Yan Uchiha's brow twitched slightly.
Nothing annoyed him more than being cut off mid-sentence, but the man sitting across from him was Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Forget it.
He did have the title of Hokage, at least.
He suppressed his irritation and got straight to the point, laying out everything about the Aburame Clan's situation.
His meaning was clear throughout. His position was right there for everyone to see.
"Lord Hokage, those are the facts."
"The Aburame Clan has already come to us. As chief of the Konoha Military Police Force, maintaining order in the village is my responsibility."
"Let me make one thing clear first: Konoha has no official department called 'Root.'"
"Under the village's regulations, Root is, at most, a training unit under ANBU."
"It only has level-two clearance. To recruit personnel from the Shinobi Clans or the civilian population, it needs ANBU's approval first, along with written authorization."
"I checked. ANBU has no record of any such authorization."
"Root answers to ANBU, and ANBU answers directly to the Hokage. Who else would I come to?"
"Konoha's laws are explicit. Whenever a department requisitions a ninja, that ninja must first consent, except in unavoidable circumstances such as war."
"Even in an emergency wartime requisition, the person must be released once the war ends and allowed to decide whether to stay."
"I went through Konoha's combat records from top to bottom. Root never appeared anywhere in the chain of command."
"Lord Hokage, I ask that you thoroughly investigate the violations committed by this 'Root training unit' under ANBU and release the Aburame Clan's prodigy, Aburame Ryoma."
"Even if he absolutely must be sent to the front, he should be assigned to the regular forces under frontline headquarters!"
Jin Uchiha's face showed little expression.
Exactly.
Sneaking in masked to rescue someone was