Chapter 65

Danzo prudently remained silent to the rhetorical question, frowning even more. The idea of buying the orphanage boy's invaluable Fuinjutsu knowledge in secret had failed miserably. And now he had to silently listen to a barrage of sludge from his longtime rival. Oh no, Danzo wasn't as bad at manipulating shinobi emotions as Sarutobi had made him out to be.

Before the operation began, all the risks were calculated and recognized as acceptable, because not only the coveted knowledge was at stake, but also the influence on Namikaze, which the rival was not aware of, because kind people could well hint whose people helped the orphan in time with resources, training and techniques. And through him and his influence on the jinchuriki - Anbu Ne's analysts could also perfectly calculate multi-move plans.

But only with so carefully built and executed plans, flew to the demons because of a single miscalculation - Uzumaki Mito learned about the transfer of knowledge to operatives Ne. And it was unknown in what way - shinobi Hyuga guaranteed the absence of observers during all cases, and the books and scrolls themselves were also carefully checked for chakra, to prevent even the slightest possibility of tracking the items by some tricky fuin.

Apparently the precautions taken were not as effective as Danzo had anticipated. He should have made the boy copy the loot himself, and then bought it back after a while.

- You've gone rogue, Danzo. You've strayed into foreign territory, disrupted important plans, done harm to Konoha for your own short-term gain," Hiruzen tapped his fingers on the table thoughtfully, turning to face the guest. "I think it's fair to requisition the deceptively obtained knowledge and cut the funding of the Anbu unit that made such a huge blunder by half the current amount.

- But that won't restore the Root's personnel to pre-war levels," Shimura frowned, unable to help himself, "which in turn will have an even greater impact on Konoha's defenses!

- But that didn't stop you from missing a direct attack by hundreds of enemy shinobi that not only crossed the borders of the Fire Nation, but also got under the very walls that your shinobi were guarding," Hiruzen pointed out his subordinate's mistake, "or do you think my decision was wrong?

- No doubt it was the right decision, Hokage-sama," the guest bowed his head slightly, not showing his feelings, but the shinobi sitting at the table still caught the anger of his longtime colleague.

- In that case, I won't detain you, - the owner of the office turned to the window, demonstrating the end of the audience.

Hearing the sound of the door opening and closing, and the Anbu guards returning to their posts, the Hokage sighed. Of course, Danzo had made some serious blunders that had forced him to change, postpone, or abandon plans, but most of those blunders were due to incomplete information or interference from outside factors.

Now, for the first time, he had directly harmed a multi-year plan that had already entered its final phase, which had consumed a lot of resources and even involved his own students, albeit darkly. It was because of this that he had decided to clip the wings of a fellow traveler, maybe even a former one.

Clans are clans, but if a supporter with a lot of military power in his hands started to jump in, it wouldn't do any good. In a shinobi village there should be only one lord, and if a trained dog dares to bite his master's hand, it's a reason to think about his necessity or at least pulling out his teeth.

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