Danzo snorted and said, "I said, my subordinates in all four bases were killed. Do you think an external enemy can locate the exact 4 out of all the hidden bases and kill Root ninjas without raising any suspicions at all?"
Homura added, "I didn't rule out an internal hand in the incident. But blaming someone without any evidence is pointless. Though the signs here point towards Kakashi, Kakashi is someone who knows a thousand jutsus. Why would he use his signature jutsu? Even if he was forced to, why would he leave such evidence behind? He could have just taken the body with him or changed the nature of the injury to fool us.
Instead, everything is precisely set up to blame Kakashi. If anything, it looks like someone tried to set him up to cause an argument between you and Hiruzen."
Danzo finally calmed down. Or rather, he was always calm but had only just shown it. His attention was focused on Hiruzen all the time. He didn't see any flaw in Hiruzen's expressions. He sighed internally and thought, 'Looks like it isn't him after all. However, there is no other clue… Whoever it was, they did a damn good job. Even if Hiruzen is innocent, I can't take this lying down. Otherwise, the Root will really be finished!'
Seeing that Danzo had finally stopped pretending to be angry, Hiruzen said, "I'll say it again, Danzo. This incident has nothing to do with me. If you want, you can cross-check Kakashi's mission as well. For now, look for evidence. I'll dispatch 4 Anbu squads to help you out in this regard. Once all evidence is gathered, we will meet in my office."
Homura and Koharu agreed with Hiruzen's decision while Danzo stayed silent. Hiruzen and his guards left. He quickly dispatched four Anbu squads who specialized in investigation to investigate this matter. As for the other three, they stayed to look over the investigation.
Though Hiruzen and Danzo's conflict had settled for the time being, all four of them were still left with a big question. Who was the one behind this incident? The matter was very serious.
If it was done by outside forces, then it was a huge lapse in Konoha defenses! Someone could enter the village without being detected, search the bases without raising any suspicion and kill 15 Root ninjas in one go. The other possibility was the existence of an exceptional spy or a traitor inside Konoha. No matter what it was, they needed to solve the situation before something worse happened.
Not a single one of them considered the possibility that this was done merely as a retaliation for a political play. Like every other village, deaths due to political conflicts, though rare, happened in Konoha as well. However, it was always Root eliminating the ones creating trouble for Danzo or Hiruzen. There had never been any incident where someone else had taken the initiative to eliminate Root ninjas without Root ninjas attacking first.
For the next few hours, the investigations continued. However, just like their initial investigation, they came up empty-handed. The only new information they received was from the autopsy of the dead Root ninjas. However, there wasn't any useful information in that data either.
The four of them gathered in Hiruzen's office in the evening. Danzo snorted while looking at Hiruzen with displeasure, "The job has been done too cleanly. There isn't any information for us to use."
Everyone understood that Danzo was blaming Hiruzen. However, all 3 understood that Danzo had no other choice. They didn't bother pacifying him once again. They stayed quietly in the room while thinking for a while. Unfortunately, none of them could come up with any reasonable explanation.
Koharu sighed and muttered, "There is just too little information. From what we know, we can only say that a group or a single person who is an expert in Lightning Release and is a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster was involved. We could lay the blame on Kumogakure, but there is no proof."
Hiruzen nodded and added, "Even if there was proof against them, retaliating won't be easy. More importantly, it'll be a huge danger if the culprit is still inside the village. Very few ninjas in the village will be able to resist an attack from them."
Koharu agreed and said, "We need to increase the security of the village. We need to deploy all forces to find out whether the culprits are still in the village and how they were able to enter and leave undetected. Fuinjutsu Grandmasters will have to be deployed to find them if they are hiding with the help of a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster."
Hiruzen nodded. Danzo said, "If they are still in the village, then it'll mean that they are confident of staying hidden from our methods. Even though we should do it, nothing will come from it. I have already sent Root ninjas to check the barrier around the village."
Homura, who was quiet until then, suddenly said, "I have a feeling that something is off about this matter. A lot doesn't make sense."
It immediately attracted everyone's attention. They all had the same feeling as well but it wasn't something they could act on. Homura added, "I feel like we have overlooked some important aspect, but no matter how hard I think, I can't see anything we might have ignored. I feel that we need to hear the perspective of someone else. It might help us see something that we might have missed."
The room fell silent for a few seconds. Soon, everyone silently agreed with Homura's suggestion. After half a minute, Hiruzen looked towards his guards and said, "Call Shikaku and Fujin here."
Immediately, two Anbu Guards disappeared from the room. The three elders were surprised. Danzo thought, 'Suzuki Fujin? Didn't Katsuhiro say that he was missing? Has he returned?'
Meanwhile, Koharu asked, "I can understand Shikaku, but why Suzuki Fujin?"
Hiruzen answered, "The boy has interesting takes on important matters. You already heard his recommendations for the Academy. He might surprise us. Regardless, there is no harm."
Koharu thought for a bit before nodding. There was indeed no harm. Instead, it provided them with an opportunity to test Fujin.
A minute later, Fujin's bell rang. Since he hadn't noticed much commotion the entire day apart from irregular movements by Anbu and Root, Fujin had gone back to training. Fujin immediately activated his chakra field. Surprise appeared on his face as he thought, 'Hiruzen's Anbu Guard? They shouldn't have linked the event to me, or else a single Guard wouldn't have come. What does he want?'
He dispelled his clones and went up. As soon as he opened the door, the Anbu Guard said, "Lord Hokage has called you. Come with me right away."
Fujin nodded and followed him to Hiruzen's office. By the time he reached, Shikaku had already arrived at the office. He looked at Fujin and thought, 'As I guessed, something big must have happened. Root and Anbu have been restless all day. I wonder what it is.'
The Anbu Guards closed the door and activated all the seals. Hiruzen said, "Something terrible happened last night."
He filled in Fujin and Shikaku about the killings. Surprise could be seen on both their faces. However, both immediately became serious as Hiruzen said, "We brainstormed for a long time but haven't come up with anything substantial. What do you think about the situation?"
Both Shikaku and Fujin fell into thought. Shikaku was actually thinking about what the situation could be. On the other hand, Fujin cursed internally, 'What the hell? They called me to analyze and speculate on the crime I committed? What the hell do I say?'
Fujin never expected that Hiruzen would ask him for his opinion. He expected the Elders, maybe Shikaku and perhaps a few clan leaders to work on this matter. So, he hadn't thought of an answer. His mind quickly began thinking of what to say and who to blame.
Suddenly, his eyes landed on Danzo as he thought, 'Now that I think about it, if Danzo plays this well, he could try and coerce Hiruzen into getting some of his old subordinates back as compensation to stop blaming him and Kakashi. Though it is unlikely that Hiruzen would agree as the accusations are absurd, I'll take this opportunity to add more oil to the fire. Hehehe, I wonder how he would react once he hears my reply.'
A devious plan immediately formed in Fujin's mind. The more he thought about it, the more he loved his interpretation of the situation. Danzo's bad situation was about to get far worse!
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