Konoha's Secrets and News from the Land of Fire Daimyo's Mansion

Last night, the clan leader and his wife personally visited to make a request, and Uchiha Shisui found his schedule relatively free. He had no reason to refuse… besides, that crow was quite interesting…

This morning, Uchiha Shisui sat in Itachi's home, drinking three rounds of tea before finally waiting for Beiyuan, who still looked sleepy.

Uchiha Itachi stood at the door with Sasuke in his arms, seeing Shisui off. "Shisui, I'm counting on you! If Beiyuan acts up, please be understanding…"

"Haha, I can't beat it anyway, so I can't do anything about it…" Shisui chuckled lightly, extending his arm to signal the crow to fly up. "We're off then!"

Konoha ninja are generally not allowed to leave the village easily. In reality, there are ways around this, such as accepting an outdoor mission at the mission assembly hall.

Furthermore, the main purpose of prohibiting ninja from leaving casually was to restrict the Jonin ranks, as a powerful Jonin could at any moment receive orders from the village higher-ups.

The Third Hokage was not on duty at the mission assembly hall. Shisui casually picked a nearby mission to eliminate bandits… As a ninja with a reserved spot in the Anbu, the assembly hall didn't make things difficult for him.

"Let's finish the mission first. There's a small town nearby that's usually quite lively, how about we go take a look there?" Shisui grabbed the mission scroll and put it into his ninja tool bag.

"Caw…"

Shisui couldn't understand whether the crow agreed or not, but it didn't seem to be acting strangely.

After leaving the village, the crow on Uchiha Shisui's shoulder suddenly spread its wings and flew away…

"...Hey! You! Where are you going!" Shisui leaped onto a tree, watching Beiyuan fly further and further away, helplessly clapping his hands and forming hand seals.

"Summoning Technique!"

"Caw… caw… caw…"

Shisui's own flock of crows appeared from the incantation, circling around him as they flew, creating a lively scene…

"Stop that crow and make it come back immediately!"

A group of summoned Ninja Crows obediently flew towards Beiyuan's direction. Doubting the strength of his summoned crow flock, Shisui could only create a shadow clone to complete the mission while he himself had to perch on branches and rush to chase after the missing Beiyuan.

Two minutes later, Uchiha Shisui looked at Beiyuan with a complex expression. It was eating fruit on a treetop…

Watching his crow flock tirelessly picking wild fruits in the forest and delivering them to Beiyuan one after another, Shisui, as their master, no longer knew what expression he had…

"...Caw…"

Seeing his bodyguard and guide, the crow loyally brought him a piece of fruit…

The young boy shook his head. "...I don't really want to eat it."

"Caw… caw… caw…" The crow flock suddenly stopped, flying back and forth above Uchiha Shisui and cawing.

As the master of the crow flock, Shisui understood their meaning. These little guys had clearly transformed into Beiyuan's translator within two minutes…

"...The Land of Fire Daimyo's Mansion is quite a distance from here, but with our speed, we should make it in time…"

"Caw…"

Beiyuan secretly rejoiced that Shisui was accompanying him on this trip… It had been in the ninja world for over a year but had never left Konoha Village, having no idea where the Daimyo's Mansion was.

Its main purpose for coming out… was to visit the Land of Fire Daimyo's Mansion. The Hokage position in Konoha was merely a provisional one for Hiruzen Sarutobi, and he needed to go to the Daimyo's Mansion to complete the official procedures.

The Hokage's movements outside the village were a secret within Konoha Village, but not at the Daimyo's Mansion… After all, no matter how powerful the Hokage was, they couldn't silence the Daimyo.

As for situations like the Konoha Hokage reporting for duty or taking office, given the Land of Fire Daimyo's personality, the entire Land of Fire was too small for him to spread this news… If it were truly so secret that even the Daimyo's Mansion couldn't find any trace, Beiyuan would just consider it a sightseeing trip and find another opportunity later.

The reason for choosing today was mainly because Hatake Kakashi had shown a clue yesterday… As the most powerful ninja in Konoha's Anbu, shouldn't Cold-Blooded Kakashi's missions always involve killing and gathering intelligence?

Escorting important messages held by intelligence personnel could easily be done by ordinary ninja, with at most private protection from the Anbu… Therefore, it was highly probable that the person delivering the intelligence was himself!

A naive cub like him wouldn't think so much… Sasuke, his foolish brother, still had no brains… Only someone as intelligent as it could deduce the process from the known results.

The result: Danzō dispatched Root members to assassinate the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi in an attempt to seize the Hokage position, but inadvertently struck Hatake Kakashi…

Of course, he couldn't even deal with Kakashi… The failure was due to Kakashi's sudden betrayal and the exaggerated strength of Root.

What it needed to do was to add fuel to the fire… If Root's strength suddenly increased significantly, the Uchiha clan's issues would likely be put aside?

This would provide a significant buffer period for both Fugaku's heavy responsibilities and Itachi's growth… As for how to operate, that would depend on its methods…

And today, while accompanying Shisui to the mission assembly hall… the Third Hokage, who was usually very diligent, was surprisingly not on duty at the Konoha assembly hall!

…Hiruzen Sarutobi was likely not in Konoha today, or at least not officially in Konoha. By visiting the Daimyo's Mansion to inquire about the news, one could confirm this.

The only problem was having a burden who knew the way… Beiyuan glanced at Shisui, who was hopping around in the forest, and let out a disdainful "Caw…"

"Caw… caw… caw… caw…" A hundred crows cried out in unison, translating Beiyuan's words.

Uchiha Shisui felt a headache from the calls of the summoned beast group. "...I get it, let's speed up!"

Since he had brought the young Chunin along, he wanted him to recognize the true face of Root, so as not to be deceived by his own ancestor's so-called friend in the future…

Land of Fire Daimyo's Mansion.

In terms of prosperity, it couldn't compare to Konoha Village in any aspect, because the creativity brought by chakra was infinite. The Daimyo's Mansion was, in a way, more like a market gathering; it appeared economically prosperous, but in reality, it was due to the concentration of people.

Beiyuan's speculation was not mistaken.

"Hey, I heard that the leader of the Konoha Hidden Village ninja is here today, and he's meeting with the Daimyo at the Daimyo's Mansion!"

"Those ninja, always fighting…"

"At least they protect the Land of Fire!"

"It seems today is the day the Hokage will be appointed..."

The Hokage's movements, which Konoha Village had been trying its best to conceal, were being spread around with impunity here. People near the Daimyo's Mansion were discussing it heatedly, all of it revolving around the Daimyo's high status and power. As for who released the rumor...

The most likely candidate was that very Daimyo...

Beiyuan: "..."

Uchiha Shisui: "..."

Why did he feel a little strange...? The information he had worked so hard to protect was worthless in others' eyes, even being spread so widely.

The Land of Fire's Daimyo currently held the upper hand. The contempt for the Hokage shown by the people near the Daimyo's Mansion was something Shisui, who took pride in being a ninja, had never witnessed before.

Requesting recommendation tickets... I felt the chapter I wrote tonight wasn't very good, but it was necessary for the transition. I'll see if I can add another chapter at midnight.