Minato Namikaze's question was pointed, but also very realistic.
The impact Xia Yan's operation had on Konoha's ninja was unimaginable. In fact, it probably went beyond Konoha; word of what had happened last night had likely spread outside the village as well.
Every village had spies. This was hardly a secret. For the major villages, keeping those spies around was actually far more practical than killing them.
After all, when the major villages made certain decisions, they could use those spies to relay them back.
As long as their most closely guarded secrets were not involved, the villages would turn a blind eye.
And sometimes, when a village needed to divert attention from minor internal conflicts, it could put those spies to use, eliminating a few and publicizing it to achieve its purpose.
One could say that as long as these spies did not go too far, they were generally safe.
And that safe environment had allowed them to send word back immediately during this Nine-Tails Incident.
Konoha could not have stopped them even if it wanted to. Especially after what had happened with the Nine-Tails, Konoha had its hands full. How could it have had time to deal with spies?
Hiruzen Sarutobi could easily imagine that descriptions of Xia Yan, who had stolen the spotlight during this Nine-Tails Incident, were probably already sitting on the desks of the various Kage.
They had no way to immediately collect figures on losses and the like, but Xia Yan's performance yesterday had been far too conspicuous.
If Konoha truly gave him nothing for such an enormous contribution, the resulting chain reaction was beyond what Hiruzen Sarutobi could imagine.
And in fact, events were unfolding much as he had expected. At this very moment, reports on this Nine-Tails Incident had indeed appeared on