Renjiro stared at the old man. He noted the subtle tension in Hiruzen's shoulders, the way the former Hokage's gaze seemed to linger on him a moment too long, the almost imperceptible tightening of his jaw. Something was wrong. Hiruzen was guarded towards him, and Renjiro could read the signs clearly; the slight stiffness in his posture, the way his eyes kept returning to Renjiro's face as if searching for something, the careful neutrality that felt more like a shield than genuine calm.
"Lord Third," Renjiro said, his voice flat but carrying a note of curiosity. "Is something wrong? You seem… guarded."
Hiruzen's expression flickered, the mask of neutrality cracking just slightly. "Guarded?" he repeated, his voice carefully neutral. "I'm simply concerned about the state of the village, Renjiro. We've just been attacked."
Renjiro studied him for a moment longer, his Sharingan still active, reading the subtle tells that the former Hokage couldn't fully suppress. "I understand that," he said slowly. "But there's something else. You're watching me like I'm a suspect in something."
Minato stepped in smoothly, his voice carrying a note of reassurance. "Renjiro, you're exhausted. You've just survived a battle that would have killed most shinobi. Your mind is probably overanalysing everything."
Renjiro's jaw tightened. "Maybe," he conceded. "But I'd still like to know what's going on."
"What's going on," Hiruzen said, his voice carrying the weight of his authority, "is that we've just had to defend the village from an attack by unknown assailants. And I'm trying to understand how all of this fits together—the Chūnin Exams, the Suna infiltrators, the Akatsuki contract, and now this."
He forced himself to relax, consciously unclenching his jaw and softening his posture. He decided not to make an issue of it.
Minato noticed the tense mood and realised he needed to do something. Before the conversation could become suspicious or confrontational, Minato stepped in, his voice smooth and explanatory.
"Renjiro had to learn Hiraishin as part of developing and maintaining Konoha's new barrier system," Minato said, his tone casual but carrying weight. "His understanding of spatial formulas and teleportation was necessary for the barrier's architecture. The barrier requires spatial anchors that can be adjusted and reinforced in real-time; traditional sealing techniques weren't sufficient for the complexity we needed."
Hiruzen connected the dots; the unusual spatial formulas in the barrier, Renjiro's sealing expertise, and his recent mastery of Hiraishin. The explanation was plausible, even elegant; it tied Renjiro's unusual ability directly to his work on the village's defences.
Renjiro silently filed away Minato's explanation.
"What happened in Konoha while I was gone?" Renjiro asked, his voice cutting through the tension. "Was the village attack connected to the Akatsuki operation?"
Minato and Hiruzen exchanged a brief glance before Minato spoke. His voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of concern beneath the surface.
The Fourth Hokage explained what had happened in Konoha while Renjiro was away. "Shortly after my return, we were attacked by hundreds of strange mechanised puppets. They attacked the barrier simultaneously across multiple sectors, attempting to overwhelm the defensive network. Their movements were coordinated, and they appeared to have no visible puppeteer."
Renjiro's eyes narrowed. "Puppets?"
"Yes," Hiruzen confirmed. "They were individually weaker than elite shinobi, but dangerous because of their numbers and coordination. Minato and I personally led the defence."
"And they tested multiple points of the barrier," Renjiro said, his voice carrying a note of suspicion. "That's not random. That's intelligence gathering."
"That's what we concluded," Minato agreed. "Whoever sent them wanted to see how our defences would react."
Renjiro became visibly interested when he heard the word puppets. His mind immediately went back to the Chūnin Exams and the Suna infiltrators who had attacked Konoha shinobi.
"Could the puppets have been connected to Sunagakure?" he asked. "Suna has a well-known puppetry tradition, and rogue Suna shinobi were already involved in the recent incidents surrounding the exams."
Hiruzen frowned. "Suna? You think they were involved?"
"I think it's a possibility," Renjiro said. "The simultaneous attacks could indicate a continuation of the same operation. But the intelligence teams searched the battlefield and found no obvious puppeteer. No chakra trail, no identifiable shinobi directing the assault. The puppets appeared to operate through some kind of independent mechanism."
Minato explained that the intelligence teams had searched the battlefield afterwards and found no obvious puppeteer controlling the machines. There was no clear chakra trail leading back to Suna, no identifiable shinobi found directing the assault, and the puppets appeared to operate through some kind of independent mechanism.
Then another thought was triggered. Renjiro wondered whether this could somehow involve Sasori, one of the most dangerous puppeteers alive. The mechanical bodies were advanced enough to resemble the kind of work associated with him. But Renjiro quickly remembered the timeline; Sasori had not joined the Akatsuki yet, so the Akatsuki connection didn't make sense through Sasori.
He reminded himself that Pain had explicitly denied Akatsuki involvement in the Konoha barrier attack, but he refused to take Nagato's statement at face value. Pain had every reason to mix truth with lies. Renjiro concluded that the Akatsuki may genuinely not have conducted the attack, but that didn't mean Nagato was telling him everything. The fact that the two attacks happened simultaneously was too convenient to ignore.
Minato noticed Renjiro becoming increasingly contemplative and understood that he was trying to connect the attacks himself. He reassured Renjiro that Konoha's intelligence division was already investigating, and that the destroyed puppets had been collected and catalogued. Specialists were examining their construction, chakra mechanisms, materials, weapon systems, and any markings or manufacturing signatures. The goal was to determine whether they could be connected to Suna, another village, a rogue shinobi, or an entirely unknown organisation. Renjiro accepted the explanation but remained uneasy.
Hiruzen reasserted the gravity of the situation, emphasising that regardless of who built the puppets, the central fact remained; someone had attacked Konoha itself. He pointed out that this wasn't an isolated border skirmish; someone had deliberately tested the village's defences while Konoha's leadership was divided. Hiruzen stated that this couldn't simply be dismissed until they knew who was responsible and why.
Renjiro agreed, his response more subdued than usual because he recognised the larger pattern forming. Internally, he connected the Chūnin Exams, the Suna infiltrators, Minato's forced return, his own isolation in Lightning Country, the Akatsuki contract, the Konoha barrier assault, and the unknown puppets. He realised someone may be manipulating events from behind the scenes, although he still lacked enough information to identify the architect.
Renjiro suddenly remembered another piece of intelligence he had obtained during the delegation's journey. He turned towards Minato and told him that he had investigated the civilian genin who had been brought along to Kumo: Sora. He revealed that Sora wasn't merely an ordinary civilian genin; he was secretly an undercover Uzumaki.
Minato's reaction was immediate but not surprised. He exhaled heavily, almost as if this was a problem he had been hoping wouldn't resurface. Renjiro noticed the reaction, confused by the lack of surprise.
"You knew?" Renjiro asked, his voice carrying the weight of his realisation.
"I did," Minato admitted. "I've known about Sora's identity for some time."
Renjiro's expression hardened slightly.
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