“This is the mission scroll.
Please stamp it, Hokage-sama!”
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the scroll in his hand.
He did not open it immediately.
Instead, he slowly raised his head and looked toward the boy standing before him.
“Why was the Ninja attack during the return journey not reported?”
Uchiha Yu laughed lightly, though the disdain hidden in his eyes was impossible to conceal.
“What is Hokage-sama talking about?
I don’t quite understand.”
“Brat!” Utatane Koharu immediately slammed her cane against the ground and glared at him angrily.
“Do you think such a major matter can be hidden from everyone?
Do you think the rest of us are blind?”
Homura Mitokado also nodded from the side.
“We already know about the encounter with Kakuzu.
Since it happened, why conceal it?
Also, with your strength, you clearly had the ability to kill him, yet you deliberately let him escape.
That is not how a Konoha Ninja should act.”
Uchiha Yu maintained a smile on the surface, but inwardly he was already cursing.
These old bastards had clearly been monitoring him the entire time.
Seeing him remain silent, Utatane Koharu sneered coldly.
“Hehe, why aren’t you speaking now?
Is there perhaps something shameful hidden behind all this?”
Her gaze became increasingly sharp as she continued speaking.
“Or could it be that someone deliberately staged a performance in order to claim additional merit and military achievements?”
Uchiha Yu ignored her completely and instead looked directly at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
However, the old fox merely sat there calmly smoking his pipe, seemingly waiting for his explanation as well.
Seeing him continue to stay silent, Utatane Koharu struck her cane against the floor once more.
“Speak!
Why are you not speaking?
Was all of this arranged by you?!”
Uchiha Yu sighed helplessly.
Sometimes he genuinely wondered whether these people were truly stupid or merely pretending to be.
Under everyone’s watchful gaze, he slowly reached into his robes.
The expressions of the three elders and the surrounding Anbu instantly changed.
Several Anbu subtly tightened their grip on their weapons.
After all, this brat’s strength was already terrifyingly high.
If he suddenly attacked inside the office, the consequences would be disastrous.
However, instead of drawing a weapon, Uchiha Yu simply took out a storage scroll and tossed it onto the ground before them.
“Oh right, Hokage-sama.
These are the heads of the attackers from that day.
There are some things on them that This Young Master doesn’t quite understand, so perhaps Hokage-sama can help explain them.”
Before anyone could react, Yu directly opened the scroll.
Bang!
Bang!
Two severed heads rolled onto the office floor.
The pupils of everyone present contracted instantly.
The moment they saw the heads clearly, they immediately recognized the clans those people belonged to.
One was from the Aburame Clan.
The other was from the Yamanaka Clan.
Utatane Koharu immediately pointed at Yu furiously.
“Uchiha Yu, how dare you!
You actually dared to kill fellow Ninjas from the same Village!
Guards!”
Yu looked at her as though she were an idiot before casually grabbing one of the severed heads by the hair.
Then, right in front of everyone, he pried open the mouth and forcefully pulled out the tongue.
“Does the Elder recognize these people?” Yu asked with a smile.
“I cut these off personally in front of my companions.
By the way, what exactly are these strange markings on the tongue?
Could Elder Koharu perhaps explain them to me?”
“You…
you…
you…”
Utatane Koharu stuttered repeatedly but could not utter a complete sentence.
Of course she recognized those markings.
That was the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal unique to Root, a sealing technique personally planted by Danzo onto his subordinates to prevent the leakage of information.
Seeing her unable to answer, Uchiha Yu turned his gaze toward Hiruzen Sarutobi once more.
“Hokage-sama, do you know what these markings are?
If you don’t believe me, you can ask everyone who returned with me this time.
I cut these tongues off personally in front of them.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi silently smoked his pipe.
Although his expression appeared calm on the surface, inwardly he had already cursed Danzo’s ancestors countless times.
That idiot.
In order to deal with Uchiha Yu, he had actually resorted to such methods.
Fine, if you wanted to act, then act properly.
But how could you leave behind such obvious evidence for the other side to seize?
How stupid could a person possibly be?
“Hokage-sama?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi finally snapped back to reality.
Looking at the smiling Uchiha Yu before him, he slowly shook his head.
“I’m sorry.
I do not recognize these people either.
Leave the matter to the Intelligence Division.
Perhaps they may discover something useful.”
Uchiha Yu stared directly at the old fox, wanting to see whether that shameless old face would redden even slightly.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed.
There was not the slightest trace of embarrassment on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s face.
Yu slowly nodded and let out a long sound.
“Oh.”
Before anyone could react, he suddenly raised his foot.
Bang!
Bang!
The two heads were instantly crushed beneath his feet.
An unpleasant smell immediately spread throughout the office.
Utatane Koharu’s expression changed drastically.
“You…
what are you doing?!”
Uchiha Yu did not even bother glancing at her.
Instead, he continued smiling while looking directly at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
“The academy teachers once taught us that when dealing with enemies, we must never show mercy.
We must completely destroy them.
Don’t you agree, Hokage-sama?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s expression finally darkened completely.
After a long silence, he slowly replied in a gloomy tone.
“You are correct.”
Only then did Uchiha Yu nod in satisfaction.
“If there is nothing else, then This Young Master will take his leave.
After all, I haven’t returned home in nearly two years.
I miss home quite a bit.”
As soon as Uchiha Yu left the office, Utatane Koharu immediately stood up angrily.
“Hiruzen, why?!
That brat acted so arrogantly right in front of us, yet you did nothing?”
Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand for the Anbu to clean the mess on the floor before glancing sideways at her.
“Do something?
Tell me then, what exactly should I have done?”
Then his gaze turned colder.
“If not for the things you said earlier, would matters have escalated to this point?”
Utatane Koharu was instantly choked speechless.
Although what Hiruzen said was technically true, he himself had clearly tacitly approved her actions earlier.
Yet now he was pushing all responsibility onto her alone.
Could this old bastard be any more shameless?
Just as Utatane Koharu was about to continue arguing, Homura Mitokado quickly tugged at her sleeve.
“Enough.
Stop talking.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s face remained cold.
“Danzo has gone too far this time.”
The moment those words were spoken, Utatane Koharu immediately quieted down.
At the same time, she also began cursing Danzo inwardly.
That idiot was becoming increasingly careless in his actions, to the point that even such obvious evidence had fallen into Uchiha Yu’s hands.
Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long while before finally speaking again.
“Cut off Root’s funding for now.
Also, inform Danzo to focus properly on commanding the battlefield and stop wasting his thoughts on meaningless matters.”
Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu both secretly breathed sighs of relief.
Fortunately, Hiruzen had merely cut Root’s funding temporarily.
Danzo had not been removed from his position as commander.
As long as his authority remained intact, there was still room to maneuver things behind the scenes later.
Meanwhile, outside the Hokage Building, Nawaki and Minato saw Uchiha Yu walking back while whistling leisurely, clearly looking in an excellent mood.
The two immediately rushed over.
“How did it go?” Nawaki asked hurriedly.
“Did you hand over the mission?
Can we finally rest now?”
Yu nodded casually.
“The mission was submitted successfully.
Though some interesting things happened along the way.”
The curiosity of both boys was instantly piqued.
“What happened?”
Yu did not hide anything.
“Oh, nothing much.
Elder Koharu suspected that the ambush during the journey was something I arranged myself in order to gain additional military merit.
Hokage-sama also seemed to think the same thing.”
“Nani?!”
Nawaki and Minato looked at him in complete disbelief.
“Do they have holes in their brains?!”
Perhaps because the two shouted too loudly, many nearby pedestrians turned around to look at them strangely.
Inside the Hokage office, Hiruzen Sarutobi happened to witness the scene from the window, and his old face instantly darkened.
This brat truly had no sense of discretion whatsoever.
Didn’t he understand that secrecy was one of the most basic qualities required of a Ninja?
Outside, Uchiha Yu grinned brightly toward the Hokage Building, specifically toward the old man standing by the window.
“Alright then.
Since the misunderstanding has already been cleared up, everyone can finally go home.
We have plenty of time left for training in the future.”
Nawaki immediately shot a look of disdain toward the Hokage Building before directly throwing an arm around Yu’s shoulder.
“Let’s go, let’s go!
We’ll grab something to drink and forget all these annoying matters.”
Minato glanced toward the Hokage Building with a somewhat complicated expression before silently following after the two of them.
The three figures quickly disappeared into the distance together.
Inside the office, Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a long sigh.
“The misunderstanding has become even bigger now.”