94: The Four Shadows

In the Konoha High-Level Conference Room, the atmosphere was colder than the air in an outdoor graveyard.

Hiruzen Sarutobi’s pipe was almost polished smooth from his grip, and his chronic headache was having a party in his head. Danzo Shimura’s old face was as black as a pot, and his cane thumped against the floor, as if he wanted to dismantle the entire foundation of the Hokage Building.

Uchiha Fugaku stood opposite him, his expression calm, but he was laughing heartily inside.

Ah, this wave, this is called high-end business warfare, often employing the most primitive form of slander.

“Hiruzen! This is slander! When has my Root ever acted so unprofessionally?!” Danzo’s single eye almost spat fire. He pointed at Fugaku, almost ready to lay hands on him, “To clear your names, you Uchiha even massacred your own clan members to stage a bitter act! Your intentions are damnable!”

Fugaku replied expressionlessly, “Elder Danzo, you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t say whatever you want. It’s true that our clan’s patrol team was attacked, and it’s also true that Iwagakure spies were found in Tanzaku Street. Both incidents happened simultaneously and point to Root. This might just be a coincidence.”

While he said it was a coincidence, his expression clearly said, “Coincidence? It’s so coincidental I almost believed it.”

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt his blood pressure monitor was about to explode.

That ‘Fissure Earth Palm’ move in the suburbs, the Chakra usage was as crude as a newly graduated Genin, yet it carried a brutish Iwagakure force; it looked strange no matter how he saw it. But the corpse Fugaku brought back, that ‘Tongue Sealing Curse’ was so perfect that even he, the Hokage, couldn’t find a single flaw, more authentic than the original.

Two completely contradictory pieces of evidence were placed together, forming a perfect logical loop.

The only explanation was that Danzo’s subordinate was an internal spy with extremely poor professional skills but also proficient in forging cursed seals… Is that even possible?

The meeting ended on a sour note.

The entire Konoha high-level leadership fell into an unprecedented chain of suspicion. Uchiha and Root completely tore off their masks, and the covert clashes left the Village’s defense system full of holes.

This “top-secret intelligence report” stating “Konoha’s internal discord and a 30% weakening of its defense system” spread like wildfire, sent by Tang Yan through several “middlemen” to the desks of various Ninja World Villages, without anyone noticing.

...

Iwagakure.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, was having his old back massaged by his granddaughter, Kurotsuchi. He looked at the intelligence report in his hand, and his cloudy old eyes suddenly shone with the brightness of a two-hundred-watt light bulb.

“Ouch!”

He excitedly slapped the table, forgetting about his old back, and grimaced in pain.

“Grandpa, are you alright?” Kurotsuchi quickly increased the pressure.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Ōnoki waved his hand, his face creased with a wide smile, “My disc might be herniated, but our Iwagakure’s grand ambition must never stagnate! Those fools in Konoha are playing games with themselves! This is a heaven-sent opportunity that comes once in decades!”

He immediately decided not to bother with petty infiltration. Instead, he would open a “high-stakes game,” gathering everyone he could, and achieve everything in one fell swoop.

“Issue my command! In my name, invite the Raikage, Mizukage, and Kazekage to the Land of Iron to discuss the future of the Ninja World… Bah, to discuss how to divide Konoha, that big cake!”

...

Land of Iron, Mifune Fortress.

The solemnity characteristic of a neutral country made the atmosphere of this secret meeting particularly grave.

The temporary Raikage, Lord Raikage, was muscular and coiled, like a furious grizzly bear. He slammed his palm on the custom-made steel conference table, leaving a clear imprint: “What’s there to discuss?! Gather the army and charge directly, that’s it! When in doubt, go all out!”

Kazekage Rasa, sitting opposite him, calmly spoke, “Lord Raikage, please calm down. A direct assault would be too costly. I’m just curious, if we win, how will those fertile lands of the Land of Fire be distributed?”

And Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage of Hidden Mist, was like an emotionless robot from beginning to end, nodding expressionlessly to all proposals.

“Weakening Konoha, agreed.”

“Sending troops, agreed.”

“Dividing, agreed.”

Ōnoki floated in mid-air, cleared his throat, and adopted the posture of a transcendent master.

“Gentlemen, listen to my words. A direct assault on Konoha is the worst strategy, killing a thousand enemies but losing eight hundred of your own. The best strategy is to let this great tree rot from within!”

He threw the ‘intelligence’ onto the table.

“Gentlemen, please look. This is a detailed record of Konoha’s suppression of the Uchiha Clan, which began during the Second Hokage’s era. Today’s Uchiha are the biggest bomb within Konoha, an internal threat suppressed to the extreme!”

Lord Raikage leaned over to look, scratching his head: “Too many words, I don’t understand. Just tell me what to do.”

Ōnoki’s lips curled into a confident smile, as if he had everything under control.

“It’s simple, we’ll play a move called ‘Rotten Trunk Strategy’!”

After some fierce bargaining (mainly Lord Raikage and Kazekage arguing), the Four Kage finally reached the insidious “Rotten Trunk Agreement.”

Step one: Each Village sends its top spies to contact the hardliners within Uchiha, providing them with money, equipment, and “inside information,” such as “Konoha High-Level’s Top-Secret Purge Plan against Uchiha,” to incite them to rebel quickly.

Step two: Once Uchiha and Konoha’s high-level are fighting tooth and nail, tearing each other apart, the Four-Nation Allied Forces will then raise the banner of “maintaining peace and stability in the Land of Fire” and intervene like lightning, completely dealing with Konoha.

“Excellent!” Rasa applauded in admiration, as if he already saw countless golden banknotes beckoning to him.

“Let’s do it!” Lord Raikage also felt this plan was less strenuous than his direct charge.

“Agreed.” Yagura remained expressionless.

Four self-proclaimed “chess players” placed a fatal chess piece on what they considered their chessboard.

None of them noticed that on the highest spire of the fortress, a strangely shaped owl puppet’s eyes flickered slightly.

Those pupils, made of night-vision crystals, were transmitting the sounds and images from inside the room to several miles away.

...

Inside a dark cave, the bonfire crackled.

Zi Luo’s mouth was full of roasted meat, and he was so shocked that he could barely speak: “Holy crap… Are these guys… really going to destroy Konoha?!”

Tang Yan elegantly tore off a small piece of rabbit leg, blew on it to cool it, and a knowing smile played on his lips.

“Calm down,” he leisurely commented, “The script they saw is what I wanted them to see. The conclusions they drew are what I guided them to draw.”

Zi Luo swallowed the meat in his mouth with difficulty, his eyes wide like copper bells: “You mean… the intelligence in Ōnoki’s hand…”

“Uh-huh.” Tang Yan snapped his fingers, “Nine truths, one lie. I just slightly exaggerated Fugaku’s predicament and explained Danzo’s ambition to rise to power, and they themselves filled in an entire ‘History of Konoha’s Internal Strife.’”

This is the art of information asymmetry.

You think you’re on the fifth floor, but actually, you’re in my basement.

He took out a brand new scroll from his Pregnant and threw it to the still-shocked Zi Luo.

Zi Luo fumbled to catch it: “What’s this now?”

He opened the scroll to find it contained detailed information on a Hidden Mist Jonin named Ao, including his fighting habits, relationships, and… his transplanted Byakugan, which belonged to the Hyuga Clan.

Next to the Byakugan entry, Tang Yan had drawn a large red circle.

Tang Yan stood up and clapped his hands to remove the grease.

“A perfect plan needs a perfect fuse. Now, it’s time for our Uchiha Clan Head to see with his own eyes how many ‘dirty’ secrets Konoha’s high-level officials hide behind the scenes.”

He raised an eyebrow at Zi Luo.

“Let’s go, take Fugaku to watch a ‘seeing is believing’ show of despair.”