Chapter 24: Konoha's Secrets and News from the Daimyo's Residence
Last night, the clan head couple personally paid a visit to entrust him with a task. Uchiha Shisui's schedule was relatively free, so he had no reason to refuse... Besides, that crow was also very interesting...
This morning, Uchiha Shisui sat in Itachi's home, drinking tea back and forth for three rounds, finally waiting for the still sleepy-eyed Kitahara.
Uchiha Itachi, holding Sasuke, stood at the doorway to see them off, "Shisui, I'm counting on you! If Kitahara is willful, please bear with him..."
"Ha, I can't beat it anyway, so I can't do much about it..." Shisui chuckled lightly, extending his arm to signal the crow to fly up, "We're off then!"
Konoha ninjas generally couldn't leave the village easily. In reality, there were still ways to work around this, such as going to the Mission Assignment Post to accept an out-of-village mission.
Moreover, the main purpose of prohibiting ninjas from leaving at will was to restrict the Jonin rank, as a powerful Jonin could be ordered by the village's high-ranking officials at any time.
The Third Hokage wasn't on duty at the Mission Assignment Post. Shisui casually took a nearby mission to exterminate bandits... As a ninja slated for an ANBU position, the Assignment Post didn't make things difficult for him.
"Let's finish the mission first. There's a small town nearby that's usually very lively. We'll go take a look there, how about it?" Shisui grabbed the mission scroll and put it in his ninja tool pouch.
"Caw..."
Shisui couldn't understand whether the crow agreed or not, but it didn't seem to be acting abnormally.
Until they left the village, the crow on Uchiha Shisui's shoulder suddenly flapped its wings and flew away...
"...Hey! You guy! Where are you going!" Shisui leaped onto a tree, watching Kitahara fly further and further away, then helplessly clapped his hands to form seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Caw... Caw... Caw"
Shisui's own flock of crows emerged from the summoning formula, circling and flying around him, creating quite a lively scene...
"Stop that crow, make it come back immediately!"
The group of summoned Ninja Crows obediently flew in Kitahara's direction. Not entirely confident in the strength of his summoned flock, Shisui could only create a shadow clone to complete the mission.
As for himself, he could only hop along tree branches, rushing to chase after the missing Kitahara.
Two minutes later, Shisui looked at Kitahara with a complicated expression. It was eating fruit on a treetop...
Watching his own flock of crows busily picking wild fruits in the forest, one after another delivering them to Kitahara, Shisui, as their master, no longer knew what expression to make...
"...Caw..."
Seeing its bodyguard and tour guide, the crow very loyally brought over a fruit...
The young man shook his head, "...I don't really want to eat it."
"Caw... Caw... Caw..." The flock of crows suddenly stopped, flying around above Uchiha Shisui and cawing.
As the master of the flock, Shisui understood their meaning. These little guys had clearly degenerated into Kitahara's translators within two minutes...
"...The Land of Fire's Daimyo Residence is quite a distance from here. At our speed, we should be able to make it in time..."
"Caw..."
Kitahara secretly rejoiced that Shisui was accompanying him this time... It had been over a year since it came to the ninja world, and it had never left Konoha Village, so it had no idea where the Daimyo's Residence was.
Its main purpose for coming out... was to visit the Land of Fire's Daimyo Residence. The position of Konoha's leader, the Hokage, was only being temporarily managed by Hiruzen Sarutobi; he needed to go to the Daimyo's Residence to complete the inauguration procedures.
The Hokage's whereabouts were a secret within Konoha Village, but not at the Daimyo's Residence... After all, no matter how powerful the Hokage was, he couldn't silence the Daimyo.
And for situations like the Konoha Hokage reporting for duty or being inaugurated, given the Land of Fire Daimyo's personality, the entire Land of Fire was too small for him to spread this news... If it were truly so secret that even the Daimyo's Residence couldn't find a trace, Kitahara would just consider this a trip and find another opportunity.
The reason for choosing today was mainly because Kakashi Hatake had shown his hand yesterday... As currently the most capable ninja in Konoha ANBU, shouldn't Cold-blooded Kakashi's missions all be about assassination and intelligence gathering?
Delivering important information held by an intelligence operative could clearly be done by an ordinary ninja, with ANBU providing protection discreetly at most... So, it was highly probable that the person delivering the intelligence was himself!
A cub as innocent as Itachi wouldn't think so much... Sasuke, that foolish younger brother, didn't have a brain yet... Only someone as intelligent as it could reverse-engineer the process from the known outcome.
The known outcome: Danzo dispatched Root to assassinate the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in an attempt to seize the Hokage position, but mistakenly hit the decoy, Kakashi Hatake...
Of course, they didn't even manage to eliminate Kakashi... The failure was due to Kakashi Hatake's sudden betrayal and Root's greatly inflated strength.
What it needed to do was add fuel to the fire... If Root's strength suddenly increased significantly, the Uchiha clan's problem would likely be put aside, right?
Both Fugaku's heavy responsibilities and Itachi's growth would get a relatively long buffer period... As for how to operate, that would depend on its methods...
And today, when accompanying Shisui to the Mission Assignment Post... the Third Hokage, who was usually very diligent, was surprisingly not on duty at the Konoha Assignment Post!
...Hiruzen Sarutobi was most likely not in Konoha today, or at least, not officially in Konoha. By inquiring at the Daimyo's Residence, this could be confirmed.
The only problem was the deadweight beside him who knew the way... Kitahara glanced at Shisui, who was hopping around in the forest, and cawed disdainfully, "Caw..."
"Caw... Caw... Caw... Caw..." A hundred crows chirped in unison, translating Kitahara's words.
Uchiha Shisui listened to the calls of the summoned beasts with a headache, "...I know, let's speed up!"
Since he had brought the young Chunin along, he might as well let him see Root's true colors, lest he be deceived by his ancestor's so-called friend in the future...
Land of Fire Daimyo's Residence.
No matter how you looked at it, it couldn't compare to Konoha Village's prosperity, because the creativity brought by chakra was infinite. The Daimyo's Residence, to some extent, was more like a market gathering. It seemed economically prosperous, but in reality, it was all due to the concentration of population.
Kitahara's speculation was not wrong.
"Hey, I heard the leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves came today. He's at the Daimyo's mansion paying respects to the Daimyo now!"
"Those ninjas, always fighting..."
"At least they protect the Land of Fire!"
"It seems like the Hokage is being officially appointed today..."
The Hokage's whereabouts, which Konoha Village tried its best to hide, were being spread unscrupulously here. People near the Daimyo's Residence were discussing it animatedly, mostly about the Daimyo's high status and power, and the person who released the news...
Most likely, it was that Daimyo himself...
Kitahara: "..."
Uchiha Shisui: "..."
Why did it feel so subtly strange... The information they tried so hard to protect was worthless in others' eyes, even spread around with such fanfare.
The Land of Fire Daimyo currently held the upper hand. The disdain for the Hokage shown by the people near the Daimyo's Residence was something Shisui, who prided himself on being a ninja, had now witnessed.
(End of this chapter)