"How did this happen?" Hiruzen asked in a low voice.
"The intelligence in those spies' minds shows that a woman of the Uzumaki Clan was intercepted by them while fleeing the Land of Whirlpools during the Second Shinobi World War."
"This Uzumaki clanswoman possessed exceptional talent. Her chakra had healing properties."
"Because of this ability, Kusagakure imprisoned her and used her as a medical tool."
Sakumo's expression was not good either.
Kusagakure, although a small hidden village, had managed to survive at the borders between the great nations. That alone showed they had their own means of securing their existence.
Their work as spies and their methods of gathering intelligence were in no way inferior to the Five Great Hidden Villages.
If not for the recent strengthening of both the patrol forces and the Anbu—reinforced with experienced veterans from the Hyūga, Uchiha, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans, conducting layered, three-dimensional patrols—
it would have been truly difficult to discover them…
Hiruzen took out his pipe and narrowed his eyes, signaling Sakumo to continue.
"It's not only members of the Uzumaki Clan. There are also ninja from various hidden villages. Some are said to have shinobi clan bloodlines…"
"However, according to the memories of the Kusagakure spies, they did not have any special impression of them. They likely did not display any particular talent," Sakumo added.
Being from a shinobi clan did not mean that every member possessed outstanding talent; it merely meant the probability was relatively higher.
Take the Uchiha Clan as an example. In reality, only a small portion could awaken the Sharingan. Most would never obtain this powerful Kekkei Genkai.
Compared to the Uchiha, the Hyūga—who lacked the Mangekyō Sharingan stage—actually had an extremely high inheritance rate for the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai.
If not for Madara's overwhelming reputation, calling the Uchiha and the Hyūga the two great dōjutsu clans would have been entirely appropriate.
"How did they capture them?" Hiruzen exhaled a stream of smoke.
"They mainly roamed along the borders of various nations, attacking lone ninja. They never laid a hand on the strong…"
"The intelligence shows that even when targeting chūnin, they would shadow them for a long time, deliberately setting up bait-style missions to gain an intelligence advantage before carrying out an ambush."
"And during wartime, they would set their sights on capable ninja—but only after confirming the target was seriously injured or currently engaged in battle."
In summary, Kusagakure truly deserved the title of the shinobi world's hyena—cunning, treacherous, and far bolder than most would expect.
"Their core advantage lies in serving as a buffer zone between us, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and even Sunagakure. The major hidden villages all hire them as inexpensive spies."
"As a result, their sources of intelligence are relatively complex. They even leverage the mutual checks and balances among the major hidden villages to raise Kusagakure's value."
Hiruzen nodded and closed his eyes in thought.
If a surviving member of the Uzumaki Clan was in Kusagakure, then as Hokage, he could not pretend not to see it.
The promise to Uzumaki Mito had only been made not long ago, and it would also benefit his reputation.
More importantly, Kusagakure's structure was extremely similar to that of a kidnapping-crime compound, making it exceptionally suitable to serve as Senju Tobirama's foothold and cover identity after his revival.
—A descendant of an abducted Uchiha clansman.
Even for the Uchiha Clan, before they had fully developed—or when seriously injured—being swarmed and abducted by a scavenger village like Kusagakure was entirely normal.
It was said that Uchiha Madara, in his youth, had not displayed overly astonishing talent either, belonging to the type that built up steadily and then surged later.
Uchiha Isshin often used this to encourage Uchiha clansmen, and this was also one reason he had a good reputation within the clan…
Who doesn't like to hear comforting words?
As for how to explain the Senju Tobirama elements on him and the talent he would display later…
Not to mention that the vast majority of people would not think about it at all; even if a small minority did pay attention...
Hiruzen already had a countermeasure.
He had heard it from Asuma.
The texts Uchiha Shisui—Kagami's descendant—had brought for exchange were the Second Hokage's Water Release…
Perfect—when the time came, he would arrange for sensei to be his elder brother. Let him learn and develop his own ninjutsu himself!
As for deeper demonstrations of talent, Hiruzen also had an idea, but he would still need to verify it with Tobirama himself. After all, the logic had to be airtight…
"Hiruzen, do we still need to launch a large-scale assault on Kusagakure?"
Danzō said, unexpectedly: "Although the blitzkrieg plan was good before, with Konoha as it is now, as long as we stall and develop, this is a stable winning situation—we can't lose…"
"How about I dispatch an Anbu unit to carry out a covert rescue?"
Sakumo wore an expression as if he had seen a ghost as he stared at Danzō in shock.
This was unbelievable—was this still that hardline Danzō?
Words this dovish actually came out of this man's mouth!
Shouldn't he be clamoring to wipe Kusagakure out instead?
"Sakumo, your look proves you don't understand just how brilliant Konoha's future will be…"
Danzō let out a cold laugh. "Do you know how much money Hiruzen and I got from the Land of Fire?"
He held up three fingers.
Hatake Sakumo's brow tightened. "Three hundred million in funding?"
"No—three billion! And it will keep increasing. This is only the beginning…"
Sakumo's eyes widened slightly. "That much?!"
Even for someone as strong as him, that was an astronomical figure.
"Hmph. That's 'a lot'? It's nothing more than one to two B-rank missions per person. Compared to what the Hokage has to do, this money is nowhere near enough…" Danzō repeated Hiruzen's words, savoring Sakumo's shocked expression.
He felt secretly pleased.
As for why he was so practiced at this—because he had a small notebook, specially used to record the words from Hiruzen that had left him shocked…
Now that Sakumo was wearing the same expression, it immediately made him feel much better.
"Enough!"
At that moment, Hiruzen suddenly slammed the table, rarely losing his temper: "Danzō, you're too conservative! What are you doing? We raised funds not to make the village weak!"
That single strike instantly stunned Danzō.
In one blow, it brought back the old feeling…
Only, these lines seemed somewhat mismatched.
In the past, it had always been him accusing Hiruzen of being too conservative and weak, saying he would regret it in the future…
After so many years, Danzō finally experienced what it felt like to be called weak.
"Hiruzen, you…" Danzō faltered, but the words "you'll regret it" simply would not come out.
After all, he had always been the one accusing Hiruzen of being weak and conservative.
If he refuted him now, wouldn't that be denying his own stance of so many years?
"The production line for Sage Region Pills has been laid out. The next round of payment won't come until a year later…"
"As for the other product lines, full construction will take three to five years, perhaps even longer."
"During that period, is Konoha supposed to keep enduring harassment from the other hidden villages?"
Hiruzen slowly rose to his feet and stared at Danzō.
"I know this is the result of your consideration. It's different from your usual habitual thinking, and it's for Konoha's sake."
"I was a bit agitated just now. Forgive me."
"It's fine…" Danzō paused before saying, "You…"
For some reason, after Hiruzen reprimanded him and then immediately apologized, it left him feeling somewhat unsettled.
Wasn't that too distant?
In the past, when the two of them argued, he had even slammed the door on his way out!
He had never seen himself apologize to Hiruzen…
Looking at it this way, had Hiruzen always been this tolerant toward him?
"Dispatching an Anbu squad is indeed the prudent approach."
"But we must clearly recognize that the order of the shinobi world is always underwritten by military supremacy. Commercial and cultural expansion must be built upon that foundation. We must never reverse priorities!"
"Striking Kusagakure with a heavy blow is to ensure that, for a period of time, our enemies cannot gauge our true strength. Only then can economic development proceed without interference and serve as a deterrent to those jackals!"
A trace of killing intent flashed through Hiruzen's eyes.
"I was just about to establish my authority, and these scum delivered themselves to my door…"
"What we need to do now is figure out how to make this punch both heavy and beautiful!"
"If we drag our feet, it will indeed be as Danzō said—it will cause the other hidden villages to harbor ulterior motives."
Sakumo clicked his tongue inwardly.
Who said the Third was a dove? Where exactly was the dovishness?
Danzō, meanwhile, stared intently at Hiruzen and nodded heavily. "Hiruzen, your criticism is right. I support your view!"
This firm and forceful hawkish declaration struck directly at his heart.
Moreover, Hiruzen had given him a way out, acknowledging that his considerations were objectively reasonable…
What reason was there not to support him?
"From this moment on, the Anbu will shift their forces. I want Kusagakure thoroughly investigated at full strength!" Hiruzen ordered without room for doubt.
Danzō and Sakumo, the two heads of the Anbu, immediately stood at attention and responded.
"Yes, Hokage!"
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