The sky had just turned white and the fog on the top floor of High Tower had not cleared away when the office door was carefully pushed open.
More than a dozen instructors lined up to come in and report back. Their movements were as neat as those queuing up to get vaccinated in a kindergarten. No one dared to speak in front of them.
The leader, the one-eyed instructor, held the scroll and said with a hint of unquenched excitement in his voice, "Mr. Minister, last night's operation, all teams from Team A to D have completed their tasks. Intelligence Division, the deputy minister, the prison die-hards, and the weapon depot guard and the suspected theft... have all been 'processed'."
He bit the word "handle" extra hard, as if he was afraid that Kirisame Ryo would misunderstand that he was showing mercy.
Senju Chen did not raise his head, his fingers crossed the list on the table, and his voice was calm. "Casualties."
"We have zero casualties, except for..." the instructor paused and lowered his voice, "Except for Captain Inoue, he is currently being held in the west side infirmary, and his condition... is not good. The medical officer said that he has been shouting 'Kunai is coming from all directions' for the past two days, and asked if he could get new pants for him."
Senju Chen twitched the corner of his mouth, and silently lit some wax for Inoue Ryoma in his mind: Lao Jing, Lao Jing, you are mentally polluted and have left sequelae. You will have PTSD attacks every time you see Kunai's stall.
"Continue to talk about the important points." He said calmly.
"Yes." The instructor swallowed and continued to report, "There are thirty-seven people on the target list, thirty-four of them have been 'processed', and there are three more..."
His voice suddenly got stuck.
Senju Chen finally raised his head and glanced over with his bottomless eyes. "What's wrong with the other three people?"
"Escaped." The instructor's voice was like a mosquito humming. "During the cleanup last night, Intelligence Division had three low-level ninjas who took advantage of the chaos and ran away from the sewers."
The office suddenly became as quiet as a funeral.
Senju Chen tapped his fingers on the table twice, thinking quickly in his mind: The three fish that slipped through the net are not a big problem, but if they are hidden lines laid by Yagura...
An idea suddenly flashed through his mind - these three people might not be ordinary fish that slipped through the net, but the "insurance" prepared by Yagura in the early years. After all, how could Obito, an old conspirator from his previous life, not leave some escape routes for himself?
"Name." He asked calmly.
The instructor immediately handed over the list, his hands shaking as if he had Parkinson's disease.
Senju Chen glanced at the three names, and his fingertips rested on one of them for a moment - Kirigakure, the secret messenger, Kuga.
This position is very inconspicuous. To put it bluntly, it is just an errand messenger, responsible for delivering urgent secret orders during special periods. But it is precisely this inconspicuous position that is most likely to be placed in the wrong place.
Senju Chen's mouth curved into a meaningful arc.
"Interesting." He put down the list and spoke in a light voice, as if he was discussing what to eat for lunch today. "An errand boy can run faster than anyone else."
"Minister... then, should we send someone to chase him immediately?" the instructor asked tentatively, fearing that he would be scolded if he was too late.
"No need to chase." Senju Chen shook his head, stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the mist-filled village.
"Why?" the instructor blurted out, and immediately realized that he had questioned the minister's decision, his face turned pale, "My subordinate... my subordinate made a mistake..."
Senju Chen didn't care about his rudeness and just smiled, "Because the fish wants to run away, and the more you chase it, the more panicked it will be, and it will easily break the line."
He paused, and his tone suddenly took on a hint of playfulness. "But if you give it a path it thinks is safe... it will swim obediently into the net you set."
The instructors looked at each other, confused, and had no idea whether the minister was talking about fishing or philosophy.
Senju Chen rolled his eyes in his heart: How come these people are not enlightened? I am giving you a lesson. Why do I feel like I am teaching calculus to a group of elementary school students?
"Everyone, please step aside and return to your posts. In the next two days, the patrols and barriers in the village will be strengthened, but they must be done without leaving any trace. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" More than a dozen people responded in unison, turned around and retreated as if they were fleeing.
After the instructors left, Senju Chen sat back on the chair and took out a piece of paper filled with cipher text from his arms, which was the kind of code paper usually used to communicate with White Zetsu outside.
He dipped his pen in the ink, and as he wrote, he silently calculated in his mind: Since Kuga, the errand messenger, has escaped, the next focus is not on arresting people, but on setting up a net.
"Shasha..."
A faint sound came from the vase on the corner of the table, and a White Zetsu plant half its head poked out of the soil of the flower pot, looking like one crawling out of a grave.
"... What do you mean when you popped out of the flower pot in my office?" Senju Chen was so troubled by the White Zetsu he cultivated.
"Sir Shashaxin... It's convenient. I'll be on standby nearby and report at any time." White Zetsu replied seriously.
"Okay." Senju Chen didn't bother to argue. The "site selection taste" of this batch of White Zetsu is indeed a bit subtle. "Next, I need you to infiltrate all the waterways and culverts in the village. Remember, don't alert anyone. Just listen and don't take action."
"Shasha... I got it, you're going to do something like 'village WiFi coverage', right?"
Senju Chen:"... Where did you learn this word?"
"Shasha... Mr. Xin, I don't quite understand what you said last time, but it seems quite appropriate to use it."
Senju Chen Fu Fu "Okay, go quickly."
He waved his hand and drove out the less serious White Zetsu.
On the next day, everything on the surface of Kirigakure was as usual, the fog was still filled, and the waves were still lapping at the rocks. But underground, unnoticed, countless clones of White Zetsu were quietly penetrating into every waterway and culvert in the village, weaving a large monitoring network covering the entire village.
How fine is this net? So fine that even Senju Chen can receive a report if Jonin talks in his sleep and scolds his wife at night.
And in this huge network, somewhere deep in a secluded sewer, three disheveled and embarrassed figures were shivering in a corner.
"Captain... Do we really have to hide in this sewer all day and night?" A young ninja asked tremblingly, his lips trembling as he spoke, half out of coldness and half out of fear.
"Shut up!" The leader was the secret messenger Kuga. His face was as gloomy as the bottom of a pot, "High Tower people are crazy and want to rebel. Now the whole High Tower is looking for us. If you are not careful, you will die!"
"But... how should we spread the news? Master Yagura's mission is to contact that master as soon as possible when something changes in Kirigakure..." Another ninja whispered, "Now that madman Kirisame Ryo is purging the village. Such a big thing must be made known to that master!"