"The village that contacted those people has yet to be identified. A week ago, Ebizō captured a shinobi who had infiltrated Sunagakure. He was a missing-nin from Kirigakure."
Seated across from Danzō, Chiyo revealed everything she had learned so far.
"Did the interrogation uncover anything else?" Danzō asked. The information was far too limited to draw any firm conclusions.
Chiyo silently shook her head.
"Hand him over to me. I'll have the Yamanaka shinobi stationed at the Konoha base interrogate him."
Danzō knew that members of the Yamanaka clan had been assigned to the garrison. They were responsible for intelligence gathering, investigation, and extracting information from prisoners.
"He's dead."
"Dead?"
"There was a seal placed inside his brain. It activated during the interrogation."
Danzō frowned.
The enemy had clearly prepared for the possibility that the infiltrator might be captured. Their caution was troubling, but he was equally dissatisfied with Sunagakure's intelligence division.
Had no one examined the prisoner before attempting to interrogate him? How had they failed to detect a seal hidden inside his mind?
"Chiyo, how do you intend to handle this?"
"A purge." Chiyo's voice remained calm, but a cold killing intent seeped into the room. "I'll use this incident to remove every last one of them."
Her patience with the opposing factions inside Sunagakure had clearly reached its limit. Those factions had caused trouble for her time and again, and Chiyo no longer intended to tolerate them.
"Will that threaten your position in the village?"
Danzō supported her decision, but eliminating shinobi from her own village could easily create unrest among those beneath her.
Had this been the Chiyo and Sunagakure of the past, Danzō would have gladly watched them tear themselves apart. A purge would have weakened Sunagakure's military strength while undermining Chiyo's authority. Konoha would have benefited no matter how it ended.
But the situation was different now.
Chiyo was already halfway to becoming one of their allies. Danzō could no longer view her actions solely through the eyes of an enemy. He had to consider what would benefit both sides.
Chiyo gave him a meaningful look, satisfied by the concern hidden within his question.
The fact that Danzō had asked about her position proved that he no longer regarded her as nothing more than a temporary partner.
That was precisely the attitude Chiyo wanted from him.
She had already accepted the reality of the current shinobi world.
With Kizaru standing at its head, Konoha had risen far above the other hidden villages.
Sunagakure, meanwhile, had already been crippled. In a shinobi world that grew more chaotic with each passing year, merely surviving had become difficult, let alone restoring the village to its former strength.
If there was no longer any chance of reversing the situation, then it was better to exchange the Land of Wind for a future that would protect her family and the shinobi of Sunagakure.
The daimyō and nobles of the Land of Wind were nothing more than pampered fools. They cared only for their own comfort, lacked courage, and possessed no desire to improve their nation.
Rather than continuing to serve such miserly incompetents, Chiyo would rather lead Sunagakure toward a wealthy and powerful patron capable of offering them a future.
More importantly, she had become interested in the world Danzō had described—a unified world governed by shinobi.
Shinobi replacing the daimyō and nobles and ruling the nations themselves...
It was a daring idea, but also an undeniably tempting one.
If Danzō's vision ever became reality, shinobi would no longer have to risk their lives on missions merely to scrape together enough money to survive. They would become the new ruling class.
Chiyo had never entertained such thoughts in the past.
However, after everything she had experienced over the last few years—especially the return of her son and daughter-in-law, as well as the rise of the Bandai Chamber of Commerce, of which they owned half—she had realized that missions were not the only way for shinobi to earn wealth.
That was why Chiyo had chosen to align herself with Danzō—or, more accurately, with Kizaru, who stood behind him.
Decades ago, the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, had established the hidden-village system. He gathered the once-scattered shinobi clans under a single banner, greatly raising the official standing of shinobi and taking military authority away from the daimyō and nobles.
Now, the appearance of a new God of Shinobi, Kizaru, might signal the beginning of another age.
An age in which the daimyō and nobles disappeared entirely, leaving the world in the hands of shinobi.
From the narrow perspective of their individual nations, Chiyo, Danzō, and Kizaru were enemies.
But if she looked beyond national borders, all of them were shinobi. They belonged to the same profession and, ultimately, stood on the same side.
It was only after reaching that conclusion that Chiyo had been able to betray the Land of Wind and form an alliance with Danzō without hesitation.
"Ever since Konoha stationed a garrison here, the daimyō and nobles have convinced themselves that the country is safe," Chiyo said. "Over the last three years, they've steadily reduced Sunagakure's military funding because they believe we're no longer useful."
A mocking smile appeared on her face.
"The shinobi in the village are furious. Most of them now stand with me and are willing to support whatever decision I make."
Her ridicule was directed entirely at the daimyō and nobles.
Even Danzō was stunned by the actions of the Land of Wind's ruling class.
What kind of reasoning was that?
Sunagakure had declined so severely that it was forced to accept a Konoha garrison, yet the daimyō and nobles felt no humiliation whatsoever.
Instead, they believed that Konoha's presence guaranteed their safety. They had decided that Sunagakure was useless and therefore saw no problem with cutting its military budget even further.
The nobles of the Land of Wind had truly surpassed Danzō's expectations.
A faint trace of sympathy entered his gaze as he looked at Chiyo.
"Those nobles are fools who care only about their own pleasure," Danzō said. "They're parasites clinging to the shinobi and feeding on their blood."
Chiyo nodded in complete agreement. She was quite satisfied with Danzō's description of them.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Just as Chiyo opened her mouth to respond, someone knocked on the door of Danzō's residence.
The two exchanged a glance.
Chiyo remained seated and made no move, leaving the response to Danzō.
Danzō said nothing. He merely turned his gaze toward Aburame Ryōma, who stood behind him as part of his guard.
Understanding his leader's intention, Ryōma and another Root shinobi walked toward the entrance.
Ryōma opened the door only halfway, using his body to block the visitor's view of the room.
The person standing outside was none other than Katō Dan, the shinobi in charge of the Konoha garrison.
"An unknown number of Sunagakure shinobi have appeared outside the base," Dan reported anxiously. "I need to speak with Elder Danzō."
"Wait outside."
With his expression remaining completely impassive, Ryōma closed the door despite Dan's obvious urgency.
He quickly returned to Danzō's side. After briefly glancing at Chiyo, he bent down and prepared to whisper the report into Danzō's ear.
"Say it openly."
To demonstrate his sincerity toward Chiyo, Danzō raised a hand and stopped him.
"An unknown number of Sunagakure shinobi have gathered outside the base. Their intentions are unknown."
Neither Danzō nor Chiyo showed any visible reaction, but both felt a faint surge of excitement.
"It seems those people could no longer restrain themselves," Chiyo said.
"Are you certain no one discovered your movements?" Danzō asked cautiously.
"They didn't," Chiyo answered with confidence.
Standing beside Danzō, Ryōma added, "No one followed her here."
Danzō nodded and rose from his seat.
A confident smile crossed his face as he looked at Chiyo.
"We cannot allow them to discover that you're here. I'll go outside and assess the situation. Wait for an opportunity to leave unnoticed."
Chiyo nodded in understanding.
After giving those instructions, Danzō turned and left the residence with his two subordinates.
"Have everyone prepare for battle," he ordered calmly as they moved through the corridor.
"I've already made the arrangements," Katō Dan replied at once.
By the time their brief exchange ended, they had already stepped out of the building and entered the base's open courtyard.
Every Konoha shinobi stationed at the garrison had assembled there.
Their reactions varied. Some remained calm, others struggled to hide their fear, while a few wore expressions of unmistakable excitement.
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