Chapter 113

The young orphan turned out to be unexpectedly reasonable and easily made contact once some of the advantages of cooperation and benefits for Konoha were mentioned. Of course, such favoritism from the Hokage would inevitably raise questions among the clans, but Danzo managed his role as a temporary intermediary well, while also assessing the boy's loyalty to the village.

— Perhaps, at the next meeting, hint to Minato about the possibility of additional training under your subordinates in addition to the training he receives from his team's sensei, — Sarutobi decided. — The boy should be encouraged for his diligence.

— What about granting him access to the Hokage's library in exchange for the obtained fuinjutsu scrolls? — Shimura asked.

— It's too early — he's still just a good acquaintance, perhaps a friend with a passion for fuinjutsu, — his interlocutor shook his head. — Mito-sama might suspect something, and then we would have to find another approach in a more complicated situation.

For a while, both shinobi fell silent, contemplating their next steps in the quiet. After enjoying his pipe and tapping the ash into a special dish, Hiruzen changed the subject.

— By the way, how is the training of our fuinjutsu producers progressing? I've been receiving reports again about a shortage of quality seals not only from ANBU but also from our main forces in recent months.

— The progress is not very good — out of nearly twenty, half have either died or been injured in ways that prevent them from continuing to work on fuinjutsu, — Danzo shook his head. — Studying seals from scrolls is only useful at the very beginning and in the simplest cases, like the kibu-fuda, but when it comes to more complex seals, problems arise. Our people need a teacher who can demonstrate the mistakes made in practice and without losing limbs when the seals malfunction. And as for the shortage of quality seals, you yourself sent the owner of the only shop where they were sold to the front.

— The owner? Who is that? — Sarutobi frowned, trying to recall potential candidates.

However, there were only a few candidates, and none fit except Hashirama's wife, but that option was immediately dismissed. The Hokage had heard about the new shop but hadn't bothered to find out about the supplier — there were more urgent matters at the time.

— Ryo Nara, — the head of Root snorted in irritation. — You couldn't have missed him, as the four of us discussed him more than once.

— Nara? But he's an Iryo-nin. What does fuinjutsu have to do with it?

— Hiruzen… the commander should have given you a report on all the teams whose time had come to go to the front, not to mention the immediate surroundings of the jinchuriki.

At that moment, Sarutobi remembered indeed having seen such a report, but having skimmed through it, he hadn't read it in detail, just noting that such a promising shinobi should be removed. Obviously, he hadn't reached the part describing Nara's abilities in fuinjutsu. However, it was unlikely to have influenced the decision to send such a talented and promising shinobi to the front and as far away from the bijuu vessel as possible, with a slim hope for a fatal outcome.

— Well, there's nothing to be done about it now, — the Hokage shrugged. — There's barely half a year left in the war, and the shortage of good seals won't have much impact on that; we'll have to use what we have. You'd better tell me, what about Orochimaru?

— He recently sent a note through one of my people, saying he's ready to start executing the plan, — Shimura reported. — I'll handle the backup and the "enemies," so you just need to give the go-ahead for the operation.

— Then, a month from now will be the right time, — Sarutobi nodded.

I've got more interesting stuff on patreon (+ 100 chapter)

patreon.com/Chill76