Konoha Notes

Chapter 166 Taking over
Subsequent negotiations with Kirigakure largely proceeded along the lines of the draft agreement reached during the initial contact. Through written correspondence, both sides supplemented and fine-tuned some details, and finally, Kirigakure dispatched an official envoy to Konoha for a final round of confirmation.

In a relatively peaceful atmosphere, the agreement, which symbolized the cessation of border conflicts between the two countries, was successfully passed.

After the agreement was finalized, Xiu Si was no longer heavily involved in the specific diplomatic handover and follow-up implementation.

He took a long leave of absence and devoted his attention to the scrolls left behind by Tobirama Senju.

Tsunade provided him with all the complete data from previous Wood Release experiments, not just the part provided by Orochimaru, but also the research archives preserved by the village.

To be honest, Shuji found it very difficult to understand the data, which was filled with technical jargon and complex charts.

He even needed to relearn and understand many fundamental theories involving the cellular level and the fusion of chakra properties, starting from the most basic parts.

In this respect, Princess Senju, with her medical expertise, is naturally far superior to Shuuji.

Although he had been wandering and exiled for some years and was slightly rusty in some things, it would take some time to pick them up again, but he was more than capable of guiding the novice in the field.

In return for tutoring Xiuji, Xiuji also had to work overtime to help her with her official duties.

Well, in the end, I still rejected that secretary position in vain.

During this relatively peaceful period, the Hokage Building quietly pushed forward another personnel arrangement—to bring the second Hyuga branch family team into the Konoha Police Force system.

This time, the village moved up the rotation of guards in the Fire Capital. The Hokage's office directly issued an order assigning the task of rotating the Daimyo's guards in the Fire Capital to the police force.

Led by Uchiha Shisui, the team, comprised of personnel from the police department, was tasked with this escort mission.

Objectively speaking, this is a pretty good arrangement.

With the peace treaty signed with Kirigakure and the overall situation in the ninja world easing, carrying out a guard mission in the Fire Capital is a high-quality assignment with low risk but considerable mission level and rewards.

After all, Konoha is not currently at war, and has been exerting a great deal of effort in cleaning up and controlling wandering ninjas and illegal forces within and around the Land of Fire.

Especially in the east, Kakashi has already defeated several ninja from the nearby Land of Forest.

Normally, long-term security missions that can both enhance the department's reputation and provide tangible benefits to the team members are not reserved for the police force primarily responsible for maintaining order within the village.

The village offered them this opportunity, so Fugaku Uchiha naturally couldn't refuse. After all, the Uchiha were a powerful clan, but that didn't mean every ninja in the clan came from a wealthy family and didn't need to perform missions to earn rewards and advance their careers.

So he accepted the mission. Since he had accepted the mission, the police force needed to send personnel to the City of Fire. Naturally, such a good opportunity would be given priority to the core members of the clan, and it would not be available to outsiders in the police force.

Subsequently, the police force experienced a temporary shortage of manpower for daily patrols and security maintenance due to the transfer of some elite officers to the capital.

To ensure that the security of Konoha headquarters is not affected, it is only natural to supplement the police force with new personnel.

Thus, the second Hyuga branch family squad entered the police department.

As for dissenting voices? Of course, there were. However, the Uchiha members who were the most resolute and had the strongest opposition in the previous batch happened to be included in the escort list for the Fire Capital this time, and left the village led by Shisui.

Without these staunch opponents speaking out internally, the remaining dissenting voices become much weaker.

There's no need for Fugaku to activate his Mangekyou Sharingan again; they could have a conversation using Sharingan.

Having achieved another breakthrough against the police force, the operation against the Uchiha clan this year can now be temporarily suspended.

Right now, a problem that has been put on hold for some time but needs to be addressed immediately has come up before us. The root.

They have been under house arrest for some time now.

Because the person who can take over has just returned.

"Hokage-sama."

"Come in."

Kakashi Hatake was still dressed in his Anbu uniform, but he had removed his mask, leaving only a face shield.

After he entered, his gaze quickly swept across the room as usual. The Fifth Hokage, Shizune, and that guy were indeed there as well.

"I summoned you back urgently because there's something rather special I'd like to hear your opinion on." Tsunade didn't waste any time on pleasantries. "You should be familiar with 'Root,' right?"

Kakashi certainly knew that after his teacher Minato Namikaze died, he once thought it was the Third Hokage's responsibility and almost helped Danzo assassinate the Third Hokage.

Later, Kakashi even broke into the Root organization's base for the sake of Tenzo.

If the third generation hadn't led people to surround the base in time, it's hard to say what would have happened next.

Tsunade continued, "I believe that it is no longer necessary for Root to exist in the way it did in the past, independently of the village system."

"However, given the unique nature of their training and operations, directly dispersing and integrating them into the shadowy forces could easily lead to management chaos and unnecessary friction."

"Moreover, according to the information we have so far, Danzo has placed a curse mark on the members of them, which greatly limits the feasibility of obtaining information and reorganizing them."

“So, after careful consideration, my idea is…” Tsunade’s gaze fell on Kakashi, “I hope you will temporarily take over and manage and reorganize this group of people.”

Taking over Root is a tricky matter, even for Kakashi.

Tsunade explained, "Going forward, Root will no longer have the authority and freedom of action that are independent of the village system."

"They will essentially be defined as a temporarily independent, directly supervised special unit under cover of darkness."

"What I need you to do is to delve into it and gradually figure out what things Danzo has done over the years without reporting to the village."

"To find out whether the root organization still possesses or is hiding any crucial classified information."

Tsunade kept the incident in Kusagakure in mind. She always believed that, given Danzo's style, Root must have more secrets that had not been reported to the Hokage, which might involve dangerous forbidden techniques or important historical information.

Kakashi pondered for a long time before replying, "To complete this mission, I need additional manpower."

It's definitely not enough for him to go in alone.

“Sure.” Tsunade readily agreed. “You can select two elite squads from the ANBU units you are familiar with to assist your operation. You can decide on the specific personnel.”

"At the same time, Advisor Shimura..." Kakashi mentioned another person.

“I will assign him another classified mission,” Tsunade said.

(End of this chapter)