"Come in." The Third Hokage spoke, beckoning Team 6 minus Shiki to enter his office.
From his grave expression, it was clear he was, at the very least, not completely unaware of the situation.
"Yamanaka Inori, based on the urgency of the situation, the official report can come later. I need a detailed account of all events." Hiruzen spoke.
"You two as well, I need you to give me a full account from your perspectives as well." He added, talking to Shinka and Mei.
The trio proceeded to retell all occurrences in their mission with Inori and Shinka tactfully not mentioning the Root's plan that was going on in the background due to Mei's presence.
The Third Hokage sighed with stress.
Tsunade's appearance in this story already made it clear it could not be contained, nor could the narrative be manipulated as it was already set.
"Very well. This information is to be considered top secret and not to be shared with anyone outside this room. Understood." Hiruzen commanded.
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" Inori and Mei gravely responded, the mute Shinka also solemnly nodded, accepting the command, making the Third nod in appreciation.
"This mission will be bumped up to A Rank for the entire Team 6." Hiruzen added.
"Now, Uchiha Mei, Aburame Shinka. You two are dismissed for the time being. I have more to discuss with your sensei." He told the two girls.
Shinka nodded, a little disappointed that doubt still plagued her but Mei seemed more hesitant.
"Is something bothering you Uchiha Mei?" Hiruzen gently inquired.
As always, he usually lacked harshness when dealing with the younger generation . . . When he was speaking directly to them at least. Who knew what happened at other times . . .
"Apologies Hokage-sama. I was wondering about my teammate that is not present, Ryumon Shiki." The bespectacled girl spoke up.
"Yes . . . A most unfortunate sacrifice . . . I have yet to speak with his guardian, I wanted to get the full details first." Hiruzen patiently replied.
Pure nonsense of course.
He had yet to speak with Shiki's guardian because he was dreading her wrath.
In fact, he was thankful she had yet to come and find him but even then, the Hokage knew it was better for him to go face the music of his own volition, he would be sure to bring his sacrificial punching bag close though.
'After all, someone needs to pay for your screw up Danzo and it's not going to be me.' Hiruzen thought.
Outwardly however, he maintained his kindly yet suitably somber aura and expression.
"Do not worry. I will make sure Shiki gets the justice he deserves." He declared.
'Within reason.' The wily, still middle aged man added in his mind.
As for Mei, she had to take that for now, even if the flame of tangled emotion still burned bright within her heart, the bespectacled girl could find no proper outlet, stewing in her ragin feelings as she left the Hokage Building.
Neither she nor Shinka spoke much despite leaving together. The former, still shaken by the situation and the latter still shaken by her hand in causing it.
Back at the Hokage office however, Inori and Hiruzen began the real discussion on the matter at hand.
"So, what do you think?" The Third Hokage gravely asked.
The very air in the room felt heavy upon the shoulders of the two.
"We should just come clean and hope for the best." Inori honestly replied.
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.
"A rather uncharacteristic conclusion coming from you Inori." He commented.
"Were you rattled by the loss of your student?" The suspicion was evident.
"I don't deny it but as you have heard, your student was present." The Yamanaka pointed out.
"By now, Mito-sama is aware of everything that went down. For Konoha's sake, even if we must take responsibility, we cannot let this conflict bleed over into the village."
"Mito-sama loves Konoha and had a hand in its founding personally. Although we might be able to escape repercussions now by hiding behind the face of the village, the long term damage to the relationship between Konoha and the Uzumaki would be devastating." She concluded.
Hiruzen could only sigh again with frustration.
'You really screwed up this time Danzo.' He thought.
For The Third, Danzo's actions in setting up the whole test were not wrong, what he was angry about was the fact his old friend had been outplayed by Kumo.
'If Tsunade hadn' been there . . . So long as the Uchiha girl was silenced, everything would be under control but now . . . I guess I must go and visit Mito-sama to face the music.' Hiruzen internally cringed at the thought of what he might face.
Casually raising a hand in a signal, an Anbu shinobi appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Inform Danzo to come and see me." The Third commanded.
"Hokage-sama. While you were in meeting, Danzo-sama left the village on a mission." The Anbu operative dutifully informed, making his Hokage's face twitch.
'Well played old friend, well played.' Hiruzen thought with grit teeth while Inori expertly kept her face from making the weird expression it wanted to.
*
Elsewhere, more drama was heating up.
Shinka was a Root trained Aburame so there was no trouble on that front but would Mei's father, Uchiha Fukutsu, head of the Uchiha clan, not find anything strange?
The answer was obvious.
Acting like the disinterested father he wasn't, Fukutsu casually asked Mei about her mission as if he didn't really think much of it.
In reality, he was aware the mission was supposed to be the first taste of real blood his daughter would be getting so he made sure to be around when she returned.
One could imagine his surprise when his daughter informed him the Hokage had declared the mission details top secret and thus, she was not allowed to reveal anything.
"Alright Mei. Get up and follow me to a place." Fukutsu vaguely declared.
Despite not even knowing about Shiki's supposed death, the clan head could smell the conspiracy surrounding this mission his daughter was a part of.
'Sarutobi Hiruzen . . . If you put my daughter in danger by using her for your little political schemes . . .'
"Where are we going?" A confused Mei asked, observing the grave expression on her father's face.
"We're going to meet a very important person. Be sure to stay on your best behavior." Fukutsu informed.
His daughter was still a bit confused but nodded regardless.
*
Back at the Uzumaki residence . . .
"Ho? Looks like we'll have interesting company very soon." Mito suddenly spoke.
"Should I call Shiki over?" Tsunade asked her grandmother.
"No need." The redhead replied.
"He will join us at an opportune moment, should it come." She added before her body started changing.
The young striking and sharp features began to show the wear of time, the unnatural vibrancy of her red hair began to fade, her supple, unblemished white skin wrinkled and lost most of its shine in what seemed to be several decades of sudden aging.
'Truly marvelous.' Tsunade admired the technique.
She, as a rising star in medical ninjutsu, steadily heading towards becoming the best in the world, could not find any trace of artificialness in her grandmother's state despite knowing it was fake.
But her medical curiosity had to wait. It was time to confront her sensei, something which the Senju princess was emotionally dreading.
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -