Public Security Department The data room is on the second underground floor. There are rows of filing cabinets reaching the ceiling, leaving only a narrow passage. A movable desk lamp was hung on the track and pushed over with a squeak. The light spot swept across a row of numbers and stopped at the "07" box.
Yamato squatted in front of the cabinet, holding two call sheets in his hands, his face turned pale.
"Minister, this is the record-keeper from the Yamanaka Clan, named Yamanaka Yū. He knocked over the tea bowl at the last meeting."
"I remember." Senju Chen stood behind him, his hands in his pockets, "He read something."
"File No. 07, drone aerial photography parameter backup, fourth revised version." Yamato's finger crossed the paper, "The access time was three days ago, at the second quarter of Hai hour."
"Three days ago at 2:00 p. m.," Senju Chen repeated, "[Frost's Descent] the night before the operation."
"The problem is," Yamato raised his head, "He is a recordkeeper and has no authority to touch this file. His account authority is only level C, and this file is level A."
Senju Chen didn't say anything. He reached out and took out the call sheet and turned it to the back.
There is a line of small words on the back, neatly written in blue ink.
"Authorization coverage: Medical Department personnel management, emergency authority secondment."
Yamato's breath paused. "He is just a recorder, and there is no way he has access to our detection drone route."
"That means there is a second person." Senju Chen put the paper back on the table and said in a calm voice, "Send me the issuer of this 'Emergency Authority Secondment'."
Yamato flipped through the information, and when he saw the issuer, he was stunned.
Senju Chen looked at the name and did not speak immediately.
That was the person he had personally promoted from the medical class to the Medical Department's management. Nine-Tails' Attack That night, this person carried seventeen villagers out of the ruins by himself. His hands were so burned that the skin peeled off. The next Amaterasu also participated in the rescue.
"Minister..." Yamato's voice was tight, "Why don't we, Public Security Department, go..."
"No need." Senju Chen waved his hand, "I will go see him myself."
"Are you alone?"
"Well, I'm alone."
The conversation room is on the third floor of the Medical Department. The window is open, and the afternoon light slants in and falls on an old photo. The corners of the photo are rough, and it can be seen that it has been held in hand and looked through all year round.
The photo shows a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, wearing Ninja Academy's old uniform, smiling so much that he reveals a tooth that has not yet been replaced.
The old man is sitting opposite the photo, with his back straight and his hands folded on his knees. His name is Oda Hiba, Medical Department, a third-level manager, forty-nine years old.
When Senju Chen came in, he didn't get up. He just raised his eyelids to look at it, then lowered his eyes to look at the photo.
"Minister."
"Mr. Oda." Senju Chen sat down opposite him, without anyone, without Yamato. There was nothing on the table, only the photo, and a little smell of camphor leaves drifting in from the window.
"I guessed that you would come." The old man said, "You are a person who never leaves traces of your use."
"I'm not here to arrest you." Senju Chen said, "If I were to arrest you, I would have people from the Public Security Department come directly."
The old man's fingers curled up on his knees.
"This is?" Senju Chen's eyes fell on the photo.
"My son, Oda Gin." The old man's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of breaking something, "Third Shinobi World War, Iwagakure battlefield, he was only fourteen years old at that time."
"When I went to claim the body, I only got back half a coat." He stretched out his hand and gently rubbed the soft edges of the photo with his fingertips. "I have saved countless people over the years, Konoha, and people from other villages. But the half of the coat in my heart has never been returned by anyone."
Senju Chen didn't answer, waiting for him to continue.
"You don't let them feel any pain, you only make them afraid." The old man raised his head, his eyes were red, but his voice was very steady, "But I want them to pay with blood. I want those bastards from Land of Earth to take back half a coat and claim it."
The wind outside the window brings in a little more the smell of camphor tree leaves.
Senju Chen reached into his arms, pulled out a thin document, and pushed it on the table.
It's not a trial record, it's not a list of evidence.
This is the casualty report from Operation [Frost's Descent].
The old man looked down and frowned.
"Iwagakure, zero deaths." Senju Chen said, "Konoha, zero deaths."
"I know." The old man's voice was very low. "The whole village knows it. It's been spread that the minister didn't kill anyone, but he scared Land of Earth so much that he pissed himself."
"I have no intention of persuading you." Senju Chen's voice did not increase in intensity or soften, "I just want to tell you one thing."
"If the man at the top of the cliff that night had not been deceived by me using false parameters to get to the outside of the ledge, if he had really poured water into Eagle Claw Gorge--two of the nine food-protecting ninjas who died were the medical class students you brought out in the past three months."
The old man's hand shook violently, causing the photo on the table to move half an inch forward.
"What's their name? You should remember it." Senju Chen said, "Because they are also the first batch of field first aid soldiers taught by the Medical Department."
The old man didn't say anything. His hand was hanging above the photo, shaking so much that he couldn't let it go.
"You want to pay with blood." Senju Chen said, "But the authority you gave me, what you almost filled in in the end was the life of the child you taught yourself."
The room was quiet for a long time, and the wind blew in again.
The old man's hand finally came down and covered the photo, pressing it lightly with his fingertips, as if he was afraid of scaring the smiling young man in the photo.
"Over the years, I always thought that I had not changed." His voice became hoarse. "I thought that I was still the same doctor who only wanted to save people."
"As a result, I used the lives of two students as a bargaining chip for revenge."
He stood up very slowly, as if his bones had become heavier.
"I'll go Public Security Department myself." He carefully put the photo into his arms, "Mr. Minister, there is no need to send it to me."
Senju Chen sat motionless and watched him walk to the door.
"Mr. Oda."
The old man stopped and did not look back.
"Your son's half jacket." Senju Chen said, "This time West Mountain Ore Vein, I plan to replace it with a batch of higher-grade tungsten steel. When Konoha Ninja goes on the battlefield, the heart-protective coating can prevent 30% more injuries than now."
"I can't gather the coats for you," he said, "But I can save us Konoha from having fewer people waiting for that half coat at home."
The old man's back paused at the door for three seconds, his shoulders shook, and without looking back, he pushed the door open and went out.
Yamato was waiting at the end of the corridor, still holding the two call sheets in his hands, his face not looking good.
"Minister, where is Mr. Oda..."
"He went to the Public Security Department on his own." Senju Chen said, "Shisui will handle it according to the process. The crime will not lead to death. As for the outcome, it depends on how my sister decides."
"Then the line ends here?"
"It's not broken." Senju Chen said, "Yamanaka Yū is the executioner, and Oda Hiba is Gate of Opening's person. But neither of them is the buyer."
Yamato was stunned. "Buyer?"
"Only those who are willing to spend money to buy this file are willing to take the risk Gate of Opening." Senju Chen walked forward, "Oda Hiba only admits the permission to lend, not the selling of information. He doesn't know who the buyer is. The real buyer on this line is hidden behind Yamanaka Yū."
"So I plan to," he stopped and turned to look at Yamato, "Send them another piece of 'intelligence'."
"Send another one?"
"Not bad." Senju Chen's eyes were very calm, "Leave 30% of the true parameters and 70% of the false parameters. It looks complete, but in fact every key node is wrong. Let Yamanaka Yū touch it 'accidentally' again and see where it goes."
"The minister is ready to follow the clues. Let's see who is reaching out to us Konoha?"
"Well, let's do it."
Senju Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, and he also wanted to know who else was behind this incident.