*Bang!*
Small splinters of an extravagant desk flew out of the room. Faint hazy smoke could be seen, charring the remains of the wooden table as a consequence.
"So you are telling me that a brat successfully escaped from you all?! Is this a laughable joke to you? Huh?!"
The Third Raikage's face darkened as veins and creases in his forehead began to emerge, truly exasperated.
Not long ago, he confidently believed that this ruckus would be solved right away. With numerous and talented shinobi under his leadership, Ay really was proud of his achievements in leading the Kumogakure as a village.
However, right after he read the report, he couldn't suppress his mix of dissatisfaction and outrage.
It was relatively fine if the one who had successfully finished the task was an especially well-known shinobi hailing from the great village.
But, a brat? Who wouldn't be furious being finessed by a brat?!
"But sir–"
"ENOUGH! I don't want to talk about it anymore. Send a trustworthy and sharp shinobi as our representative to Konoha! Make sure those Hokage officials have an honest explanation for this clandestine stunt!"
The shinobi on the side wanted to prove his justifications until the Third Raikage issued an immediate charge.
The entirety of Kumogakure was absolutely disrespected including him as the Third Raikage. At this point, if he couldn't solve this; the trademark of Kumogakure's top-notch defense might crumble in just a few rumors.
In other words, his subjects might be dismayed and lose their trust in him, tarnishing the village's reputation.
After all, trust is the most expensive thing in Shinobi World.
It can take years to earn it and a matter of seconds just to lose it.
"Publicize this report to the public and the outside world. Konoha began to overreach its hands. We must make them bleed for this, understand?"
"Yes sir!"
Soon enough, the shinobi started to take the mission seriously, redeeming themselves simply for the sake of their own vanity.
All alone in his office, Ay stood up and felt quite troubled by several things.
Right now, his agenda is to taint Konoha's reputation with the public.
As for the possibility of war, it is highly unlikely to happen.
Great villages were still in the slow process of making a comeback and further bolstering their troops in the meantime.
That also includes Kumogakure.
Hiruzen! This wouldn't be the end of it!
...
...
...
"Did you hear those rumors? Kumo actually suffered a loss against Konoha and is pursuing the matter!"
"Heh, do you honestly believe that? A kid who could bypass all of these shinobi? What a load of nonsense!"
"Precisely! Moreover, isn't that a bit of a humiliation for them? Imagine being a great village, then embarrassed by a kid! That truly makes no sense!"
The news became widespread in an instant. From multiple connections to the wide masses of the Shinobi World, the significant subject was Kumo's unreasonable and almost illogical accusation thrown at Konoha's side.
Kiri, Iwa, and Suna were astonished when they heard it right at the start.
Had a child successfully kidnapped an individual in the Kumogakure?
In their eyes, that was utterly outrageous.
Based on Kumogakure's charges, the child employed a Shadow Clone Jutsu which was the Second Hokage's very own set of techniques, pushing the narrative in a much aggressive tone.
"Get your facts straight, Kumogakure. A child using a highly intricate jutsu at a very young age? Ever since Madara and Hashirama died, no other gifted children could pull that off easily!"
Nonetheless, the initial response from the Konoha led the other lands to feel it somewhat made sense.
The tremendous impact of Hashirama and Madara throughout the entire world left a long-lasting impression.
Unless the Konoha discreetly hid the information about the child, any great village should have known the brat earlier on.
Some rumors within Konoha have been speculated, saying that the child was Uchiha Yoichi who was entirely out of Konoha's area for a long time.
However, without any clarity or facial distinction of the child; it was firmly impossible to blame Konoha for their dirty deeds.
The 3 great villages excitedly joined in the trivial conflict between Konoha and Kumo, wanting to have a piece of the enormous pie.
At the end, the 5 great villages were in a stalemate without any more moves.
"I wonder what the purpose of this commotion is? Kumo has only one evidence of me using Shadow Clone. That's it."
Within the periphery of Konoha, Yoichi frowned hearing the news regarding his successful mission.
To him, it is impossible to spark a war from this kind of mission. Yoichi had been so cautious that no one could notice his disguise and his imprints were completely inconspicuous to the investigative eyes all along this time.
Other than that, nothing could be concluded.
"Who are you?" The shinobi guard asked seriously.
"Oh right, I'm still on my transformed face." Yoichi altered his face back to his original profile.
"Uchiha Yoichi?! Where did you go?" The shinobi was still very cautious.
"Orders from above. Confidential, I suppose so." Yoichi presented a scroll with the Hokage's stamp on it.
"I—I understand. Please, come in."
After that inspection, the shinobi guard went over to the superiors while Yoichi enjoyed the bustling feeling of Konoha once more, missing it more than ever.
"Let's pass this thing and get over this. I'm going to practice after that. No wait, let's visit those three. I'm curious about their improvements."
Phantom Steps!
In a casual step, his figure left ghostly apparitions amidst the searing heat of the daylight. Like a rabbit in its natural habitat, he leaped and surveyed the entirety of never-changing Konoha.
"Found it!"
...
"Old man, are those rumors actually valid?" Jiraiya asked.
Hearing this, Orochimaru and Tsunade also glanced at Hiruzen, wanting to ask the same question.
"You brat, I really don't know what to do with you," Hiruzen shook his head. "I honestly don't know. Either way, your friend should be fine since he evaded those Kumo Shinobi."
In the training grounds, Hiruzen has been the instructor for this team and successfully realized the talents within these children in lucidity.
All three children were talented in their own right.
Teamwork? Ought to have more development.
Combat experience? Still has a lot to go.
Ninjutsu? Orochimaru was on top followed by Jiraiya and Tsunade.
But all in all, these were the gifted children, and arguably one of the best groups in the next generations of shinobi hailing from Konohagakure.
Especially when they displayed their taijutsu techniques from Hiruzen.
Even Orochimaru has his own set of close-combat techniques, deadly and sneaky.
"Do you think anything bad happened to him, old man? I'm quite worried..." Tsunade added her concerns.
"Hahaha! You're anxious for nothing. Do you actually understand how monstrous Yoichi is? That kid has the very essence of the shinobi itself."
Hiruzen heartily chuckled before he glanced at Tsunade's irritated look.
"Oh? It appears that Hokage-sama has some free time to speak highly of me. I'm thankful for the gesture."
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Thanks to doomslayer24 and Daemonic_Dragon for the power stones! Thank you so much!