When Haseo's pixelated figure appeared in the wilderness—earning him the mocking title of "Number One Mourner" in the ninja world—it was already nighttime, and he and his team had returned to Konoha under the cover of darkness.
As they entered the village, despite being late, the bright red hair of the Uzumaki clan still caught the attention of Konoha's guard ninja. However, with Mito Uzumaki leading the group and Anbu members accompanying them, the squad passed through without any trouble.
No one would ever suspect that Mito Uzumaki could do anything harmful to the village. In many ways, she was even more trusted than the Third Hokage. So with her backing, no one had any problem letting other Uzumaki clan members into the village.
Besides, their relationship had always been extremely close. Part of Konoha's outer barrier system was originally designed and set up with help from the Uzumaki clan, so for most purposes, the two villages were treated as one.
After entering, Mito led her clansmen away and temporarily settled them at her home. Meanwhile, the Anbu went off to report their mission. As for Haseo, he headed straight to the Third Hokage to report on the outcome of the operation.
Haseo made his way directly to the Hokage's office building. Though it was quite late, the Third Hokage was likely still working overtime.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the office, the old man was still buried in paperwork. Upon noticing Haseo enter through the knocked door, he immediately put down his brush and waved off the surrounding Anbu guards.
Even though this was just a routine report, some things still needed to be kept confidential.
All in all, the mission to the Land of Whirlpools had gone smoothly. The relocation of the Uzumaki clan was confirmed, and the first batch of Uzumaki ninja had been brought back. This meant "Kagenami" now had reinforcements, and preparations for secret missions were underway.
As for the encounter with White Zetsu, he couldn't go into details. Haseo simply mentioned it in passing.
After all, the accompanying Anbu would provide much fuller reports later, so there was no need for Haseo to repeat everything.
"Very well," said the Third Hokage. "Both the Uzumaki relocation and Kagenami's covert operations have officially begun—and I must say, the start looks promising." He gave Haseo a meaningful glance before continuing, eyes flicking to the scroll slung across his back. "Next, I'll look for a suitable opportunity to reveal Kagenami's existence to the village. It may come sooner than you think."
Haseo gave a slight nod. He didn't really care about the timing of the organization's public debut—that was best left to the Hokage's judgment. What mattered more to him was something else entirely.
"Lord Third Hokage," he said, "now that Kagenami has enough members, we need our own base. Our missions are secretive—even classified. We can't operate alongside regular ninja or even mix with Anbu activities. So… Lord Hokage, I suggest you allocate us a plot of land. A large one. Preferably within the third defensive perimeter of Konoha."
The Third Hokage glanced at Haseo, thinking to himself that Konoha might be called a village, but in reality, it was more of a town. Still, its scale was quite limited—where would the third defensive perimeter come from? Plus, Konoha had already been well-planned; where could there possibly be such an enormous empty space without requiring demolition?
"I've considered this already," said the Third Hokage. "The activity zone has already been set aside for you—it's both secure and spacious enough. You may move in directly."
As he spoke, the Third Hokage flipped through some documents on his desk, pulled out a file folder, and handed it to Haseo.
Haseo accepted it, opened it on the spot, and took out the document inside—a map clearly marking which area would become the exclusive domain of "Kagenami" from now on.
Hmm. It really was within the third defensive perimeter. It wasn't far from the village center—except for one detail: it was an underground chamber.
Well then, Haseo stuffed the map back into the folder, accepting the arrangement made by the Third Hokage. Considering Kagenami's nature, he'd already guessed it would be hidden underground like Root and certain Anbu facilities. After all, the deeper something is buried, the more secret and shadowy it becomes—this was Konoha's tradition.
A basement isn't so bad; there's no real issue with that. Besides, considering Kagenami's future operations, the territory assigned by the Third Hokage was sufficiently large. That sufficed.
Haseo left the Third Hokage's office with the map, fairly satisfied. Then afterward, he returned home.
He hadn't returned for a few days, yet everything remained surprisingly tidy, as though someone had been there to clean.
Haseo lay down for one night's rest before gathering all members of Kagenami the next morning. One after another, they entered a house situated along an ordinary street, then descended through a concealed passage beneath the house that led deep into Konoha's underground.
To avoid suspicion, everyone naturally scattered once inside, while members of the Uzumaki clan even used [Transformation Jutsu] to conceal their fiery red hair and remain anonymous.
Underneath Konoha lay a vast underground space, still under construction—as the system continued to grow. Compared to the surface, where shinobi and civilians lived side by side in what seemed like a prosperous town, the real reason Konoha was called a Hidden Village lay precisely here beneath.
This was the part that was "hidden."
After descending about twenty meters via successive staircases, a massive square-shaped underground chamber finally revealed itself. Fifty meters in depth, and laterally spanning roughly half the size of a parking lot, its sheer darkness alone was enough to cause astonishment.
At that moment, Haseo couldn't help but think back to Ryuchi Cave, the ancient training ground buried deep underground.
Except for a wide central platform, the area surrounding it was densely supported by scaffolding-like pillars—both horizontal beams and vertical columns.
Above them stretched a towering ceiling, and beneath the platform were a series of partitioned chambers, each designed for specific functions.
Haseo had previously entered Konoha's underground before—but this time was different. This was his territory.
With a degree of curiosity, the group spent quite some time exploring this underground space before finally stopping in a room on the lower level.
Haseo removed the large scroll he was carrying and placed it on the only table available. From now on, this place would not only serve as "Kagenami's" base (a covert organization) but also become the Uzumaki clan's secret archive within this space.
Haseo patted the scroll with his hand to draw everyone's attention before finally speaking up. "Everyone, the rest is up to you. Right now, this hidden space is merely superficial — it takes Uzumaki's secret arts to truly make it hidden and secure — defensive barriers, warning barriers, anti-detection sealing arrays, all kinds of disguises, various traps, and so on. As many techniques as you know, that's how much you can set up here.
This base belongs to all of us; we all need to work together to build and improve it."
The young Uzumaki members looked at each other, then nodded all at once… They really liked Haseo's way of putting it.
Young people are like that — you feel especially connected once you've built a confidential base together. After all, who doesn't love having their own secret base? Deep down, it was that childish romanticism — the special bond shared by those who built something from scratch: "Back then, we were just a handful of people with barely enough gear to get started…"
However, once the Uzumaki clan got to work, Haseo quickly noticed a problem he hadn't thought of before… These people used up a ton of paper when they worked — *scroll* paper, not toilet paper.
When setting up various barriers and calculating different techniques, they needed all sorts of scrolls, big and small. Scrolls were ultimately unlike regular paper — they were ninja tools. At minimum, they had to be durable, resistant to wear and corrosion, even capable of channeling chakra.
So, Haseo regretted leaving the Third Hokage's office in such a rush yesterday without applying for extra funds…
But no worries — better late than never. If the Third Hokage refused to approve the budget, he'd just reallocate existing funds from other projects — specifically those originally meant for landscaping in the Valley of the End. What did he care about flashy village projects when his own mission was way more important?
Haseo wrote down each problem as it came to him. At that moment, Sakumo Hatake scratched his head and walked over beside him, asking, "Haseo, what should I do?"
Haseo was in charge of overall planning, the Uzumaki were handling the actual work, but the Hatake could only watch helplessly, feeling like a freeloader with no sense of involvement whatsoever, so he grew a bit anxious.
This guy was actually getting upset because he couldn't work? Haseo glanced at the chakra-infused tanto behind Sakumo and casually replied, "You're good with sword techniques, right? Then go find a wall to carve slogans into — something promoting our corporate culture."
Sakumo: "…."
Firstly, he didn't know what slogans to write;
Secondly, he specialized in sword techniques, not calligraphy;
And thirdly, what the hell kind of company was Kagenami anyway?
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