Naruto: IY Ch. 20

Hiruzen was abruptly awakened by several members of the ANBU.

"Hokage-sama, Sakumo left in the middle of the night. His whereabouts are unknown."

"What happened?"

He hurriedly threw on his clothes and rushed to the study, where Danzō was already waiting.

"Danzō! Was this your doing?" Hiruzen glared at him, fuming with anger.

Danzō felt a twinge of guilt but maintained a calm expression as he stared back at Hiruzen.

The rumors and even the sabotage of Sakumo's missions, all of that was orchestrated by him. But how was he supposed to know which one Hiruzen was referring to?

"I propose we classify Sakumo as an S-rank missing-nin and issue a warrant for his arrest. As for the Fourth Hokage, just pick one from among your students."

"Who gave you permission to be this extreme?"

The veins on Hiruzen's forehead bulged in anger. He had indeed considered candidates for the Fourth Hokage. If Sakumo had stronger political skills, he would've been on the shortlist.

But Sakumo didn't. He was only suited to be a valiant warrior of Konoha. Unfortunately, his fame overshadowed Orochimaru, and even completely crushed the popularity of Minato, Hiruzen's preferred candidate for the future.

So, he had reluctantly allowed Danzō to suppress Sakumo a little. But he never told Danzō to push him to the point of defection.

"Hokage-sama, Sakumo's son is still in the village," one ANBU member suddenly interjected.

"Hm?" The two looked at the ANBU in confusion.

"Well... it seems that Sakumo was inspired by Jiraiya's two students and went to Yoake to build lasting achievements. According to Kakashi himself, he still has bonds in the village and doesn't want to leave."

"Outrageous! Bring them back to me at once!" Danzō snapped.

"Forget it. Even together, they're no match for Sakumo. Sometimes you have to let people go their own way, let him be." Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe.

He had thought about it countless times and still couldn't understand why Sakumo would leave his own village.

"Hiruzen!"

"Enough, Danzō."

"You'll regret this," Danzō said with a deep, cold look before leaving.

The ANBU added, "Oh, and one more thing, that orange-haired student of Jiraiya's took a couple from the village."

Hiruzen and Danzō barely glanced at the ANBU. What was the fuss? Just a pair of regular villagers.

"They're gone."

Danzō left.

As soon as he left, Hiruzen seemed to guess what his old comrade was thinking. He turned to the ANBU and ordered, "Protect Kakashi. We already made one mistake. We can't afford a second."

Next, he sent a few spies into Yoake with a cold, calculating smile. He'd played politics all his life, and now he'd been blindsided by a child.

---

Before leaving, Yahiko had even "recruited" some people from Konoha. Even if it meant risking his life, he would do anything to make his village stronger.

The couple recalled the beautiful promises Yahiko had painted for them on the road.

He'd promised them a small plot of land near the school gates, with funding from the village to open a shop. But deep down, they still wanted to open a ramen shop in Konoha, because that was their home.

Hokage-sama, please send someone to rescue us!

They had tried to walk slowly to buy time, but it seemed the Hokage didn't care.

Sigh...

Hiruzen didn't bother to hide the news of Sakumo's departure. In fact, he even secretly spread it.

Suddenly, all eyes in the ninja world turned to the tiny Yoake.

He ordered the intel department to investigate, and once the information came in, the other villages' leaders scoffed at the small village.

Take Ōnoki, for example.

"Recruiting people, founding a ninja school, opening retirement homes, selling toys...'"

Ōnoki laughed. There was no way he'd let this boy rise.

Invite him over, make him submit, then make him serve Iwa.

But whether Yoake was worth the trouble, that was still up for debate.

Like Ōnoki, another curious observer was the leader of Ame.

In the tower, the disillusioned Hanzō spent his days reading and practicing calligraphy. He had long known of Yoake's existence.

Over a thousand people had migrated from the Land of Rain, he may have given up, but he wasn't blind.

That "Minato" incident, for example. It was that Yahiko in disguise.

He let out a sly chuckle and penned a letter to Yahiko.

The letter's content was, of course, an invitation, he wanted this child who had left the Land of Rain to return for a meeting.

If both Ōnoki and Hanzō were curious, perhaps they intended to turn Yahiko into their subordinate.

But one person, a pale-faced youth with red hair, only wanted Yahiko dead.

"The one who killed my parents is hiding in Yoake."

"Sasori, speak respectfully to—"

"I have all the intel on him."

Not long after, the entire matter was forcibly suppressed.

---

Because Yahiko's group had two ordinary civilians, their return to the village was significantly delayed.

They were eating the noodles that Teuchi had gotten up early to knead and cook.

"My stomach feels warm," Sakumo said, really enjoying the meal. He gave the man a thumbs-up.

"Too bad, since we've taken him away from Konoha, Kakashi won't get to eat this anymore."

Having left the oppressive atmosphere of Konoha, Sakumo had been talked to relentlessly by Nagato's beginner-level "talk no jutsu" and Yahiko's seasoned version along the way. A lot of emotional baggage in his heart had been thrown off.

After spending these few days together, Yahiko even began to feel that Sakumo was secretly kind of a dork.

"The noodles are delicious." That was the highest praise one could get from the normally quiet Nagato. But for some reason, Yahiko noticed that he preferred Konan's cooking more.

Maybe his taste was just picky.

According to their current pace, they'd arrive at the village by the afternoon.

Yahiko stretched. He had spent the last few days focused on recruiting Sakumo, but there were still a lot of things in Konoha worth studying, for example, the medical corps.

But aside from the medical system that Tsunade had advocated for, it seemed like the Third Hokage just kept coasting on Tobirama's legacy?

And speaking of Hiruzen... well, he probably wanted him dead now more than anything.

Just like Yahiko guessed.

Hiruzen was indeed furious. The village had lost a Kage-level powerhouse for nothing. On top of that, there were still so many feuding couples waiting for him to play mediator.

Him! The mighty shinobi hero, the Hokage, the Professor... now reduced to being a marriage counselor!

In a fit of rage, he himself wasn't even sure how many spies he'd sent to Yoake. It wasn't that he'd completely lost his mind, he had actually started implementing a ruthless plan called "Trojan Horse."

This plan came from none other than the young Shikaku.

Yoake wasn't powerful yet, not even worth mentioning, really. But it was steadily on the rise, and the power it would gather in the future couldn't be underestimated.

If they could plant some of Konoha's people into Yoake now, then someday in the future, when the Hokage raised his hand, all the high-level personnel would be his own.

Not only would they get their revenge, they'd also gain an entire village for free.

Hiruzen immediately decided: Go with the Nara kid's plan.

A total of six ninja were sent. The leader was named Umino Ikkaku, a very ordinary-looking man. He was a chunin from Konoha. Upon arriving at Yoake, the first thing he did was arrange a new identity for himself.

After some investigation, the team looked at each other in confusion.

Yoake's vetting process for new villagers wasn't particularly strict.

There was just one special test: as long as the applicant's chakra hadn't been stained with the blood of innocents, they could join.

They had never committed atrocities, though they did participate in the Second Great Ninja War. But surely killing enemy ninjas didn't count as killing innocents... right?

This was a mission personally authorized by the Hokage, none of them wanted to return as failures.

The six of them made their way to Yoake's registry office.

After filling out the forms and finding no problems, they were led by a staff member to the village center, a place called the Nursing Home.

As they entered, they saw a group of elderly women sitting around knitting and chatting.

A few old men were gathered under a big tree... playing Go? Wait, no, why would they be yelling "I'm taking your knight" if it were Go?

"Shuzen, I really can't beat you. Your moves are always completely unexpected."

"Oh, you flatter me."

Shuzen grinned ear-to-ear and gave a respectful bow to the old man across from him.

"Shuzen, these six wish to join our village," said the registrar who had brought them in.

The six newcomers were stunned. The Uzumaki clan! They were rumored to have secret techniques that could sense malicious intent.

Crap. Are we about to be exposed?

Shuzen gave up his seat to another eager elder, then swept his gaze over the nervous group. "Oh? Ninjas, huh."

"Yes, the six of us once saved a gravely injured Konoha ninja who taught us ninjutsu in return," one of them recited the pre-prepared tearjerker backstory.

Naturally, Shuzen didn't believe a word. What, am I blind? I can sense your subtle ill will with my eyes closed.

"Take them to Konan," he said. "Tell her they're... worth placing."

Then he went right back to directing someone else's chess match.

The six agents exhaled in relief. Whew, looks like we passed. That was almost a disaster.

They were then taken to the nearby school.

Konan's class was currently having a non-core lesson, and she had some free time in the office, frowning over teacher resource allocation.

At present, the school had only six teachers. Two per class.

The homeroom teacher had to cover language, math, and history, while the other teacher, if idle, would cover physical education and all non-core classes.

It was just barely manageable for now.

But next year, when students moved up a grade and a new class enrolled, they'd be severely short-staffed.

Knock knock knock, there came a knock on the door.

"Come in."

"These six joined the village this morning," the staff member introduced the six people from left to right by name.

"Shuzen said they're 'worth placing.'"

"Worth placing?"

Konan glanced over the smiling faces, all trying to look honest, and started calculating where to assign them.

In village lingo, "worth placing" meant, they've got their own motives, but they're useful.