With the release of the newest issue of Ninja World Weekly, everyone quickly noticed the bounty listed inside.
"A bounty for Hatake Kakashi's whereabouts? The reward is as high as three hundred thousand ryo?"
The moment people saw that number, their eyes immediately reddened.
Three hundred thousand ryo was no small sum.
It had already fully reached the level of an A-rank mission.
For civilians, it was an enormous figure. Very few people could remain uninterested.
Obtaining those three hundred thousand ryo could directly change one's life.
"Wait. Sunagakure dares to offer such a large bounty… does that mean they're certain Kakashi has already been killed and disposed of by Konoha?"
"If Kakashi were still around, whether on the battlefield or inside Konoha Village, finding his traces shouldn't be very difficult."
"Sunagakure's bounty is far too easy otherwise."
"The only explanation is that Sunagakure has received information."
Some Konoha shinobi also became interested in the bounty.
They began asking around for Kakashi's whereabouts on the battlefield.
But they found nothing.
Some Konoha shinobi were unhappy with such behavior.
"As a Konoha shinobi, you're chasing three hundred thousand ryo in bounty money and working for Sunagakure? Can you face Konoha with that?"
The Konoha shinobi replied righteously.
"If I, a Konoha shinobi, take Sunagakure's bounty money, doesn't that mean Konoha gains a benefit while Sunagakure suffers a loss? Isn't that equivalent to Sunagakure funding the enemy?"
"What I'm doing is precisely for Konoha's good."
"Besides, do you really not want to know where Kakashi went?"
Kakashi's disappearance had already become a confirmed fact.
Therefore, only two possibilities remained.
One was that he had been killed.
The other was that he had defected.
No matter which one it was, it was connected to what happened to Konoha's White Fang back then.
Had Konoha's White Fang really been persecuted to death by Hiruzen Sarutobi?
Within Konoha Village, there were also people searching for Kakashi's whereabouts.
But just like the people on the battlefield, they could not find even the slightest trace related to Kakashi.
It was as if Kakashi had completely vanished into thin air.
Inside the Hokage Building—
An ANBU shinobi arrived before Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Hiruzen looked at the newspaper before him, his expression terrifyingly dark.
"This Rasa truly has no end to it. Again and again, he provokes me and Konoha. Even after Konoha shinobi have already reached the Land of Wind's border, he still dares to do this."
"Does he truly think I won't order Konoha's army to march straight into Sunagakure?"
Hiruzen was so angry his liver hurt.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself slightly.
"Have you discovered anything?"
The ANBU shinobi shook his head.
"There is absolutely no information on Kakashi's whereabouts. If anything, someone saw two Konoha shinobi wearing ANBU uniforms heading in Kakashi's direction that day."
"After that, no one saw Kakashi again."
"And those two ANBU shinobi seem to have never been seen again either."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank.
After hearing this, Hiruzen was already ninety percent certain.
It had to be Danzo's handiwork.
Because for a long time now, Danzo had liked doing things this way.
He had Root shinobi disguise themselves as ANBU shinobi to act.
"Danzo…"
"So it really was you!"
"You're trying to ruin me."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the ANBU shinobi before him.
"Go to the Land of Wind. Have Danzo return to see me immediately."
The ANBU shinobi nodded.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Watching the ANBU shinobi leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi's brows knitted tightly.
"I hope Danzo has only detained Kakashi. If Danzo has already killed Kakashi, then handling this matter will become extremely difficult."
"This isn't the first or second time."
"It was like this with the Uchiha matter."
"And now, with Kakashi's matter, it's the same again."
"That fellow Danzo… is he simply incompetent, or is he doing this deliberately?"
A thought flashed through Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind.
At this time, Danzo was in the Land of Wind, doing everything he could to spread rumors.
Rumors about Rasa.
Under the efforts of the shinobi led by Danzo, one rumor slowly spread through the territory of the Land of Wind.
"The Third Kazekage didn't actually disappear. He was assassinated by Rasa."
"For the sake of seizing the Kazekage position."
"The disappearance of the Third Kazekage benefited Rasa the most."
…
Sunagakure had fabricated rumors about Konoha.
Thus Konoha fabricated rumors about Sunagakure in return as revenge.
Both sides were spreading rumors, but the situation was not the same.
First, Sunagakure's presence in the ninja world was not especially strong. Even though Sunagakure had grown stronger over these past few years and had even defeated Kirigakure, most people were still unfamiliar with Sunagakure.
When Sunagakure was mentioned, the first thing people thought of was sand.
Compared with Konoha, Sunagakure was naturally weaker in terms of public attention.
Konoha's accumulated prestige was deep, after all.
Second, when Rasa spread rumors, they were never baseless. He always found an entry point.
Just like the matter of Konoha's White Fang.
There truly were suspicious points.
Why had the client known the mission details so clearly?
Not only did they know the mission failed, they also knew it failed because Sakumo Hatake chose to rescue his teammates.
But if he had not rescued his teammates, would the mission definitely have succeeded?
Danzo's rumors, on the other hand, were purely fabricated.
He did not point out the suspicious aspects of the Third Kazekage's disappearance.
It was not that Danzo did not want to. Rather, too little information had been exposed regarding the Third Kazekage's disappearance. There was nothing to use.
After thinking for a long time, Danzo finally made something up.
"The reason Rasa's Magnet Release is so powerful is because he developed a secret technique. By extracting the Third Kazekage's life force and absorbing the Third Kazekage's Magnet Release, his own Magnet Release became so strong."
Rasa looked at the contents of Danzo's rumor in his hand and raised his brow slightly.
"Fabricating a rumor that I developed a secret technique capable of absorbing another person's Magnet Release power isn't bad."
"But it still doesn't mean much."
"I had no reason to kill the Third Kazekage."
Many people knew Sunagakure's previous situation.
The candidates for the position of Fourth Kazekage had not been limited to Rasa alone. Pakura had been one as well.
And Rasa could be considered half a disciple of the Third Kazekage. The longer the Third Kazekage lived, the higher the chance Rasa would inherit the Kazekage position. Therefore, Rasa could not possibly have done something like that.
At this point, Danzo had another explanation.
"That was because Rasa made a mistake. The Third Kazekage no longer wanted to pass the Kazekage position to Rasa. That was why Rasa developed killing intent toward the Third Kazekage and ambushed him."
Sunagakure shinobi asked in response:
"Then was his killing intent born from the secret technique to absorb Magnet Release, or because he made a mistake and lost the possibility of inheriting the Kazekage position? If you're going to fabricate rumors, can you at least keep your story consistent?"
When a Root shinobi brought this question before Danzo—
Danzo's face turned cold.
"Idiot. You can't even answer that? Of course it was both."
Just then, an ANBU shinobi arrived swiftly.