Returning to the village ANBU base, Yōkō entered Yellow Dog's office.
"Battalion Commander, the plan targeting Tokubetsu Jonin Shinma failed."
Yellow Dog looked up, surprised; Fox rarely failed. "Why?"
"Shinma's skills are quite good; he was holding his own against the Suna-nin. I was originally planning to move in for the finishing blow, to assassinate Shinma, but the Transparency Release Bloodline Limit Jonin, Gekkō Sō, suddenly appeared," Yōkō said with a regretful tone:
"After assessment, I abandoned this assassination attempt."
"Gekkō Sō earned the title 'Shadowless Assassin' long ago, possessing the special ability of the Transparency Release."
"I suspect that after completing his previous mission, Gekkō Sō secretly arrived near Kikyō Mountain from the Kikyō Port docks."
"The ANBU moving against several Tokubetsu Jonin might have alerted perceptive individuals to take precautions."
"Killing Shinma isn't difficult; the hard part is the subsequent confrontation with Gekkō Sō."
"If Gekkō Sō were to notice something and escape, the cost of this mission would be too high."
"Therefore, I returned to the village to prepare for a second attempt on Shinma's life."
Yellow Dog understood; so it was Gekkō Sō's appearance that saved Shinma. He said:
"I've been carefully watching Hatake Sakumo, guarding against Hatake Sakumo himself, but I couldn't guard against his subordinates."
"Hatake Sakumo has a certain charisma; he has quite a few loyal subordinates. Among the Jonin, Gekkō Sō, Yamashiro-dera, and Kawatora are all his supporters."
"Among the Tokubetsu Jonin, skilled individuals like Shinma and Hayama also follow his lead."
"Dealing with Shinma is temporarily on hold because the Jonin Commander meeting will be held tomorrow."
Yōkō was taken aback and said, "Starting tomorrow? So rushed?"
From what Yōkō knew, the missions against the other squads' assigned Tokubetsu Jonin were going less smoothly than for the Fox Squad.
Tokubetsu Jonin were all quite skilled; forcing the issue would inevitably lead to accidents.
For example, when dealing with Shinma, he could have held out for at least twenty more minutes. Anything could happen during that time.
Yellow Dog said, "People like Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo are very sharp; they seem to have noticed something."
"Before they go to the Hokage-sama and blow things up, we have no choice but to stop."
Yōkō thought to himself, It's because you were too greedy.
If they had mixed in framing a few Tokubetsu Jonin from the Sarutobi clan or the Ino–Shika–Chō, then even if Hatake Sakumo and the others had suspicions, they would have to bear it.
But now, they were solely targeting Tsunade, Hatake Sakumo, the Uchiha clan, etc., practically plucking Tsunade bald and making Hatake Sakumo lose all his hair – even a fool would know something was wrong.
However, asking the new powerful 'Upstart Five Noble Clans' to sabotage their own Tokubetsu Jonin was something they would absolutely never do.
"Your squad will be responsible for the security detail for tomorrow's Jonin Commander meeting."
"Understood."
At Hatake Sakumo's home.
Kakashi had just discovered that stairs were fun and was running wildly up and down them.
Yamashiro-dera watched Kakashi's agile movements and said, "Little Kakashi will definitely be a genius shinobi when he grows up. He's only 3 years old, right? And already has such physical prowess. Look, five steps at a time, such good balance."
Hatake Sakumo, avoiding Kakashi, came down the stairs and said, "I'll send Kakashi to the Ninja Academy next year."
Yamashiro-dera said, "Sakumo, Shinma has been poisoned. Go to Konoha Hospital quickly to see him."
Hatake Sakumo's eyes changed. After receiving the warning, he had asked Gekkō Sō to detour to Kikyō Mountain after his mission, but an accident still happened.
Walking quickly, he asked, "What about Gekkō Sō? Did he make it in time?"
"He did. Sō carefully escorted Shinma all the way back to the village and immediately took him to Konoha Hospital."
Inside Konoha Hospital, Hatake Sakumo saw the unconscious Shinma.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Hatake Sakumo turned and walked towards the hospital's top floor, entering Tsunade's office.
Tsunade was currently comforting Senju Mie.
During the medical dispute incident, a patient died on the operating table. His father committed suicide inside the hospital, and the exploding tags destroyed two windows and injured a nurse.
Senju Mie's personal reputation was damaged. Many people, unaware of the truth, spread rumors that Senju Mie had poor medical skills and had killed an injured shinobi.
Seeing someone enter Tsunade's office, Senju Mie wiped her tears, stood up, and left.
Hatake Sakumo moved aside, waiting for Senju Mie to leave before asking, "Princess Tsunade, my friend Shinma is receiving treatment in the hospital. I wonder if his life is in danger."
Tsunade had some speculation about Hatake Sakumo's purpose for coming.
She stood up and said, "I'll go take a look."
Tsunade entered Shinma's hospital room, saw Yamashiro-dera, Gekkō Sō, and others, and thought to herself that Hatake Sakumo's subordinates were very capable.
She went to the unconscious Shinma's side, carefully examined him, and said, "It's alright, no danger to his life. He can recover after several rounds of antidote treatment."
Hatake Sakumo breathed a sigh of relief and followed Tsunade out of the room.
In Tsunade's office on the top floor, the two of them looked towards the nearby Hokage Building.
The Hokage Building and Konoha Hospital were very close, just two blocks apart.
Hatake Sakumo said, "I heard the Tokubetsu Jonin you recommended also encountered some... misfortunes?"
Tsunade said:
"I recommended 3 Tokubetsu Jonin for promotion to Jonin."
"One encountered a medical dispute – that was Senju Mie, whom you just saw. She's taken it very hard."
"One had a past mission from the war investigated. He's now staying at home, awaiting summons from the ANBU for questioning at any time."
"And another had old injuries flare up... and died."
Hatake Sakumo said:
"I recommended two Tokubetsu Jonin for promotion."
"One is Hayama."
"During the Land of Rivers war, I rewarded him with the Wind Release: Vacuum Sword technique based on his mission performance. The Shimura clan suspects Hayama stole their Wind Release secret technique."
"Hayama's Vacuum Sword is powerful simply because he made some improvements to it himself."
"The Shimura clan doesn't believe it. Hayama is currently under investigation by the Shimura clan."
"The other is Shinma."
"As you saw, he went on a mission to the Kikyō Mountain fortress and encountered a large group of Suna-nin."
"If I hadn't learned some intelligence beforehand, knowing someone wanted him dead, he would be dead by now."
"Intelligence?" Tsunade asked, "So these incidents were indeed planned in advance?"
"I heard that Tokubetsu Jonin from the Uchiha and Hyūga clans have also been frequently having... accidents. Some have even proactively applied to their clans to withdraw their promotions."
"When others ask why they withdrew, they give all sorts of excuses."
"I'm certain someone is targeting us in the shadows, Princess Tsunade. To protect my informant, I cannot give you specific details," Hatake Sakumo said:
"A friend of mine said, when others suspect you of having a faction, you'd best actually have one."
"Princess Tsunade, at tomorrow's Jonin Commander meeting, I hope to form an alliance with the Senju clan."
"Just like the rumor among the civilian shinobi about the 'Upstart Five Noble Clans' being an alliance, if we fight alone, we will keep losing out."
"'Upstart Five Noble Clans'..." Tsunade's eyes were full of disdain as she said:
"You're right. I'm already sick of their underhanded, disgusting little tricks."
"Come with me. Just the two of us isn't enough."
Twenty minutes later, the ANBU base learned that Tsunade and the White Fang were heading towards the Uchiha clan district together. The base instantly erupted.
Yōkō thought, This style of action is definitely led by Tsunade.
Half an hour later, Uchiha Kane heard that Princess Tsunade and Hatake Sakumo were standing openly under the gate tower of the Uchiha clan district. He was so startled he dropped his geta and rushed out.
Uchiha Fugaku followed behind, holding the geta, bending over several times before finally managing to get his father's footwear back on.
Fortunately, they didn't embarrass themselves in front of the two important figures.
***
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(Chapter end)