The assassination of the Lord Elder of the Land of Fire cast a shadow over this New Year.
Ordinary people and grassroots ninjas... they could continue to enjoy themselves, treating this matter as hot news to discuss. But a Kage of a village like Uchiha Makoto couldn't do this. He had to hold a meeting with the high-level officials of Konoha and the Land of Fire to discuss the case.
And the Daimyo, to show his emphasis on this matter, specially set the meeting place in the capital of the Land of Fire.
If nothing unexpected happens this New Year...
Uchiha Makoto will have to stay in the capital of the Land of Fire.
After a long journey.
Uchiha Makoto arrived at the capital of the Land of Fire with a group of elite ANBU ninjas.
Konoha was the same.
Senju Hashirama personally led the team, followed by Senju Tobirama. The two arrived at the capital of the Land of Fire with elite ANBU ninjas.
Soon, several groups of people gathered together.
Meeting the Daimyo were not only the ninja forces and the victim, the Lord Elder of the Land of Fire, but also many nobles who participated in this meeting.
—Ninjas are not afraid of assassination, but the pressure on the nobles is indeed not small. If a figure like the Lord Elder can be assassinated, what about them?
The first to speak was the Lord Elder.
His condition was really not good, looking much older than when they met a few days ago.
Suffering the pain of losing his wife, and then the excruciating pain of a white-haired person sending off a black-haired person, various tragic events in life followed one after another. Even for someone like him who had experienced storms, it was hard to bear for a while.
".... That's roughly what happened. This matter must be investigated to the end no matter what!"
The Lord Elder of the Land of Fire described the assassination process that day and expressed his determination to investigate this matter to the end.
"Ah, this is really... Lord Elder, please restrain your grief. But now that people are dead, the living cannot stay for the dead. Please pull yourself together."
"This is not your fault, it is the fault of this world!"
Senju Tobirama said this, with an extremely sad expression on his face.
That pretentious appearance made Uchiha Makoto feel a little respect for him—Senju Tobirama, your skin is really thick.
"Lord Elder, please restrain your grief. But have you offended anyone recently? If so.... this would be very helpful for solving the case."
Senju Hashirama pondered for a long time, and finally asked the Lord Elder according to his experience.
The Lord Elder's expression remained unchanged, and he stared at Senju Hashirama.
This question is difficult to answer truthfully.
Because... if we really get serious, the people the Lord Elder of the Land of Fire has offended severely recently are your Senju clan.
"I work hard every day to share the worries of the Daimyo and handle state affairs. If I have offended some people, it is also for the Land of Fire... But there are too many people who want to harm the interests of the Land of Fire in secret, and I can't explain it clearly for a while."
The Lord Elder of the Land of Fire said.
Senju Hashirama suddenly looked troubled and did not pursue further questioning.
Then everyone's eyes focused on Uchiha Makoto.
Uchiha Makoto has not said a word so far, looking like he doesn't care much about the truth.... Maybe he did this.
Seeing everyone focusing on him, Uchiha Makoto had to stand up and say a few words.
"Lord Elder, please rest assured. The Hokage and I will find out the truth and kill the enemy for you with our own hands!"
Uchiha Makoto bowed slightly and made a solemn statement.
The remaining nobles chattered and argued for a while, but this group of people with ulterior motives gathered together was destined not to discuss any useful methods. They could only hope that Konoha and the Akatsuki Ninja Village would clear up this case quickly.... This feeling of everyone being in danger is really bad.
As the host, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire could only find a way to appease the frightened nobles.
In front of everyone, he demanded that Konoha and the Akatsuki Ninja Village solve the case within ten days.
And after the meeting ended, Uchiha Makoto privately invited Senju Hashirama and his party under the pretext of exchanging case details.
"Lord Hashirama, long time no see!"
"Makoto, long time no see."
"Why didn't Lord Madara come this time...."
"He... you know, Madara has always disliked getting involved in such things. Speaking of which, his temper has become more and more eccentric recently. I haven't seen him for a long time."
"Is that so..."
Uchiha Makoto greeted Senju Hashirama proactively.
The two exchanged pleasantries.
Uchiha Makoto proactively talked about Uchiha Madara, and Senju Hashirama immediately showed a worried look.
—He didn't understand why he and Madara seemed to be drifting apart.
And from Senju Hashirama's expression.
Uchiha Makoto made a judgment. He felt that Uchiha Madara was not far from defecting from Konoha, probably within one or two years, or even faster.
Senju Hashirama obviously didn't want to talk more about this matter, so the small talk ended quickly.
Subsequently, Senju Hashirama proactively talked about the assassination of the Lord Elder's whole family.
"Forget it, let's not talk about this.... This case is really tricky. Where did the ninjas come from who dared to assassinate the Lord Elder's family... It's really intolerable!"
"Ah... yes, such a frenzied thing must be investigated to the end, and the mastermind behind the scenes must be brought to justice!"
"These people living are a scourge to the ninja world, they are scum!"
Senju Hashirama began to sigh when talking about this.
After receiving the edict from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, he immediately sent ANBU ninjas to investigate the location where the Lord Elder was assassinated.
Logically speaking, such a reconnaissance team should be able to find clues quickly.
However, the result was unsatisfactory.
According to the report of the Konoha ANBU ninjas, no useful clues were left at the scene.
And this was of course Senju Tobirama's masterpiece.
Senju Hashirama was a hands-off manager in Konoha. It could be said that what he, the Hokage, could know, Senju Tobirama knew, and what he didn't know, Senju Tobirama also knew.
If he wanted to investigate the case, he had to use the ANBU established by Senju Tobirama single-handedly.
—The ANBU ninjas were commanded by Senju Tobirama, and the reconnaissance team he sent was led by Shimura Danzō, the original team of the assassination squad.
What could they find?
Definitely nothing!
Shimura Danzō even led the team to clean up the few clues left that day.
Uchiha Makoto smiled. He was one of the masterminds of this matter, so he naturally knew it well.
But facing Senju Hashirama, he certainly couldn't be too presumptuous, so he immediately denounced the mastermind behind the assassination team as a scourge of the ninja world, scum.... These people must be brought to justice to set the record straight!
After a passionate curse, Uchiha Makoto cursed very happily.
And the expression of Senju Tobirama behind Senju Hashirama.... Uchiha Makoto, you deliberately want to curse me in front of my brother, right!!
"Makoto, with such investigation results, we can't report back."
"Alright, brother, since the ANBU squad can't find any useful clues, let's investigate this matter personally. We will definitely find out the truth."
"En... Tobirama, fortunately I have you. Otherwise, I really couldn't handle this kind of thing."
Senju Tobirama was too lazy to pay attention to this bastard Uchiha Makoto now, and rushed to the location where the Lord Elder was assassinated with Senju Hashirama.
Uchiha Makoto was not idle either, and followed with his people.
Senju Tobirama: "The methods of this group of people are very rough. Their ninjutsu is not brilliant, and there are still a lot of explosive tag explosion traces on the ground."
Uchiha Makoto: "Indeed. It seems that this group of people has not received orthodox ninja training. From the Lord Elder's words, it can also be seen that this group of people is better at taijutsu. It feels like a group of rogue ninjas, just slightly stronger."
Senju Hashirama: "But such a meticulous plan doesn't look like something rogue ninjas can plan."
A group of people came to the site to collect intelligence. There were traces of battle everywhere on the ground.
And the people dispatched this time were experts, accustomed to such scenes. Their rich combat experience was enough for them to simulate the battle process of that day in their minds.
Three people, one sentence each, gave their conclusions.
Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Makoto gave almost the same conclusion—bandits causing trouble!!
This was exactly the same as the judgment Senju Hashirama saw in the ANBU report.... Shimura Danzō had trained hard with the team members for a long time to achieve this, enough to make Senju Hashirama unable to see the flaws for a while.
Among them, the deliberate guidance of Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Makoto at the scene was naturally indispensable.
If Senju Hashirama were really allowed to investigate carefully with a "magnifying glass" alone, he would be able to discover some amazing clues at the scene.
Of course... this is the most terrifying part.
The Lord Elder had just made achievements in Konoha, and in a blink of an eye, his whole family was robbed by bandits.
Is there such a coincidence in the world?
"Is it possible that a blind cat met a dead mouse? A group of powerful rogue ninjas happened to pass by, met the Lord Elder's family here, saw their attire, and had evil intentions."
"This possibility cannot be ruled out."
"Makoto, Tobirama, but I always feel that there is something wrong, I just haven't found it yet."
Uchiha Makoto and Senju Tobirama continued to guide Senju Hashirama in unison.
However, Senju Hashirama always felt something was weird, but he couldn't find the strange place now, so he could only continue to search constantly at the crime scene, hoping to find some useful clues.
And Uchiha Makoto and Senju Tobirama could only follow Senju Hashirama closely, disturbing his thoughts and diverting his attention at critical moments.
In a blink of an eye.
Ten days passed quickly.
The investigation team personally led by the Hokage and Kōkage of the two major ninja villages, Konoha and the Akatsuki Ninja Village, finally reached a conclusion on the assassination of the Lord Elder—this is bandits causing trouble!
In the office.
Senju Tobirama was sorting out the investigation reports of these days on the desk, preparing to organize these reports into an investigation result to submit to the Daimyo.
As for how to hunt down those bandits later.
This is indeed a troublesome matter. After all, so much time has passed, those bandits have probably fled to various parts of the Land of Fire, or even fled to other countries overnight.
Of course... with the joint efforts of the two major ninja villages, there will definitely be gains.
—Scapegoats are easy to find!
"It's outrageous. Those rogue ninjas dare to be so rampant in the territory of our Konoha and Akatsuki Ninja Village. It seems that the peaceful times of these few years have made those outlaws forget the time when the ninja villages encircled and suppressed them."
"The Lord Elder's family was just eating hot pot and singing songs, and suddenly they were robbed by this group of people!"
"Dare to rob the Lord Elder today, they will dare to assassinate the Daimyo tomorrow!"
"We must strike hard at them!"
"Tobirama, don't forget to give some advice to the Daimyo in the report. To protect the Land of Fire, protect the Daimyo, and protect the nobles, we must launch a joint operation again."
"The Daimyo must take the lead in paying. Only in this way will those nobles obediently pay... At that time, the Daimyo's money will be returned in full, ahem... all will be used for bandit suppression!"
"With money, we can hit those outlaws hard!"
Uchiha Makoto sat on the sofa, speaking righteously.
The Lord Elder's family left the capital, eating hot pot and singing songs, and suddenly was robbed by bandits!
So, bandits must be suppressed. Only without bandits can life be called a good life!
Senju Tobirama was silent, just writing furiously. Obviously, he was extremely fond of Uchiha Makoto's statement.
The Daimyo takes the lead in paying, the nobles follow, and the collected money is split fifty-fifty between Konoha and Akatsuki.
And Senju Hashirama, who was standing by the window staring at the snow scene, turned around and couldn't help frowning.
Although after ten days, accompanied by Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Makoto, he searched the scene carefully, and many traces at the scene indeed pointed to rogue ninjas, he still felt weird in his heart.
"If this report is submitted, the Daimyo won't be angry, right?"
"Lord Hashirama, you worry too much. The truth is like this. Why would the Daimyo be angry? Could he still hope that someone deliberately murdered the Lord Elder?"
"That's right, brother. Our Konoha and Akatsuki Ninja Village are wholeheartedly for the Land of Fire. The Daimyo can definitely feel such sincere hearts. He can't suspect our ninja villages for this matter, right?"
Senju Hashirama was a little worried.
Even he, who was very dull politically, felt that there would be problems if this report was sent up.
Are there really such arrogant bandits in the world?
However, Uchiha Makoto and Senju Tobirama still sang in unison, persuading Senju Hashirama to relax and not think too much.
To this, Senju Hashirama could only suppress the uneasiness in his heart and nodded.
.... Also, it's very strange, Tobirama, why is your relationship with Makoto so good recently!!
.......
Soon, Senju Tobirama finished writing the investigation report and came to the Daimyo's desk.
"Accident?"
"Rogue ninjas intruded by mistake?"
"Bandits causing trouble?!!"
"And f*cking want to take money from my pocket to suppress bandits, this is wanting to eat and take!"
"Really rebellion, all rebellion!!"
"Call the Lord Elder, call the Lord Elder quickly!!!"
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire finished reading the investigation report and stood up from his chair in shock.
He didn't believe the so-called bandits causing trouble.
He originally thought this matter was either done by Konoha or by the Akatsuki Ninja Village.
So this time, the Daimyo specially let the two villages handle the case together, and even the Uchiha clan sent people over this time!
He thought he could always make the mastermind behind the scenes reveal flaws, and then intensify the conflict between the two villages..... Senju Tobirama would hold on tight if he caught Uchiha Makoto's flaw, and the Uchiha clan would hold on tight if they caught Senju Tobirama's flaw.
—This is letting heroes investigate heroes, letting brave men investigate brave men!
But... things might be more terrifying than he imagined.
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