Creak!
Hiruzen clenched his fists.
Logically speaking, someone who had suddenly disappeared for a period of time could not work in the financial department, at least not without passing a political review.
Yet, such a person had entered the financial department, and those capable of achieving this were not members of the great clans, but rather members of his own inner circle.
Hiruzen subconsciously thought of Danzo. Someone who had suddenly disappeared for a period of time, Hiruzen thought of Danzo's Root.
Perhaps Koharu and Homura could also achieve this, but Hiruzen did not suspect them.
Homura had been fighting on the front line for years, and while Homura might dare to embezzle small sums, he would not dare to embezzle such a large amount.
As for Koharu, there was no need to worry. Hiruzen understood Koharu, she did indeed seek some benefits for her clan, but she would not do anything that crossed the line. Moreover, Koharu herself was very skilled in business. Accurately speaking, their entire clan was like that.
Even though the Utatane clan was not particularly powerful before joining Konoha, they were actually very skilled in business and financial management. Their clan was not short of money at all. During the war, Koharu even privately donated a sum of money to Konoha.
Therefore, the only possibility was Danzo.
Damn Danzo, how dare he?!
Hiruzen recalled that as the war began, Konoha's funding for Root had not increased. Furthermore, while he had provided a portion of the funding for the Wood Release research experiment, Danzo had borne the rest. Of course, none of this was the most crucial point.
Hiruzen suspected that Danzo was plotting something. After all, the number of Root members was limited, and Hiruzen had always tried to restrict Root's development and scale through funding.
But judging by Danzo's demeanor, he seemed to be completely out of control. Root had begun to expand wildly, and it was unknown to what extent Root had expanded now.
"You understand these bills, right?" Hiruzen looked intently at Kazuki.
"Yes, these fake accounts seem well-made, but I understand them." Kazuki nodded slightly.
If he wanted to create fake accounts, he could do so without anyone knowing, at least Hiruzen and the others would not be able to tell.
It was just that he disdained doing so. When he was short of money, he only needed to say a word, and there would be plenty of people sending him money.
Not to mention, if he just went on some high-difficulty missions, would he still lack money?
For true powerhouses, money was just a number.
"Alright then, I'll give you the authority to thoroughly investigate the finances of the past three years. Remember to investigate as meticulously as possible." Hiruzen took a deep breath and said to Kazuki.
"Also, try to keep it confidential. Don't tell anyone except certain special individuals."
As for who the special individual was, it was naturally Mito. If Hiruzen truly wanted to move against Danzo, even under legitimate circumstances, it would be best to have Mito's endorsement.
After all, Danzo's influence in Konoha these past years was immense, and even Hiruzen had to be restrained when dealing with him.
Hiruzen could go to Mito himself, but Kazuki went to Mito almost every day, so having him convey the message was best.
Sometimes, Hiruzen would think that Kazuki seemed to be Mito's true grandson. If it weren't for his immense respect for Mito, he would have almost suspected that Kazuki was Mito's little lapdog.
Cough, cough, he absolutely must not be disrespectful to Mito.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kazuki agreed without hesitation.
This was truly not Kazuki targeting Danzo. Rather, Danzo himself had delivered the incriminating evidence into his hands. He refused to believe that he couldn't bring down Danzo this time.
"Sigh."
Looking at the eager Kazuki, Hiruzen sighed with a complex expression.
He didn't want anything to happen within the Uchiha clan and wanted Ryoma and the others to settle down, but he never expected that Kazuki, having only just started working in the Hokage Office, would uncover such a huge mess.
Indeed, wherever Kazuki appeared, trouble tended to follow.
Of course, Hiruzen was not blaming Kazuki. After all, such large-scale embezzlement of property had to be investigated.
It was better to uncover it now than for Konoha to run out of money in the future and then investigate, right?
After some thought, Hiruzen again instructed Kazuki, "Remember to keep it confidential, and then investigate thoroughly. There's no need to resolve this matter too quickly. There are many Root members, and even I don't know exactly who belongs to Root."
Kazuki nodded understandingly. It would not be easy to investigate all Root members. After more than a decade of development, Root had already infiltrated every corner of Konoha.
…
When Kazuki went to investigate the fake accounts, Hiruzen called Koharu over. He trusted Koharu quite a bit, especially now that they both had the same political demands.
"See if there's anything wrong with these bills."
Hiruzen handed the fake account bills that Kazuki had submitted earlier to Koharu.
Koharu looked at Hiruzen with a hint of suspicion but still took the bills and began to examine them. In a short while, Koharu's expression changed drastically.
"Hiruzen, there's a problem with this bill. Someone made fake accounts?"
"Yes, Kazuki, that child, just discovered it."
Hiruzen saw Koharu's reaction, and a subtle hint of relief flashed in his eyes. It seemed this matter had nothing to do with Koharu, and he truly didn't want Koharu to get into trouble because of this.
These elders of theirs, surely not all of them could get into trouble, right?
Homura was already beyond saving. As for Danzo, his relationship with Kazuki wasn't very good either.
Danzo had a good relationship with Kagami back then, so why did he target Kazuki in various ways?
Thinking about it carefully, it seemed to have started when Kazuki displayed absolute strength, and people began saying that he would become Hokage.
Danzo had come to him about this matter before. At that time, Hiruzen had not made a decision, and it was fortunate that he hadn't suppressed Kazuki, otherwise he wouldn't be able to support Kazuki now.