When the border report reached the Hokage Building, Konoha had just approved a trial run of the ratification form.
The timing was too perfect.
So perfect that the instant Gen heard the news, he knew the Masked Man had made his move.
The report came from the northwest of the Land of Fire.
Several hired shinobi who should never have appeared together had made contact with a Konoha merchant caravan near a border town.
They had not attacked.
They had not looted.
Nor had they left any clear declaration.
They had simply appeared briefly, then quickly dispersed.
One of them wore a damaged black cloak patterned with red clouds.
The cloak was incomplete.
It was as though they had deliberately let people glimpse a corner without letting anyone confirm what it was.
Inside the Hokage Building, the Anbu commander reported, "We suspect a covert network from the Land of Rain."
Mitokado Homura immediately frowned.
"Akatsuki?"
The name was not entirely unfamiliar to Konoha.
Konoha had scattered records of the turmoil in the Land of Rain, Hanzō's suppression, and the movements of hired shinobi after the war.
But Akatsuki had yet to truly be brought to the table as a threat to the entire shinobi world.
Now, that shadow had fallen over the border ahead of time.
Danzo said almost immediately, "With external risks rising, the internal review should be suspended."
Those words came too quickly.
So quickly that Shikaku Nara looked up at him.
Fugaku understood, too.
The border anomaly had barely appeared, and Danzo already wanted to suspend the review of Root's chain of authorization.
Was this really about military preparedness, or was he simply seizing the chance to change course?
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not state his position immediately.
The border did matter.
Any intelligence involving the Land of