"Does Hiashi know about this?" Shikaku asks.
"Not yet." Minato slightly shakes his head. "I didn't have time to inform him thanks to the recent event." At the end, his tone turns serious, which everyone finds understandable.
What happened to Kakashi was truly eye-opening to everyone and became a topic even outside the village.
Investigation about the incidents still continues, but they still had a hard time finding any related clue about the matter, and probably only Kakashi can solve the mystery behind what happened to him.
Just as Shikaku and Inoichi were about to change the topic after noticing the tense atmosphere, they all heard a knocking noise from the door, attracting the three's attention.
"Come in," Minato calmly said.
The door slowly opened, and a man entered the room. This person had brown hair that reached his shoulders and onyx-colored eyes with visible creases below them. He is wearing a standard Jonin vest along with a black shirt with the symbol of the Uchiha clan on the shoulders, shin guards, and a black open-front apron with a white diamond design along the bottom.
This is none other than Fugaku Uchiha, the head of the Uchiha Clan and the Jonin sensei of Team 13.
"Am I late?" Fugaku calmly asks, breaking the silence in the room.
"No, you are perfectly on time," Minato responds while looking at the clock in the room.
Fugaku unhurriedly sits down on the available chair and has his eyes staring at Minato.
"Now that everyone is here, we can finally discuss the main reason why I called everyone here," Minato said seriously while placing his elbows on the desk and letting his chin rest on his hands.
Everyone turns serious and patiently waits for Minato to continue.
"A few weeks ago, a Chunin Academy instructor attempted to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals and defect from the village with it..."
With Menma and Satsuki.
The pair stands in front of the Uchiha Clan Compound after walking for a few minutes.
"Well, here we are," Menma said while looking in front, wishing they didn't arrive yet, but he knows it's just wishful thinking.
"It was great seeing you again," Menma continues with a big smile as he turns his head towards Satsuki.
"Maybe we can get together again soon," Menma added.
"Don't push it," Satsuki said, walking off towards her home.
'Didn't say no,' Menma thought to himself, pumping his fist into the air in front of him repeatedly.
While Menma is celebrating, Satsuki currently thinks about Menma and Naruto. She starts to compare the two brothers to each other.
Satsuki had to admit that Menma was attractive. But when compared to Naruto—whose handsome face was elevated by that quiet, unfathomable aura—Menma fell just short. Still, there was no denying his charm.
As she thinks about it, her thoughts can't help but land on the mysteries behind the Jujutsu Society, and Satsuki unconsciously looks at the books she has been carrying all this time.
While Menma and Satsuki split apart and walk towards their own way, Hisateru, on the other hand, currently enters his apartment, which is coincidentally in the same apartment building as Keimei and Naruto.
Since his sensei is in the hospital, Team 11 is forced to train themselves by following their usual schedule, but they didn't even complete half of the training they need since Sasuke decided to leave early.
Hisateru didn't find it abnormal; in fact, he saw it as completely normal since the training they did didn't help anyone increase their individual capabilities but instead focused on teamwork, which was helpful for sure, but at the end of the day, one still had to rely on oneself during difficult times.
He closes the door of his apartment behind him and slowly unzips his jacket, tossing it onto the floor, and jumps onto the sofa, kicking off his black sandals, and lays his head back in his hands with his eyes closed and sighs.
"So how is everything proceeding?" A voice resounded throughout the apartment.
Hisateru opened one of his eyes and stared at the old man standing across the room. He has black spiky hair and one visible brown eye, much like Hisateru himself. His right eye is concealed by bandages wrapped around his head.
He is dressed in a long-sleeved white top, with a cane in his left hand and a black robe concealing his right arm and shoulder completely.
Hisateru looks back up at the ceiling before closing his eyes.
"Great," Hisateru lazily responds.
The tapping of the old man's cane echoes throughout the room, followed by the shuffling of him seating himself on the opposite sofa.
"So you've gained the trust of your teammates then?" The old man asks.
"Yeah, they trust me. Hehehe." Hisateru chuckles, his eyes still closed as Danzo raises his lone visible eyebrow at the tone of the only one of his subordinates who refuses to bow in his presence.
Histeru finally opened his two eyes and lowered his head and stared intently at Danzo and asked, "Do you know anything about what happened to Kakashi?"
"No," Danzo shakes his head. This causes Hisateru to raise one of his eyebrows in confusion. He thought that Danzo knew more about this situation than he let on.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. In fact, I did try to investigate the one behind the incident," Danzo responded calmly.
It was a lie. As someone who monitors the village in the dark, the news about what happened to Kakashi was a shocking matter since he didn't know anything about the culprit behind it.
Danzo tries to search for the culprit, who will without a doubt be the roadblock on his grand plan. This culprit is something he considered dangerous, especially the fact that the person behind it did it without anyone knowing.
Danzo believes that the reason why Kakashi appeared in the middle of the street was a provocation to the Leaf.
"Even your information network failed to find any clues about it?" Hisateru asks in confusion and amazement.
Hisateru knows how large Danzo's information network is, and he believes that there is no secret in the whole Elemental Continent that Danzo didn't know.
"Don't think about Kakashi's matter for the time being; we had important things to discuss," Danzo said, and Hisateru quickly paid attention.
"It's about Mizuki. It appears he attempted to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, likely for his master. He failed and has been arrested," Danzo calmly explains.
Hisasteru chuckles in response.
"You don't say. So that's why I haven't seen his face this entire time. I started to wonder why he disappeared off the face of the earth," Hisasteru said with a small smile on his face.
"Why is this 'important' to us? Isn't Mizuki the snake boy?" Hisateru asks, voice tinted with confusion.
He couldn't think of any reason why Mizuki's matter became important. From his perspective, Mizuki was nothing but a dog who would bite its owner if it saw a great opportunity to strengthen itself.
"That's true," Danzo slowly nods, "but he is privy to vital information concerning Orochimaru's operations. In order to protect said information, Orochimaru has enlisted our help, which we will provide, of course, once sufficient reward has been given." Danzo's lips curled up at the end of his sentence.
"He's currently being held at the Hidden Leaf Strict Correctional Facility in solitary confinement and under regular interrogation. Our contact inside the facility, when the time comes, will assist you in getting in, but his skills in infiltration and assassination are nowhere near those of yours. I need you on standby and ready at a moment's notice to act. He must be silenced before he can say the wrong things, assuming he hasn't already," Danzo added.
Hisateru sits up and looks at Danzo much more intently this time. The Hidden Leaf Strict Correctional Facility is a facility that houses hardened criminal ninja. A place where the worst of the worst go. He smacks his hands together and licks his lips.
'It's going to be fun.'
"Sure thing, old man. Just say the word," Hisateru said with a playful smile appearing on his face.
Danzo looks around the room as if he were searching for something.
"Now to make sure you're keeping that head sharp, where's your shogi set?" Danzo calmly asks, to which Hisasteru groans in response.
With Sasuke.
After leaving Training Ground 11, Sasuke runs throughout the entire village searching for someone. Someone he believes is going to help him grow stronger.
Sasuke was searching for Naruto to challenge the latter in a battle. This decision is based on what he heard from his father and twin sister after informing the entire family about the circumstances of their mission.
At that time Mikoto was incredibly angry; if it wasn't for Satsuki trying to calm down Mikoto, it wouldn't be surprising to find Fugaku outside of their house bloody and beaten.
But that's not the point. Throughout the entire time, Sasuke had strange feelings when it came to Naruto, and he tried his best to provoke the latter to discover the reason behind his feelings but failed spectacularly.
Right now he confirms the reason for his strange feeling. It was Naruto's strength, and Sasuke is eager to find out the limits of Naruto's strength.