When Aoba heard the words of the white-robed Anbu, he was stunned. He did not expect that the other party would find him at this time.
"Yes!"
Aoba immediately nodded. The other party was Hokage's Anbu Captain. Although he was not his immediate superior, in fact, his position was higher than his immediate superior.
"Come with me."
The Hokage's Anbu Captain looked at Aoba through the mask peephole, then immediately turned around and walked to the other side. It looked like he had specially come to find Aoba.
"Yes."
Aoba responded indifferently, and just like that, he followed the white-robed Anbu walking out of Anbu's dormitory.
After walking for almost five minutes.
Aoba followed the white-robed Anbu and came to a tree outside the dormitory.
"Take him there."
The white-robed Anbu seemed to be talking to the air. After saying that, his figure flashed and disappeared.
Just as the white-robed Anbu finished speaking, two Anbu appeared beside him.
They stared at Aoba and gestured to him.
"Okay."
Aoba nodded. The entire process was still a bit confusing. He didn't know what had happened. Everything seemed so sudden.
Aoba followed the two black-robed Anbu all the way to a hall below the Hokage Building.
This was the place where Aoba had been before. That time, it was here to screen their identity. Now, he was here to do a secret mission, but he still did not know what a secret mission was.
"You can go in."
"We won't go in."
The two ninjas nodded at Aoba. In front of them was the already opened door. It was obvious that the contents of the mission were inside.
"Okay."
Aoba responded again. With a puzzled heart, he walked in. He had no idea what kind of mission was waiting for him. Right now, he was just a little Konohagakure Intelligence Division ninja.
He did not know what kind of mission he would receive, and he did not think that he would receive any top-secret mission.
...
Aoba stepped into the door and an Anbu.
Aoba still had some impression of these Anbu. They were the Anbu that belonged to the Yamanaka Clan not long ago.
To be precise.
The people here now were all ninjas from the Yamanaka Clan.
When Aoba saw that everyone here was from Yamanaka's clan, he roughly understood why they found him.
Perhaps...
It must have something to do with what happened at Konohagakure's main entrance yesterday!
Aoba silently made a judgment in his heart, but he still pretended that he did not know anything. After all, he had the perfect alibi. This proved that he had been working in Konohagakure Intelligence Division's interrogation room all day yesterday.
Time slowly passed by.
About half an hour later.
The white-robed Anbu walked in and appeared in everyone's line of sight. After his gaze swept over everyone, he nodded to everyone.
"This time, I called everyone here because I have a secret mission to hand over to everyone!"
The white-robed Anbu said slowly. As he said this, the eyes of everyone present became much more solemn.
"The mission this time is similar to your previous missions. I believe that all of you will be able to complete it smoothly. Now that I have said everything I have to say, all of you will wait here quietly for a while. The client of this mission will be coming to see you!"
After the white-robed Anbu finished speaking, he directly turned around and left. Then, the Anbu who were guarding here also left with him.
All that was left on the scene were the ninjas of the Yamanaka Clan.
This made everyone feel strange.
Apart from Aoba, everyone felt a bit surprised. After all, they were not ordinary Yamanaka clan ninjas but from the Anbu Division.
For them.
The missions they usually did were all Anbu-related mind reading missions, so most of them were Konohagakure Intelligence Division's ninjas, and all they did were missions in Konohagakure Intelligence Division. They basically did not carry out any external missions.
Now, they actually said that they would be going to see the client. This was very new to them, Including Aoba.
They had never encountered such a thing before.
"Isn't it what I think?"
Aoba thought to himself. When he first came here, he thought it was related to the incident at Konohagakure's main entrance. Now it seemed that it was not the case. He could not help but be curious.
At this time.
Everyone present was curious, but no one said anything. They all quietly waited for the so-called client to come.
Gradually.
Time ticked by.
Another half an hour passed.
All the ninjas, including Aoba, were already waiting impatiently.
At this moment.
Heavy footsteps sounded from the entrance of this wide hall.
Someone was coming!
Everyone immediately realized this matter. They had already guessed that the person who had come here was the person they had been waiting for.
Step, step, step...
The footsteps were getting closer and closer.
It gradually entered everyone's line of sight.
"Hiss..."
When everyone saw the appearance of the person, they couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. Everyone recognized the person walking in front of them, and they had just seen him not long ago.
Shimura Danzo!
This man wearing a dark green robe walked to the front of the crowd step by step. His whole body exuded an extremely strong sense of oppression, which immediately made this place quiet down.
Danzo walked to the front of these Anbu, then stopped and looked at everyone present.
"You didn't think that the client was me!"
Danzo said in an indifferent tone. After he finished speaking, his gaze swept over every single Anbu and did not linger on anyone.
"Actually, it is not a commission. I have a very important matter that I need to coordinate with you to help me with. This matter is very important to the village. I hope you can help me."
Danzo's words were very pleasant to hear. Just a few simple words made the blood of the ninja present boil.
Many of them still wanted to climb up.
To them, Danzo could be said to be their life goal.
"This time, I won't let you help for nothing. If any of you perform particularly well, you will have the opportunity to work for me in the future. This should be considered an upgrade to your position!"
Before everyone could get out of their excitement, Danzo threw a big cake at everyone and slapped it on their heads.
"Huu..."
The ninjas took a deep breath and tried to calm down their messy emotions. They were all in an indescribable shock.
They could be promoted!
This was an opportunity that they had to grasp!
Many of them had been in Anbu Division for many years. Not everyone had the chance to touch the room for promotion. After all, the higher they climbed, the more crowded it was. If there were no chance, it would be very difficult to complete a transformation.
But...
Now, an opportunity had come!
This was something they had to grasp! Otherwise, if he continued to stay in Anbu, he might not even know when he would die!
The people present were all ninjas of the Yamanaka Clan.
They were all very clear.
Just more than half a year ago. The incident of the remnants of the old era erupted in the village. At that time, it was Danzo who called all the ninjas of the Yamanaka Clan who were among the Anbu Division.
At that time, he asked them to read the memories to find the key clues.
The specific process was still fresh in everyone's memory.
It was just that these were not important.
The thing that bothered them the most was Yamanaka Midori which they looked down on at that time.
Almost everyone here knew Yamanaka Midori. That person was pompous and would jump out to say it even if he made a little discovery. In the intelligence industry, he was particularly unstable.
According to the normal trend. The person who does this kind of the might face big trouble sooner or later.
After all, there was a high possibility that there would be mistakes in the information. If he revealed the clues before he had verified their validity, it was very likely that it would cause a certain degree of trouble for the future plans of the village.
But...
This Yamanaka Midori still said it!
After he said it, he was valued!
Now, Yamanaka Midori followed Danzo and worked at Konohagakure's special organization, Root, because he made a name for himself by making a little discovery. This greatly satisfied Danzo's suspicious characteristics. He would rather kill wrongly than let this go.
Danzo liked this type of Sensor Ninja.
As long as you provide suspicious points!
There was no need to confirm whether it was real or not!
As long as there was a little problem with that person, then it could mean that there was a problem with that person!
This was the basic logic when Danzo was dealing with the internal affairs of the village!
Because of this.
Yamanaka Midori was put in an important position!
Just when Yamanaka Midori was taken away by Danzo's people, the other Yamanaka clan ninjas gloated and felt that this was the problem of Yamanaka Midori's mouth being too loose.
But...
When those Yamanaka clan ninjas saw Yamanaka Midori again after a few months, they finally understood how well he was doing.
Now, this opportunity had come again.
No one wanted to miss this opportunity.
They all wanted to become the next Yamanaka Midori. They wanted to use this opportunity to jump up and then rise to the top. Their future was a smooth one.
For a moment.
These Yamanaka clan ninjas were eager to try, and their eyes were filled with anticipation.
Aoba did not observe the changes in other people's eyes, but after he heard Danzo's words, he understood what Danzo meant. It should be correct to guess that he was going to read the memories of Kumogakure ninjas who died at the main entrance.
However, it's just different from running over and asking everyone.
This was a different method.
He issued a mission to the Anbu Division for the Yamanaka Clan ninjas in the form of a client.
The reward for the mission was the simplest and crudest promotion.
This method directly mobilized the enthusiasm of everyone except for Aoba. It was almost foreseeable that these people would put a lot of effort into the mission later.
'Good fellow!'
Aoba never thought of it!
Now even Danzo began to use all kinds of bewitching methods!
Only...
'Why did this method look so familiar?'
Aoba immediately recalled and instantly had an answer in his heart.
'It should be him!'
This was not the style that Danzo was usually good at!
Danzo rarely had this kind of euphemistic and efficient method of mixing. Most of it was direct orders. This kind of change should have something to do with someone.
'Hari!'
The name of this person immediately appeared in Aoba's mind.
He had read Hari's memories and knew that the way Hari issued tasks to Kumogakure ninjas was this kind of temptation. He didn't threaten them because he didn't have the ability to threaten them.
Kumogakure ninjas were all rough and reckless men.
Their physical strength was very strong.
Their combat strength was also very fierce.
But most of them weren't very good in terms of thinking.
Hari uses this method to maximize their enthusiasm and achieve a certain goal.
Of course.
Aoba had seen a lot of this method.
Wasn't it just a cake!
Was there a boss in the modern world who couldn't make cakes?
This was something that could be seen everywhere!
However, through this small detail. Aoba immediately realized that Danzo should have successfully read part of Hari's memory and learned something from him.
"I really like the way you look at me!"
Danzo's gaze swept over the Yamanaka ninjas present, and he was very satisfied with their wolf-like desire to complete the mission and be promoted.
It seemed that this cake was quite successful!
Then, Danzo waved at everyone.
"Come with me!"
After saying that, Danzo turned around and walked deeper into the building.
There were many doors in this building.
When they came in, the door was only one of them.
However, the vast majority of people had never walked through other doors, and it was even difficult for them even to come here.
Following Danzo's departure.
The Yamanaka ninjas, including Aoba, followed him one after another.
After passing through the door, there was a very long corridor. This corridor was curved like a ring. From the moment they entered, they had been turning slightly to the right.
After following Danzo for a few minutes, a door appeared on the left side of the corridor.
Danzo opened the door in front of everyone.
The ninjas here were all Konohagakure ninjas. They were all people who had been searched through their memories and could be trusted. Danzo was not worried about this.
It was just a few doors.
It did not involve his core area.
After everyone followed Danzo to the side door, the temperature was slightly lower.
They were going underground!
Aoba only felt it for a moment and knew that it was the way to the underground.
After all, the first floor of the Hokage Building they enter was completely platted, and it has never been uphill.
Now, they suddenly went down.
Then, it was certain.
The place they were going to was probably the outer area of the underground area where Danzo's base was located.
There were the memories of the three Root ninjas in Aoba's head, but none of them knew this path.
Apparently, this was the road that few people knew about.
The Root was located under Konohagakure.
Just like his name...
Root!
The roots were located underground, like the roots of an old tree, which was extremely complex, with many different branches leading to different locations.
There were no less than five entrances and exits.
However.
The Root had a very obvious characteristic.
That was, all the entrances were connected to the first floor. After entering the Root, whether it was from the underground first floor to the second floor or from the second floor to the third floor, all of them had only one passage.
This design made the Root extremely convenient to manage!
According to Aoba's judgment.
Right now, they should be in the area between the first floor and Root base. They should be in a secret passage leading to the first floor, but they did not really reach the Root base.
After making a simple judgment of the location.
Aoba still followed behind Danzo, and walked forward together. In fact, he didn't know where Danzo was going to take them.
Gradually.
As time passed.
After going downhill for a short while, they arrived at a corridor.
The corridor was extremely dark.
All the light came from the faint candlelight around them.
Danzo led the group forward about 200 meters and suddenly stopped.
Under the puzzled gazes of these ninjas, he raised his left hand and lightly tapped the wall on the left.
Rumble!
The moment Danzo tapped the wall, the wall suddenly shook. The entire stone wall rose upwards, revealing a passage.
At the end of this passage was a room.
"It's here."
Danzo said to everyone in a low voice. After that, he took the lead and walked in.
The ninjas followed him one by one and arrived in this room.
In the dark room.
They could not see their fingers when they stretched out their hand.
Even these ninjas who had already adapted to the dark environment were still staring with their eyes wide open, but it was still difficult to see everything around them clearly.
Only Aoba.
His eyes could still see things in this dark room.
Now, his gaze swept across the surroundings.
There were cold iron shelves here.
It felt similar to when he first arrived at Konohagakure Intelligence Division and followed Yuta on a mission.
It could be said that...
This was the place where the corpses were stored.
There was a corpse placed on each iron shelf, and the limbs of these corpses were most likely pieced together.
The air was slightly suffused with the smell of preservatives.
It seemed that these corpses had been made into specimens.
Not only that.
Aoba could faintly smell Orochimaru's scent in this room.
'It seemed that...'
'Orochimaru had been here before.'
'However, he was not here right now.'
'It should have been in the past night that Danzo had let him deal with all the corpses here. He had already searched the useful information as much as possible and confirmed that there were no missing parts. Only then did he find them.'
'If that is the case...'
Aoba tried his best to make his speculation. He felt that the memories of these corpses should have been read before. After all, the content of Kumogakure ninja's memories was still quite big. The information that could be taken out should have been read by Danzo, so they just needed to find some special content in it.
At least...
Aoba did not see Kumogakure Advisor's corpse here.
Not only that.
He had yet to see Brei.
Of course.
Right now, he still did not know that Brei had already run out of Konohagakure and had finally died under the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Right at this moment, Danzo raised his right hand and snapped his finger.
"Snapped!"
A crisp sound rang out.
The candles around the room all shone with faint candlelight, and every candle burned up.
These candles were very short and small.
They looked like toothpicks.
Fortunately, there were many candles here, and they could barely be used together. For ninjas who lived in the dark environment all year round, they could still make do.
As the candlelight illuminated the dark room.
These ninjas could see the corpses lying on the iron shelf and could not help but gasp again.
These people were all dead!
Moreover.
From the dress of these people, they were all Kumogakure ninjas.
Everyone at the scene was an Anbu. No one was a fool. Even if they were not among the people guarding the main entrance yesterday, they vaguely knew something had happened in the village.
This was not a small matter but a big matter that might affect the situation in the village.
"Cough cough... Cough..."
At this moment.
Danzo cleared his throat.
All the attention of ninjas was drawn over.
"This is your mission."
Danzo looked at the ninjas present. His gaze lingered on everyone for a while, and then he walked over to one of the iron shelves, pointing at a corpse lying there.
"I think you have already guessed it!"
Danzo slowly opened his mouth and explained to the ninjas present. Now he understood more and more how to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm.
If it were in the past.
He would not say much about the details of these tasks.
Because this was not something these ninjas should know. After all, ninjas only needed to know what the task was, and there was no need to know why they did this task.
But...
Through some of Hari's experiences.
It made him understand one thing.
Most of the time, just saying a few words might be able to stir up everyone's enthusiasm, thus achieving a better goal achieving better results.
"These corpses are not our Konohagakure ninjas. They are all Kumogakure ninjas. They are all from Kumogakure's envoy group. When they came to Konohagakure yesterday, there was an accident. Your mission is to find out the cause of the accident here."
Danzo slowly said.
He briefly told the things that happened at Konohagakure's main entrance to these Yamanaka clan ninjas.
In fact.
Even if Danzo didn't say anything about it, he couldn't hide it either.
These people would learn about the contents through various channels and finally obtain the corresponding information.
However.
Danzo simply said a few words, but he could directly win over the hearts of these ninjas in a simple and crude way.
It made them feel that Danzo-sama was trusting them.
Thus, they were full of energy.
"Yes!"
These ninjas immediately responded. Everyone's eyes were flashing with eagerness. At this time, they could not wait to start the mission quickly.
When Danzo saw the eyes of these Yamanaka clan ninjas, he was very satisfied. Then he nodded.
"I am very satisfied with your performance. I hope that when you carry out the mission, don't let me down!"
Danzo's voice sounded again. His tone suddenly became serious, pulling back the excitement in everyone's hearts.
He had to mobilize their enthusiasm, but he could not let his subordinates float. He had to control their enthusiasm. Only then would he be able to maximize his subordinates to complete the mission.
Of course.
Danzo had still learned some lessons from Hari's experience.
He had to take a closer look.
Among the people who were carrying out the mission.
Were there any people who seemed to be carrying out other missions?
Gasshi.
He was the most typical example!
Danzo had already accepted Hari as his aide, and whenever he had the time, he would communicate with Hari.
Correspondingly.
Danzo promised to help Hari find the person who gave Gasshi the mission.
Because of this.
Danzo wanted to investigate these Kumogakure ninjas.
Not only did he want to investigate Kumogakure, but he also wanted to investigate Kirigakure.
"Before you carry out the mission."
"I will remind you a little more about the things you need to pay attention to..."
"Maybe it will help you!"
Danzo's voice became much more serious, and he looked even more serious. The place he was talking about now was the key point of this mission.
"You have to dig into the memories of these Kumogakure ninjas as much as possible and find if they have any other secret missions on them!"
"It is best to find the person who gave them the secret mission and what the secret mission they are going to carry out is!"
"You have to break the fixed and habitual thinking. You have to know that the mission on them is not only issued by Kumogakure but also by others!"
"If you can find it..."
"I believe you all know what you will get!"
After Danzo finished setting up the mission requirements, he did not forget to draw a cake to increase their motivation to carry out the mission.
"Yes!"
When these ninjas heard Danzo's words, they once again responded passionately. Everyone already wanted to start quickly. They even saw what they looked like after they were promoted.
Aoba stood there quietly.
He looked at Danzo, who was not far away from him.
He had already understood what Danzo was looking for from the mission that Danzo had issued.
It seems...
Danzo had already entered the trap he had set up.
He thought that Kumogakure's actions were nothing more than this master's issued mission.
Now...
They were going to find this master!