"Then why didn't you tell us about this immediately?" Kazuki looked at Sakumo with a frustrated expression, as if he were disappointed in his protégé.
If you really think about it, Kakashi is more outstanding than Sakumo. Sakumo's combat power is good, but in terms of overall perspective, he is a little lacking.
But Kakashi is not only excellent in combat, his mind is also very sharp. In the early stages of the story, Kakashi was clearly able to protect himself in politics and also protect his own kind.
Many people say that Hiruzen was training Asuma to be Hokage, but Hokage is definitely out of the question, maybe it was a high-ranking position. After all, Asuma himself had no intention of becoming Hokage, and Asuma was also a ninja who possessed the Will of Fire.
People only criticized him because his father was Hiruzen and because of his girlfriend. Asuma himself was actually very good. He was a true inheritor of the Will of Fire.
The one Hiruzen truly trained as a successor was Kakashi. Otherwise, he would not have entrusted Naruto to him. Nothing is more important than the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
"If you had told us immediately, we could have definitely found them." Kazuki said with a serious expression.
"When I learned about this, I immediately went to investigate. After I rescued them, they disappeared. You were on the moon at the time. I looked for Third Hokage-sama and also sought out various ninjas with excellent tracking abilities, but none of them found any trace of those people." Although Sakumo said this, his face was full of guilt.
He knew that once those people leaked information, the spies Konoha had placed outside would be in great danger. But now, even finding those people is no longer possible.
Kazuki was somewhat silent. He hadn't expected such a reason. But was there any problem with him going to the moon?
He had given the Anbu Commander corresponding authority, and Hiruzen could act expediently in his absence.
Not only Hiruzen, but even Mikoto, Kushina, and Rinka all had the authority to command the Anbu.
Kazuki then looked at Minato, who was standing beside him. Recently, Minato had been taking on disciples for him. He was also usually a captain in the Anbu. If he had been there, things would not have been so difficult.
"Sakumo did come to me before, and I also dispatched people to help." Hiruzen sighed softly.
"According to the post-investigation, it was found that those people were related to Danzo."
"Danzo? Wasn't he already dealt with?" Kazuki frowned upon hearing this.
Soon, he thought of something and said with a grim expression, "Anbu Training Subdivision?"
Root's full name was the Anbu Training Subdivision, originally established to nurture talent for the Anbu.
"Indeed, Root was initially for nurturing talent for the Anbu. If you really think about it, the Anbu and Root are essentially not separate. It's hard to guarantee how many people in the current Anbu are connected to Danzo." When Danzo was mentioned, Hiruzen said it through gritted teeth.
Danzo was a huge problem. When he was in Konoha, he caused no small amount of trouble for Konoha, and now that he is dead, he still causes trouble for Konoha.
"How many people in the Anbu are related to the former Root?" Kazuki snorted in dissatisfaction.
If the connection was significant, he wouldn't mind replacing the Anbu entirely. Normally, a new Hokage taking office needs to replace the Anbu, adjusting his confidants into the Anbu.
Kazuki hadn't done this before because he was confident in his own strength, and Hiruzen had always supported him, so it wasn't appropriate for him to completely overhaul the Anbu shortly after becoming Hokage.
"At least one-third." Hiruzen sighed helplessly.
"But I believe most of the Anbu are fine. I'll screen them through hypnosis."
"As for you…" Kazuki looked towards Sakumo.
"Hokage-sama, this subordinate is willing to bear all consequences." Sakumo immediately knelt down, speaking with deep remorse to Kazuki.
At that time, Sakumo himself was very hesitant, whether to save his subordinates in front of him, or to ensure that secrets were not leaked. In the end, he chose to save those subordinates.
He believed that he could find those spies again afterward and make up for all losses. It was just that he overestimated himself and underestimated his opponents.
"Bear all consequences? How do you think you'll bear the consequences?" Kazuki looked at Sakumo exasperatedly.
Danzo had already betrayed Konoha's spies once before, and now, because of Sakumo, these spies would be betrayed again. Kazuki didn't even know how to properly complain. Their Konoha spies really suffered a lot.
"I…"
Sakumo wanted to say that he would go find those spies and retrieve the roster, but he simply couldn't bring himself to say it. After all, they didn't even know whose spies the opponents were. In the end, he was too careless.
A bitter feeling surged within him, and a heavy sense of guilt filled his heart.
If Konoha's spies abroad fell into crisis because of his actions, then he would be beyond redemption, even if he died ten thousand times. He only hoped that Kakashi wouldn't be implicated by his mistake.
"Alright, if you can't find them, then don't bother searching." Kazuki sighed lightly, and waved his hand.
He looked at Hiruzen beside him and said, "Third Hokage, please spread the word and ask them to not make things difficult for those spies for my sake."
Kazuki's words made everyone's expressions turn subtle.
"Fourth Hokage, is that alright?" Hiruzen thought about Kazuki's strength.
If Kazuki were to control a thousand-meter Susanoo and run into those villages, they would probably feel despair, wouldn't they?
"Why not? We're not going to deal with them, they should be grateful." Kazuki said while pondering who had stolen the spy list.
"With your strength, you can obviously do it, but will doing so affect Konoha's reputation?" Hiruzen felt that Kazuki's strength was very oppressive and deterrent.
Both Kirigakure and Iwagakure had been pummeled by him, and even Kumogakure had been pummeled not long ago. Among the Four Great Nations, the only one that hadn't been pummeled by Kazuki was the Land of Wind.
However, during the Second Great Ninja War, Tsunade and Orochimaro leading the Konoha army alone were enough to tie down Sunagakure and even achieve victory in the end.
If Kazuki were to go to Sunagakure, it was likely that Sunagakure would also suffer the same fate as the other villages.
"Reputation? Various countries will definitely send spies to each other. It's just whether we are willing to investigate or not." Kazuki sneered.
"As for whether this will affect the reputation of Konoha or even the Land of Fire, it's not a few years ago anymore. If they really want to compete, Konoha still has some moves, and even if I don't act, we can still fight them."
Hiruzen was silenced by Kazuki's words.
The current Konoha was indeed not the Konoha of a decade or so ago. It was even more formidable than when Hashirama and Madara were around. After all, at that time, Hashirama was the First Hokage, and he yearned for peace, trying his best to avoid war. But Kazuki was different. If someone really provoked Konoha, he would truly start a war.
As long as Kazuki wanted to, he would definitely deliver a thunderous blow.
Konoha's weakest era was actually during the time he was Hokage.
Was he really Konoha's weakest Hokage?
"Then let's just announce it directly. Tell them to send the spies back for our sake." Tsunade waved her hand, agreeing.
"If they don't appreciate our goodwill, then we don't need to give them any leeway."
"I suspect this might have been done by Sunagakure." At this moment, Koharu said with some hesitation.
"Oh?"
Everyone looked towards Koharu, even Tobirama, as they all had confidence in Koharu's abilities.
Could it be that Sunagakure did this?
"Even if Sunagakure didn't do it, it must be Sunagakure that did it." Koharu scanned the others and said.
"This can be considered a just cause. Moreover, Ōnoki and the others should understand the consequences of offending us. Even if they are prepared, they cannot withstand Hokage-sama rushing there alone to fight. What's more, the intel that Kushina is a perfect Jinchuriki has spread throughout the Ninja World, and a lot of information about Mikoto has also leaked out. Normal ninja villages would definitely not dare to provoke us in this world."
"You think the spy who stole the list isn't a ninja from another village?" Kazuki stroked his chin and asked.
"Yes, I suspect it was one of Danzo's people." Koharu sighed at this point.
"Not long ago, Danzo was executed by us. It's not incomprehensible for those loyal to Danzo to do something."
"So, Danzo actually had quite a charismatic personality?" Kazuki mocked, feeling that Koharu had a point.
After all, for spies from other villages to become Anbu spies, the difficulty was not just ordinary great.
If it was related to Danzo, it would be understandable.
As for why Kazuki had searched Danzo's soul before and hadn't found information about these people, that was related to Danzo.
According to Danzo's personality, would he really remember each of his subordinates clearly?
For Danzo, the people of Root didn't even need names, just code names.
Even Kazuki couldn't recognize all those code-named members, so it seemed reasonable that he hadn't found all of Danzo's pawns.
If one were to truly calculate, Kazuki's responsibility also seemed significant.
Therefore, it was all Danzo's fault.
Then Danzo, you truly deserve to die!