Hiruzen was stunned by the reply. A look of disbelief could be seen on his face. Even his mouth was left slightly open. He guessed that Fujin would figure out that it was his schemes that did this and hence called Fujin to verify his strategic acumen. He expected that Fujin would be awed by his schemes. However, he never expected such a shameless response!

Fujin's reply stunned Hiruzen so much that he forgot to breathe for a moment and began coughing. Fujin innocently asked, "Grandpa, are you alright?"

He picked up a water bottle nearby, poured the water into a glass and handed it to Hiruzen. Hiruzen accepted it and drank it. He couldn't help but stare at Fujin and curse, 'This greedy brat! I should have sent him to Root. I saved Danzo from so much trouble and didn't get anything in return!'

Meanwhile, Fujin enjoyed the range of emotions displayed on Hiruzen's face. After all, it wasn't often one got to see such emotions on Hiruzen's face.

Hiruzen said, "Jokes aside, what did you analyze?"

Fujin put up a sad face and replied, "I wasn't joking."

Hiruzen didn't reply and stared right at him until Fujin felt uncomfortable.

Fujin shrugged and said, "It was worth a try."

Fujin became serious and began analyzing what Hiruzen had shown him, "The most obvious thing is that all of these were ordered by you."

Hiruzen nodded and asked, "Why and how did I do this?"

Fujin answered, "I had suspected that Yusuke or perhaps even the Daimyo of the Land of Hot Water was allied with Kumo. That is why I didn't escape to their village despite it being closer.

Seeing that Yusuke's mansion is destroyed and Kumogakure is suspected, I guess he was involved with Kumogakure. Since he is dead, I guess that it was a punishment for betraying us and causing the deaths of my comrades. As for destroying the mansion, that was done to pin the blame on Kumo.

The rumors should have been spread by a special division that specializes in such stuff. Since the report said Land of Lightning and not Kumogakure, I guess that they spread the rumors in villages without any ninjas and the rumors spread from there on. This should cause panic in the country and put a lot of pressure on the Raikage against starting a war.

As for the destruction of the mine, I can see why you did it. I have heard that Kumo's military is very strong. And the location of the mine was closer to them than our village. So we may have been at a disadvantage if we fought a war over it. But, I don't know how you could cause such destruction."

Hiruzen was impressed by Fujin's analysis. He thought, 'Brilliant. Though some of it was incorrect, the analysis is great considering how young and inexperienced he is.'

He said, "Good analysis. You don't need to worry about how the mine was destroyed for now. Your analysis of the rumors was on point. As for the rest, it is lacking in some parts."

Hiruzen explained to Fujin the reasoning and intention behind most of his moves without giving Fujin any critical information. Fujin listened carefully. As he kept listening, he was more and more impressed by how clever, cunning and thorough Hiruzen was!

His schemes were planned intricately and came one after another continuously. And his every move made life miserable for A. Fujin almost felt pity for A. All his schemes were recognized by Hiruzen in one glance and instead, he had to face schemes that were on a whole different tier.

Fujin couldn't help but wonder, 'If he is so good at scheming, why did he take a loss during the Hyuga incident? Were there any other factors involved?'

Hiruzen let his words sink into Fujin. When he saw Fujin look at him, he said, "You have done a great job for the village. If you didn't make it out alive and bring the news to me, I wouldn't have known what they were planning. We may have experienced a lot of losses in that case."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Fujin replied with a sad expression, "It wasn't just me grandpa."

Hiruzen nodded and said, "It's unfortunate what happened to others. Tamotsu should be brought back to Konoha in a couple of days. As for the rest, remember their sacrifice.

As a ninja, you will see many of your comrades die to protect you and the village. Never forget what they sacrificed for you, Fujin. Every time you go to missions and every time you train, remember the ones who sacrifice themselves to protect you. Work so hard that whenever they look down from heaven, they will have a smile on their face knowing that you won't let us feel their absence."

Fujin was surprised by Hiruzen's speech. He looked at Hiruzen as if his words made him understand something. Hiruzen was satisfied by Fujin's reaction. However, he might puke in anger if he knew Fujin's thoughts.

Fujin was thinking in surprise, 'This old guy! He doesn't let go of a single opportunity to brainwash and influence others! Fuck! I was only acting to be shameless. I knew he wouldn't promote or reward me. But this guy… Shamelessness is buried into each and every cell of this old man! It can never be taken away from him.'

Hiruzen was blissfully unaware of Fujin's thoughts. He instructed, "Don't tell anyone about our discussion. No one should know about this. I will talk with Tamotsu too. You guys never took the mission to the Land of Hot Water. You guys never went to the chakra metal mine. You never fought with Darui or the others and you never killed any Kumo ninja. Is that understood?"

Fujin nodded. He knew the importance of the discussion they had and would obviously not play around with that knowledge. Especially since it would also implicate him.

Hiruzen said, "One last thing. You are not allowed to take any missions that would require you to leave the village."

Fujin furrowed his eyebrows. He said, "I was planning to take a few months off and train a few jutsus from the library to strengthen myself. But can you tell me why?"

Hiruzen replied, "Though we will deny your acts, your name has gained a lot of fame in the Land of Lightning. They will place a bounty on your head. So leaving the village will become very risky for you."

Fujin's eyes widened. He muttered, "I forgot about the bounties…"

Hiruzen said, "Continue training. In a couple of months, I will invite you to join the Anbu ranks. You can take missions with the Anbu as your identity will be hidden."

Fujin couldn't help but think, 'So many surprises in so little time. I never thought that I'd be tired of being surprised.'

He said, "Alright, gramps. Sensei had informed me about the Anbu. I'll keep training until you invite me."

Now that the Root was dissolved, Fujin had no worries about joining the Anbu. The two bade farewell and Fujin left.

As he walked, he analyzed, 'What a mess! Still, I am glad that Hiruzen told me about his schemes. They were crazy good and fun. I can imagine the mess that Kumogakure would be in, hahaha.

Also, Jiraiya and his toads are probably even more impressive than what I remember. After all, mines are supposed to be huge and there should be a lot of Kumo ninjas defending it. But looking at the confidence with which Hiruzen spoke, it is safe to say that Jiraiya completely wiped them out without getting injured.'

Though Hiruzen didn't mention Jiraiya, it wasn't difficult for Fujin to figure out that it was him. He ended his thoughts and took a deep breath. A huge pressure was lifted off his shoulders as he knew that his life wasn't under threat anymore. He had a huge meal before going home and taking a nice long and peaceful sleep.

Unlike Fujin, one person was guaranteed to have a sleepless and tiring night! A had just gone to bed when he heard someone banging on his door. He got up annoyed and opened the door to see Mabui. Her expression was very grim.

A asked, "What's the issue that you have to disturb me at this time?"

Mabui didn't say anything and just handed him the scroll. A opened it and began reading. His eyes widened as a look of disbelief appeared on his face! He shouted, "What the hell?"

Mabui didn't say anything. She too was shocked when she received the communication from the group of negotiators. A quickly instructed, "Issue a council meeting in 15 minutes. If anyone doesn't show up, I will go wake them up myself!"

Mabui replied, "I'll arrange it, Raikage-sama."

She left and dispatched the Anbu to every council member's house.

In 15 minutes, all gathered in the meeting room in the Raikage's building. Many were annoyed at being woken up at this hour and forced to come to a meeting. When the meeting started, they all aggressively began demanding why they were called.

A didn't say anything and just handed them the scroll he received from Mabui. There was a pin-drop silence in the room when they read the details in the scroll. Every single person had a grim face.

The silence was broken when someone said, "The rumors were true."

Disbelief could be heard in his voice.

However, A corrected him, "Only the result was true. We don't know what the cause is."

The room became silent once again. After some time, Inazuma said, "Among the 3 the rumor of the youngster destroying the mine can be dismissed. And it is very unbelievable that a natural calamity can kill every ninja we sent."

A said, "I don't see why the Mizukage would come here to destroy our mine. He already has a revolt to suppress. I believe Hiruzen is trying to confuse us through these rumors."