Returning to the Hokage Building office happened about ten minutes later; Third Hokage Hiruzen looked at the wall in the office that was marked by a crack created by a ninja blade during a fight, it was left by the Anbu Ninja earlier.
"What happened?"
Hiruzen asked the four Anbu Ninjas who had appeared before him, inquiring about the specifics of what just occurred here.
"Hokage sir, someone has stolen the information documents here."
The Konoha Anbu who repelled the enemy responded.
"Were the enemies captured?"
Hiruzen asked the crucial question of the matter.
"I cut the enemy's body into two parts, but it seems they possess an immortal body. Even after their body was divided, they retained strong life force and separately infiltrated underground and disappeared into the wall."
The Konoha Anbu quickly knelt on one knee, bowing his head to Hiruzen and explained briefly, then continued, "I'm very sorry, Hokage sir. Although we tried to track them immediately, the enemy moved quickly in the soil and soon got away."
"Stand up, it seems the infiltrator has special abilities."
An immortal body, the ability to penetrate walls and floors, and also able to shake off the Anbu Ninjas closely pursuing them; putting aside their combat ability, their infiltration skills should not be underestimated.
Hiruzen walked to the desk, looking at the scattered various documents and files on the desktop; these files involved many things that, as a result, prevented Hiruzen from determining what the intruder was really after.
Some Jonin Squad member composition materials, received tasks, and recent reports from these executing squads; among them, Hiruzen discovered a magazine with a cover of a sensuous bikini clad girl.
"..."
Hiruzen felt a trace of embarrassment, silently slipping the magazine into the nearby drawer.
No choice, as the Hokage, his usual stress is really too much.
Even as Hokage, sometimes one needs to look at colorful books to relieve stress on the body.
"Hokage sir, what do we do next?"
"There shouldn't be much of a problem; the documents stored here are basically not the most critical secrets of the village..."
But speaking of these documents being freely exposed to unknown individuals, there is still a certain degree of risk for the village.
Yet the key remains in not being able to identify the enemy's identity and purpose, and the movement cannot be pinpointed, even knowing this infiltrator would bring misfortune rather than benefit to Konoha, ultimately there's nothing much that can be done.
We can only let it happen.
"Let's just leave it for now, be more careful in our future work."
Hiruzen did not blame these Anbu members because guarding here was only a squad of four ninjas.
The reason being that the documents and files here do not involve Konoha's true core secrets; dispatching more would be wasteful, and protection elsewhere would weaken.
But doing nothing wouldn't be prudent as the documents here are not completely worthless either.
Hiruzen was puzzled precisely about this; if it was for Konoha's secrets they came, the information obtainable from infiltrating here is clearly limited.
Like the extremely important Anbu member rosters, various research materials, Forbidden Techniques, Secret Techniques, etc., these are Konoha's core secrets and placed in much more concealed spots.
The Anbu ninjas guarding there, even within Anbu, are an outstanding group; not only numerous but with mostly rare Secret Techniques as their ninja techniques, and equipped with special perception-type ninjas to prevent enemy infiltration.
Unclear about what the infiltrator aimed for, Hiruzen chose not to make pointless guesses.
◎
A day later.
A cruise ship that had departed from the Port of the Land of Rainbow was heading towards the Port of the Land of Fire.
On the deck of this cruise ship, people of various appearances are playing or gazing at the vast, azure sea.
"Hijin sir, being out in the open here is really too dangerous, we should return to the cabin."
Two adult male ninjas with white pupils spoke to the white-eyed ninja enjoying the blue seascape on the deck.
The ninja referred to as 'Hijin' is a young man with a handsome appearance, wearing a Konoha Ninja Headband on his forehead, proving his identity as a Konoha Ninja.
And their pairs of pure white eyes also reveal their identities—the prominent Hyuga Clan.
The Hyuga Clan is not only a prominent clan among the Ninja Race; their relationships with the outside world are also complex.
This time, the three of them are out to connect with the Land of Rainbow and handle some business affairs with the Hyuga Clan's commercial partners.
As someone of adequate status needed to be present, the Hyuga Clan dispatched Hyuga Hijin, a heir of the Main Family, accompanied by two Special Jonins from the Hyuga Branch Family for protection.
Although not true Jonins, the two together can handle or even defeat standard Jonins.
As the Main Family Ninja, Hyuga Hijin is the strongest among the three.
At just twenty years old, he is already a reputed gifted Jonin within the Hyuga Main Family.
This setup allows them, even if encountering hundreds of Chunin-level enemies, to easily escape if overwhelmed.
"It's alright, I'm just out for a casual stroll. The family's dealings in the Land of Rainbow are sorted out; you two need not be so tense."
Hijin laughed off the concerns of the two Hyuga Branch Family Ninjas.
"Even so, being of the Main Fami…"