Chapter 96: Hiruzen Sarutobi: Marvelous! Marvelous!
At this moment, in the Hokage Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was reviewing the files of this year's Ninja Academy students.
Meanwhile, in front of the desk, a Ninja was earnestly reporting something.
If the students of Class 1 were here, they would recognize that this person was their Homeroom Teacher.
"...Hokage-sama, based on my observations throughout the day, Kakashi Hatake's talent is ahead of the rest by a landslide."
After listening to the Homeroom Teacher's report, Hiruzen Sarutobi habitually offered some words of encouragement and then dismissed him.
[Kakashi, huh? From the Hatake Clan, Sakumo's son, and his mother was a Ninja of the Chinoike Clan. It's not surprising he has such talent.]
While Hiruzen Sarutobi was smoking his pipe and lost in thought.
Bang!
The office door was kicked open violently.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't show the slightest panic because he was already used to it and knew exactly who it was.
Because every year during the enrollment season, at this time, that man would come.
And he always started with the same words.
"Hiruzen! Root..."
"Root is short-staffed again, right!"
Danzo Shimura: "..."
[No, you said what I was going to say?]
"Yes, so Hiruzen, you've already prepared the manpower for me, right?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
This time, it was Hiruzen Sarutobi's turn to be speechless.
So he decided to change the subject.
"How is the intelligence gathering on the Hidden Sand Village going?"
Danzo Shimura: "..."
Looking at the silent Danzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed.
"Sigh~, Danzo, it's been over a year and you still haven't made any progress."
"You're making things very difficult for me."
Danzo Shimura: "..."
"Who says I haven't made any progress? Just before the end of last year, Root received a report from the Hidden Sand Village."
"Oh~, what did the report say? Did you discover any of the Hidden Sand Village's secrets?"
Hearing Danzo Shimura mention news from the Hidden Sand Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly perked up and began questioning Danzo.
"Yes! Based on the intelligence sent back by our spies, we have reached a conclusion..."
"What conclusion? Speak up!"
Seeing that Danzo Shimura was still being cryptic, Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly stood up and asked.
"We concluded... that the Hidden Sand Village's..."
"The Hidden Sand Village's what? Is it the ages of the elders? Or did you see the Third Kazekage's Summoned Beast?"
"The Hidden Sand Village's defenses are very tight!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "???"
"The Hidden Sand Village's defenses are very tight?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi suspected he had misheard, so he repeated what he had just been told.
"Yes! The Hidden Sand Village's defenses are very tight!"
"Haha! Danzo, are you telling me your spy sent back a report at the beginning of the year, and the content was just to tell you—the Hidden Sand Village's defenses are very tight!"
"Not exactly."
"Phew~" Hearing Danzo's denial, Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long breath.
"Hahaha, I knew it, Danzo. Who would be so bored as to specifically write a report saying the Hidden Sand's defenses are tight! Hahaha, you must have been teasing this old man just now, right?"
Danzo Shimura: "..."
Looking at Danzo Shimura's expressionless face, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew it wasn't a joke.
He immediately sat back down and said seriously.
"So what exactly was written in that report?"
"She insulted this old man's entire family!"
"Where is the original report?"
"I destroyed it with a Wind Release."
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
"So you're saying, there was a report from the Hidden Sand Village at the start of the year, the content was an insult to your entire family, and from that, your Root analyzed that the Hidden Sand Village's defenses are very tight, is that right?"
"Yes."
Hearing Danzo Shimura's affirmative response.
Hiruzen Sarutobi started laughing.
Laughing out of sheer anger.
"Danzo! You've really disappointed this old man!"
"Hiruzen! You can't blame me for this; it's all because of the lack of manpower!"
Facing Hiruzen Sarutobi's questioning, Danzo Shimura decisively chose to strike first.
"???"
"Your Root is almost catching up to my Anbu, and you still think you're short-staffed?"
"Hiruzen! You know that Root needs to infiltrate the entire Ninja World. How can this many people be enough!"
"So 'tight defenses' is the result of your infiltration?"
"Hiruzen, think carefully! I suspect that report was actually swapped by the people in the Hidden Sand Village. Moreover, the Hidden Sand Village even knows Root's decryption methods."
Otherwise, how could that report not contain a single piece of useful information? Therefore, if we want to get intelligence from the Hidden Sand Village, we must rebuild a new intelligence network there, which requires a lot of manpower."
Hearing what Danzo Shimura said, Hiruzen Sarutobi also calmed down.
True.
If a spy has the ability to send out a report, it's impossible not to include some useful information.
There's only one scenario where this would happen.
It could only be that Root's entire intelligence network in the Hidden Sand Village has been compromised, and even the decryption methods are fully known. Otherwise, it would be impossible for the intelligence personnel to fail to include any news.
Of course, there was another possibility.
And that was that the intelligence personnel really hated Danzo Shimura to death.
Sending that report was just to curse at Danzo.
But was that possible? He still understood Danzo. Although he followed the philosophy that Ninjas are tools, tools are still maintained daily.
Danzo wasn't some black-hearted capitalist.
"So how many people do you need this time?"
Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi was finally willing to yield.
Danzo Shimura hurriedly stepped forward and held up one finger in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes.
"Ten? Fine, you'll..."
"No, not ten."
"Not ten! You want a hundred! I'm telling you..."
"Not a hundred!"
Bang!
Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed the desk hard, then stood up and glared at Danzo Shimura.
"Danzo! Are you trying to start a rebellion? You want a thousand people for just one infiltration mission! Are you going there to infiltrate or to start a war?"
Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi roar at him, Danzo Shimura felt very wronged.
He only held up one finger!
"Hiruzen! Is that the kind of person I am in your eyes? I only held up one finger!"
"So what if you held up one finger! Does holding up one finger mean you only want one person?"
"Yes! It really is one person!"
Looking at Danzo Shimura, who was nodding to himself without saying anything, Hiruzen Sarutobi also thought for a long time before understanding the meaning.
Then he sat back down.
"Sigh! If you wanted one person, why didn't you say so earlier? Look at how this got out of hand!"
Seeing Danzo Shimura still staring at him from the side, Hiruzen Sarutobi tightened his Hokage robe and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Tell me, who do you want?"
Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi start talking about business, Danzo Shimura also reined in his emotions and hurriedly stepped forward to speak.
As for the misunderstanding, the darkness of shinobi felt it was just a bit of wind and frost; as long as he could achieve his goal, nothing else mattered!
"Hiruzen! I've thought of an excellent idea that will definitely get us the intelligence from the Hidden Sand Village."
"Oh~ what idea?"
Hearing what Danzo Shimura said, Hiruzen Sarutobi also became interested.
"You just need to hand Kakashi Hatake over to me, let me train him. Then we'll have him go back under the guise of visiting relatives. By the time he returns, won't all that intelligence be in our hands?"
"Marvelous Marvelous Marvelous!"