Naruto: The Hidden Shadow Style

For Haseo, who had experienced actual Front Line combat, the recent skirmish wasn't particularly noteworthy—the attacking ninja's abilities were extremely limited.

Still, Haseo appreciated the "Sannin's" performance during the fight. In his experience, when involving children of Jiraiya's age in any endeavor, simply not getting in the way counted as help—but here, they actually contributed meaningfully.

After sending Tsunade and Jiraiya back and explaining the general situation to Sansho, Haseo and Orochimaru brought the attacker—who had been bound using adult-level bondage techniques—into Konoha's Anbu headquarters. Due to the special circumstances, they quickly delivered him directly before Danzo.

"Somebody attempted to attack Tsunade?"

Regardless of anything else, anyone targeting the First Hokage's granddaughter at a time like this warranted serious attention.

Danzo immediately ordered personnel to take the enemy away for interrogation, which would commence immediately.

"You did well, Haseo, though I admit I don't quite understand why so many incidents always involve you somehow," Danzo said after dispatching capable subordinates to handle the questioning.

"I feel somewhat curious myself too, but... For us members of the Zero Generation, nothing that happens around us is really surprising." Haseo replied—if calculated according to Konoha's calendar system, he truly was born in the year 00.

Of course, this wasn't entirely inexplicable either. After all, right from the beginning, Haseo had become entangled with someone like the Second Hokage, so naturally he'd find himself dragged into various events and plots.

Danzo glanced at Haseo—did this little punk think he was implying something?

"We've received new intelligence regarding the recent Front Line raid—Sarutobi has transmitted information. I hope this person you captured can corroborate what I've learned. If we're lucky... maybe the village's current situation could finally turn around."

"A turning point? What do you mean?" Haseo couldn't help but ask.

Danzo gave Haseo another look, actually smiling slightly—a rare occurrence—before quickly resuming his usual cold expression. "Do you really think determining the Frontline Command Post's exact location, the night's defense arrangements, or the infiltration routes was simple? For Sunagakure to execute such an attack that night, they must have planned based upon prior intelligence, and all intelligence requires a source."

"Spy?" Haseo raised an eyebrow.

On the surface, Danzo's words made sense, but the contradictions beneath were clear enough. When Haseo arrived at the village, most of the spies had already been purged—there shouldn't be that many left inside Konoha anymore.

"Standby. Next, I will assemble all the Anbu ninja—I'm about to launch a major operation."

Although Danzo normally kept a wooden expression, Haseo sensed today he seemed considerably more cheerful than in previous days. It looked like he'd finally cracked the code on how to get things moving.

Under Danzo's orders, the village's Anbu ninja were rapidly gathered.

Anbu interrogated the ninja Haseo had captured. The session was brief, but Danzo got what he wanted fast.

In the dead of night, Danzo set out alone and arrived at the Uchiha clan's ancestral shrine. There, he appeared to have a deep conversation with a key Uchiha figure. Soon after, Anbu operatives mobilized.

The deployment itself wasn't unusual—but what made this different was that the Uchiha were moving alongside them.

A large force moved under darkness, quickly surrounding an area within the village.

"I see," Haseo mused. "Though tensions between the village and the Uchiha are high, the village can't back down, and the Uchiha have painted themselves into a corner. They want to show anger but avoid full conflict with the village... In other words, they need a way out. If so, give them one." That night, Haseo didn't need to go in—he was just on perimeter duty, guarding the site and keeping things from spreading beyond it.

"Someone leaked intel about Konoha's front-line camp to Sunagakure. If they stir up trouble behind our lines later, sparking an Uchiha uprising, there's even a chance Konoha could fall… Like if the Uchiha killed Tsunade from the Senju clan, wouldn't that be the perfect trigger?" said another ninja beside Haseo. He was an Anbu operative codenamed Linker, partnered with Haseo on this mission.

For now, they only knew each other's code names—not their true identities.

"But what's the motive? What do they gain from destroying Konoha?"

"Set aside any rewards from Sunagakure—should Konoha descend into chaos, someone might seize the opportunity to steal top secrets: ninja techniques, secret arts, forbidden jutsu, sealing methods, even Kekkei Genkai. Konoha was founded by the Senju. You have any idea how valuable these 'jutsu' really are?" Linker explained.

"Even though Konoha has seen turmoil since the time of the Second, it still holds the weight of a great shinobi village. Would anyone really risk everything over such a scheme?"

"High risk, high reward."

What was unfolding now boiled down to this: Konoha had uncovered who was behind the earlier attack on the front line—and was now striking back hard. To put it simply, a minor faction within Konoha had leaked intelligence to Sunagakure and tried to ignite the growing tension between the Uchiha and the village by kidnapping Tsunade…

It all sounded logical enough—but why would they send such low-tier ninja to pull off something as critical as kidnapping Tsunade?

Well, none of that mattered anymore. Haseo understood—true or not, since both the Uchiha and the village wanted it to be real, reality would have to bend to fit.

Isn't this kind of situation familiar? Like when the second son tries to challenge the firstborn, only for the third to seize the moment and step in. In the end, though, the two team up to take down the third—and then just make peace afterward like nothing happened… Even if that minor faction wasn't exactly the third brother's role, isn't what's happening now in Konoha basically the same thing?

The Uchiha clan lost Kagami Uchiha, and by wiping out a minor faction, their anger was calmed and their distrust toward the village was pacified, thereby ensuring peace for Konoha—a truly good deal indeed. So, whether it was an excuse or real guilt, whether framed or deserved, the matter has already been decided.

There's no point dwelling on whether it was true or not; as long as the outcome is satisfying to everyone, that's enough.

"Better stay on the outside—you might see something you can't handle if you go any further," Linker continued.

"Yeah, but I can imagine the bloody scenes hidden under the night sky… Still, I think placing young shinobi like us at the perimeter has nothing to do with kindness. Those who allow themselves to be moved by pity will only become a burden during such missions," Haseo responded.

"So what exactly was this clan?" After a brief silence, he asked again.

"During the Warring Clans era, not all ninja factions managed to remain unified—they were often scattered and broken apart, which became the norm. That's precisely how this clan ended up. When Hidden Leaf was formed, part of them joined Konoha, some went to other villages, while others kept wandering through the ninja world like drifting rootless weeds—even abandoning their surnames was quite common. Those within Konoha specialized in crafting *ninja tools*, and strictly speaking, they achieved many significant advancements and innovations in this field. Though officially a logistics clan, they were actually deeply obsessed with various [Secret Arts]. As for the name of this clan… They're known as the Fuma."

For some reason, upon hearing those words, Haseo suddenly recalled that logistics ninja who had specially prepared his *ninja tools*—only to die that very night during the Sand attack.

But…

Why does it always come back to the Fuma?

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