Sakumo Hatake was somewhat understandable — once bitten by a snake, he'd been fearful of ropes for a decade. His heart had been shattered, and turning it around wouldn't be easy. If Tsunade herself hadn't stepped up, it was entirely possible Sakumo wouldn't have even been willing to leave the village, let alone fight on the battlefield.
However, Nara Shikashige's behavior left Takuya baffled. Fear of being implicated, seriously? The Nara clan was firmly in the Hokage's camp, so why would they fear getting caught in some whirlpool of turmoil? Ridiculous. It was obvious the clan's laziness had simply kicked in.
The news of Sunagakure's heavy losses and their desire for peace talks reached Konoha quickly. Thanks to the messenger hawks from the Intelligence Division, it only took a few hours for the news to travel back.
In Konoha, within the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage, who had been away for quite some time, was finally back in the office where he had spent so many years.
After reaching agreements with the Daimyō on various supplies, resources, and financial support, the Third Hokage returned to Konoha in haste. While in the Daimyō's residence, it was impossible to receive updates promptly.
Having been away from Konoha for so long, the Third Hokage was eager to return. As soon as he was back, he took his seat in the Hokage's office. Upon his return, Tsunade also immediately handed over authority back to him.
However, before the Third Hokage even had a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, the Elders' Council came knocking. Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were highly displeased with Tsunade's decision to secretly allow Kushina to leave the village for the frontlines.
Unfortunately for them, with the Third Hokage absent, they had no one to complain to and had to hold their frustration in. But now that the Third Hokage was back, the two elders felt like they had found their footing again. They immediately dropped everything to storm into the Hokage's office.
"What?!"
Upon learning that Kushina had left the village for the frontlines, the Third Hokage was completely taken aback.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Tsunade, I need an explanation," the Third Hokage said darkly, his face showing his displeasure. Allowing Kushina to leave the village had been his bottom line. But to his surprise, that bottom line had been crossed in his absence.
"An explanation? What explanation?" Tsunade continued sorting through the documents on her desk, not even bothering to look up. "The frontlines needed reinforcements, and Kushina was the best choice. Are you saying Kushina isn't capable of protecting herself?"
"Tsunade!!" Koharu Utatane couldn't hold back anymore. She nearly leaped to her feet, pointing an accusatory finger at Tsunade.
"The Jinchuriki is of great importance! You've constantly indulged her, but even while she was in the village, enemies managed to infiltrate and cause trouble. Now that she's gone, she'll definitely be targeted. If the Nine-Tails goes berserk, who will be responsible?"
These insufferable old fools! Tsunade thought. While the Third Hokage was away, they hadn't dared to make a peep. But now that he was back, they were all bluster and noise.
Finally looking up, Tsunade fixed Koharu with a cold glare. Her voice was filled with authority.
"If anything happens to Kushina, I'll take responsibility. Are you satisfied with that answer?"
"Tsunade," Homura Mitokado chimed in, "Regardless, allowing Kushina to leave without proper approval was reckless. It's dangerous."
"Hold on!" Tsunade interrupted angrily, pulling out a document and throwing it onto the desk. "If you two elders have time to worry about Kushina, maybe you should worry about yourselves instead. Can you please explain to me where the Finance Department's funds have disappeared to?"
There were major issues with the Finance Department — Tsunade had long known this. But even she had not anticipated the sheer scale of the problems there. The deeper she dug, the worse it got: vast amounts of money simply unaccounted for.
She had agreed with the Third Hokage to let bygones be bygones, on the condition that the Elders' Council didn't cause trouble for her. But it seemed that as soon as the Third Hokage was back, they couldn't resist.
If that was the case, then why should she hold back? They wanted to talk about Kushina? Fine, they could talk about her after something actually happened to her. For now, let's settle the Finance Department's accounts.
"Funds?" Koharu Utatane, who had been fuming, suddenly paused. Even Homura Mitokado hadn't expected Tsunade to bring this up.
The Third Hokage opened the document, giving it a careful read. After a moment, he looked up.
"Tsunade, stop messing around. These funds were personally approved by me."
The Third Hokage felt like Tsunade was intentionally stirring up trouble by digging up old issues. He had already discussed this with her — they had agreed to let the past go. Bringing it up now was like she was deliberately undermining him.
"And what about the supplies?" Tsunade wasn't interested in sparing the Third Hokage's feelings. Letting bygones be bygones was conditional: she wouldn't tolerate anyone giving her trouble.
Slamming her hand on the table, Tsunade demanded loudly, "These funds were for medical supplies. But upon investigating the logistics division's inventory records, there was no matching entry for those supplies. There's no way the logistics division could make such an error. So where did those funds go?"
Damn it! Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado's expressions changed; they were suddenly on the defensive. A bad feeling swept over them as they remembered certain past actions.
The Third Hokage's brows furrowed. Now even he was sensing something was wrong. It seemed that his two old companions might have gotten involved in something he was unaware of.
The funds had been allocated, yet the corresponding supplies had never made it to the inventory — that only meant the money had disappeared somewhere along the way. The people in charge of purchasing back then? The Elder Council.
It couldn't be... The Third Hokage thought of one person: Danzo.
Koharu and Homura might have craved power and helped their own clans, but they would never blatantly betray the village. If they weren't directly responsible, then someone else must have been.
Who else in Konoha had the audacity for this kind of move? It didn't take much imagination to figure it out: Danzo, the "Shadow Hokage."
The expansion of ROOT, as well as his never-ending research projects, required astronomical funds. And since the Third Hokage would never approve that much money for ROOT, Danzo had found other means, taking advantage of Koharu and Homura.
The Third Hokage's expression darkened. Danzo, Danzo, always Danzo. How many times had he done things behind my back that harmed the village?
BANG! Before the Third Hokage could even speak, Tsunade slapped the desk, her voice laced with anger.
"The funds are just a small problem. Who gave you the authority to insert your own people into the ANBU? The ANBU is directly under the Hokage's command. Since when did the Elder Council get to decide anything about it? Or is it that you're the real power behind the scenes, running this village?"
That accusation was no small matter. If proven, the consequences for the elders wouldn't be any better than what Danzo had faced.
During the Third Hokage's absence, Tsunade had done a lot, including looking into old accounts and cleaning up ANBU.
Good grief. Not to mention external postings, even within the village itself, there were quite a few traitors. Danzo and the Elder Council had both tried to infiltrate ANBU, inserting their own loyalists who, on the surface, appeared to answer to the Hokage but were actually beholden to them.
If Tsunade hadn't secretly sought out the Yamanaka clan leader to interrogate those loyal to Danzo, she wouldn't have discovered just how compromised ANBU had become.
The terrifying thing was that the infiltration happened after the last ANBU purge. That purge had made such a splash, and yet it had only provided cover for deeper infiltration.
How long was I away from Konoha? Why does it feel like everything's fallen apart since I left?
"What the hell is going on?" the Third Hokage demanded, his voice filled with frustration.
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Next Bonus: 700 -> 1100 power stone
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(P)(S): If you're interested, you can read up to chapter 450+ at Patreon com/ Emik01.
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