Now, they only awaited Tsunade's command to begin a thorough investigation of the two clans!
Homura slumped onto the ground, his face pale and ash-gray.
Koharu also lost her former sharpness, her eyes filled with fear and resentment.
An Anbu kneeled on one knee before Tsunade:
"Lady Tsunade, the Anbu are in position and ready to begin the search at any time."
Tsunade glanced at the two on the ground and waved her hand:
"Move out immediately!"
"Yes!"
Outside the compounds of the two clans, the crowd of onlookers grew larger.
Squeezing outside the cordon, they stood on their tiptoes and craned their necks, trying to catch a glimpse of the situation inside the two clan compounds.
Whispers and murmurs rose and fell in waves.
"It's starting, it's starting! The Anbu have gone in!"
"So many Anbu, looks like they are playing for keeps!"
"They should have investigated them long ago! Back then, their greed was simply too unsightly!"
Koharu could finally contain herself no longer.
She grabbed the edge of Tsunade's clothes, tears streaming down her old face:
"Tsunade, we are meritorious heroes of the Hidden Leaf!"
"Before the Second Hokage passed away, he entrusted the Hidden Leaf to us. We have painstakingly managed it for decades. Even if we have no merit, we have at least labored! You cannot treat us like this!"
Tsunade looked down at her, a flash of disgust crossing her eyes:
"Meritorious heroes? You dare call yourselves heroes?"
"The heroes are the shinobi who shed blood on the front lines, the martyrs who sacrificed themselves to protect the village."
"And you? You are nothing but parasites sucking blood from the Hidden Leaf!"
With a flick of her robe, she shook off Koharu's hand.
Koharu fell back onto the ground, covering her face and weeping.
Time passed minute by minute.
From initial pleading, to subsequent silence, and finally to complete despair, Homura and Koharu's expressions grew increasingly bleak.
Their faces became more and more ash-gray.
They knew that this time, there was no escape.
Half a day passed.
The Anbu walked back into the office, holding a thick stack of ledger books and inventory lists in his hands.
His expression was solemn, his eyes filled with shock.
Evidently, the results of the investigation far exceeded his imagination.
"Lady Tsunade, we have the preliminary results of the investigation."
Tsunade took the ledgers and flipped them open, her pupils shrinking instantly.
"The Mitokado clan, in addition to their normal income, has 10.8 billion Ryo in unaccounted assets."
"The Anbu questioned them multiple times, but the members of the Mitokado clan were unable to explain the source of these assets."
She flipped to the next page, her voice growing even colder:
"The Utatane clan has 11.3 billion Ryo in unaccounted assets."
Tsunade was utterly shocked.
She knew there was corruption among the Hidden Leaf high council, but she never expected them to be this greedy!
Homura slumped on the ground, shivering violently, unable to utter a single word.
Koharu, however, was still making a deathbed struggle.
"Tsunade, a shinobi's assets are not always completely clean!"
"When shinobi execute missions, they sometimes obtain extra income: captured spoils of war, bonuses given privately by clients, extra money from the black market... these are all common occurrences!"
"The fact that these assets have unidentified sources does not prove that we embezzled them!"
Tsunade gritted her teeth, staring at this stubborn old woman who refused to admit her guilt.
She took a deep breath, suppressing her anger, and said coldly:
"Fine, I will make you yield!"
She turned to the Anbu:
"Go invite Clan Head Inoichi Yamanaka."
Koharu's face turned deathly pale.
She naturally knew the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques could extract all memories from a person's mind, leaving no secrets hidden.
The Anbu took the order and departed.
Before long, the door was pushed open, and Inoichi Yamanaka walked in.
He was dressed in casual clothes, wearing a leisurely expression as if he were "just passing by."
Feigning ignorance, he inquired:
"Lady Tsunade, what is the matter for which you have summoned me?"
Tsunade explained the situation briefly and to the point.
Inoichi Yamanaka listened, frowning slightly:
"Lady Tsunade, do you mean for our Yamanaka clan to use secret techniques to interrogate the key figures of their clans?"
"Yes. Their mouths are stubborn and they refuse to reveal the source of the assets. I need your help to dig out the truth."
Inoichi fell silent for a moment, then nodded:
"I can do that, but since this matter involves the high council of the Hidden Leaf, I will need a written authorization from you."
Tsunade immediately drafted an authorization letter and stamped it with the Hokage's seal.
Inoichi took it, solemnly tucked it into his robes, and then turned to leave.
He gathered the elites of the Yamanaka clan and commenced interrogations of the shinobi holding key positions within the Mitokado and Utatane clans.
The interrogation room was located underground.
The Yamanaka clan shinobi brought in the subdued clan members one by one, formed hand seals, and cast their secret techniques.
The eyes of the interrogated individuals instantly went blank, and their mouths opened and closed, pouring out all their secrets without reservation.
Before the Yamanaka secret techniques, all of their secrets were laid bare without omission.
Another half-day passed, and the results finally came out.
Inoichi walked into the Hokage's office holding a thick report.
His face was livid, his eyes filled with rage.
Tsunade took the report and flipped through it page by page, her expression growing darker with each page she read.
The report was densely packed with records of the crimes committed by Homura and Koharu over the years:
Embezzlement of war funds. During the Third Great Shinobi War, Hiruzen Sarutobi frequently requisitioned shinobi from various clans but failed to provide adequate supplies.
At the same time, the Land of Fire's Feudal Lord continuously increased war funding.
Homura and Koharu utilized their authority to pocket a vast amount of war funds, transferring these monies into the pockets of their own clans.
Withholding pension funds. The pension funds normally allocated by the Feudal Lord had already shrunk by more than half by the time they reached the hands of the bereaved families.
The women who lost their husbands on the battlefield and the children who lost their fathers had the money they received deducted to almost nothing.
Kickbacks from infrastructure construction. The Hidden Leaf applied for massive amounts of construction funds from the Feudal Lord to build hospitals, schools, training grounds, and other projects.
But these projects were all contracted to the shinobi of the two clans.
They cut corners during construction and embezzled the construction funds.
The buildings they constructed leaked water and cracked within just a few years.
Commission cuts on mission requests. Some administrative shinobi served in roles accepting mission requests and distributing rewards.
By altering data, they secretly skimmed off the rewards that rightfully belonged to the shinobi who completed the missions.
Those shinobi who risked their lives to complete missions received far less compensation than they deserved.
Usurping orphans' inheritance. The war caused many shinobi to die in battle, leaving behind young orphans and an inheritance.
Homura and Koharu took the property of these fallen shinobi for themselves, then threw those children into the orphanage, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Every single crime was shocking and appalling.
Every single account was stained with blood.
Tsunade slammed the report onto the desk, her voice trembling:
"Homura, Koharu, what else do you have to say?"
Homura's face was as pale as death, his lips trembling, but he could not utter a single word.
Koharu, however, threw all caution to the wind.
She stood up, the fear fading from her face, replaced by a reckless madness.
She stared at Tsunade, a cold sneer appearing on the corner of her mouth:
"It's useless! None of this evidence is of any use!"
"Because your master, Hiruzen, did these things too!"
She pointed at Tsunade, her voice raising higher and higher:
"You think he didn't know? He knew everything!"
"Every single thing we did had his tacit approval!"
"He took a one-third cut of those pocketed war funds, he took some of the withheld pension funds, and he also had a share of those orphans' inheritance!"
"I refuse to accept you investigating us!"
"If you have the ability, investigate the Sarutobi clan thoroughly as well!"
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