Hanzo of the Rain Village was a ninja who appeared calm yet cunning—devious but highly cautious. In short, he was the kind of ninja who simply refused to die… Surviving his very first encounter with the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path already proved how skilled he was at staying alive, making him practically a cockroach among fragile ninjas like himself.
Of course, later on when he got ambushed and killed in his own home by someone even stronger, there was nothing he could do.
After a minor skirmish in the Land of Rice Fields, Hanzo retreated, and right after that, Haseo and others returned to Konoha along with the wounded Sakumo Hatake. Once they had crossed into the Land of Fire, the squad encountered no further danger.
Upon returning to Konoha, the team immediately sent Sakumo to Konoha Hospital, leaving two Hyuga ninja behind to explain the nature of his injuries to the medical staff. It's lucky the team got back so quickly—if they'd been any later, Sakumo would've gone straight to the crematorium. Rest assured, he'd still be completely intact when he arrived.
After finishing this matter, Haseo proceeded directly to the Hokage's office to report mission details to the Third Hokage.
Arriving at the Hokage's office, Haseo met with the Hokage without any difficulty—his missions were always high priority and extremely important, allowing him direct access to the perpetually busy Hokage.
Haseo kept his explanation as concise as possible. After listening carefully, the Third Hokage asked, "So you're saying the handover at Kumo went smoothly without any trickery from their side, but while returning, your group was intercepted by Amegakure? And the attacker was none other than Hanzo himself, the leader of Rain Village?"
"Strictly speaking, I believe Hanzo's appearance itself qualifies as Kumo's underhanded move. After all, such intelligence could only have come from either Konoha or Kumo. At a time like this, I'm naturally more inclined to suspect that this dirty work came from Kumo. Otherwise… Well, it's possible the Raikage just couldn't bear the thought of handing over such a huge sum without getting anything in return," Haseo replied.
He didn't state it outright—he was also subtly probing the Third Hokage about certain implications.
"There are absolutely no problems within the village. Your operation was essentially top secret. Only a handful of people knew about it, and all of them are definitely trustworthy… Or rather, if even those few individuals can't be trusted, then the entire village should've collapsed long ago."
The Third Hokage naturally assured him that the intel hadn't leaked from Konoha. Otherwise, leaking information would be the least of their concerns—the real issue would be enemy spies embedded among Konoha's upper ranks.
Would anyone really expose such a high-level spy for something like this? Unlikely. Judging purely on reason alone, it shouldn't have originated from Konoha.
I see your point.
Haseo accepted the Third Hokage's words.
The Hokage was only unreliable on rare occasions; most of the time, he could be trusted. Moreover, any action seriously harmful to Konoha was simply not something he would ever choose—the principle held firm across past and present.
"We have no concrete evidence regarding Cloud's actions, so I suppose we won't be able to negotiate with them about this... Even if we accuse them of leaking intelligence, they'll likely deny everything outright.
As for Amegakure, it seems their situation is quite dire, but we'll still send Konoha's ninja to interrogate them regarding the matter."
The Third Hokage couldn't help shaking his head. Amegakure was broke anyway—it was precisely why Hanzo had taken up banditry. So what could Konoha realistically do even if they pursued accountability? Force Hanzo to commit suicide?
That's easier said than done. After all, Hanzo seemed to have an incredibly strong will and tough skin.
"What about Sakumo Hatake? How is he doing?" The Hokage finally asked about Hatake's condition.
Since Sakumo had always stayed by Haseo's side, he had naturally drawn the Third Hokage's attention early on. The Hokage knew he was a capable and trustworthy ninja—actually, even if the Third hadn't thought highly of him previously, knowing now that Sakumo had engaged in a sword fight with Hanzo would definitely raise his estimation of the man.
"He's still being treated by the medical ninja, but there shouldn't be any major issues. Both external and internal injuries are easy enough to handle... All that remains now is gradual detoxification.
I'll go confirm his condition again right away."
After finishing his report, Haseo began preparing to leave the Hokage's office, but just then the Third Hokage called out again, stopping him.
"Hold on."
"Hokage-sama, is there anything else?" Haseo turned around, wearing an expression of innocent confusion.
"Anything else? There's plenty! What about the ransom funds you brought back from Cloud for retrieving Two-Tails? Five hundred fifty million ryo—you haven't given them to me yet. Have you forgotten?"
Haseo looked embarrassed as he pulled out the scroll and handed it to the Third Hokage. "How could I forget something so important? It's just—I assumed you might have forgotten, Hokage-sama, considering how many busy things you deal with daily."
The Third Hokage: "..."
He quickly waved a hand, motioning for Haseo to leave. Spending too much time with this guy could give you a migraine... Sure, the Hokage did have many responsibilities each day, but could he really forget such a massive sum? Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't descended into senility yet.
Or rather, at this moment, the Hokage was actually anticipating the arrival of these funds—the village needed money for countless purposes: constructing new office buildings, improving benefits for certain ninjas, expanding the Ninja Academy, adding training equipment for specific departments, conducting research into specific forms of Ninjutsu...
And truth be told, using Cloud's money to benefit Konoha felt absolutely wonderful for the Hokage. It was quite similar to how Haseo used Two-Tails' chakra to fuel his Wide-area Attack.
Indulgence, extravagance, luxury—it was essentially free money after all.
As Haseo left the Hokage's office building, he suddenly felt a sense of emptiness. A massive multi-billion-ryo job just slipped right through his fingers... Handling such a colossal fortune without even a single coin passing between his fingers was truly a heartbreaking experience.
When Haseo returned to Konoha Hospital, the two Hyuga ninjas were still waiting there.
Truth be told, these two actually had some integrity. They had already reported Sakumo Hatake's condition to the medical ninjas and technically should have left since they weren't from the same department—they still needed to file their mission report afterward.
But by choosing to stay, it showed they valued camaraderie; clearly, the relationships among ninja weren't entirely cold and indifferent... Compared to Haseo's earlier claim of wanting to ditch everyone and run off alone, this act of staying felt like an entirely different person.
Haseo checked on Sakumo Hatake's condition—the man was currently in the operating room, being handled like cold-cut sashimi by the medical ninjas... Apparently, after getting severely pierced by Hanzo of the Rain Village, he had some internal bleeding and needed a small operation.
Luckily, the medical ninjas assured Haseo that Sakumo Hatake's condition wasn't serious... For some reason, Haseo was especially familiar with the hospital staff, which made his communication with them especially smooth... That eased his mind. If something happened to Sakumo Hatake just because of this operation, it would be an unacceptable loss.
After making sure everything was under control, Haseo didn't stick around pointlessly like some sentimental Hyuga would and went straight to the Kagenami Base instead. He still needed to debrief his subordinates on this mission.
P.S.:
1. This is the last day of the month—please vote!
2. Qidian recently launched an "Honor March" event. I impulsively signed up for it without thinking. If you have a moment, feel free to drop a like—otherwise I'll end up looking pitiful as the only newbie surrounded by pros here.
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