Progress

"The Land of Earth?" Danzo looked at the documents on the desk in puzzlement.

"The Land of Earth!?" Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the documents, involuntarily recalling Onoki, that stubborn old man with the bulbous red nose.

"So the Land of Earth once hired this mercenary organization called Akatsuki." After leafing through the documents for a while, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a rough understanding of what their intelligence said about the organization.

It was a mercenary organization that worked for whoever paid it, accepting everything from assassination contracts to war commissions.

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

The intelligence agents speculated that the organization might secretly instigate wars between small nations, then accept commissions as mercenaries to reap enormous profits.

"There's no information about its members? It seems this organization keeps its secrets very well." After finishing the report, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag on his pipe.

The intelligence contained no information whatsoever about the organization's members, let alone where it originated.

Smoking his pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Danzo, then pointed at the documents on the desk. "Read it yourself."

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

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

"I've already dispatched Root. I only came here on the off chance you had something. As expected, there was nothing to gain." Danzo remained unhurried, his words carrying a faintly snide undertone.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was unpleasant, and he was dissatisfied as well. Konoha's intelligence department had grown far too sluggish over the years.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Danzo without changing his expression. "I'll discuss this with Jiraiya and have him investigate the organization."

Jiraiya had spent years wandering outside Konoha, and there were reasons he had not returned. 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 eyes. His intelligence-gathering abilities were beyond anything ordinary agents could match.

"Remember to let me know if you hear anything. This organization is far too dangerous. That mysterious man calling himself Madara Uchiha is no ordinary opponent. I still haven't figured out why ninjutsu doesn't work on him," Danzo said, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"If there's nothing else, leave." Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him no warmth and said nothing about sharing intelligence.

Hearing this, Danzo snorted coldly. He knew Hiruzen Sarutobi's ways well enough. If Jiraiya discovered anything, Hiruzen would certainly inform him.

"What a shame about Nonō. Otherwise, Root would still have an ace to play." Danzo thought of Root's Wandering Miko, the ace spy who had died after he personally engineered a confrontation between her and her adopted son.

Yakushi Nonō had originally left Root and become the director of an orphanage. Danzo had used the orphanage's funding as leverage to force her back into Root's service.

Not only that, Danzo had forced one of the orphans Yakushi Nonō had adopted to become a spy as well. In the end, he had personally arranged for mother and son to turn against each other.

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

Back at Root, Danzo looked at the Root Ninja standing in the darkness and instructed him, "Pass on my orders. Have our agents embedded in Iwagakure take action. They must find intelligence on Akatsuki."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

Root had trained many spies and hidden them in the major ninja villages. Those spies continuously fed intelligence back to Root.

Even Kirigakure, the most insular village, sustained by its Bloody Mist regime, had Root spies within it.

Meanwhile, Neji had successfully redirected Konoha High Command's investigation toward Akatsuki in the Land of Rain, while he himself worked relentlessly on studying sealing jutsu.

To learn the sealing jutsu he had obtained more quickly, Neji went so far as to create two shadow clones and hide them within the Uchiha Clan's grounds, studying sealing jutsu day and night.

He had never done this before, for the simple reason that there had never been any need.

When Neji had studied Gentle Fist, he could learn any move after seeing it once and put it into practice immediately. There had been no need to spend time honing it.

Neji truly had a gift for Gentle Fist. But once he switched to sealing jutsu, he no longer displayed that same talent for mastering things at a glance.

Perhaps that also had something to do with Gentle Fist not being particularly difficult to learn. Gentle Fist was a secret technique of the Byakugan and had no specific difficulty rankings.

"Don't work yourself to death. That's not how you're supposed to use the Shadow Clone Technique." At the Uchiha Clan's Clan Head's Residence, Sasuke was somewhat surprised to see Neji after returning from training.

Using the Shadow Clone Technique for training could greatly accelerate progress, but the risks were just as great. When the clones dispersed, both their experience and their fatigue returned to the original.

By creating two shadow clones to study sealing jutsu simultaneously, Neji gained twice the progress, but he would also receive twice the fatigue.

One careless mistake, and excessive fatigue could kill him outright.

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

Only truly exceptional individuals could freely use the Shadow Clone Technique, or even the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Neji's shadow clone looked up and said, "I have to do this now. A while ago, Hyuga Hiashi informed me that I would be accompanying the Hyuga Clan as a guard when they visit the Kaguya Clan in Kirigakure. The two clans have been on friendly terms for generations."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. In that case, Neji really did need to hurry. It would be difficult to do anything covert under the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan.

Within the Hyuga Clan's Branch Family, sealing jutsu was a topic that could not even be discussed, a forbidden line no one could cross.

"How's your progress 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 master it after seeing it once.

By comparison, despite also being called a genius, Sasuke himself had fallen considerably short before awakening his Sharingan.

"Not bad. I've mastered three of the four sealing jutsu you gave me. Only the Six-Combination Seal remains," Neji said. As he spoke, the shadow clone looked toward the other two shadow clones. "He's already studying the Five Elements Seal. With the sealing jutsu you gave me as a foundation, I'm starting to get a handle on it too."

Sasuke nodded. "I've officially completed Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. I suddenly had an insight today, and that unfinished technique finally came together. It basically meets the goal you described. I'll tell you the detailed training process in a bit."