The news of Danzō's death fell like cold raiinguishing the fmes of anger ament that had ed the vilge.

  Reasourned.

  When someone like Danzō died, he iably leaved behind something for others to refle and remember.

  Despite being the kind of person who made rind their teeth in hatred, he had his merits.

  When all his past deeds were no longer shrouded in secrecy, people had to admit ohing: leaving aside his oral boundaries and his unventional way of thinking, he was exceptionally skilled in fn intelligend special operations.

  His personal finances were also impressively .

  The Shimura , under his leadership, did not gain any personal bes.

  All the funds he trolled were poured into his anization's activities, whether assassinating outsiders or dug experiments within the vilge.

  Of course, he had personal ambitions, and very strong o that—he always wao bee Hokage and genuinely believed he was the most suitable didate for the position.

  On this point, everyone would sihink: "You really are not suited to be Hokage!"

  If you had bee Hokage, the vilge would have exploded. But it doesn't matter now. Danzō ended everything with his own life.

  No one knew why he didn't resist until the very end, but that no longer mattered.

  What mattered now was Root, which had beeached from the rest of the vilge's structure.

  "So, that's pretty much how things stand," Fugaku said. This time, he wasn't meeting Masashi iudy.

  The head's house felt off today, with key members packed in and tension in the air.

  Perhaps he had realized that the 's ret rumors—about the " head loving calligraphy but being terrible at it"—were secretly spread by Masashi.

  "This time, bringing down Danzō was a major success, and you tributed greatly. The wants to hear your thoughts." As he spoke, Fugaku sipped tea and observed Masashi's rea.

  The past month's operations had involved every ninja w tirelessly to mobilize and create momentum.

  After all, with someone like Danzō, if you moved against him, you had to finish the job—leaving him alive would only create erouble.

  Now that it was do was time to divide his "iance."

  The intelligework Danzō had built, which spahe entire shinobi world, was a treasure trove every ninja coveted.

  This, of course, included the Hokage's office.

  But Masashi found himself ued.

  With Danzō gone, Konoha's entire political ecosystem would ge.

  In all fairness, he and his Root had been like a mountain pressing down on all the ninja s, f them to behave. No one else in the old "guard" of the Third Hokage's administration could pull that off.

  While Minato had shown decisive leadership during this operation, he was no schemer like Danzō. To the ninja s, his presence didn't carry the same intimidati.

  This likely meant Konoha would enter a "flourishing" era where everyone sought to rise.

  The good news was that the Hokage's office wouldn't o worry about the Uchiha anymore.

  The bad news? They'd have to worry about every ninja , including the Sarutobi .

  Handled well, this could signifitly boost Konoha's military strength and cohesion.

  Mishandled? It could breed the "Danzō."

  At least, for now, this was good for the Uchiha—everyone was starting from the same line.

  So why, on this sunny day, did Fugaku summon him for a meeting at home?

  The bars in the ercial district were having a terrible month! And what about this year's winter festival?

  Wasn't he pnning a theatrical exhibit about Prometheus, starting with his theft of fire?

  He even wao stage a py about the titan's defiance of Zeus, plete with sculptural art and serialized story adaptations.

  Wouldn't that be better than Jiraiya's Icha Icha Paradise nonsense?

  Men should be reading about Prometheus's noble sacrifice, his gift of fire to humanity, and his eternal punishment. Who caredd about Icha Icha Paradise?

  "I have no ideas," Masashi finally said, pulling himself back from his daydreams. Regretting the revenue he'd lose this year, his tone was ckluster. "Why not take this ce to pivot entirely?"

  "Oh?" Fugaku raised an eyebrow as he sipped his tea. "Let's hear it."

  "Express support for the Hokage. Propose transferring the Police Force's ma directly under him, while allowing Uchiha members to join other departments or take missions from the Hokage Building. Even allow jonin to join the elite jonin squads."

  The suggestion nearly made Fugaku spit out his tea. Around the room, several members shifted unfortably.

  "That's impossible," he said, shaking his head repeatedly. "The cil would never approve of transferring the Police Force—it's a long-standing tradition."

  "Then here's another approach," Masashi suggested. "Instead of privatizing it, propose expanding its scale. Bring in the Hyūga, Aburame, and Inuzuka s, and formalize the Police Force's responsibility for all public security in the vilge, except for secret agehis would allow the Police Force to broaden its jurisdi."

  "That's essentially the same thing," Fugaku responded, still shaking his head.

  "So why ask me?" Masashi threw up his hands. "This isn't my area of expertise."

  He gnced around. Shisui was also present, sitting in a ptive posture.

  Other active three-tomoe Sharingan users from the were also in attendance, but most of them seemed to be zoning out.

  It's the weekend—who wants to atteings? At least make them iing.

  "Shisui, what do you think?" Fugaku looked expetly at the 's other rising star.

  "I believe the Police Force should align closely with the Hokage's leadership," Shisui said diplomatically. "At this time, the vilge's is should take priority. Returning the Police Force to the vilge's trol is a good idea."

  This ractically meaningless—worse than useless. At least Masashi had proposed a trade or expansion of authority.

  Aher of these young men seemed ied in vying for trol of Root, likely unaware of its immense value.

  "Fet it," Fugaku sighed. "Perhaps this issue is too plex for you both." He looked at them. "Shisui, you're in the ANBU. Foproving the Hokage's perception of our . As for you, Masashi…"

  He paused thoughtfully.

  "Remain in the Police Ford tinue as usual. Don't s your training."

  Masashi and Shisui both nodded in agreement.

  "There's one more matter—Orochimaru."

  The room instantly grew serious. Even the previously disied members straighteheir postures.

  "The Third Hokage's influenplicates things," Shisui noted carefully. Several heads nodded in agreement.

  "We must tread carefully," Fugaku added. "The Third Hokage is not Danzō."

  They had no choice but to be cautious. Orochimaru's fate was still unresolved.

  With Danzō dead, everyone had snapped out of their freate and was now treading carefully when it came to Orochimaru.

  Hiruzen was still not someoo cross lightly.

  In this i, his prestige remained intact. As a former Hokage and ohe stro individual in Konoha, no one wao provoke him over Orochimaru.

  A retired Hiruzen might not be much help, but he could certainly ruin someone's pns with ease.

  The old man's finesse far exceeded Danzō's—he could derail you and leave you speechless.

  "Shisui, what's Orochimaru's status?"

  "He's still held in ANBU's internal prison," Shisui reported. "Interrogation hasn't gone smoothly. Out of respect for the Third Hokage, the Yamanaka hasn't been allowed to probe his mind. But we've obtained an important piece of intelligence."

  "What intelligence?"

  "Fuguki had a secret agreement with Root. They were supposed to meet monthly for handovers, but st month…"

  Everyone immediately uood.

  This major i had hit Root the hardest, essentially halting Konoha's fn intelligence operations. All they could do now was eheir agents' identities remained secret.

  Beyond that, they were powerless.

  "What does the Hokage io do?"

  "Both the Fourth and Third Hokage agree: the colboration ot be interrupted. A highly capable jonin must be sent to Kiri to plete this month's handover."

  At this, Shisui looked at Masashi.

  "Masashi-nii, the Hokage specifically named you. Without the Flying Thunder God, there's no way to ehe operative's safety."

  "Me? Sure, I do it, but…"

  "The Hokage cssified this as an S-rank mission."

  "Leave it to me!"

  ---

  Because it was an S-rank mission, Masashi woke up super early the day.

  Before dawn.

  He couldn't help it—after a year of not ting staoney, he got a little too excited.

  Since he woke up too early and the vilge gates weren't ope, he had to cook breakfast for himself. That worked out fine—o sna ration pills along the way.

  Ration pills were, after all, just a kind of dry food, and their taste? None whatsoever.

  After breakfast, he washed the dishes and found the timing just abht. He happily stepped out of his house.

  Once he passed through the vilge gates, Masashi immediately used the Flying Thunder God.

  This was to prevent anyone from tailing him.

  When Fuguki first visited Konoha, he made a grarance. As part of a diplomatic delegation, he was treated to aodations, food, and drinks along the way by the Land of Fire and Konoha, ensuring his journey was as fortable as possible.

  That had been the Konoha way—treat ah money like a king, and they'd e baore.

  Masashi wasn't so lucky.

  As his mission involved secret tact, he was all alone. Fet about inns or bahat was out of the question.

  His objective was Fuguki himself.

  He remembered that this veteran Kiri ninja was eventually killed by Kisame.

  The charge? Leaking information to the enemy. And there was no doubt who that "enemy" was—Konoha.

  What drove Fuguki to do so was simple. He suspected something was off with the Fourth Mizukage and decided to rely on Konoha's help to uhe truth.

  Naturally, Konoha didn't want an unstable factor in their backyard, so the two sides quickly struck a deal.

  The payment? A hefty 1.5 billion ryo. Although only 1 billion made its way to them in the end, such a massive inade it entirely reasoo provide some "after-sales service."

  The issue was, while the Hokage Building pocketed the payment, Masashi got stuck with the "er support."

  Had the Hokage Building not desighis task as an S-rank mission, there's no way he would've accepted.

  Whotiated the deal should hahe follow-up—that's the rule.

  It was clear that Minato was a man of principle; he even offered a generous mission reward.

  Taking this long-distance mission as an opportunity, Masashi also po extend the range of his Flying Thunder God marks.

  The Flying Thunder God allowed movement within the user's maximum sense. By setting up enough marks, one could travel freely within the designated area.

  For example, Minato's marks spahe Land of Fire and its allied territories, f a prehensive "work." This allowed him to appear in any er of these nds in the shortest time possible, earning him the title "Yellow Fsh."

  Masashi's work was much smaller, c only two areas: the territory of Konoha and the route he took to the Land of Hot Water. With this journey, his work would start extending southward.

  ---

  A day ter, after crossing most of the Land of Fire, Masashi reached the southeastern border aered familiar territory.

  The southeastern region eniending from the mainnd. The Land of Fire occupied about ohird of its ter, while the south belongs to a nation called the Land of Tea, which took up nearly half of the peninsu.

  Although he wasn't familiar with the Land of Tea, the rigued him. He po iigate one day—what if it hid some behind-the-ses boss that threatehe entire shinobi world?

  For the sake of world peace, he had to eliminate such a potential threat on behalf of the aor of chakra.

  To the east was the smallest nation.

  This was the Land of Whirlpools, the inal homend of the Uzumaki .

  The try still existed, but Uzushio had been wiped out years ago —destroyed by Kiri's ninja army and probably others too.

  Still, the Land of Whirlpools remained a buffer zoween the Land of Fire and Water. During the Third Great Ninja War, Konoha and Kiri ninjas cshed here.

  Beyond the Land of Whirlpools y a series of isnds f the Land of Water's perimeter.

  Cross those isnds, and you would reach the Land of Water's mainnd—the location of Kiri.

  Despite its reputation as a den of horror known as the Bloody Mist, Masashi actually felt quite fond of it.

  He had many old friends there. He missed them!

  After finishing business with Fuguki, he po ask if they could arrange a gathering—call up the old friends, share some drinks, and bury the hatchet.

  Mostly, he wao clear things up with Mei.

  After setting up several Flying Thunder God marks in the Land of Whirlpools, Masashi reached its eastern coast aered the water, using the Water Shockwave as his transportation to approach the isnds.

  inally a bat jutsu for maneuvering freely in water and dragging oppos uer to suffocate, this water teique, favored by Tobirama, also made an excellent travel tool—far quicker than a boat.

  Finally, he nded on the Land of Water's mainnd.

  The enviro was worlds apart from the Land of Fire.

  Even oer edges of the mainnd, the mist was thick. Though its rainfall didn't rival the Land of Rain's, the high humidity and lower temperatures defis climate.

  After roughly determining Kiri's direasashi tinued forward, all while adding more Flying Thunder God marks.

  Who knows? Future business opportunities in the Land of Water might arise—it'd be veo have those marks ready.

  As he ventured deeper, the mist grew so dehat ordinary people could no longer rely on sight to navigate.

  He was closing in on Kiri.

  The vilge's emmed from this natural phenomenon.

  Though the mist posed no obstacle to him, he activated his Sharingan for added caution.

  He moved with care, minimizing the noise of his movements.

  This was familiar territory.

  Before long, he detected chakra signatures emerging from the mist.

  His presence had triggered the vilge's sensory barriers—a key part of Kiri's defenses.

  Soon, Kiri ninja began heading in his dire.