"If you hadn't dragged me away, I would have killed them all by myself!"
In the Land of Fire's border, Kanpū, who had finally escaped from the pursuit of the Kumogakure's Shinobi troops with difficulty, became incarnation is the braggart king, and said that killing hundreds of Kumogakure's Shinobi is nothing difficult.
Doto said: "Now that the situation in Shinobi World has calmed down, it is better to not do things to cause trouble to the village."
Gaku also said: "And, there are at least ten Jonin among those Kumogakure's Shinobi. If we are entangled by them, we will be in big troubles."
Kanpū crossed his arms on his chest and said: "It's because you two senpai stopped me, otherwise, hmph!"
The three people have been together for more than a month and are very familiar with each other. After returning to the village noisily all the way, they immediately rushed to Hokage Tower to report the mission details to Minato.
After learning what happened, Minato frowned: "According to what you said, the disappearance of the villagers in Yugakure is related to Yugakure's Anbu…"
This makes Minato has a flash of inspiration, and suddenly thought of another thing.
After the previous contribution reward was issued, Minato compared the lists and found that there are more than two hundred Shinobi who did not go to battlefield. Among these Shinobi was a very young genius, who was suspected of being a Root's Shinobi.
After that, Minato asked the Anbu to monitor him, and collected information about this genius from every source possible, but the only thing that could be confirmed was his age. As for other names, parents, and so on, all are fake!
The one who can do this except for Anbu, is Root!
Interestingly, when Minato looked through some files and documents from many years ago, he discovered a missing child case!
It just so happened that the age of this talented young man matched those missing children!
At first, Minato thought it was just a coincidence. After all, there were dozens of missing children. And no matter how insane Danzo is, he couldn't do such a thing, right?
But at this time, after listening to what Yugakure's Anbu did, a thought flashed through Minato's mind. He felt that he had to re-examine Root and Danzo, who is behind the Root.
After pondering for a while, Minato remembered that Kanpū's group of three were still standing, so he quickly said with a smile: "Okay, this is the end of the mission. You can go back and rest for a few days."
"Yes!"
The three people acknowledge and disappear quickly.
Kanpū said goodbye to Doto and Gaku outside Hokage Tower, and walked straight towards home.
At the same time, Minato pulled out a stack of files from the desk drawer, and then his figure flickered and instantly disappeared from the office.
Speeding all the way, Minato soon arrived at the door of Hiruzen's house.
"Oya, isn't this Yondaime?" When Biwako saw Minato coming to the door, she smiled and invited him in.
"Forgive me for coming without announcement. This time, I came here to talk to Sandaime about some work matters." Minato said with a slight smile.
"Come in quickly."
Biwako looked at Minato very gently, "Hiruzen has always been praising you in my ears, Yondaime."
Talking all the way to the meditation room, Biwako stopped chatting, and said with a smile, "He is there, you can go in by yourself, Yondaime."
"Thank you!"
Minato bowed and thanked her, then he knocked on the door.
Hiruzen closed his eyes tightly and sat under a huge scroll with a word 'quiet'. Hearing the movement from outside, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Come in, Yondaime."
Pushing open the sliding door, Minato smiled and walked in, then turned around and pulled the sliding door closed.
"Although Sandaime has stepped down from the Hokage's position, you're still serving as an advisor, but I didn't expect your life would be so leisurely." Minato walked to Hiruzen with a wry smile, and then sat down on his knees.
"Hahaha, are you envious of me?"
Hiruzen opened his eyes, shook his head and laughed, and then said, "Okay, let's not gossip. Yondaime, seeing you came here specially to find me this time, there must be something, right?"
Minato's face turned serious, and then he passed the file in his hand to Hiruzen, and said: "It's about the disappearance of children many years ago."
Hiruzen's hand froze slightly when he received the files, and then he quickly recovered, accepting the file as if nothing had happened.
Although all of this happened in an instant, Minato still has clear sight of everything, but he didn't say anything at all.
Hiruzen briefly looked at the files, then put it down, and said: "There is indeed such a thing. Although I sent Anbu to investigate, there has been no news. Yondaime, since you mentioned this, do you have a clue? "
Minato said: "It just happened to be a similar thing."
After that, Minato told Hiruzen about Kanpū and the others' mission in Yugakure.
"The disappearance of the villagers of Yugakure is because Yugakure's Anbu is involved, so no matter how Yugakure investigates, it can't be found out. I think the same is true for this case of missing children in Konoha." Minato solemnly said.
"Are you suspicious of Anbu?" Hiruzen's eyes drooped slightly.
Minato did not answer, but continued: "Sandaime, you asked me to compare the contribution list with the Shinobi's list in the village some time ago, and I found that many Shinobis who were doing nothing in the village. And one is them is of the same age as this batch of missing children."
"What did you say?" Hiruzen's complexion changed, and he suddenly raised his head and looked at Minato in disbelief.
Minato narrowed his eyes slightly and said: "It seems that Sandaime already knew about the whereabouts of those missing children."
Hiruzen was stunned, and then he sighed with a complicated look on his face. It was only after that he sighed deeply and said.
"Even if I don't tell you about this, you will definitely know about it in the future."
Although the dark history of the Wood Release's experiment has been sealed by Hiruzen, Minato is now the Hokage, and the order that the history of being sealed will definitely appear in front of him, so it's useless to conceal it.
Hiruzen closed his eyes and slowly spoke: "After the First Shinobi World War, Konoha's strength was weakened. In order to strengthen the village's combat power as soon as possible, and to prevent Kyubi from threatening the safety of the village, Danzo and I conducted the experiment for Wood Release."
"Wood Release? Shodaime-sama's Kekkei Genkai, Wood Release?"
Minato immediately reacted, and then a thought flashed through his mind, and his face immediately changed, "Don't tell me…"
Hiruzen nodded: "We extracted Shodaime-sama's cells, and then called volunteers to carry out cell transplantation in an attempt to get them inherit Shodaime-sama's Wood Release, but unfortunately, those people died and none of them survived. After that, I sealed up all the experimental records and documents."
"Danzo didn't stop?" Minato asked.
Hiruzen frowned slightly and said: "At that time, I sent Orochimaru to serve as Danzo's follower, and entered the Root. One of the purposes was to know if Danzo had stopped. And the information that Orochimaru passed back was… Danzo really stopped."
Minato didn't interrupt and listened quietly.
"At that time, I trusted Orochimaru very much, so I didn't doubt it anymore. It wasn't until after the Battle of Kikyo Pass two years ago that I discovered that Orochimaru and Danzo had an unusually close relationship, so I doubted the authenticity of the information that Orochimaru sent back back then, so I asked the Anbu to investigate further."
Hiruzen pointed to the document on the ground, and said, "Anbu's investigation revealed many signs, and this case of missing children is one of them. As for the others, you can ask Eagle to show them to you when you return to Hokage Tower later."
Minato took a deep breath and said: "In other words, Danzo's purpose of kidnapping this group of children is to carry out the Shodaime-sama's cell transplantation?"
"It shouldn't be wrong, but unfortunately, I noticed it too late. At that time, I thought all the children were dead, so I didn't check it anymore."
Hiruzen showed struggled expression, "I originally wanted to dismiss Danzo from his position, but there is no evidence that Danzo was responsible for the case of missing children, and we are still at Shinobi World War at that time. Danzo is an important consultant and also controlled the Root, so with the absence of evidence, I cannot dispose of Danzo at will. Yondaime, do you understand?"
Minato frowned, thinking about it for a while, and solemnly said: "Since it happened in the past, I can't make any comments on things like this, but if something like this happens again, I will definitely not tolerate it!"
Hiruzen smiled and said: "Actually, I have wanted to dismiss Danzo from his position many times, but grew up together as partners and teammates, coupled with the complex situation of Shinobi World, so in the end, Danzo was not dismissed, and many irreparable mistakes were made. Yondaime, you have to learn from me."
"I understand, Sandaime."
Minato nodded, and then said with a smile, "Then, let's talk about the Shinobi who may have survived the Wood Release's experiment."
...
When Kanpū returned to the mansion, he found that the door was wide open, and a series of cheerful laughter came from inside. Kanpū's eyes lit up upon hearing this, 'Is Dad expanding his business for me again?'
'This Dad is definitely my own!'
Stepping into the gate and walking through the bluestone path, Kanpū quickly changed his shoes on the wooden corridor, then walked into the reception room inside. As soon as he approached, Kanpū saw two Shinobi dressed as Anbu stood outside the door.
'Eh… Anbu?'
'No, this fancy mask is… Root!'
Kanpū's eyes narrowed suddenly and he became serious. Then, he listened carefully and found that among the laughter and conversation coming from inside, one was Hoshino, and the other... was Shimura Danzo!
'Why did this old fox come to my house?'
Kanpū thoughts spun, 'Is he here for me? No, there is no way that Danzo will know the news of my return to the village today!'
'Maybe he's here for Dad? But Dad is already crippled.'
'There's no way he can come here to have fun, right?'
Kanpū speculated about Danzo's motives with the greatest malice he can thought of, and then he had a flash of inspiration!
'Gekko Tavern?!'
'Although crayfish farming has become popular now, thanks to the 100% market share in the first six months, Gekko Tavern still firmly occupies half of Konoha's crayfish market even after facing the impact of other taverns. Plus the income from sake and other dishes, the income of Gekko Tavern is still very impressive!'
'It just so happens that the funds of Danzo's Root was cut by more than half, and then the various small gambling halls where he got his money were also closed by Minato…'
'Hmph, hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph…'
'What that bastard is thinking? Now he has the idea of targeting my Gekko Clan?'
Kanpū's face gradually became grim.