章節 14: ROOT

"Tsunade, what are you doing? Don't attack anyone in the council, also Danzo, you should shut yourself. Don't speak when you aren't allowed." said Hiruzen while trying to calm the situation. Even he felt some apprehension seeing Tsunade's strength and knew that he has to sacrifice his friend today.

"Hiruzen, YOU!" said Danzo but then looking at Hiruzen's face, he knew that today he won't be able to do anything. Inwardly he cursed Hiruzen, Tsunade, and The Senju clan.

"Let's begin the meeting," said Tsunade while sitting on her chair and acting as if anything happened. Everyone also ignored this and now started to look forward to another drama-Ahem, the meeting.

"Why is the whole village calling Sakumo a coward?" asked Tsunade with a heavy voice.

"Because he has failed the mission which cost our village," replied Hiruzen while glancing at Danzo.

"And why does the village know Sakumo has failed the mission? Also, I heard some villagers talking about what the mission was and how failure has cost the village. Aren't missions supposed to be secret? How the fuck does the whole village know about this? Is someone purposely targetting Sakumo?" asked Tsunade one by one but no one answered any question. Seeing this Sakumo revealed a bitter smile and couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

No one replied and everyone remained silent even after Sakumo's bitter laugh. After all, how can they reply? The only person who knows about the mission was Hokage and Advisor. Seeing both of them keeping straight faces even after hearing all the accusations, everyone wondered just how thick their skin was.

"So no one's gonna answer. Huh! Sakumo you did a good job of saving everyone instead of completing everyone. But it's a pity that these backstabbers won't understand. After all, it is said that 'in the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, but they don't understand that those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash'. Now see, what people you were working for. Anyways, I will not pursue this anymore. You all begin the meeting related to war." saying all that, Tsunade closed her eyes, showing how she won't be interfering now.

Everyone remained silent after hearing her words while few people showed regret on their faces. Regret why didn't they support Sakumo and how the village has lost a Kage-level assassin.

Then everyone discussed how the war is going on, who will be sent to the group and where will they attack. In the end, Hiruzen asked Tsunade if she will join the assault at Amegakure with Orochimaru and Jiraiya one month later to which she replied, "Yes, my phobia is cured and I will be joining again the war with Jiraiya and Orochimaru. But before we finish the meeting, I would like to ask some questions."

"It's good that you are joining the war. However you can ask the latter.." before Hiruzen could complete his sentence, Tsunade asked, " What is ROOT?"

Everyone has a confused expression on their face while Danzo's eyes showed fear. He knew that his 'personal' secret organization has been discovered while Hiruzen had anger on his face. Anger for the cutting Hokage in between and anger on how the 'ROOT' has been discovered. He looked at Danzo briefly before replying, " It is a village secret."

"Oh! A village secret that even the Heads of Major clans don't know. It seems Hokage sama really doesn't trust us." said Tsunade with ridicule.

Everyone had a solemn expression upon hearing this. To think there was something in the village that even Heads didn't know. Everyone looked at Hiruzen waiting for the answer.

Seeing this, Hiruzen explained to everyone how it was a new subdivision. It was the same as ANBU's and how they worked in shadow and whatnot.

"So, who is the leader of ROOT? " asked Tsunade with a smile and Hiruzen replied, " Of course, it's me." with a straight face to save his friend.

"Then what do these documents mean? said Tsunade and showed everyone the documents related to Sakumo's mission, how it was leaked, and how he was supposed to be killed by the end of the mission. The other document showed how information was spread in the village about Sakumo's mission. But the main problem was they were all signed by Shimura Danzo instead. Meaning instead of Hiruzen being the leader of ROOT, it was Danzo and Hiruzen has lied if the documents were true.

Everyone looked at Hiruzen waiting for the answers. It was the first time they had seen this type of expression on his face. It was an extremely cold expression but it changed in an instant it may seem like an illusion but everyone knew it was far from an illusion.

"These documents are fake. I don't know how you acquired them but I now know that someone is trying to instigate a conflict in the village. If you all have issues like this again or if you all find something like this again, you should directly report to me. I will answer all your questions and everyone doesn't need to worry about this. I will look at who is making chaos. Tsunade, can you tell me where did you find these documents?" replied Hiruzen with a calm voice.

All the clan leaders knew that everything that was written on the documents was true because if it was false Tsunade wouldn't bring it to the meeting.

" Of so they are fake. I knew it from the start, I just wanted everyone to know about this. Also, there were some unknown ninjas who I didn't recognize were hiding near the Senju clan. I killed them and found instantly found these documents in their storage seals. They had a seal on their tongue so I couldn't find anything about them. I suggest everyone check their clansmen if they have these seals. After all, they might be the spies who are trying to instigate chaos and bridge between the clans and the village." replied Tsunade with an extremely honest face.

Hearing this, both Danzo and Hiruzen cursed in their mind on how the seals were released. They couldn't believe that the one sitting in front of them is Tsunade. While every other member had a wary expression on their face. They decide that the first thing they are gonna do after the meeting was to look for the seals on their clansmen.

After seeing this Hiruzen decide to disband the meeting and Sakumo also left with Tsunade. After leaving the tower both Sakumo and Tsunade couldn't hold their laughter anymore. Everyone inside the group chat was also laughing because the meeting was being live-streamed and even Kaguya had brought some food and enjoyed it like a show.

[Tsunade: "Let's have a party tonight, it's gonna be my treat. I really feel light after dealing with Hiruzen and Danzo."]

Everyone agreed and Tsunade sent her clone to buy 'some' food and drinks. Just as everyone was about leave and prepare for the party a notification was heard in their mind and then,

[Ding! The Group Members have completed the Mission.]