The letter said that Danzo had personally come to the orphanage today, ordering Yakushi Nonoū to resume intelligence gathering for Root.
She had been forced to depart immediately, without even having time to say goodbye to Fox.
If Danzo felt generous, her next return to Konoha might not be until the end of Year 41.
Yako lowered his gaze.
The damage dealt to Root still hadn't been enough.
He had thought Root would learn from its losses.
Instead, it had merely grown weaker — not better.
The next morning, Yako entered Yellow Dog's office.
"Commander, how does Root obtain so much intelligence?" Yako asked. "Although ANBU can use the information, we can't verify its authenticity.
"I'm planning to carry out assassinations according to the manual, but relying on intelligence provided by others makes me uneasy.
"What if the information is wrong?"
Yellow Dog understood his concern.
"The intelligence and spy networks… are a complicated legacy issue.
"When the Third Hokage first assumed power, he entrusted the Second Hokage's intelligence system to Director Danzo.
"Every year, Danzo secretly selects spies and sends them to other villages, other countries, other organizations.
"This network is so secretive that no one but him can truly manage it.
"Even if the Hokage replaced the ANBU director, spies who have been embedded for five or ten years wouldn't trust the newcomer."
Besides Yakushi Nonoū, Danzo held many trump-card agents.
After managing the spy network for over a decade, these operatives had become one of Danzo's core foundations of power — cementing his irreplaceability.
Yellow Dog continued,
"Even now, I don't know how Advisor Danzo communicates with the leaders of foreign spy networks.
"If you're interested, you can investigate — but never risk exposing the agents.
"Those spies are invaluable assets to Konoha. They've made enormous sacrifices.
"I admire them deeply. Living undercover for five or ten years without exposure… it's unimaginable.
"Even something as simple as reporting commodity prices from enemy villages is extremely valuable to Konoha."
"I understand."
***
Inside the Yamanaka clan compound.
Yamanaka Ruri sat in the courtyard, sewing children's clothing.
A gentle smile occasionally appeared on her pale face.
Yako leaned behind a distant wooden pillar, watching her quietly.
He had always intended to remain hidden — lurking in darkness forever.
But that was no longer possible.
Around him, an invisible web had begun to form, woven from people he had grown familiar with.
They shaped who he was now.
He was no longer a stranger from another world.
He had Kyoi.
He had his third, fourth, fifth, and sixth lovers.
He had trusted subordinates like White Ram and Blossom Deer.
Now that he had bonds, he had to be more careful.
More cautious.
Yako vanished using the Mayfly Technique.
In the courtyard, Ruri suddenly looked up, sensing something — though she saw nothing.
Someone had just been watching her.
Yako led the Blossom Deer squad to the village gate.
He flicked a kunai forward, pinning an exit authorization to the gate before leaving.
A gate guard pulled the kunai free.
The wooden surface was riddled with holes — countless marks left by kunai over time.
"Who were those people just now? They moved too fast — I didn't even see them. These ninja with emergency missions are such a nuisance. They're going to destroy the gate eventually."
"The one leading them was an ANBU squad captain! Didn't you see the cloak? Not the usual low-profile black — that bright white one."
"A squad captain, huh? Then no wonder they don't care about being noticed."
Yako and the Blossom Deer squad sped north.
Root intelligence reported that Cloud Village jonin Takami — a Lightning Release specialist — had left Kumogakure for a mission in the Land of the Moon.
Takami was an A-rank target in the assassination manual.
He had been a jonin for five or six years — highly capable.
Western Land of the Moon.
Samurai escorted a group of civilians toward the mountains.
A powerful noble, Kinyama Shin, had discovered a coal mine within his territory and forcibly conscripted civilians to dig.
The ragged workers were bound together in groups of twenty, trudging toward the deep mountains.
A barefoot young civilian named Ōzora stepped over stones, clothes in tatters, quietly encouraging the person behind him.
"We escaped once — we'll escape again!"
Half a month ago, a mining accident had killed over fifty workers.
The miners refused to continue digging with chisels in unsafe tunnels, sparking a riot.
More than a hundred miners died during the uprising.
Over two hundred escaped into the mountains.
They reached the coast of the Land of the Moon — and across the bay lay the Land of Iron.
If they reached the neutral territory, they would survive.
The nobles of the Land of the Moon could not pursue them there.
But the arrival of Cloud ninja shattered that hope.
Cloud jonin Takami had accepted Kinyama Shin's commission, arriving at the coast to kill the rebellion's leader and capture the remaining miners.
Standing on a slope, Takami frowned at the long column of bound workers.
"Why are they moving so slowly?"
A subordinate replied, "Captain, they're starving. Hard to move fast. They betrayed Lord Kinyama Shin — the noble wants them to stay hungry for a few days to teach them a lesson."
Disgust rose in Takami's chest.
Every time he left Kumogakure, he felt surrounded by invisible danger.
This time the feeling was even stronger.
Outside Kumogakure… everything felt too dangerous.
This area was too close to the Land of Hot Water. A Konoha ninja could appear at any moment.
Many in the village criticized the Third Raikage, saying his policies were too soft.
Konoha had attacked the Jinchūriki twice, yet the result had only been two months of border skirmishes before ending without gains.
If they could seize the Land of Hot Water, this mission would be far safer.
Takami wasn't a foolish warmonger.
Even as a jonin, he understood he could die at any moment.
After thinking for a while, he spoke coldly:
"Go to the back of the line. Kill the injured miners. If the noble won't feed them, they shouldn't slow us down."
The Cloud ninja nodded and moved quickly to the rear.
He drew his blade and killed three miners with injured legs.
"Hurry the hell up! Don't delay our mission!"
Panic spread through the prisoners.
Hungry, feet torn open, terrified of being killed — they pushed forward desperately.
Yako lowered his binoculars.
The shinobi world was a strange place.
Ninja with supernatural power lived in darkness.
Daimyo and nobles wielding worldly authority lived under constant threat of assassination.
And civilians…
They endured exploitation by nobles while fearing death from passing ninja.
Everyone seemed miserable.
So who, exactly, was enjoying life?
To the noble Kinyama Shin, these miners were nothing but livestock.
Only great nobles had the wealth to hire ninja.
Before shinobi, ordinary civilians had no power to resist.