visits the Kaguya Clan in Kirigakure. Our clans have been on good terms for generations."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. Neji really did need to make the most of his time. Under the watchful eyes of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, slipping in any secret work would be difficult.

For members of the Hyuga Clan's Branch Family, Sealing jutsu was a forbidden subject—a line they could not cross.

"How far have you gotten with Sealing jutsu?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Ever since meeting Neji, Sasuke had known he was a genius. Whether it was taijutsu or ninjutsu, Neji could learn it after seeing it once.

By comparison, Sasuke—also called a genius—had fallen well short before awakening his Sharingan.

"Not bad. I've mastered three of the four Sealing jutsu you gave me. Only the Six-Combination Seal is left." Neji's shadow clone looked toward the other two clones. "He's already studying the Five Elements Seal. Thanks to the Sealing jutsu you gave me, I'm starting to get somewhere with that one too."

Sasuke nodded. "I've officially completed Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. Something clicked today, and I finished that half-formed technique. It more or less meets the goal you described. I'll tell you exactly how I trained it in a bit."