Time to close the net: targeting Root

"Even ashes can talk."

Sasuke closed the evidence chest and held out his hand to Takaya.

Takaya immediately handed him an Evidence Bag.

Sasuke placed the secret letter marked with the Wind Character inside and pressed a chakra imprint onto the seal. "Kakashi, where's the Third Safehouse?"

Kakashi looked at the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage's face darkened. "Tell him."

"Under the Abandoned Apothecary on South Street. Root's Old Bounty Exchange. Officially, it's been closed for two years."

Shikaku immediately unfolded a map. "A quarter of an hour from here, at best. If they're burning the books already, we won't be able to save them."

Sasuke looked at Kuroda Roppei. "Who said I wanted the books?"

Kuroda Roppei's strange laugh stopped.

Sasuke turned. "Yamada Naoto, take the Civilian Konoha Military Police Force and seal off the entrance to South Street. Takaya, have the Uchiha take the rooftops. Don't let anyone escape over the walls. Kakashi, lead the ANBU into the sewers. Clan Head Shikaku, sorry for the trouble, but please come along so no one can accuse me of pocketing evidence."

Shikaku smiled wryly. "So much for going home tonight."

Mitokado Homura said coldly, "The Konoha Military Police Force cannot barge into underground facilities throughout the village without authorization."

Sasuke looked back. "You're still recused from the investigation, Lord Advisor."

Mitokado Homura's face twitched. "I recused myself from Danzo's case, not village security."

Sasuke held the secret letter marked with the Wind Character before him. "This is Danzo's case. If you want to stop us, put it on record: Mitokado Homura obstructed the investigation into Root's funding for village betrayal."

Shikaku already had his pen out.

Mitokado Homura stared at its tip and swallowed his words.

The Third Hokage spoke. "The ANBU will cooperate. Take them alive and protect the evidence."

Sasuke added, "And Lord Hokage, please remain in the Hokage Building. Someone just stirred up the villagers. They need you to calm them down."

The Third Hokage understood.

Sasuke was keeping him away from the scene.

But the villagers downstairs were all watching, and the remittance slip from earlier was sitting in the evidence chest. If he insisted on going, it would look as though he wanted to seize the evidence.

"Go."

The team moved at once.

When Takaya kicked open the wooden door of the Abandoned Apothecary on South Street, the medicine cabinets inside were already burning. Acrid smoke billowed through the doorway, and several figures in black were running toward the back courtyard.

Yamada Naoto lunged out from the street corner, wrapping his chain around one man's ankle. "Still trying to run? You were plenty loud when you were getting paid to hurl abuse!"

The man in black flung a kunai back at him, but Takaya's Fire Release was already rolling across the ground, forcing him to raise his hands to block the flames. A moment later, Uchiha dropped from the rooftops and pinned him down.

Kakashi leaped out of the well in the back courtyard, holding his short blade across the neck of a Root Outer Circle member. "The underground passage is sealed."

The man clenched his teeth, trying to swallow poison. Kakashi promptly dislocated his jaw.

Shikaku stood in the doorway, pinching his nose. "Put the fire out first! If everything burns, you'll all be writing reports!"

Two members of the Civilian Konoha Military Police Force immediately used Water Release to suppress the flames.

Sasuke entered the apothecary and glanced at the charred ledger cabinet.

Kuroda Roppei was dragged to the doorway. His expression soured when he saw the fire being brought under control.

"Didn't you say we'd only find ashes?" Yamada Naoto pressed him to the ground. "Take a good look. We barely even left you those."

Sasuke crouched in front of the burned cabinet and reached out to move aside the broken boards.

Kakashi warned him, "Watch out for seals."

"The seal is on the back wall, not the cabinet."

Sasuke pointed to a cracked medicine jar in the corner. "Open it."

Takaya pried it open with a kunai. There was no medicine inside, only a roll of ledger pages wrapped in oilcloth.

Shikaku's brow twitched. "They hid the real accounts beside the cabinet they were burning?"

Sasuke said, "They were destroying the books meant for outsiders. The real ones were going back to Danzo."

Kakashi took out the ledger pages and unfolded one corner.

The very first line read: border garrison military funds transferred to Root special operations funding.

Shikaku's face darkened. "Border military funds?"

Sasuke took the pages. "Keep searching."

The Konoha Military Police Force turned the apothecary upside down. In a hidden underground compartment, they found another three chests of gold notes, several black-market registers, and more than a dozen Root Outer Circle identification tags.

Yamada Naoto emerged carrying a man dressed like a bookkeeper. "Clan Head, this one was hiding in the stove."

The bookkeeper's face was covered in soot. He trembled as he cried, "I only kept the books! I didn't kill anyone!"

Sasuke asked, "Who told you to keep them?"

"Root. People from Root. They said these were the village's secret expenditures."

Shikaku slapped the page detailing the border military funds down in front of him. "Secret expenditures for hiring people to spread rumors?"

The bookkeeper burst into tears. "I didn't know what they used it for. The money was siphoned off from border armament funds, passed through the Third Safehouse, then distributed to the Bounty Exchange. There are two more locations, one at the North Alley Winery and one beneath the Old Bathhouse!"

Kakashi looked at Sasuke. "We'll need to split up."

Sasuke nodded. "Yamada, guard this place. Takaya, take a team to the winery. Kakashi, go to the Old Bathhouse. Clan Head Shikaku, the bookkeeper is yours. Don't let him die."

Shikaku glanced at the bookkeeper. "Do I look particularly good at watching people?"

Sasuke replied, "The Nara Clan has no shortage of shadows."

Shikaku sighed. The shadow at his feet had already stretched to the bookkeeper's.

When the North Alley Winery was sealed off, the people inside had not yet managed to flee. Gold notes filled the spaces beneath the wine barrels, with wooden printing blocks for the leaflets sitting beside them. Beneath the Old Bathhouse, things were even dirtier. Hidden compartments were packed with hiring lists. Posting leaflets, steering public opinion, impersonating victims' families to storm the Hokage Building-every task had a price.

By the time daylight touched the rooftops, evidence chests from all three locations filled the space in front of the Hokage Building.

The villagers had not dispersed.

Those who had been incited earlier stood in the crowd, their faces burning. Some wanted to curse, but did not know whom to curse. They could only stare at the account books bearing Root's secret codes.

The Third Hokage came downstairs. At the sight of the chests of evidence, the creases between his brows deepened.

Sasuke slammed the first set of ledgers onto the conference table. The pages spread open, detailing border military funds, diverted compensation payments, and black-market hires with perfect clarity.

"Lord Hokage, Root embezzled border military funds, hired people within the village to spread rumors, and had them storm the Hokage Building in an attempt to incite civil unrest. I demand an immediate Elders' Council Meeting."

Mitokado Homura slammed the table. "You think you can call one whenever you please? An Elders' Council Meeting isn't a place for you Uchiha to put people on trial!"

Sasuke pushed the second set of ledgers in front of him. "Read this first, Lord Advisor. Then decide whether you want to keep talking."

Mitokado Homura glanced down, and the blood drained from his face.

The account entry on that page read: advisor's special coordination fee, Mitokado Homura, handled on three occasions.

Utatane Koharu noticed something was wrong and reached for the book. Sasuke pressed down on the pages before she could take it.

"Don't rush. There's an entry for Advisor Utatane too."

Utatane Koharu's hand stopped in midair. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke turned another page.

Advisor's placement funds, Utatane Koharu, handled on two occasions.

The conference room fell silent.

Shikaku stood at the door, still holding the Record Scroll. At the sight of those two pages, his shoulders sagged.

"Now we're in real trouble."

The Third Hokage stared at the pages, his voice heavy. "Homura, Koharu, what is this?"

Mitokado Homura immediately raised his head. "Ordinary defense expenditures! Much of Root's work cannot be made public. Naturally, its bookkeeping uses special terminology!"

Sasuke asked, "Paying advisors coordination fees out of border military funds counts as defense too?"

Utatane Koharu's expression was grim. "Sasuke, don't forget that these books came from a Root facility. Danzo could easily have framed us."

"Fine." Sasuke nodded. "Then let the Yamanaka clan head read the bookkeeper's memories."

Mitokado Homura immediately snapped, "No! The bookkeeper has access to classified information. We cannot allow his mind to be read at will!"

Sasuke looked at the Third Hokage. "Lord Hokage, they just claimed they were framed, and now they won't allow verification. What do you think the villagers will make of that?"

People outside the window were already shouting.

"Read his memories!"

"Investigate the advisors!"

"You dare embezzle military funds and still claim you're protecting the village?"

The Third Hokage walked to the window and saw the civilian ninja, Uchiha, Hyuga, and Ino-Shika-Cho gathered below. Every clan was watching him.

Suddenly, the pipe in his hand felt heavy.

Danzo was missing, Root had been exposed, the advisors were implicated in the accounts, and Sasuke stood beside the evidence. Everyone downstairs would remember even a single word of favoritism.

"Summon the clan heads," the Third Hokage said. "Convene an Emergency Elders' Council."

Mitokado Homura panicked. "Hiruzen!"

The Third Hokage did not look at him. "Now."

The ANBU left to carry out the order.

Sasuke placed the evidence chests on the table one by one. Each bore a seal, labeled with the time, location, and witnesses. Shikaku sat to one side and began transcribing the meeting minutes.

Before long, Hyuga Hiashi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Akimichi Choza, and representatives from the Inuzuka Clan, Aburame, and other clans took their seats.

Hiashi scanned the ledgers, his gaze stopping on the words "border military funds." "This is how Root has been using Konoha's money?"

Inoichi looked at the bookkeeper. "I can read his mind."

The bookkeeper dropped to his knees in terror. "Don't! I'll talk! Root Ninja came in person to collect Advisor Mitokado Homura's funds. They said the advisor had already approved it. Advisor Utatane's share was listed as medical coordination, but it actually paid for purchases for the Root laboratory!"

Utatane Koharu went pale. "Lies!"

Sasuke took a half-burned receipt from an evidence chest. "Medical coordination purchases: Snake-pattern seal materials, Human Stabilizer, Sharingan Preservation Solution. Advisor Utatane, just who was this medical care you coordinated meant to treat?"

The expressions of several clan heads around the conference table changed at once.

The Third Hokage closed his eyes briefly, then opened them. "Sasuke, investigate Danzo's funding network first."

"We'll investigate Danzo, and we'll investigate the advisors too." Sasuke pushed the books to the center of the table. "Tonight, we settle one thing first. All Root funds, all its facilities, and all its personnel are to be frozen. Anyone who moves them without authorization will be treated as a village traitor."

Mitokado Homura was about to speak when hurried footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor.

An ANBU operative covered in blood rushed into the conference room and dropped to one knee, half his mask cracked.

"Lord Hokage! Danzo has sealed off the Root Vault with the Death Squad and refuses to hand it over!"

The Third Hokage abruptly rose. "What did he say?"

The ANBU operative lifted his head. Blood dripped from the edge of his mask onto the floor.

"He said if anyone dares investigate the vault, he'll detonate everything inside along with Konoha's underground seals."