Ino returned to the prison and found that Buggy had already escaped with a group of prisoners, so she followed their tracks.
She didn't show up for the first two days; it wasn't until the third day, when the prisoners were about to leave the Land of Fire, that she appeared before Buggy and Morino Idate, feigning a chance encounter.
"Your face looks a bit familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?" Ino asked.
Morino Idate glanced at Ino's Konoha forehead protector but said nothing.
"The way you walk, the way you hold your Kunai—it all proves one thing: you are a Ninja from Konoha Village, a Rogue Ninja!" Ino declared, transforming into a detective.
"I'm not! I'm just—"
"Just what?" Ino didn't expect an answer. While she couldn't catch a Rogue Ninja like Orochimaru, a small fry like this was easy pickings.
Without even using Ninjutsu, she defeated Morino Idate in two moves.
"Come back to the Village with me, and let Morino Ibiki interrogate you thoroughly—"
Before she could finish, the other party exclaimed in surprise: "My brother is still alive?"
Meanwhile, in the capital of the Land of Fire.
The Third Hokage, accompanied by Kakashi and Shikaku as his guards, came to see the Daimyo.
The Daimyo, who usually acted foolish, was now filled with anger, and even more so, fear.
Without saying much, he led the three to see Tan Go's corpse.
They were Ninja, not coroners. What could they discern from a single, fatal stab wound?
What was important was the Ninja's testimony.
Tan Go knew Danzo, but he did not.
He could only roughly describe the enemy's attire based on his observation from a distance, emphasizing the massive Wind Release Ninjutsu at the scene. Finally, he added, "...Lord Tan Go knew the enemy; he called him Danzo. They only exchanged two sentences before Danzo killed Lord Tan Go."
The three Konoha Ninja all found the situation incredibly troublesome.
They weren't worried about the Daimyo ambushing them with five hundred axemen; they wouldn't fear five thousand ordinary people, let alone five hundred.
They just felt the matter was extremely tricky.
The Third Hokage immediately refuted it; Konoha could not take the blame for this.
"This should be a clumsy setup, intended to alienate the Daimyo from the Ninja Village. Danzo is... is innocent."
He felt disgusted with himself when he said Danzo was innocent.
The Daimyo suppressed his anger and fear, trying to maintain his usual composure. He tapped the table in front of him with his folding fan: "Where is Danzo? Why isn't he here?"
I wish I knew where Danzo was!
The Third Hokage braced himself and replied, "Danzo encountered some problems with his Ninjutsu training and is currently recuperating in the Village."
He decided that if the Daimyo insisted on seeing him, he would find someone to impersonate Danzo using the Transformation Technique.
The Daimyo remained silent, and an unusual quiet filled the air.
The Third Hokage tried to steer the conversation back on track: "I can arrange for Ninja from the Yamanaka Clan to examine the body. Many times, bodies don't lie."
Ninja from the Yamanaka Clan? Aren't they still Ninja from your Village! What could they find out?
The Daimyo knew that no conclusion would be reached today. Konoha Village would never admit it, even if it killed them. He could only back down. Over the years, he had backed down countless times, and today was just another instance.
"No need. Tan Go died suddenly. Let's leave it at that." He stood up and left directly.
The Third Hokage, Kakashi, and Shikaku stood rooted to the spot, their expressions grave. The three remained silent for a long time.
They didn't talk at all on the way back. Upon returning to the Village, they summoned Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu, and the five of them discussed the matter.
Kakashi remained silent, pretending to be just background scenery.
Upon hearing that Danzo had killed Tan Go, Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu's first reaction was, "Oh? Has that guy finally lost his patience?"
Tan Go's hostility towards Ninja was no secret. To a group of Ninja constantly gathering intelligence, his intentions were quite obvious.
Hearing that Danzo had acted against Tan Go, the two Advisors were not surprised at all; instead, they found it perfectly natural.
The Third Hokage puffed on his cigarette, saying nothing.
Homura Mitokado carefully questioned Shikaku: Had any evidence been found at the scene? Besides a testimony from someone who was quite far away, was there any direct physical evidence? Upon hearing that there was none, the old man was relieved. No direct evidence was fine. While Ninja did have an unwritten rule against harming political figures, as long as there was no direct evidence, it was fine.
You say it is, so it is? Just have any Ninja accuse him, and that's enough to convict Danzo of murder? Don't joke around.
Utatane Koharu's thoughts were quite Ninja-like. She believed this incident was significant but not overly so: "Hiruzen, since the person is already dead, and the Daimyo doesn't mind, let's let the matter rest. Tan Go was merely a retainer of the Daimyo. Such sycophants are everywhere. We can send someone to attend the funeral and then promise to continue investigating the matter. I think that's sufficient."
Her implicit message was clear: Who was Tan Go? To put it nicely, he was a grand minister; to put it bluntly, he was merely a dog of the Daimyo. Not to mention that Danzo might not have killed him; even if Danzo did, so what? Did they expect Danzo to pay with his life for the Daimyo's dog?
The Third Hokage thought further than her. The Third Hokage believed that the relationship between the Daimyo and the Ninja Village was spiraling into an abyss, but what could he do?
Even Ino, the transmigrator, had firmly sided with the Ninja. Could the Third Hokage betray his class, betray his Village?
He pondered for a moment, then issued orders: "Shikaku, you will attend Tan Go's funeral. Kakashi, you will lead the Anbu to search for Danzo's whereabouts. Inform this old man once you find him."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
A high-ranking official who could participate in Daimyo meetings thus "died suddenly" in a muddled fashion.
The blame fell squarely on Danzo's head.
The Daimyo, Konoha, and even the casual observer Orochimaru all believed Danzo did it.
Danzo learned of this news from the newspaper.
He had known about the Hidden Sound Village incident from start to finish and was currently leading Root Ninja to ambush Orochimaru on the inevitable path from Konoha back to the Hidden Sound Village.
Danzo's plan was that Orochimaru's attack on the Third Hokage would likely succeed, and the Third Hokage would not be far from death.
Orochimaru's killing of the Third Hokage would certainly come at a significant cost to him. Taking advantage of his severe injuries and return to the Village for recuperation, the Root Ninja would swarm him, with a high probability of capturing or killing this Rogue Ninja.
At that time, Danzo would return to Konoha Village with immense achievements, and he didn't believe anyone would still obstruct his path to becoming the Fifth Hokage.
He had now set up a dragnet on the road, waiting for that snake to take the bait.
When he had nothing to do, Danzo practiced calligraphy and read newspapers. The news of Tan Go's "sudden death" was something he read in the newspaper.
Danzo had no thoughts on the matter. The two hardliners were indeed at odds. Tan Go was dead, and he had no intention of investigating the true culprit. What did it have to do with him? On the contrary, he thought Tan Go's death was good, excellent. Why didn't that dog die sooner?! He didn't know who killed him, but it was truly gratifying!
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