Konoha starts from the root

The Country of Fire, Hidden Leaf Village, Hokage Building, inside the Hokage's office on the top floor.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, put down the document in his hand, pinched his eyebrows, and after taking a short rest, he picked up the pipe on the side, put it into his mouth, and took a deep puff.

After a while, a few wisps of smoke emerged from his mouth and nose and slowly dissipated in the room.

Then, he slapped his sore back, stood up, and walked to the window.

Before you know it, the time has arrived at the beginning of the year.

Seeing that the village was no longer as lively as in previous years, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a little more sad.

Although the war did not break out completely, the confrontation between the two villages had lasted for more than a month, even though the frontline commanders on both sides had been instructed to maintain the status quo as much as possible.

However, the friction between them continued to escalate, and the death toll of ninjas on both sides continued to rise.

If the situation is allowed to develop like this, the situation may get completely out of control.

What's more, both Iwagakure and Konoha Hidden Village are now facing other threats. Therefore, the top leaders of both sides do not want to continue spending time here.

However, the negotiations between the two parties reached a deadlock.

Iwagakure's request is very simple, that is, to hand over Shiroye and return the confidential information he stole.

It was also because of the negotiation that Sarutobi Hiruzen confirmed his and Nara Shikaku's guesses that the cause of the war was indeed related to the invasion of Iwagakure Village some time ago, and the identity of the intruder was basically consistent with their guesses.

If Shiroha was in Konoha now, Sarutobi Hiruzen would definitely choose to hand him over. After all, this was not the first time.

He once sacrificed Hyuga Hizashi in order to sign an armistice agreement with Yunyin Village.

You know, Hyuga Hizashi is the younger brother of the leader of the Hyuga clan, a wealthy family in Konoha.

And what are white leaves?

He is just a 'root' ninja who specializes in doing dirty work.

If his sacrifice could bring peace, Sarutobi Hiruzen would definitely not hesitate for a moment.

Unfortunately, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not find any trace of Shiroha.

For this reason, he even made a lot of promises to Danzo Shimura, but he still didn't get the answer he wanted.

Today, Konoha Anbu has two major tasks, one is to collect battlefield intelligence, and the other is to find traces of Shiroye.

It was precisely because Konoha could not hand over Baiye that the negotiations reached a deadlock.

"Hey!" Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and said to himself, "I hope Haiichi and Ibiki can make a breakthrough."

"Boom boom boom!"

Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Hearing the sound, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat back in the chair behind his desk and said, "Come in."

With a creak, the door was pushed open, and two figures walked into the office one after another.

The person in front was wearing a ninja vest, had yellow hair, and was slightly thin, while the person in the back was wearing a ninja hat, his face was covered with scars, and he was also wearing a black windbreaker.

The visitors were none other than Yamanaka Haiichi and Morino Ibiki.

Seeing these two people, Sarutobi Hiruzen was obviously a little stunned. He didn't expect that he had just been talking about these two people, and now they were here.

However, after astonishment comes expectation.

Since these two people came to him at the same time, it meant that there was an obvious breakthrough.

"Sandaime-sama!" Yamanaka Haiichi and Morino Ihiki greeted in unison.

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded in response, and then he couldn't wait to speak: "Has the matter made any progress?"

Morinoi took two steps forward and handed a document to Sarutobi Hiruzen. At the same time, he said with a serious expression: "The matter may be more serious than imagined, Third Generation."

After hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately took the document, opened it, and read it carefully.

······

As early as more than a year ago, when Bai Ye used the power of meteorites to awaken the "Ice Release" Blood Succession Limit, Konoha Anbu captured two experimental subjects he regarded as abandoned sons-Tanigawa Shuhei and Yanagawa Teru.

At that time, in order to obtain information as quickly as possible, the Anbu directly forcibly broke the soul-locking curse seal on Tanigawa Shuhei, causing his consciousness to collapse and his memory to be reduced to fragments.

However, relying on the intuition developed over many years of career, Ihiki Morino felt that Tanigawa Shuhei should have other values, so he did not give up.

So, he teamed up with Yamanaka Kaiichi and spent more than half a year to finally sort out the information about the radiation experiment from the chaotic memory fragments of Tanigawa Shuhei.

It was precisely because of this information that Sarutobi Hiruzen clearly noticed the abnormality in the relationship between Shiroye and Shimura Danzo for the first time.

After that, he ordered Morino Hiki and Yamanaka Kaiichi to continue a more in-depth investigation. To this end, he even secretly arrested two 'root' ninjas not long ago.

······

Now that all the information has been gathered to him, it is basically certain that Baiye's behavior has seriously violated Konoha's ninja regulations.

Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly put down the documents in his hands, and carefully asked Morino Ihiki and Yamanaka Haiichi some information before letting them leave.

After the two left, Hiruzen Sarutobi stayed alone in the office. After thinking for a long time, he suddenly said: "Here comes someone."

As soon as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open, and an ANBU ninja on duty walked in quickly.

"Three generations of adults!"

"Inform Nara Shikaku and Tenzo immediately to come see me."

"Yes."

After responding, the ANBU ninja left.

······

About 10 minutes later, Nara Shikaku and Tenzo arrived at the Hokage's office at the same time.

It can be seen that Nara Shikaku's complexion is slightly poor, which is obviously caused by long-term fatigue.

As the chief strategist of Konoha, although he was not on the front line, he had to worry about all aspects of things, especially the negotiation with Iwagakure Village. He was so worried that he didn't know how much hair he had lost.

The same is true for Tianzang. In this special period, the work intensity of the ANBU far exceeds that of other departments. After all, the importance of intelligence is self-evident.

When he was the captain of the squad, he didn't think it was a big deal, but since Kakashi Hatake resigned, he has become the captain of the ANBU, and it can be said that there is a lot of pressure.

Seeing them come in, Sarutobi Hiruzen said without any courtesy, "You guys take a look at this first."

With that said, he handed the investigation report in his hand to the two of them.

After the two people finished circulating, Sarutobi Hiruzen continued: "I am going to designate Shiroha as a traitorous ninja, Shikaku, what do you think?"

Nara Shikaku thought for a moment and said: "We can use this as a condition to restart negotiations with Iwagakure Village.

According to the latest intelligence, Yunyin Village has attacked Yanyin Village, and they definitely don't want to fight on two fronts.

Therefore, what they need now is a step, so we will give them a step. Anyway, they don't know the inside story. "

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded when he heard this and said: "That's what I mean too. Now the Sunagakure Village is also ready to take action. The confrontation between us and Iwagakure Village cannot continue, otherwise the consequences will be disastrous."

Nara Shikaku also nodded in agreement.