"Before we begin, I have a question," Koharu said, looking at Sakumo. "Sakumo, the village assigned you a mission to gather intelligence. Yet, the Mist sent us a letter accusing you of attempting to assassinate the Third Mizukage. What do you have to say about that?"
"I did not attempt to assassinate the Mizukage," Sakumo replied firmly. "During the infiltration, I accidentally ran into the Third Mizukage and had no choice but to engage. I then fled the Mist Village as quickly as I could."
"Then..."
"Enough with the questions! Let the man finish first!" Tsunade interrupted, leaping to her feet. "Let him finish, then ask whatever you want. Seriously, acting all high and mighty just to show you have authority."
"I..." Koharu hadn't expected Tsunade to openly oppose her. Before she could retort, the Third Hokage intervened.
"Enough. Save your questions for after Sakumo has finished," the Hokage said, trying to ease the tension.
Sakumo knew all too well about the tension between Tsunade and the Council of Elders, but he hadn't expected their relationship to be this strained. Not that he minded-he wasn't fond of being badgered by Koharu either. Couldn't she wait until he was done before grilling him?
With the Third Hokage stepping in, both Tsunade and Koharu fell silent. Sakumo then began his report. "I took on the village's mission and infiltrated the Mist Village. I managed to gather a significant amount of important intel. The Third Mizukage appears to be physically weakened, with a fragile mental state-prone to fits of rage and violence."
"While in hiding, I learned that the Mizukage had seemingly recovered. I decided to infiltrate the Mizukage's office to gather more critical intel. But I never expected..."
Sakumo paused, gritting his teeth, clearly frustrated at the memory.
The Third Hokage noticed that Sakumo Hatake seemed a bit embarrassed to speak, so he encouraged him gently:
"Sakumo, just speak frankly, there's no need to feel burdened."
Hearing this, Sakumo Hatake decided to continue:
"I managed to evade the Anbu members and successfully infiltrated the Mizukage's office building, but unexpectedly, I bumped into the Third Mizukage in the restroom."
"..."
What a coincidence...
The Third Hokage was momentarily stunned.
Everyone else's expressions mirrored his.
"The Third Mizukage used to be the bodyguard of the First Mizukage, and he's a powerful shinobi. When I ran into him, I knew that if I was exposed, a battle was inevitable, so I decided to attack first."
"But what I didn't expect was that he would pull up his pants and run away."
"Cough, cough!!!"