As the dark iron door opened, a masked man in ANBU ninja uniform walked in.

He came to a stop in front of the old man with a gloomy expression, bowed slightly and saluted.

"Lord Danzo."

Danzo, who was contemplating with his eyes closed, immediately opened his eyes when he heard the call.

In his old body, only his eyes still shined brightly in the darkness, shining a cold and indifferent light, like sharp blades.

"explain."

"Kabuto is missing. In addition...all the data in the headquarters data room, including the computers that store the data, have also disappeared."

The root ninja lowered his head to report the incident to Danzo, his tone full of dissatisfaction with the ANBU.

Instead of replacing the root, they only controlled the headquarters base of the root. As a result, the ANBU also caused all the precious information in the root headquarters to be stolen. This is not just dereliction of duty, it can be described as a level of waste.

Therefore, he tried his best to suppress his inner anger and dissatisfaction, but in the end he still couldn't restrain it all.

After Danzo heard the news, his face moved slightly and he frowned slightly.

"Did Orochimaru do it again?"

Kabuto was not captured by the Roots, so he was fully capable of taking advantage of the gap period when the Roots were replaced by Anbu, and through his past understanding of the Roots headquarters base, he could sneak in quietly and steal the research information there.

Kabuto not only has this motive, but also has this excellent infiltration ability.

"Nine times out of ten."

Root Ninja replied.

"Tell me everything about the scene. Don't miss a single detail."

After Danzo paused for a moment, his voice was low.

"yes."

Although the root ninja was confused, he still explained it in detail to Danzo.

About ten minutes later, the root ninja finished explaining the details of the stolen data room, and the more Danzo listened, the deeper his frown deepened.

"You mean...the bookshelf partition list posted on the wall and the duty roster are also missing?"

"Yes."

"Why would Kabuto take something like that away?"

"..."

The root ninja was speechless. He also wanted to know the reason why Kabuto did this.

But he wasn't Kabuto, so how could he possibly know what the other person was thinking.

It's just that the current evidence points to the other party.

It was Orochimaru who tricked the root to this point. Kabuto received Orochimaru's order and took this opportunity to steal the research results of the root. It is a matter of course. All logic makes sense, and it is also in line with Orochimaru's usual style.

"Kabuto is also an advanced researcher. In that case, taking away the most valuable things as quickly as possible is the best option."

"Lord Danzo, what do you mean..."

The face under the ninja mask changed slightly, and he heard what Danzo meant.

"Go and investigate the scene again, don't miss any suspicious places, and then take photos and bring them over. We can't rule out the possibility that Kabuto deliberately disturbed the view, but if there is a hidden hand behind the scenes..."

Danzo's already gloomy expression became even gloomier.

If there is a hidden hand behind the scenes, does that mean that there are deeper reasons behind the collapse of the root?…

Kakashi was 'resurrected from the dead', and then Uchiha Sasuke learned the truth about the genocide of the Uchiha clan. According to witnesses, the two of them appeared briefly at the northern border of the Land of Fire and then disappeared.

Although the final target was pointed at Orochimaru, even Konoha's decision-makers concluded this most reliable guess...

But what if all this was secretly misled?

If this is the case, one or both of Kakashi and Sasuke must have big problems.

So, does Orochimaru understand this?

Do you know everything, but for a certain purpose, are you willing to become a knife in the hands of others? Or do you know nothing and are simply deceived by others, putting yourself in a dangerous situation?

"Lord Danzo, I will send someone to investigate right away!"

The root ninja nodded heavily and was about to leave when Danzo's voice suddenly sounded behind him:

"Wait, has Tsunade returned to the village?"

"Tsunade-sama? She hasn't returned yet, but she will soon."

"Then Chiba Shiraishi appeared in the Kingdom of Iron before?"

"Yes, this is what Fenghe Torigen and the other members saw with their own eyes. But I heard that the other party has left the Kingdom of Iron and is missing. Before he left, Tsunade-sama suddenly made the decision to return to the village.

Decide."

The root ninja answered truthfully.

Danzo's expression was strange, changing between gloomy and terrifying expressions erratically.

"Danzo-sama?"

Perhaps Danzo's expression was too scary at the moment, so the root ninja standing here asked a tentative question in a low voice, keeping his breathing as low as possible.

"It's nothing. You go down and ask Feng and Tiegen to come over and see me immediately after they come back."

"yes."

The root ninja left as if he had been granted amnesty.

"Chiba Shiraishi...Tsunade..."

Danzo, who was sitting on the chair, chewed on these two names carefully, thoughtfully.

There are many doubts, but it would be too far-fetched to say that those things are doubtful.

After all, from beginning to end, there were only two people in this chess game, he and Orochimaru, and there was no third chess player.

But if there is really a third party playing chess, then compared to him who suffered heavy losses and Orochimaru who has more notoriety, the third person is in a safe zone from beginning to end, and does not even show his face.

.

This is not common sense.

To become a chess player, there must be chess pieces on the chess board.

In this chess game, there are not many important chess pieces that can affect the outcome of the chess player's battle.

Of course, all these speculations are based on the real existence of third-party chess players.

You still need evidence, and you need more evidence to verify your conjecture and make your hypothesis true.

"Tsunade... let's start investigating from her. If there really is a third-party chess player..."

Danzo's expression became solemn.

If the guess is true, then Konoha's situation will become extremely dangerous.

This danger is likely to exceed any crisis in the past.

"Tsunade... will you bring new life to Konoha... or will you bring destruction?"

If you bring the latter, even if you are the Hokage, I will still do it myself... A terrifying murderous intention flashed in Danzo's eyes...

This failure made him understand completely.

Darkness that is close to light will be burned.

Darkness is his destination.

Only darkness can calm his heart and make him feel an unprecedented sense of security.

As long as you're in the dark, it seems like you can do anything.

It is precisely because he is the incarnation of darkness and has been scheming people in the darkness all year round that he has such a keen sense of smell for certain things.

This sense of oppression that filled the building with the impending storm made Danzo smell the extremely familiar scent of the past——

war!

◎

"You're still the same as before, Tsunade."

When Tsunade entered the conference room of the Hokage Building, she heard an old and familiar voice.

As expected, the person who spoke was Koharu, who was sleeping in the dormitory, and the one standing next to her was Mito Monobu.

"In short, we are back in good spirits, which can be regarded as letting go of a big stone in our hearts."

Mito Menyan also said, showing a nostalgic look.

"I thought you were expecting me not to come back."

Tsunade, who had just returned to Konoha and came here in a hurry, also complained a little to the two of them.
To be continued...