Chapter 339: The Iwagakure Biweekly
After a short while, Kakashi and his companion stopped in front of a shop. Several ninjas from small hidden villages were standing there, looking through something. Out of curiosity, the two also went over.
As they got closer, they realized it was a shop that sold books. However, those ninjas were not buying books but a very large sheet of paper.
Shikazumi Nara bought one for Kakashi and one for himself. They had seen many Iwagakure villagers looking at this thing while they were strolling just now. It turned out it was sold here.
Mimicking the villagers, the two of them read as they walked.
Soon, their already bad moods became even worse.
"What is this stuff they've written!" Even with Shikazumi's composure, he couldn't help it. He really wanted to turn around and ask the Anbu behind them, but he knew it would be useless, so he forced himself to endure it. He suppressed his anger and continued to read.
That's right, this thing was a newspaper, the "Iwagakure Biweekly." Almost all the villagers in Iwagakure could read and write, so there was a foundation for running a newspaper.
It hadn't been long since Ishiro thought of this. Published every half-month, this was only the fourth issue.
The Fourth Issue of the Iwagakure Biweekly:
The front-page headline was about the benevolent act of the wise and martial Lord Fourth Tsuchikage, who helped the poor and kind little princess of the Land of Snow defeat the great villain Dotō Kazahana, who had murdered the Daimyo, persecuted the loyal, and bullied the common people.
The content was very detailed, and the author, as if they had been there, described the whole process with twists and turns, much better and more captivating than a certain "Lord Author."
What was particularly noteworthy was at the end of the article, where the author listed dozens of benefits of the treaty signed between Iwagakure and the Land of Snow. Anyone who finished reading it would feel that the day Iwagakure unified the ninja world was just around the corner.
Just reading this far, Shikazumi knew why the villagers of Iwagakure were so confident.
Reading this every day, who wouldn't feel proud to be a member of Iwagakure?
If reading the content of the first section had only made Shikazumi feel that Iwagakure was a bit ridiculous, then the second section directly ignited his anger.
Several large characters were written on it: "The Truth of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze's Death."
The opening sentence was: "In the last edition, we analyzed the inside story of Konoha's White Fang's suicide. At that time, we saw the darkness of Konoha's higher-ups. In this issue, we will discuss the truth of the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze's death in battle."
This author was clearly not the same person as the previous one. The writing style was much worse, but the presentation of facts, reasoning, various intelligence analyses, and various speculations all conveyed one message to the people: "What I'm saying is true, believe me."
Shikazumi was well-informed and could tell at a glance that this was written by a ninja, and most likely a ninja who played at tactics. "What a dirty heart!"
In this person's account, on the night of the Nine-Tails Rampage, there were at least four people in Konoha who could have stopped the Nine-Tails: the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, one of the Sannin Tsunade, the Darkness of the Shinobi World Danzō, and the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku.
But when the Fourth was fighting fiercely with the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Rampage, none of these four had used their full strength. In the end, after the Fourth had defeated the intruder, helpless, he could only drag his exhausted body and seal the Nine-Tails with his life.
This author with a filthy heart had portrayed all of Konoha's higher-ups as either hypocrites or true villains.
In his account: the Third, who clearly feared sacrifice yet pretended to be a hero charging at the front, confronting the Nine-Tails but not using his full strength; Tsunade, who preserved her strength in order to become the Fifth Hokage; Fugaku Uchiha, who wanted to weaken the power of Konoha's higher-ups; none were as open and honest as Danzō, who had openly said he was afraid of death!
After reading it, veins throbbed on Shikazumi's forehead. There was not much truth in the entire article, but not many complete lies either.
The author had just exaggerated all the facts. The Sharingan could indeed control the Nine-Tails, but how could Fugaku control it? His Sharingan was not a Mangekyō.
The Third indeed did not choose to perish together with the Nine-Tails, but that was because he had no method to do so. He was just the Third, not the First, not the Second, and not the Fourth.
After the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Nine-Tails with his life, Tsunade had suppressed the Seven-Tails by herself. This was because the difference in strength between the Seven-Tails and the Nine-Tails was too great; there was a whole difference of two tails.
As for Advisor Danzō... Advisor Danzō... Advisor Danzō might really be a true villain.
As his anger grew, a chill also rose in Shikazumi's heart. "Are these things really true?"
Setting aside other things, why didn't the Third seal the Nine-Tails at the first opportunity? How many ninjas could Konoha have saved that way? Was it not a good deal to exchange the life of the old Third for the young Fourth who had the Flying Thunder God? And the author had asked another very sharp question: the Fourth had a means to perish together with the Nine-Tails; did the Third, who had been Hokage for decades, not have one?
After a long while, Shikazumi came back to his senses. If even he, a Konoha Jonin, thought this way, then there was no need to mention the villagers of Iwagakure and the ninjas of other hidden villages.
Shikazumi turned his head to say to Kakashi, "Kakashi..."
Huh? Where was Kakashi?
Kakashi, who had been standing right beside him, had disappeared at some point. Shikazumi looked around and soon saw the white-haired Kakashi at the entrance of the shop where they had just bought the newspaper.
Kakashi seemed to have bought a few more newspapers.
"That's not right." Shikazumi quickly brought his gaze back to the first sentence of the second article: Konoha's White Fang!
"How could I have forgotten? Kakashi is White Fang's son."
Shikazumi knew some of the inside story of White Fang's suicide. There was indeed a lot of darkness among Konoha's higher-ups involved.
If this Iwagakure Biweekly could write the Nine-Tails Rampage, which had no conspiracy at all, in such a way, then there was no need to even talk about White Fang's death.
After Kakashi returned, Shikazumi took the newspapers Kakashi handed him, but he kept his head lowered and didn't dare to look at Kakashi's eyes.
Fortunately, Kakashi didn't say anything, just looked at the newspaper in his hand as he walked towards the izakaya.
Shikazumi sighed and continued to scan the other contents of the newspaper.
On it, there were actually introductions to various tourist attractions within the Land of Earth, where to find good food, and what the specialty snacks of which shop were.
Besides these, he even saw a marriage proposal notice. He also saw a serialized story, the content of which was something called "I Want to Be Tsuchikage," and you could even vote.
Truly, all kinds of content, everything one could wish for.
After returning to their lodgings, Kakashi went directly to his own room, while Shikazumi called for a Chunin, put the four issues of the newspaper obtained from Iwagakure and his own observations into a small scroll, and handed it to the other party, "Akira Sarutobi."
The Chunin called Akira knew what Shikazumi meant, directly bit his finger, and formed hand seals, "Summoning Technique!"
After a puff of smoke, a monkey appeared in the room. The monkey looked left and right, and seeing no enemy, it breathed a sigh of relief and then began to wait for orders.
Akira handed the item to the monkey and instructed, "Give this to Lord Third."
The monkey nodded, then opened its mouth and put the scroll inside.
Then, with a poof, it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Seeing the intelligence disappear, Shikazumi breathed a slight sigh of relief.
...
At the same time, in the Iwagakure Barrier Team station, a ninja on duty discovered an abnormal fluctuation in the barrier.
He carefully identified it, then quickly called for a messenger Anbu and said, "Go and inform Lord Tsuchikage. There was a fluctuation of space-time ninjutsu just now. It's possible someone used a summoning animal in the village."
As soon as his voice fell, the barrier shook for a moment.
"What's this?" The ninja on duty looked and immediately said, "The other party has dispelled the summoning animal. They should be transmitting intelligence."
The Anbu nodded upon hearing this and then quickly disappeared. At the same time, a squad of Anbu came directly to the side of the ninja on duty, ready to transmit the barrier team's message at any time.
Ishiro, for once, was in his office looking at documents. After hearing the Anbu's report, he thought for a long time and then said, "This should be a ninja from another hidden village using a summoning animal to transmit intelligence in the village. I understand. You all continue to keep an eye on it."
After this Anbu returned, Ishiro had Rei find Akino Atsumi, who was at home researching space-time ninjutsu, and have her go to the Barrier Team, and also gave her a secret mission.
Shikazumi, after sending the message to Konoha, heard the commotion outside and went out to have a look. He happened to see several Iwa ninjas and several Sand ninjas walk in, talking and laughing, looking like they were having a very pleasant conversation.
But when they saw Shikazumi wearing a Konoha forehead protector, they all simultaneously collected their expressions, and the Iwa ninja even stopped in his tracks.
One of the Iwa ninjas said to the leading Sand ninja, "Senior Yumon, thank you for your guidance today. We must continue to ask for your guidance tomorrow. We will take our leave first."
The Sand ninja named Yumon was not a man of many words. He nodded cautiously, then led the others back to the Sand's residence.
Shikazumi looked at the tightly closed door of the Sand's residence, then at the direction the Iwa ninjas had left, and with a tight frown, he walked back to his room.
That night, they received a reply from Konoha Village: act with caution and do not cause trouble. Shikazumi did not need to worry about Kakashi's matter; Hiruzen expressed his belief that Kakashi was a steadfast successor of the Will of Fire.
After receiving the intelligence from the village, Shikazumi reported back what he had seen of the Sand and Iwa ninjas today.
Since the village had said not to worry about Kakashi and the Iwa newspaper, Shikazumi planned to eat something and then have a good night's rest.
Because they were living in an izakaya, the meals for these ninjas from other villages were basically handled directly in the izakaya.
Apart from Kakashi, who said he had no appetite and stayed in his room, everyone else followed Shikazumi to the restaurant in the inn to eat.
However, not long after the dishes were served, a person completely wrapped up suddenly walked in from outside.
This person sat with their back to the Konoha group in a booth not far from them, neither speaking nor ordering food, as if they were just here to sit for a bit and relax.
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