Chương 148

Danzo slowly tapped his cane against the wooden floor.

"I disagree." The room fell silent. Tsunade raised an eyebrow while Koharu and Homura shifted their attention toward the elder.

"The primary objective may have been completed," Danzo continued calmly.

"However, the operation itself cannot be considered a complete success. You recovered the intelligence. You extracted the operative." He paused.

"But you failed the essence of a covert mission. The Land of Lightning has been alerted. An entire Kumogakure detachment was mobilized. Several patrol routes have undoubtedly been altered by now. Border surveillance will increase. Our spies operating throughout the Land of Lightning will become significantly more vulnerable, and any attempt to reinforce or extract them in the near future will be considerably more difficult." The room remained quiet as Danzo finished his assessment.

"A shinobi's duty is not merely to complete the obvious objective. It is to complete it without the enemy ever realizing he was there. In that regard... You failed." Tsunade frowned.

"He returned with the intelligence, rescued the captured operative, and eliminated the pursuit. Those are hardly the results of failure." Danzo didn't even glance in her direction.

"He completed the visible objective. The hidden objective of every infiltration mission is that- the enemy never discovers the infiltration occurred." He looked back toward Rei.

"A battlefield victory means little when it compromises years of intelligence work." Everyone now was looking at Rei for an answer. Rei remained silent for several long seconds before giving a small nod.

"I understand your point, Lord Danzo. And I agree that I almost failed this mission." His answer surprised everyone inside the office.

"But may I ask a question?" Danzo narrowed his visible eye ever so slightly.

"... Proceed."

"For how long has Konoha maintained spies inside the other great nations?" Danzo answered without hesitation.

"Long before your birth. Foreign intelligence networks have existed since the era of the First Hokage. Every major village maintains them. They are indispensable to the survival of a nation." Rei nodded again, seemingly satisfied with the answer.

"Then I believe they should all be recalled." The office exploded into an uproar.

"What?"

"Recall every spy?"

"Have you lost your mind?" Even Homura and Koharu looked at him as though he had uttered complete nonsense.

"Why would you even suggest something so extreme?" Rei looked around the room before calmly answering.

"Because decades of maintaining those intelligence networks have produced remarkably little when Konoha actually needed them."

"You think Konoha's spies were a failure? Do you even know what you are talking about?" Homura asked.

"When Hinata Hyuga was abducted by Kumogakure, where were these intelligence networks?" Rei asked.

"Did they warn us beforehand? Did they prevent the kidnapping? Did they provide leverage during the negotiations? Did they enable retaliation that protected Konoha's interests?" Silence slowly replaced the earlier commotion, because none of them had answers. Actually they did have answers but if they admitted it, their whole credibility would go down the drain. Thus nobody answered. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"In the end," Rei continued, his voice remaining perfectly calm, "one of the greatest shinobi our village ever produced, Hizashi Hyuga, was sacrificed to preserve peace." His golden eyes settled on Danzo.

"If years of intelligence gathering still ended with Konoha bowing its head and burying one of its finest warriors, then I fail to see how these particular operations justified the resources spent maintaining them." Not a single person in the office spoke. Danzo's expression remained unreadable, yet the room had become oppressively quiet. Even Koharu and Homura found themselves unable to immediately refute Rei's argument, because the Hyuga Affair remained one of the deepest humiliations in Konoha's history.

Behind her desk, Tsunade lowered her head slightly, resting her chin against her clasped hands. She desperately kept her face composed, but the faint twitch at the corner of her lips betrayed her thoughts. Rei had just dismantled decades of the council's intelligence policy with a few calm sentences, and for the first time since the discussion began, the elders had no immediate answer.

"Konoha has it's faults but that doesn't mean we can just bring back the spies." Danzo said.

"Well then I had my faults too here, which I have already accepted. Besides I also made sure that I didn't use Hiraishin or jutsus exclusive to Konoha. For all intent and purposes, Kumogakure doesn't know who had hit them. Of course, this is based upon the fact that Dajimu didn't disclose that he belongs to Konoha before." Rei replied.

"My operative wouldn't ever do such horrible mistakes." Danzo reiterated. And then Rei replied.

"Then I made sure that Kumogakure knows nothing. In fact, I gave them quite a lesson and maybe they will be silent for sometime, and not bother other nations." They would have probably mocked his exploits right now saying how useless it was, and how it was useless if he only used his brawns but seeing how Rei had verbally slapped them, they didn't know what to say. They hadn't expected the silent Rei to speak up in this way in front of the council, and that too humiliating them.

Tsunade too was on his side which made things more difficult for them. For several long moments, nobody spoke. Danzo merely stared at Rei before slowly turning around. Without another word, he walked toward the office door, his cane tapping rhythmically against the wooden floor. Homura and Koharu exchanged uneasy glances before quietly following behind. Neither elder wished to continue a debate they could no longer convincingly defend. The office door clicked shut behind them.

A heavy silence lingered for a few seconds before Tsunade leaned back against her chair and let out a long, exhausted sigh. Shizune also visibly relaxed, her tense shoulders finally lowering now that the council had departed. The suffocating political atmosphere that had filled the office only moments earlier disappeared almost instantly.

"Congratulations," Tsunade suddenly said. Rei looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"For what?" Tsunade folded her arms with a satisfied smile.

"As of today, you're officially one of my Hokage Guards." Rei could only roll his eyes. He never wanted this job and this all farce was to satisfy the ego of this old woman. But he also hated Danzo more than her ego, and thus agreed to slap him back and show him where he belonged. Rei just nodded at the end. Tsunade couldn't help but chuckle before shaking her head, after looking at him"I suppose that's exactly the reaction I should have expected from you."

After a brief silence, Rei finally voiced the question that had remained on his mind throughout the meeting.

"Why is Danzo so adamant about opposing me?" Tsunade's smile faded.

"Because he never wanted you in this position." She rested both elbows on her desk.

"When I began selecting candidates for the Hokage Guard, Danzo insisted that one of his Root operatives should accompany me instead. I refused." Shizune nodded in agreement.

"Today's meeting wasn't really about your mission," she added.

"Lord Danzo was trying to prove that Lady Tsunade made the wrong choice by appointing you instead of one of his own people. Unfortunately for him..." She smiled faintly.

"... you dismantled every criticism he raised."

"Shizune, you should leave the prefix Lord in front of him. He isn't deserving of any respect."

"Uhh.." Shizune was speechless. She could see her disgust towards Danzo and nobody could blame her after what she learnt of Danzo using Hashirama's cells on himself. One coud blame Orochimaru for Yamato, but Danzo had crossed lines with her grandfather and this wasn't something she was willing to let go.

"Who is the other guard you have chosen?" Rei asked.

"Yamato." This brought a raised eyebrow from Rei but he didn't comment. He could vaguely guess why Tsunade had pulled this move but he didn't care much.

"Alright. Have you talked about the thing I asked you to do?" Rei asked.

"Yes. I have talked. You need to talk to Katsuyu herself for proper understanding." Tsunade gave a small nod before pressing her thumb against the desk. Chakra surged through the intricate seal beneath her palm.

"Summoning Jutsu." A puff of white smoke filled the office, and moments later, a small pale-blue slug appeared atop the desk. Unlike the fragments Tsunade usually used for communication and healing, this body carried itself with an unmistakable air of wisdom.

"Lady Tsunade."

"Katsuyu," Tsunade greeted with a smile.

"This is Rei. He's the one I spoke to you about." The slug slowly turned toward Rei before bowing ever so slightly.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Rei-kun. Lady Tsunade has spoken highly of your abilities."

"The pleasure is mine," Rei replied politely before getting straight to the point.

"Lady Tsunade told me that you know how I may enter Shikkotsu Forest." Katsuyu remained silent for several moments before answering.

"I do. But unfortunately... not immediately." Rei simply waited for her to continue.

"The slugs of Shikkotsu Forest recognize one another through chakra rather than appearance. Every slug carries the forest's natural chakra within its body from birth. It serves as proof that they belong there."