Chapitre 521: Danzo's Underestimation

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

June, x787.

By the time Danzo arrived in Hiruzen's office, the other two advisors, Koharu and Homura had already arrived. Currently, Hiruzen was discussing the two attacks that took place not long ago. And it was obvious to see that Hiruzen was somewhat distraught about what they would mean to the alliance Tsunade worked so hard to foster with Fairy Tail.

Listening to the conversation between Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura, Danzo understood that his Root shinobi had been defeated. That was enough to surprise him greatly, as he had seriously underestimated the three Fairy Tail wizards and their maid.

Danzo's underestimation was not completely his fault, however. Elicia's power was completely unknown to anyone outside of the Fairy Tail guild. So, he never would have guessed that she alone would be able to detain the ten shinobi he sent to capture her.

On top of that, Irene's breakthrough happened earlier that morning and Alfonzo was not exactly forthcoming with the information, classifying it as a Fairy Tail guild secret when he was questioned before he left to start his work on the training ground. So, he never had any idea that on the off chance Elicia was not able to subdue the attackers, Irene would have been able to do so.

"What are you going to do about this, Hiruzen?" Koharu asked in a slightly worried tone. "Twenty shinobi with unknown affiliations attacked our guests. And I'm sure they will want an explanation when they arrive."

Instead of responding immediately to Koharu's question, Hiruzen took a toke from his lit pipe. Then, he held the smoke in his lungs for a moment before releasing it along with a sigh.

"*Sigh* And compensate them, we shall." Hiruzen said in a tired tone. "But there are more important things to think about in this case. For example, who are these shinobi that infiltrated our village..."

As Hiruzen reached that point, he shot a discreet glance at Danzo. Though he had no proof, he had a sneaking suspicion that Danzo was the culprit behind the attacks that took place not long ago.

'Danzo, oh Danzo, I pray that there was a hole in the village's security… for your sake my old friend.' Hiruzen thought to himself as he returned his attention to Koharu. 'And if there isn't, I pray that you covered your tracks as well as you always do. Because I don't think I can save you this time.'

"… And how did they get into the village without anyone knowing?" Hiruzen continued. "More importantly than that, how did they know our guests were here? Their presence was supposed to be top secret."

Hearing that, Koharu and Homura exchanged glances. Meanwhile, Danzo stared at Hiruzen with an impassive expression that did not give away his thoughts on the matter.

'Hiruzen, you truly have grown soft.' Danzo thought to himself while watching his old friend. 'I know you suspect me… No, I know you're sure I'm behind this incident. And we both know the correct thing to do in this situation is to have me arrested and interrogated before handing me over as compensation. Instead, I can see you giving away one of the village's secrets as compensation so that this incident does not spark a war with Fairy Tail. Just like you did with the Hyuga and the Cloud.'

And Danzo's thoughts were correct on the matter. Hiruzen was indeed thinking of compensating Alfonzo and Elicia with something that would be considered a village secret. Unfortunately, Danzo did not know that half of his shinobi were captured alive. Even if he did, though, he would only be minimally worried, as the [Seals] he put on all his subordinates meant that no one would be able to get any information out of them.

Once again, however, Danzo had underestimated Alfonzo due to having incomplete information. However, he would come to find out the consequences of his actions sooner rather than later.

"That's not something we can figure out right away, Hiruzen." Homura said as he adjusted his glasses. "Those wizards from Fairy Tail are going to want an explanation. And right now, we don't have anything to tell them."

"*Sigh* We'll just have to tell them the truth." Hiruzen replied while massaging his temples. "Until we have any information about the attacks, we can't give them an explanation."

"Then, there was no point in calling us here." Danzo said in his usual tone.

"Of course there was, Danzo." Hiruzen said while turning his attention to Danzo. "I want you to lead the investigation into the infiltrators entry point. I'll assign you a squad of Anbu as support."

'Hopefully this will keep you busy enough that you won't be able to cause any more trouble.' Hiruzen thought to himself.

At the same time, Danzo was smirking internally.

'I knew it.' Danzo thought to himself. 'You really did act just as I thought you would, Hiruzen. The only thing you're doing is giving me a chance to falsify a weak point in the barrier surrounding the village. And with that, I'll have everything I need to put another one of my plans in motion.

"Understood." Danzo said. "Then, I'll go and make preparations for the investigation."

In the next instant, Danzo turned away from Hiruzen's desk. Then, at his usual pace, he started walking towards the door.

*Knock!* *Knock!* *Knock!*

Before he could get too far, however, the sound of someone knocking on the door from the other side echoed throughout the office.

"Lord Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, Alfonzo Marcus, and an Anbu Captain are here to see you." Hiruzen's secretary said from the other side of the door.

"Allow them to enter." Hiruzen replied.

A moment later, the door to Hiruzen's office was opened before Alfonzo, Kakashi, and the captain of the Anbu squad that was assigned to watch Alfonzo while he was in the village entered the office. Meanwhile, Danzo continued walking towards the door with no intention to greet the new arrivals.

While Kakashi and the Anbu Captain did not pay much attention to Danzo, used to the way he carried himself, Alfonzo watched Danzo pass them from the corner of his eye. And had anyone familiar with him been present, they would have known that Danzo was not going to have a good time in the short term.

'You know, had you just targeted me, I would have definitely kicked your ass.' Alfonzo thought to himself as he let his gaze leave Danzo. 'In fact, you probably would have ended up dead because of what you tried. But trying to kidnap Lici, as ineffective as that plan was, was a really fucking bad idea, Danzo. And for that, just dying isn't enough.'

Alfonzo then let his gaze rest on Hiruzen.

'And for your sake, Old Man, I hope you weren't in on Danzo's schemes.' Alfonzo continued his thoughts. 'Because if you were, the village is gonna need a new Hokage even earlier than the canon.'

In Alfonzo's past life, there were many debates whether Hiruzen and Danzō were working together to cause all the atrocities that Danzo perpetrated. Some said that Hiruzen was in on it, letting Danzo do all the dirty work. Then, there were some that thought Hiruzen just let Danzo do what he wanted while remaining ignorant and cleaning up any fallout as necessary. Then, there were all sorts of theories that fell between those two extremes.

"Alfonzo, allow me to extend my apologies for what happened today." Hiruzen said as he stood up from behind his desk. "I'm not sure how those shinobi got into the village to attack you and your companions, but I assure you we will be doing everything in our power to find out how this happened."

"I'm sure you will, Lord Hokage. Alfonzo said in a steely tone. "It's just a good thing that nothing happened to Lici and our child. Otherwise, I don't know what I would have done."

At the same time as those words left Alfonzo's mouth, his magic power began leaking, putting pressure on everyone in the room. And while Hiruzen and Kakashi seemed to be fine, more or less, the pressure almost caused Koharu, Homura, and the Anbu Captain to fall to their knees.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen could not help opening his eyes wide.

'This young man's magic power is almost as strong as my own.' Hiruzen thought to himself. 'And considering my age and the fact that my body is far from its peak, I'm under no illusion that I could stop him if he were to go on a rampage. Luckily, nothing happened to his wife. Otherwise, I don't know what would happen. Still, I'd better have Jiraiya return just in case.'

"Calm down, Alfonzo." Kakashi said, patting Alfonzo on the back as he spoke. "Since you were able to bring in those captives alive, the T&I Department will be able to get something out of them. Then, we'll be able to find the people responsible for those attacks."

Taking a deep breath, Alfonzo reeled in his magic power, allowing Koharu, Homura, and the Anbu Captain to breathe a sigh of relief. And although Alfonzo was only exerting his pressure as an intimidation tactic, the anger he showed at the thought of anything happening to Elicia or their unborn child was real.

"*Sigh* I know, Kakashi, I know." Alfonzo replied.

"You were able to bring in the attackers alive?" Hiruzen asked in a surprised tone. "Excellent."

'Even if they were brought in alive, there isn't much we'll be able to do with those captives.' Hiruzen thought to himself without changing his expression. 'If they are Danzo's men as I suspect, they probably have [Seals] on them that will not allow them to speak or have their minds read. And if the T&I Department tries to do so forcefully, they'll only end up dead..'

Alfonzo's next words, however, would flip that notion on its head.

"Yeah, and hopefully getting information out of them won't be too hard." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "While checking them for any identifying features, I noticed they all had some kind of sigils on their tongues that would keep them from speaking about their superiors. So, I took the time to dispel them."

Had Danzo been present to hear that, he would have definitely begun to panic. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that an outsider to the village would ever be able to remove the [Seals] on his Root shinobi. Unfortunately for him, he thought there were more important things to deal with than this situation.

Hiruzen, on the other hand, opened his eyes even wider. However, he was not the only one who was surprised, as Koharu, Homura, Kakashi, and the Anbu Captain could not help but look at Alfonzo with surprise, as well.

"You know the [Art of Sealing]?" Hiruzen asked in dumbfounded amazement. "But how is that possible? There aren't many who practice it. And the number that practice it outside of the Hidden Villages is even fewer."

As he spoke, Hiruzen's body tensed in the case that he would have to attack. Hearing that Alfonzo was able to remove [Seals] made him consider that Alfonzo had stolen some classified information from the village during his stay.

"Calm down, Lord Hokage." Alfonzo said after noticing Hiruzen's change in demeanor. "I know exactly what you're thinking. But I didn't steal anything from the village."

Hearing that, everyone, other than Hiruzen, wore confused expressions. Then, they turned their attention to Hiruzen and noticed that he was in a battle ready state.

"The [Seals] your village uses are a type of [Word Magic]." Alfonzo continued. "And I'm pretty damn good when it comes to [Word Magic], you know. I mean, I'd have to be to be so good when it comes to magic item creation. And although its different than the sigils I'm used to, it wasn't that hard to figure out."

Just then, Hiruzen remembered Alfonzo's proficiency with magic item creation. And when he did, he realized that what Alfonzo said was most likely true. And Alfonzo's next words made him relax even further.

"And if you're still having trouble believing me, you can check the prisoners." Alfonzo said with a shrug. "The sigils I used to dispel the [Seals] on the prisoners' tongues are there for everyone to see. I had to carve them into their tongues, though. So, it won't be too pretty to look at."

As Alfonzo said, he used the sigils he was familiar with to dispel the [Seals] on the Root shinobi rather than removing them. So, the original [Seals] were still present on the backs of the Root Shinobi's tongues. Those [Seals] were just surrounded by the dispelling sigils he carved.

"I see." Hiruzen replied. "Then, I suppose I should thank you for making the job easier for the T&I Department."

'Still, I think I'll make a trip down to the T&I Department to make sure for myself.' Hiruzen thought to himself.

"Still, the village owes you compensation for what happened today." Hiruzen continued. "And if what you said was true, then we owe you even more."

'Danzo, for your sake, I pray this was done by a village who found out about our guests.' Hiruzen said while shaking his head internally. 'I've been able to look the other way for all the things you've done in the past because there was no evidence. But if you were the one behind this and what this young man said is true, I can't and won't save you.'

At the same time, Danzo had just returned to the Root Headquarters. And just as he was making the preparations to fabricate a weakness in the barrier surrounding the village while leading the investigation, another one of his Root Shinobi appeared in front of him. And just like the last time, the shinobi appeared down on one knee with his head bowed respectfully.

"Lord Danzo, I have something to report." The shinobi said in an emotionless tone.

"Speak." Danzo ordered without stopping his footsteps.

"Our agent in the T&I Department just reported that the shinobi sent to capture Alfonzo Marcus were brought in to be interrogated." The Shinobi said.

Hearing that, Danzo froze for an instant.

"It is of no consequence." Danzo replied. "With the [Seals] I applied, it will be impossible to get anything of worth out of them."

With that said, Danzo casually dismissed the shinobi and continued with what he was planning to do. Unfortunately, the agent Danzo planted in the T&I Department was not high enough in rank to know that the [Seals] Danzo spoke of had been dispelled. Especially when you consider that Alfonzo, Kakashi, and the Anbu Captain brought the prisoners directly to Ibiki Morino, the Head of the T&I Department, and Inoichi Yamanaka, the Hidden Leaf Village's foremost expert in mind-related arts.

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Chapitre 522: A Wanted Man

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

June, x787.

After discussing the incident with Hiruzen, Alfonzo decided to tag along when Hiruzen went to the T&I Department to check his work. And he had to say that he immensely enjoyed the surprised expression on Hiruzen's face when he saw the interrogators getting information from the prisoners as if it were nothing.

And when all ten of the shinobi Alfonzo captured revealed that Danzo was the culprit behind the two attacks, Alfonzo smiled. However, this smile was enough to make all the hardened shinobi in the room take a step back in apprehension.

"Hey, Lord Hokage, do you mind if I bring Danzo in to receive his punishment?" Alfonzo asked in an eerily calm tone. "And I promise that he'll still be alive when I do. I won't be able to make any promises about the condition he'll be in, though."

Hiruzen's first instinct was to deny Alfonzo's request. However, when he saw the unadulterated fury in his eyes, he felt like that would be a bad idea. So, he put on a stern expression and nodded his head.

"Usually, I would refuse your request." Hiruzen said. "However, I know what it's like to have someone target your loved ones. So, I'll make an exception. But please, bring him in alive. He needs to be tried for his crimes."

"Got it." Alfonzo replied, his blood thirsty smile widening as he did so. "Oh, and you should probably announce that there is a warrant, or whatever you use here, for Danzo's arrest. That way, he'll probably run away and I won't have to worry about damaging anything in the village when I take him down."

Hearing that, Hiruzen paled immediately. Alfonzo's statement made him remember that Alfonzo was a member of fairy Tail, a guild that tended to cause a lot of collateral damage, even if that amount had dropped significantly over the past five years, or so.

'After feeling his power in my office, I have no doubt that he could destroy a significant part of the village if he were to fight with Danzo.' Hiruzen thought to himself. 'At least he's aware enough to make a reason to have the battle outside of the village.'

Little did Hiruzen know, Alfonzo is fully capable enough to keep the property damage to a minimum while fighting Danzo. However, because Danzo targeted Elicia, Alfonzo intended to let himself go quite a bit.

"Of course." Hiruzen replied. "Just give us the time to spread the word. And a little more time after that for Danzo to escape, something I'm sure he's capable of without getting caught."

"Sounds good." Alfonzo replied. "Until then, I'll head home and see how Lici is doing. And when I feel that enough time has passed, I'll start the hunt."

Although Hiruzen was unsure how Alfonzo would track Danzo, he did the sensible thing and nodded his head. Truth be told, Hiruzen did not think any of his Anbu would be able to track Danzo if he really wanted to escape unseen. But he had no intention of mentioning that, considering this the last mercy he would give his old friend.

Alfonzo, on the other hand, left the T&I Department after getting Hiruzen's confirmation before making his way back to the temporary residence.

When Alfonzo arrived, he found Elicia and Irene sitting in the living room and chatting about parenting while Ikaruga waited on them. And after hearing the conversation, he could not help but smile a genuine smile.

"Hey Fonzie." Elicia said with a smile after noticing Alfonzo. "How did it go?"

"They found out who the culprit was." Alfonzo replied. "However, if they had attacked anyone else, it would have probably remained a mystery."

As he spoke, Alfonzo shrugged his shoulders before making his way over to Elicia's side, sitting down next to her, and pulling her into a hug. Meanwhile, Elicia smiled brightly as she leaned into the hug.

"What do you mean?" Irene asked curiously.

"Oh, all the guys that attacked had what the shinobi call [Seals], a kind of [Word Magic], on their tongues that would not allow them to talk about their superior." Alfonzo explained, drawing both Ikaruga and Irene's full attention. "But I carved sigils into their tongues that negated the effects of the [Seals]. I'm sure Irene could have done something similar with her [Enchantments], though."

"Yeah, if I could have brought the ones who tried to break into the house in alive, she could have." Elicia said, sounding a bit downcast.

In response, Alfonzo hugged Elicia a little bit tighter before kissing her on the top of her head.

"Don't worry about it, Lici." Alfonzo said with a loving smile. "We all know you could have done that with no problem if you pushed yourself. But shit heads like that aren't worth putting any strain on your body while you're carrying our child."

"*Sigh* I know." Elicia replied while snuggling into Alfonzo's embrace. "Still, it would have made that Danzo guy look even worse than he does now."

With that, Alfonzo continued comforting Elicia. Meanwhile, Irene, who was watching the sugary sweet moment, could not help but feel a bit of envy.

'*Sigh* that poor excuse of a man that I used to call my husband was never that gentle with me.' Irene thought to herself while watching Alfonzo and Elicia. 'I guess that's what happens when you marry someone for political reasons.'

["Perhaps you could find yourself another husband, now that you are human again, Irene."] Belserion replied from Irene's inner world. ["And this time, you can find someone you truly love."]

'*Sigh* Although that sounds nice, Belserion, I'm definitely not ready for that step.' Irene said. 'Besides, I already have enough emotional baggage to deal with.'

As she had that thought, Irene could not help but smile fondly when an image of Erza popped up in her head.

'I have to deal with my other emotional entanglements before I think about anything like that.' Irene continued.

["I understand."] Belserion replied.

Meanwhile, a number of Shinobi were running around the village putting up wanted posters of Danzo, greatly surprising all the civilians and shinobi who were not in the know. That also included all the kids from the academy, who were currently on their way to Alfonzo and Elicia's temporary residence to continue their training.

"Hey, guys, look at that." Naruto said loudly after seeing an Anbu paste a wanted poster just outside of Ramen Ichiraku.

"Geez, Naruto, stop trying to trick us into getting Ramen before we train with Ikaruga." Sakura said in an exasperated tone. "It's not gonna work this time."

"No, Sakura, this time I'm not trying to go to Boss Teuchi's place, I promise." Naruto said, defending himself.

"This time Naruto is telling the truth." Shikamaru said while pointing at the wanted poster. "It looks like something big happened."

Hearing that, all the kids turned in the direction Shikamaru was pointing. And when they saw the wanted poster, they were all shocked.

"Danzo Shimura, isn't that one of the village's elders?" Choji asked while reaching into a bag of potato chips. "Is this some kind of mistake?"

"I don't think so." A boy with black hair wearing a large grey coat with a high collar the covered the lower half of his face and sunglasses said while pointing to an identical wanted poster on the opposite side of the street.

The boy in the grey coat was Shino Aburame, another one of Naruto's classmates. After seeing that he was the only one of the kids in his class with any potential that had been left out of whatever was making the others stronger, he eventually asked one of them, Hinata, what the secret to their fast growth was.

And Hinata, being the kind-hearted girl that she was told Shino what everyone had been doing after school. However, she also mentioned that he should speak to Naruto about it. Since Naruto was the reason that they were getting the extra training.

Hearing that, Shino, having already made up his mind, directly walked up to Naruto and asked if he could join them. And to Shino's surprise, Naruto agreed immediately. And the reason was simple, Apparently Elicia had secretly observed their class one day. And she told Naruto to let Shino join if he wanted to because she saw his potential.

Naturally, the bit about potential was completely made up. Although Elicia had indeed observed Naruto's class at the academy and saw that all the Rookie 9 were head and shoulders above the rest of their class, the reason Elicia extended the invitation was simply because of the fact that Shino was a member of the Rookie 9, and nothing else.

"Wow! Now that I look around, those posters are everywhere." Ino said while looking around in wonder. "I wonder what happened?"

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke said in his usual grumpy tone. "We're not strong enough for it to matter anyway."

With that, Sasuke stopped paying attention to the rest of the group and continued making his way towards Alfonzo and Elicia's house.

"*Bark!*" The puppy who always accompanies Kiba, Akamaru, barked after Sasuke.

"Hey, I'm not letting you get ahead of me!" Kiba shouted as he, too, started moving again.

"*Sigh* What a drag." Shikamaru said in a lethargic tone. "Sasuke's right, though. This isn't something we need to be concerned with---"

"Hey, you two wait for me!" Naruto shouted, cutting off Shikamaru. "I'm not gonna let you guys get better than me! I'm gonna be the Hokage one day, you know!"

"*Sigh* What a drag…" Shikamaru repeated in an even more lethargic tone.

With that, the rest of the group followed Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke.

Meanwhile, back at the temporary residence, Alfonzo stood up from his spot next to Elicia. Then, he stretched as he prepared to leave the house.

"Anyway, I guess I need to get going." Alfonzo said with a smile. "I need to break into Danzo's base. I bet there's all sorts of juicy information and incriminating evidence in there. And I wanna present it all to the Hokage."

"Remind me to never become your enemy, Alfonzo." Irene said while shaking her head with a smile on her face. "You don't just want him dead, you wanna ruin his entire legacy, don't you?"

"Uh… Irene, you've already been Fonzie's enemy before, remember?" Elicia pointed out.

Irene only shrugged casually in response.

"Remind me to never do it again, then." Irene said.

"You know, being my enemy isn't that bad." Alfonzo replied. "But if you're trying to hurt the people I care about is when you should be worried."

"Yeah, I can see that." Irene replied.

"Anyway, Lici, can you cast [Hiding in Plain Sight] on me?" Alfonzo asked. ["I can tell that Danzo is still in his hideout. And I'll need it to steal everything right out from under him."

"Of course. Elicia replied as she looped a thin thread around Alfonzo's wrist. "there ya go."

"Thanks, Sweetheart." Alfonzo replied with a smile. A moment later, his smile turned blood thirsty. "Now, let's start the hunt."

"Oh, if you're going to steal some data, you should take this." Irene said as she took off her hat before pulling a satchel out of it and tossing it at Alfonzo. "I [Enchanted] that bag so that it can hold enough items to fill up this room completely. You won't feel the weight, either."

Hearing that, Elicia's eyes lit up like torch lights.

"A bag like that would come in real handy for shopping." Elicia said excitedly. "Irene, if I give you one of the bags I made, could you [Enchant] it for me, too? And of course I'll pay you for it. Just let me know how much."

"Sure, and you don't' have to worry about payment." Irene replied. "considering how much Alfonzo has done for me, I could never think of taking payment for such a trifle."

"Absolutely not!" Elicia replied strongly. "A wizard should always be compensated for their efforts. And you're no exception to that rule. So, just tell me how much it will cost."

Like that, Elicia and Irene began to bicker over the price for one of Irene's [Enchantments]. Meanwhile, Alfonzo, with the bag Irene gave him in hand, started making his way to the entrance of the residence.

"Well, I better get going." Alfonzo muttered. "Naruto and the others should be here soon. And I don't wanna hear any questions about where I'm going."

About an hour later in the Root base, Danzo had just finished his preparations to make some changes to the barrier surrounding the village when he was interrupted for a third time by one of his shinobi.

"Lord Danzo, I have two things to report." The shinobi said, his tone just as emotionless as every other Root shinobi.

"Speak." Danzo ordered.

"Yes, Lord Danzo." The shinobi replied. "First, a large amount of the documents in the storage have gone missing."

Hearing that, Danzo scowled at the shinobi giving the report.

"by a large amount, what do you mean, exactly?" Danzo asked.

"Nearly all of it." The shinobi replied.

Immediately, Danzo's magic power flared, putting pressure on everything in the room.

"How is that possible?" Danzo aske angrily.

"Unsure." The shinobi replied. "I came here to receive orders."

Though the correct course of action should have been obvious, Danzo trained his Root shinobi to follow orders so strictly that unless they are given permission to, they will not act at all without orders. Thus the shinobi coming to ask for direction when it was found that all the records in the record room were missing.

"*Sigh* Search the base from top to bottom." Danzo replied after exhaling his anger and irritation in that sigh. "Find any clue you can. Summon all the sensors available for the search."

"Understood, Lord Danzō.' The shinobi replied. However, he did not stand to carry out his orders.

"What's the matter?" Danzo asked, his irritation rising at the sight of the still kneeling shinobi in front of him. "Why have you not left to carry out my orders?"

"I have another matter to report." The shinobi replied.

"Out with it, then.!" Danzo ordered.

"Yes, sir." The Shinobi replied. "The Anbu have been hurrying around the village pasting these on every wall and light post."

As the shinobi spoke, he reached into his clothes and pulled out a copy of Danzo's wanted poster. Then, he handed the poster to Danzo.

Immediately, Danzo snatched the poster out of the shinobi's hand. Then, he looked down and began to read it. However, after seeing its contents, he froze. Seeing his face on a wanted poster, he did not know how to react for a few moments. Never in a million years did he ever think Hiruzen would put out a warrant for his arrest.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Danzo asked angrily, his magic power flaring once again.

"Unsure." The shinobi replied while trying to resist the pressure from Danzo's magic power. "Would you like us to investigate?"

"No, we can worry about that later." Danzo replied as he stood from his seat while reeling in his magic power. "For now, gather as much as you can in the storage scrolls. We need to leave the village as quickly as possible."

"Understood." The shinobi replied, understanding that the new order superseded the one.

With that, both Danzo and the Root began to move in preparation to escape the village.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Danzo, there was a third person in the room while the shinobi reported to him. Though, this person, Alfonzo, was still under the effects of Elicia's [Hiding in Plain Sight] spell. And for the entire time Alfonzo was in the room with Danzo and the Root shinobi, he was patting the bag that was hanging off his left shoulder.

"That's right, Danzo, run." Alfonzo said quietly as he watched Danzo leave the room in a hurry. "As soon as you're far enough away from the village is when the real fun begins."