Time came to the next morning.
After bidding farewell to Yakushi Nonō, Feng Bai walked along while practicing the hand seals required for the Shadow Shuriken Clone Technique.
"Oh, Feng Bai-kun, practicing ninjutsu so early in the morning?" A soft voice called out. Looking up, Feng Bai immediately spotted Rin Nohara waiting for him at the intersection.
"Just you? Kakashi didn't come?" Seeing only Rin, Feng Bai was somewhat puzzled.
Logically, Kakashi should always be the first to arrive. What was this—was Kakashi already inheriting Obito's "legacy" before Obito had even died?
"I don't know either. Maybe something delayed him?" Rin shook her head; she hadn't expected to be the first one at the meeting point today.
The two stood waiting for a while. Only after Anko appeared humming a tune from the roadside and played around with Feng Bai for a bit did Kakashi finally arrive.
"What's wrong, Kakashi? If you'd been any later, even Obito would have shown up." Feng Bai, unable to see Kakashi's expression through his mask, teased him.
"It's nothing. Father came home yesterday." Kakashi glanced at Feng Bai, shook his head, and didn't elaborate.
Sakumo had returned home in the early hours of the morning. When Kakashi got up to greet him after hearing the sounds, he witnessed a strange scene.
His father had been escorted home by two ANBU members, who spoke to him in extremely quiet voices before leaving.
But when Kakashi asked his father what had happened, the response was thoroughly evasive.
Though Kakashi didn't press further, his instincts told him that Sakumo was definitely hiding something.
ANBU...
Looking at Feng Bai, who was chasing Anko nearby, Kakashi wrestled with his thoughts for a long time before finally making a difficult decision.
"Has anything happened in the village recently? Something involving your father?"
During break, having invited Feng Bai to a secluded rooftop, Kakashi asked while Feng Bai looked completely bewildered.
Of course—if you want to know about certain matters, going through Danzō's son Feng Bai is the simplest approach.
With Kakashi's personality, if it didn't concern his own father, he would never ask such a question.
"What could possibly be—hm?" Feng Bai instinctively blurted out, then suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his brow furrowing deeply.
Danzō went on a mission, the Third Hokage personally visited, Kakashi's strange inquiry...
Is Sakumo going to die?!
"Kakashi, quickly—tell me what you discovered!" Feng Bai's face showed tension as he questioned Kakashi.
Seeing Feng Bai more panicked than himself, Kakashi realized the other must have thought of something, so he recounted everything he had seen and heard the previous day.
After listening to Kakashi's account, Feng Bai was ninety percent certain that the plot had reached the segment of Sakumo's death.
I can't just stand by and watch Sakumo die.
Meanwhile, at the Hokage building—
Hiruzen, fully believing the Sakumo matter was concluded, leaned back in his chair, contentedly smoking his pipe.
Though he felt some regret about the substantial subsidy, money was something that could always be earned back—it wasn't worth worrying about for the moment.
If this could be exchanged for Sakumo's greater gratitude toward the village, then the money was well spent.
Looking up at his Hokage Rock through the window, Hiruzen's lips curved in a slight smile.
"Lord Third, the two advisors request an audience." This rare moment of contentment didn't last long—the arrival of the two advisors shattered the tranquility.
Extinguishing his pipe, Hiruzen looked back at the ANBU who had come to report, a flash of unease crossing his mind.
Why would those two come at this time?
"Let them in." Hiruzen had barely finished speaking when the two advisors pushed open the door with an aggressive air.
"Hiruzen, I heard that the mission commissioned by the Daimyo failed?" Koharu Utatane immediately questioned Hiruzen with an intimidating manner upon entering.
Caught completely off guard, Hiruzen didn't even have time to set down his just-extinguished pipe, asking in surprise: "How did you find out?"
Realizing something was amiss, he quickly amended: "I mean, where did you hear this?"
Seeing Hiruzen's reaction, the two exchanged glances, already certain the matter was true.
"We learned about it from village ninjas. Not only that, but they also said this mission's failure was entirely caused by Sakumo Hatake. Is this true?" Homura Mitokado spoke slowly.
Bang. Hiruzen slammed his pipe heavily on the desk.
Not only had the mission failure been leaked, but even the identity of the person involved had become known to others?!
This was supposed to be a classified mission—aside from those who executed it, only these high-ranking officials knew the details.
Who was it? An enemy village? One of the high-ranking officials? Or one of the mission participants?
Intimidated by the sound Hiruzen made, Koharu softened her tone: "Hiruzen, we came here to verify the truth of this matter. After all, it concerns the Daimyo—we need to know whether these rumors are real."
"Yes, the mission failed." Seeing that things had reached this point, Hiruzen had no choice but to admit this fact, though he didn't mention Sakumo's involvement.
Having received their answer, the two exchanged glances again, both seeing a trace of regret in each other's eyes.
"This money could have been used to purchase military supplies..." Koharu sighed.
Since the Second Great Ninja War, there had been no large-scale conflicts among the Five Great Hidden Villages. After prolonged peace, the Daimyo had unanimously reduced their respective villages' military budgets.
With no other option, the ninjas had to increase competition, trying to obtain commissions from more sources to maintain their village's ninja numbers.
"This couldn't be helped. Of course, I wasn't deliberately hiding this from you—I handed this matter entirely to Danzō, so this might have been his decision." Fearing the two might bring up his deliberate concealment, Hiruzen simply pushed everything onto Danzō.
"Danzō?" Hearing Danzō's name, both were momentarily stunned, then nodded in unison: "It's indeed appropriate to leave this matter to Danzō. The mission details must be thoroughly investigated. If it's really as the rumors say—that Sakumo abandoned the mission for someone—then he must receive severe punishment."
"Hiruzen, you must not show misplaced compassion at a time like this. If everyone acted like Sakumo, abandoning missions without punishment, ninjas who look up to him would surely follow his example, and the village's interests would suffer tremendous losses."
Homura looked at the silent Hiruzen and continued: "We'll go find Danzō later to inquire about the specific details. You have no objections, do you, Hiruzen?"
"Of course, that's your right." Having listened to their lengthy discourse, Hiruzen felt somewhat overwhelmed but dared not say much more, only nodding silently.
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