Escape From Konoha

As the afternoon approached, rumors unfavorable to Shuo Mao had already spread to most corners of the village after a morning's fermentation, and it was only one step away from the level of 'everyone knows'.

No matter how hard the Uchiha ninjas of the security team try to curb the spread of rumors, compared to the huge population of Konoha Village, the security team is already stretched thin, and it is too late to arrest people, let alone stop the spread of rumors up.

The location of Shuo Mao's house is in the relatively prosperous section of Muye Village, not close to the center of the village.

It was a small independent courtyard, and at the door, the word 'flag wood' was written on the door plate.

When Shiraishi and Liuli came here, they saw Kakashi standing at the door, looking more silent than usual.

"Kakashi, is Sakumo-sensei at home?"

Kakashi heard someone calling his name, looked up, and saw that Shiraishi and Ruri were coming, and nodded slightly, indicating that Sakumo was at home.

Only then did Baishi and Liuli breathe a sigh of relief. Things would be easier if they were at home.

"However, father, he..."

When Kakashi said this, he looked like he didn't know how to explain.

"Take us to see him."

Shiraishi sighed, knowing that Kakashi must be in a bad mood right now.

The rumors spread so badly that it was impossible for Kakashi not to know.

Kakashi led the way ahead, and brought Shiraishi and Ruri into the Hatake House.

The flag wood house is a typical Japanese-style building, and the houses also have a bit of ancient charm. The three of them arrived at the door of Shuo Mao's room within a few steps.

Before he was about to knock on the door, he heard the word 'come in' from inside. It was obvious that Shuo Mao, who was inside, already knew that someone was coming outside.

Baishi had no choice but to slide the door open and shouted to the people inside: "Teacher Shuomao, let's come..."

The voice stopped.

Baishi and Liuli looked at Shuo Mao in a daze.

"Teacher Shuo Mao, this is..."

Sakumo, who was in front of them, did not become depressed because of the rumors as he imagined, but sat at the table, eating a big bowl of ramen, and had a good appetite.

Seeing Baishi and Liuli coming, he calmly picked up the napkin and wiped off the greasy mouth, and asked the two people who came to visit him puzzledly, "Why are you two here?"

"..."

"..."

Baishi and Liuli didn't know how to answer Shuo Mao's words.

Before they came, they fantasized about Shuo Mao's depression caused by rumors, but they didn't expect this kind of scene.

"Teacher Shuo Mao, about the rumors outside..."

In the end, Liuli stood up.

"Did you come to me for this kind of thing?"

"Yes, this is the job of our security team. I want to know the whole story, and I would like to ask Sakumo Shangren to answer."

Liuli walked up to Shuo Mao and spoke to Shuo Mao in a serious tone.

It was not a member of the former Sakumo team who asked him questions, but came as the captain of the security team to investigate the cause and effect of the matter clearly.

Shuo Mao thought for a while, since this is the job of the guard, then there is no problem.

So, he readily described the events at that time briefly.

"This time we were carrying out a confidential mission, but we encountered some troubles on the way. Considering that my companions at that time were no longer able to continue fighting, I chose to give up the mission and bring people back. This also caused the mission to fail. "

When Shuo Mao said these words, he did not bring any personal emotions, but told what happened as a bystander, and Liuli, a member of the security team, was to judge.

Shiraishi and Liuli frowned, and even Kakashi was puzzled.

I always feel that things happen too simply.

"Excuse me, what is the secret mission?"

Liuli stared at Sakumo's face.

This is the main purpose of her coming.

Even for classified tasks, there are light and heavy, big and small.

Some can be related to the survival of the village, while others are just irrelevant.

"I don't know. The order I got was to seize something, but the mission failed, and that thing was naturally not brought back to the village. I don't know exactly what it is."

Regarding Liuli's question, Shuo Mao shook his head lightly, expressing that he didn't know what was to be captured in the mission.

Liuli felt that things were a little tricky.

I got very little information from Shuo Mao. If I want to know what Shuo Mao took in this mission, and how much the village lost when the mission failed, I can only get it from the top.

After all, the task was first handled by them, and then handed over to Shuo Mao for him to complete.

But the rumors have spread to this point, but there is no movement from the higher-ups. Even if they ask in the past, it is impossible to get anything.

Otherwise, they would have cleared up the rumors and suppressed the influence to a minimum.

Coming out of the Banner House, Baishi and Liuli both looked at the sky and exhaled lightly.

Looking at each other, Liuli asked Baishi: "What should we do next? Teacher Shuo Mao can't make a breakthrough here. Are you looking for the guy who was rescued by Teacher Shuo Mao?"

"What we can think of, the people who spread the rumors have already expected it. It is estimated that they were 'protected' when they planned the operation. We only went to the hospital now, and the people 'disappeared' long ago."

"Is it done by the higher-ups?"

"Except for them, there seems to be no one else. With such a big incident, according to the usual practice, Mr. Shuo Mao was invited by Anbu to drink tea and chat, instead of sitting at home."

Baishi can be sure that someone in the upper echelon did this, or more than one person was behind it.

"A dispute over the position of Hokage?"

Liuli shook her head, the higher-ups had done this matter impeccably, relying only on the staff of the security team, nothing could be done at all.

Compared with Anbu, the security force is indeed more powerful, but its reputation in Konoha is not very good, and it does not have the strong authority of Anbu.

Once Anbu is dispatched, it represents Hokage's own will.

"It should be like this. After all, the candidate meeting for the fourth generation of Hokage will be held in the near future. It is a natural result to exclude some irrelevant people at this time."

It's a bit cruel to say, but in Baishi's view, Shuo Mao is just a victim of the power struggle.

His subjective will and thoughts are not the most important, and no one will understand, as long as his current reputation can damage part of his interests.

It doesn't matter if you have the will to be Hokage, what matters is whether you have the qualifications and threats to be promoted to Hokage.

"That's good, since the political capital is gone, after this incident is over, the high-level officials will have no reason to suppress Teacher Shuo Mao."

Liuli understood Baishi's meaning, and felt a little anxious on her side.

The dispute over the position of Naruto involves the interests of many factions in Konoha.

A person whose reputation and strength surpass Sannin, and who is not affiliated with any party, is of course the highest priority to exclude.

Suppressing reputation, plundering Sakumo's political capital, and letting him become a Konoha Jonin in the future seems to have no harm.

On the contrary, in the days to come, Shuo Mao will definitely be reused again.

Because this is an important period for candidates for the fourth generation of Hokage, as long as this stage passes, Konoha Hakuga will still be Konoha Hakuga.

From Liuli's personal point of view, Sakumo is indeed not very suitable for Hokage's position.

He has neither ambition nor will, he is just an excellent Konoha Jōnin.

that is it.

"Really? It would be great if this is the case..."

Baishi murmured to himself, thinking of Shuo Mao's nonchalant appearance before, his heart was covered with a layer of haze.

That's not like nothing happened.

◎

Two days later, the rumors intensified.

More and more people came to the guard to make trouble, and the guard's cells were no longer enough.

And the crimes of these people are not enough to be imprisoned in the Konoha Prison. Those are serious criminals. Although these people are spreading rumors, they will not reach the level of 'severe punishment'.

Getting these people to the Konoha Prison will definitely attract Anbu's obstruction and unnecessary conflicts.

"What's going on? Are there still so many people making trouble?"

Liuli came to the lobby of the security team early in the morning, and felt that the place was almost overcrowded, and there was a lot of noise outside the door, like a vegetable market.

The two members of the security team belonging to Liuli's squad saluted Liuli, and replied: "Yes, in the morning, there were new rumors that the security team was completely out of manpower."

Having said that, the guard member smiled helplessly.

He didn't know that a rumor could be propagated like this.

It's just that the mission failed. Konoha Baiya is indeed a well-known ninja in the ninja world. In the past few years, it has gradually become Konoha's signature to intimidate the enemy.

But even Konoha Baiya is still a human being, not a god.

An occasional mission failure is not a big deal. Anyway, the above did not say that the mission failure caused any serious consequences.

If you put it this way, the so-called Sannin is the same thing. After all, this title is the title of a defeated general.

But how many people dare to underestimate Sannin?

From the point of view of the Uchiha ninja of the security team, it was these villagers who were making a fuss and talking about it without knowing anything, and even uttered some ugly words that even the members of the security team could not listen to. out of the core essence of the problem.

Beating them is not in compliance with the rules, but bringing them to the security team for discipline, there are not enough rooms.

Therefore, the security ninjas who came to work this morning are very troubled by this problem.

If these people are released, the rumors will intensify.

Don't let them go... Overcrowding will affect the work efficiency of the security team.

"Find some people who can escape from the earth, and get some simple cells outside."

Liuli's face was frighteningly cold.

"……yes."

One of the members of the security team went down immediately, went to the security team to find a few people who could escape from the earth, and expanded the temporary prison outside.

"Will this affect the bad?"

The remaining guard ninja gave a wry smile.

"What's wrong, we just follow the rules, even if Hokage comes, I have reason to reason with him."

"That's what I said, but if this continues, the reputation of our security team..."

"The security team has lost its reputation a long time ago. Why do you care so much? They don't need to be given lunch and dinner, and their families are not allowed to deliver food. Just feed them some water. Anyway, they won't die of hunger."

Liuli snorted coldly.

"……Understood."

Since it is the order of the sub-leader, it only needs to be executed.

As Liuli said, these people won't die of starvation after two meals.

"By the way, you just said there are new rumors?"

"Yes, didn't Sakumo Jonin give up the mission because of saving people? The rescued person seemed to be accusing Sakumo Jonin of not seeing the big picture, saying that he was not suitable to be a ninja, and criticizing Sakumo Jonin and humiliation..."

Seeing that Liuli's face was getting uglier, the guard ninja didn't continue.

Having said that, I believe Liuli already understood what was going on.

"Where is that person?"

"I didn't find it. When we went, the person had 'disappeared'."

It was hidden. Liuli sneered secretly.

"I see, you go down and get busy."

"Yes...well, don't worry too much. Although I am not familiar with Sakumo Kamijino, he is a ninja with a strong willpower. He will just laugh off such rumors."

He knew that Liuli, the leader of his branch, was once a member of Shuo Mao's team, and must have a good relationship with Shuo Mao. Before leaving, he comforted Liuli.

"Have you laughed it off?"

Liuli thought that when she visited Sakumo two days ago, the other party was eating ramen in a good mood and was not swayed by the rumors outside.

This really comforted Liuli, yes, even though those rumors made him feel a little uncomfortable, but for Shuo Mao, it shouldn't be a serious problem.

(PS: There will be another update later, I just don’t know if you can wait any longer...)