Compared to the pain of losing a hand, the fear of death was far worse.
In Konohagakure, while the village appeared calm late at night, there was a storm brewing underneath. Shadows moved quickly through the village, hiding themselves as they rushed to different locations.
"Advisor."
After getting several warnings from Yan, the ANBU no longer dared to casually show up at his home.
Especially in his own room.
Of course, only at night when he's sleeping.
During the day, if something comes up, they can come in and report directly.
Yan didn't have anything against the Anbu. He just really didn't like people suddenly showing up in his house while he was asleep.
If he was sleeping alone, that would be one thing. But if he happened to be in bed with a woman and the Anbu showed up out of nowhere… there were just no words for how bad that would be.
"What's going on?"
If Anbu came knocking even after he had gone to bed, it meant something serious had happened.
"We don't know, Hokage-sama just told us to bring you to the Hokage office as fast as possible."
"As fast as possible…"
Less than twenty seconds later, Yan, now in casual clothes, opened his window and jumped out, racing toward the Hokage office in the dark.
The Hokage building was brightly lit. Many people who had already gone to bed had been woken up by Anbu.
Yan wasn't even the first to arrive. When he got there, quite a few people were already gathered.
"Looks like this is something big."
"Advisor."
Shikaku and the clan heads who were already present greeted him with a bow.
"Alright, enough of that. Tsunade's probably getting impatient. Let's go straight up."
Yan waved his hand and walked ahead. The others quickly followed.
Inside the Hokage's office, when Yan opened the door, he saw the Third Hokage, Mitokado Homura, and Jiraiya were all already there.
Jiraiya looked half-asleep, barely keeping his eyes open.
The Uchiha compound was the farthest from the village center, so it made sense that Yan was a bit late.
After all, he couldn't use the Flying Thunder God Technique. Just look at Fugaku—he was even slower.
"No need to come in. Let's go straight to the meeting room. Shizune, make copies of the intel scroll and pass them out in a bit."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Shizune hugged a scroll and quickly left.
Tsunade stood up and walked out of the office, leading everyone toward the meeting room.
"So, what were you doing last night to end up this tired?"
Jiraiya slumped into the seat next to Yan, still yawning nonstop. He even had sleep crust in the corner of his eyes.
"Ahaha, just had something going on, got kind of busy."
There were some things you just couldn't say out loud—everyone would feel awkward if he did. Jiraiya scratched his head with a smile and gave Yan a wink.
He figured Yan would get it.
"..."
Yan got it right away.
No need to guess—Jiraiya had clearly gone out partying, and ended up getting dragged out of bed just after he lay down.
With no other choice, he came here still yawning.
While they waited, Fugaku and the others arrived too.
Once most of the key people were present, Tsunade didn't waste time. She gave Shizune a quick signal to hand out the copied documents.
Yan hadn't even opened the file yet, but Jiraiya beat him to it.
The moment Jiraiya started reading, his sleepiness vanished. His eyes, still crusted with gunk, flew wide open like he'd just seen something unbelievable.
This had to be something serious.
Yan guessed as much and glanced at the file.
Holy crap!!!
No wonder they called everyone who could attend into a meeting in the middle of the night. This was a major situation.
Had to be the work of the Akatsuki.
"Whew\~\~\~\~"
The room was full of people gasping. It sounded like they were doing their part to speed up global warming.
"Has Sunagakure gone insane?!"
Mitokado Homura, old and wrinkled with white hair and beard, actually stood up in shock.
His reaction was the biggest by far.
Even though the others were shaken by what they read, they at least managed to keep it together. Homura was the only one who jumped to his feet.
"They tried to assassinate the Daimyo of the Land of Water? Who gave them the nerve?!"
The Third Hokage didn't look good either. He let out a heavy sigh, full of worry:
"These are troubled times. If this isn't handled properly, war between the two villages could break out at any moment."
"Yan, what do you think?"
Tsunade looked around the room. Only Homura and the Third Hokage had spoken—everyone else stayed silent. So she turned her eyes toward Yan.
"It's obvious. War is unavoidable. But I don't think Rasa is crazy enough to go that far.
This probably has the Akatsuki written all over it. But without proof, it's almost impossible to stop a war that's ready to explode."
Yan put down the file and said:
"The best we can do is stay prepared. Just like the Third Hokage said—watch our enemies and make sure we don't get dragged into the war."
"This war doesn't belong to Konohagakure."
Everyone suspected the Akatsuki were behind it. But the real question was: do you have proof?
Even if you tell the world it was the Akatsuki, do you think the Land of Water's Daimyo will just let it go?
Don't be naive. The man lost an arm and suffered major trauma—he hasn't even fully recovered yet.
And with the way Daimyo are, whether it's the Fire or Water country, they're not the type to drop something like this easily.
Controlling Yagura, stirring up war, wearing down the Five Great Shinobi Villages?
That had to be the Akatsuki's plan.
Start a fight between Kirigakure and Sunagakure, then wait for the perfect moment to drag the other villages in too.
Once the five villages are exhausted from fighting, the Akatsuki would show up, grab all the Tailed Beasts, and carry out their Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.
You had to admit—after getting burned once, the Akatsuki had changed.
They'd started using their resources and cards more cleverly.
If this were the old Akatsuki, they wouldn't have bothered with all this scheming.
They'd gotten smarter.
"What about the others?"
After Yan finished sharing his thoughts, Tsunade raised her hand and asked.
"I agree with the Advisor's proposal,"
Fugaku raised his hand without hesitation.
"I agree too."
Hiashi also raised his hand.
Then… the other clan heads who had good ties with the Uchiha and Hyuga families, and who had worked together with them in recent years, all started raising their hands too.
"..."
This scene left the Third Hokage stunned. Back in his day, he never got this kind of open support.
Most people used to stay quiet—*we won't speak up, but we're not backing you either. Do whatever you want.*
Now look at this. Whatever Yan says, they support. That's just double standards, isn't it?
The Third Hokage's mouth twitched slightly.
Sitting next to him, Mitokado Homura was speechless too.