On his way to the Hokage's office, Mitokado Homura kept thinking—had he made a mistake somewhere? Was that why Yan was keeping an eye on him?
It was true what they said—karma always came around.
Homura probably never thought he'd end up in a situation like this.
Even walking to the Hokage's office, he had to stay on edge, afraid that someone would catch him slipping.
"Advisor, you wanted to see me?"
The position of Hokage Advisor was second only to the Hokage, even above the elders.
Looking at Yan sitting in the office chair, Homura had mixed feelings.
Calling him "sir" felt awkward, but he had no choice. The fact that he hadn't used an even more respectful title was his last bit of defiance.
"Elder, have a seat."
Yan gestured for Homura to sit down.
"I asked you here because there are some issues with the supply accounts. Hokage-sama put me in charge of handling them, so I had to call you in."
Yan got straight to the point without any unnecessary talk.
Issues with supply procurement?
That shouldn't be possible—he had personally checked everything.
Homura's heart skipped a beat, and he almost jumped out of his chair.
He had done plenty of shady things in the village, but when it came to supply procurement, he wouldn't dare mess around.
Especially now. If he got caught, retirement would be the best outcome.
Prison was a real possibility.
Tsunade might have gone easy on him, but Yan? No chance.
Yan would love nothing more than to throw all the old guys into jail—or even execute them on the spot.
"Advisor, I personally supervised and settled all the procurement. There shouldn't be any problems. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Oh? So now you know what it feels like?
And did I ever say it was your fault?
Yan opened the account ledger and pointed at the section on Explosive Tags.
"Elder, don't you see a problem here?"
"A problem? What problem?"
Homura was even more confused. He stared at the document for a while, then gritted his teeth and said with confidence,
"Advisor, the procurement is fine—I can guarantee it."
"The quantity and quality of the Explosive Tags have been tested. I oversaw everything myself. You don't have to worry—I would never take risks with the village's supply, especially military supplies."
"..."
Since stepping into the office, how many times had Homura already sworn up and down that everything was fine?
His constant reassurances left Yan speechless.
"Elder, I'm talking about the price!!!"
Yan's voice grew sharper.
"I'm not asking for your guarantee. I know there's no issue with the supplies, and I know you haven't done anything to harm the village's interests. I'm here for one reason only—the price of the Explosive Tags in this order is off!"
"Huh?!"
Mitokado Homura, who had been prepared to defend himself, froze for a moment. He picked up the invoice again, scanned it carefully, and frowned.
"Apart from being way cheaper than usual... wait, no!!"
After serving as an advisor elder for decades, he had at least this much awareness.
He hadn't noticed it when approving the purchase, but now that Yan had singled it out, the problem was obvious.
These Explosive Tags were suspiciously cheap—way too cheap.
Getting supplies at a lower price was usually a good thing. It meant saving money for the village—a lot of money, in this case.
As long as the quality was fine.
But Explosive Tags had always been a common ninja tool, and their price had never gone down, only up.
Suddenly getting a batch of them at a dirt-cheap price while maintaining quality? That was a huge red flag.
"Could it be the Akatsuki?"
After the battle in the Land of Rain, all five major villages had come to the same conclusion—
The Akatsuki must have the ability to mass-produce Explosive Tags.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain how they had nearly reduced Amegakure Village to rubble with nothing but explosions.
Those blasts weren't caused by ninjutsu, just countless Explosive Tags going off at once.
If that was true, then the person responsible had to be the Akatsuki's so-called "Angel"—Konan.
Realizing this was bigger than he thought, Mitokado Homura's expression grew serious.
"It seems the Akatsuki have been operating right under our noses this whole time. We just never noticed."
"Exactly."
Yan thought for a moment before speaking.
"That's why I suspect these Explosive Tags came from the Akatsuki.
The battle at Amegakure cost all five great nations dearly, but the Akatsuki took heavy losses too.
If they're in hiding, they still need funds to keep running. Selling Explosive Tags would be a perfect way to make money."
"The Explosive Tag market is already established, and the only way to break in is to undercut the competition."
"This is serious. We have to report it to Hokage-sama immediately."
Mitokado Homura silently cursed himself.
How had he missed this?
He'd been so focused on saving money for the village that he completely overlooked such an important clue.
Konoha had been struggling financially lately, and since he didn't have full control over logistics, he had been doing whatever he could to cut costs.
Who would've thought that in trying to save money, he'd accidentally stumble upon the Akatsuki's Explosive Tag trade?
Was the Akatsuki really that desperate these days?
Konan herself had resorted to selling Explosive Tags?
"Let's go together."
Something this important had to be reported to Tsunade immediately.
Qin Yi got up, grabbed the documents and bills, and headed to the Hokage's office with Mitokado Homura.
Seeing Homura walk in with Yan, Tsunade almost thought she was seeing things.
Did these two just make peace?
No, that didn't seem right.
Yan was holding the procurement bill she had sent over earlier. Was he here to confront her about it?
"Here, handle this yourself from now on. Also, our Elder Mito accidentally made a great contribution."
Yan tossed the bill onto the desk, reminding Tsunade to deal with her own problems instead of always trying to slack off.
You're the Hokage, I'm just an advisor—why are you dumping all these annoying tasks on me?
"*Cough cough!*"
Tsunade's expression stiffened, and she quickly coughed to change the subject.
"What great contribution did Mito-senpai make?"
"....."
Honestly, this credit should have gone to Yan.
Without Yan pointing it out, Mitokado Homura wouldn't have even noticed. Seeing Yan push the credit onto him, Homura suddenly felt awkward.
Taking the credit didn't feel right. Not taking it didn't feel right either.
What's going on?
Why does he look so hesitant?
Tsunade blinked, giving him a questioning look.
Yan glanced at Mitokado Homura and explained helplessly,
"There's something wrong with this bill. The price of the Explosive Tags is way too low. That shouldn't be possible since making them isn't easy. But this batch the village bought is up to standard, yet way cheaper than usual."
"What's wrong with that? Isn't saving money a good thing?"
Tsunade was confused.
Doesn't Uchiha Yan know how tight the budget is?
Saving money should be a good thing.
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