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"So you're saying…"
Tsunade sat on the tatami mat in the living room, pouring tea for Sawara Kiri and Hatake Sakumo across the wooden table with one hand, then pushing the cups towards them before looking up at the two men.
"We no longer need to continue talking with them?"
Not just Tsunade, but Hatake Sakumo on the other side also turned to look at the young man.
The tea leaves floated in the teacup, rippling as steam rose.
Sawara Kiri picked up his teacup and smiled gently:
"Precisely."
"Bang!"
Tsunade's fair, slender hand slammed onto the table with a dull thud, indenting the solid wood. She stared intently at the young man before her.
"Kiri-kun, you must know how determined I was to do this, right?"
"Do you know what you're saying right now?"
"If no one can stop those parasites, do you know what they'll do to the Village?"
"Corruption, espionage, military funds, intelligence…"
"This is wartime!"
Perhaps it was because her anger, which hadn't been fully unleashed on the Konoha F3, was abruptly cut short.
Now, Tsunade stared intently at Sawara Kiri's face, her expression tense, her voice steadily rising, gritting her teeth.
She was furious.
However, Sawara Kiri seemed oblivious to her emotions, taking a sip from his teacup.
"Lady Tsunade."
"You don't really care about these matters, do you?"
"They haven't just started doing this today."
"No."
Looking up, Sawara Kiri met her eyes.
"To be precise, when compared to 'avenging Kato Dan,' these minor details aren't that important to you, are they?"
As he spoke, his expression was indifferent and composed, rationally dissecting the real reasons with a steady demeanor, tearing away the superficial pretense, leaving Tsunade momentarily unable to adapt.
"…"
"Yes, so what?!"
After a pause, she slammed her hand on the table again, throwing caution to the wind, and looked at him with red eyes.
"I just want to get revenge on those rotten bastards, do you have a problem with that?"
"No, why would I have a problem?"
Seeing her agitated state, Sawara Kiri's smile softened even further.
He pointed to Hatake Sakumo beside him, then to himself:
"It's not just Lady Tsunade, but Sakumo-sensei and I are also here for selfish reasons—we both want to protect ourselves in this storm."
"For that, it's easier to communicate if we're open with each other first, isn't it?"
Tsunade was startled by his words and turned to look at Hatake Sakumo, who was drinking tea.
"Just listen to him," Hatake Sakumo waved her off. "Don't let his age fool you; this kid is full of tricks and very formidable."
On the way here, he had already deeply experienced Sawara Kiri's seemingly understated words.
Sawara Kiri smiled somewhat sheepishly:
"Sakumo-sensei, you flatter me."
Tsunade's eye twitched at the sight.
Who was flattering you?
However, recalling the miraculous things Sawara Kiri had shown her before, Tsunade couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope.
"So if we're not talking, what do we do next?"
"Are we going to just storm into Root and the Hokage Building to check the accounts?"
Sawara Kiri put down his teacup and looked at the two seriously: "Of course, something that outrageous is impossible."
"To be frank, Lady Tsunade, your initial goal of 'using corruption inquiries to force the Council Elders to resign' was unrealistic to begin with—how do you make a referee on a football field give himself a red card?"
Tsunade was stunned by his words.
Hatake Sakumo showed a thoughtful expression, his brows tightly furrowed.
Sawara Kiri continued: "It's been three days since you returned to the Village and formally proposed the 'Corruption Inquiry and Espionage Review of the Konoha Council Elders' at the Jonin Meeting."
"At the same time, rumors about 'Lady Tsunade demanding a corruption review of all Konoha high-ranking officials' have also been spreading for three days, and during this process, you haven't made any counter-moves, nor have you even noticed public opinion beginning to ferment in the streets."
"As the head of the Senju Clan, one of the founding families of the Village, and bearing the glory of two Hokage, if your name is simply added to the seemingly righteous rumor I just mentioned, the villagers of all Konoha will not have any objections."
"Do you know what this means?"
Tsunade gritted her teeth and widened her eyes, retorting: "I clearly initiated an inquiry against the 'Council Elders,' when did I ever target all high-ranking officials—"
"I know, and you know, but that's not important."
Sawara Kiri interrupted her and continued: "What's important is that they have already prepared public opinion."
Tsunade's voice involuntarily stopped, and her slender hand on the wooden table suddenly clenched, her skin turning white with tension.
"Next, I will tell you what is about to happen in the Village after all public opinion preparations have been made."
Sawara Kiri's voice was calm and indifferent, with a mechanical coolness, as he held up one finger to her: "First, they will use a large number of 'punish corruption' type statements to cover up the actions they are currently taking."
"Then, they will use this opportunity to select a suitable breakthrough point."
"They will first use a seemingly insignificant matter, yet one that might concern everyone, as a fulcrum for public opinion, artificially exaggerating its harmfulness and adding a pile of fabricated charges."
He spoke fluently as if he had witnessed similar events countless times, as if he had transcended time and seen it with his own eyes, even having the process and roles already selected.
"This breakthrough point is best suited for a Ninja clan that is neither too high nor too low within the Konoha hierarchy, has no strong backing, and whose population and economic scale are of a medium level."
"Counting all of Konoha, the suitable candidates are only a few families like the Inuzuka, Aburame, and Kurama clans."
"The most suitable in terms of size is likely the Inuzuka."
"Have you heard?"
"An Inuzuka clan summoning dog went out of control while delivering messages on the battlefield."
"That's fake, right? They are a professional dog-training clan, and a summoning dog that can command and understand human speech costs hundreds of thousands of Ryo."
"It's true! My third cousin's daughter-in-law's sister was bitten on the leg while fighting with the summoning dog; that dog couldn't even distinguish between friend and foe anymore."
"Ah! If it weren't for the camp being right behind, they would have almost died at the hands of the Sand Ninja."
"I heard it too, I heard it too!"
"The frontline veterinarian said that the pet food had dead dog meat and brains added to it, and all the summoning dogs that ate that food got sick."
"They look fine normally, but they go crazy as soon as they see blood."
"Is that true or false?"
One spread to two, two spread to three, and three people make a tiger.
What was originally an obvious lie quickly became a 'truth' circulating only underground and among the populace, due to the sheer volume of its spread.
Initially, these rumors were spread only by ordinary people, and the Inuzuka clan didn't pay much attention.
But ordinary people live around Ninja, and human interaction naturally brings these invisible rumors into the Ninja community.
By this point, trying to trace the source of the rumor was impossible.
Not only that.
The Uchiha Police Force, which received the Inuzuka clan's report and chose to implement large-scale rumor blockades and source investigations, instead caused those who hadn't paid much attention to these rumors to start developing a slight investigative curiosity about these 'truths.'
In less than a week, more and more people began to 'deduce' the truth behind the rumor that 'an Inuzuka clan summoning dog went crazy.'
From the summoning dog eating diseased dog meat, to the grain feed money being embezzled;
Then someone said that the Inuzuka clan used inferior grain feed before, and then someone heard that to save feed money, the Inuzuka clan made an underground deal with Konoha Grain Company;
Afterward, everyone started spreading rumors that the Inuzuka clan, using their family connections, was involved in widespread corruption within Konoha's food department, and that not only was the food problematic, but the sick dogs before had also died from drug abuse;
Until finally, everyone knew that the Inuzuka clan head was incredibly powerful, engaging in massive corruption across Konoha's food and medicine sectors.
More and more 'truths' were constantly being churned out, and an endless stream of 'facts' was being spread by everyone, with people worried about their lives launching successive rounds of complaints.
All of this happened in a short period that many Ninja clans failed to notice.
"Haaah…"
Kurogyokumaru, the slender dog, lay with his paws crossed by the shop door, basking in the sun, letting out a long yawn.
He looked at the empty street in front of his shop, tilting his head in confusion.
Although not many people usually came around here, their shop's Ninja dog food was still quite popular, and occasionally two or three Ninja dogs would drag their owners back to buy some to try.
But for some reason, the entire street had been deserted for the past two days, and with the shop's income down, he wasn't eating well.
Last night, he didn't even get braised pork at home.
"Annoying."
Kurogyokumaru muttered softly as he lay on the ground.
Just as he was thinking, his ears suddenly perked up, catching the sound of footsteps in the distance.
His sensitive nose sniffed carefully again, and his eyes immediately lit up.
There must be at least a dozen people, right?
What a big business opportunity.
Thinking this, he immediately stood up and quickly trotted out the door, trying to drum up business:
"Customers! Customers!"
"Kuroo Ninja Dog Food Store is 20% off today! White meat, red meat, Kumogakure beef, all flavors available, bring your dogs to try it now—"
However, before he could finish his advertising slogan, he saw an entire squad of fully armed Anbu-dressed figures already kicking open the large door at the very end of the street, shouting:
"Inuzuka Gentai, Clan Head!"
"Wait! Who are you people?" The poor clan head clearly hadn't reacted yet. "I haven't received a direct Anbu investigation order from the Hokage."
But the leading Ninja, dressed as Anbu, clearly had no intention of listening to him and instead shouted:
"According to Lady Tsunade's temporary proposal of the 'Wartime Special Investigation Regulations' last week, and reports from multiple Konoha Ninja and residents, your Ninja clan is suspected of large-scale grain smuggling, illegal pharmaceutical smuggling, unfair competition, and illegal summoning beast activities!"
"Please come with us immediately!"
"Wait a minute! I've bled for Konoha, I've made contributions for Konoha."
"You, you guys—!"
Kurogyokumaru stood at the doorway, cleverly poking out half his body, watching with wide eyes as the kind old clan head was dragged out the door by a group of Anbu-dressed people.
He immediately tucked in his privates and tail.
It's over, probably no meat to eat tonight either.
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