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  Fire Capital.

  A ninja stood inside Ryoma's room, hidden in the darkness and silently him. The subordinate of the 3rd minister was unaware of this individual's presend was steadily pleting his missio. It wasn't long before he fi and at that moment the intruder made his move.

  'Genjutsu art: Timeless Haze'

  In mere moments Ryoma was uhe intruder's illusion teique and was sitting in his chair motionless.

  The shinobi sloeared from the shadows and walked towards Ryoma. 'This will put you under while I get what I need.'

  He immediately began going through the missio that was just done and quickly memorized every detail and even made a copy. 'The spy Fuji was caught and now the two major corporations are f an alliahe young master won't be happy about this.'

  He read the details of the alliand merger betweewo parties and gave a light sigh.

  The unknown ninja pleted his work in a couple of minutes and the moment he was out of the room. He dispelled the illusion jutsu holding Ryoma and quietly made his exit.

  —-

  The ninja was exceptional ih and quickly made his way to his destination with the new information. It wasn't long before he reached a small pad ehrough a secret tunnel. He soon stood in front of his master's room and knocked on the door.

  "e in."

  The shinobi entered and gave a small bow before taking a scroll from his pocket. "I have the information you wanted, young master."

  "Ahh yes. Perfect. I always t on you Hotoja."

  The shinobi who entered Ryoma's residen secret was the loyal guard of the you prisuya Hinoō. The third prince immediately went through the report and he most importaails as Hotoja stood silently. The smile on Katsuya's face widened by the time he fihe dot.

  "Wonderful. Everything's going acc to pn." The prince couldn't help but chuckle. He turo Hotoja with a teasing grin.

  Hotoja was surprised to see his master's rea. "I thought you'd be angry or at the very least annoyed, seeing that Fujin Genjira's pany would soon be shut down. You spent quite a bit of money over the st 4 years on strengthening his pany."

  "I did. And it was for this exact reason."

  "You helped him… to fail?"

  Seeing his subordinate's fusiohird prince began expining.

  "Over 5 years ago I had been gathering information on most businesses running in and around Fire try. One in particur caught my eye. The Silver Wood Logging pany."

  "Fujin Genjira's pany!"

  The prinodded. "Yes. While simir businesses were struggling due to the two giants Satoru and Rising Sun, Fujin's pany was steadily growing. I found it odd and ordered a secret ih iigation. It took some time but I soon came to know of his spies iwo major panies feeding him intel. Fujihat intelligeo create tension and skirmishes betweewo corporations."

  Hotoja began to uand the situation. "Slowing down their growth while strengthening his own."

  "Precisely. And it was at that moment I came up with an idea. you guess what that is Hotoja?"

  The prince's subordinate was silent for several moments as he thought about all the information he had. A mier his eyes widened. "The only thing I think of that's profitable from this whole endeavor is if you wahe alliance of the Satoru corporation and Rising Sun corporation."

  "Exactly."

  "But if the goal was the merger of the two pahen why did you secretly help Fujin build his pany and help him with the funds? Why not use those resources to assist the other two?"

  The prince shook his head ively. "Even if I did they would have kept going at it and they wouldn't have agreed to an allia would have been a waste of time and energy. Their ego and hate was too big. So I decided tthen the ehey already had and make him a ohey could rally against wheime came. I gave Fujin's pany a boost in capital with several ditions in pce. With my help his growth increased signifitly to the point he was beginning to threateher two. The only way they could keep growing was to stop fighting each other. They were beginning to realize that even if they didn't like it."

  Hotoja's eyes widened. "Wait. The mission you sent Kaien on a couple months ago…"

  "It was to meet with Tsuyoshi Satoru and Yamamoto Hideshi i. I'm the one who ordered them to meet for a possible iation and alliance. And the moment I learnt that it was Kakashi and Daichi sent to guard Ryoma, I khe mission would be a success and the spy would be captured."

  Hotoja was silent as he went over the whole sario. 'Tsuyoshi and Yamamoto hated each uts but they feared their pany's ruin more. Young master created a on enemy for them to unite against. A sacrificial mb... All of this pn… created a in motion years before today. Hhtening…'

  "Now do you uand my reasoning fiving aid to that man Fujin and his pany for the st four years?"

  Hotoja looked up at his master and nodded. "Yes. But young master… Even if this was the pn from the start won't you suffer some losses with the destru of the Fujin pany? Since you wanted your involvement with him a secret you won't be able to recuperate the losses when the 3rd minister shuts him down."

  The grin on Katsuya's face slightly widened and a dark dangerous glint was in his eyes. "ly Hotoja."

  Fire try. Fujin Genjira's Home.

  Fujin Genjira, the head of the Silver wood Logging pany, was currently tied to a chair and was bleeding all over. He was tortured for information for over an hour. In a weak voice he spoke to the man who stood near him.

  "P-please… I told you… everything… Nobody knows… about my deal with Lord Katsuya… There is no… Evidence… Please believe me…" Fujin pleaded with every bit of his strength.

  A man shrouded in bd dark red garments silently stared at the man for several seds. He then spoke in a heavy tone. "I believe you." The sed a kunai lunged into Fujin's brain ending the man's life.

  The ninja took the kunai and made his way to the basement of the home. He passed by several guards that were on the floor dead and bleeding. Soon he reached the basement and opened a secret chamber. Inside was a rge space filled with money and gold.

  'Master will be pleased. I better get to him with this quickly.'

  The shinobi hurriedly began sealing the massive wealth in a rge ste scroll. Soon the secret chamber was empty and the shinobi left Fujin's house. A few seds ter the house caught on fire behind him, burning everyone and everything inside…

  With Prisuya.

  "When I first began helping him I made certain ditions with him. I told him not to use my money for anything nefarious. Fujin had the gall to ighat warning and imported drugs and even sves using my funds. I wasn't going to let him live long after that…" The third prince said as he stood on the baly of his room enjoying the cold wind on his face.

  "I take it you sent Kaien to deal with him."

  "Yes. He's going to erase all evidence if there is any and he'll take all the liquid assets stored in his home. That was another dition I made with Fujin. I khis day would e and I'm not someone ts losses easily. You know that…"

  Hotoja was silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "Young master, not that I'm questioning your methods, but why gh all this trouble just to create an alliaween Tsuyoshi and Yamamoto's panies?"

  Katsuya smiled hearing that. "People look at their panies awe business operations but I see it as something much more… A potential informatiowork with a distribution el that spans aire try and a few neighb regions… It just he right touake it happen… But all that will only be possible if a merger happens. An alliance won't cut it. I hose two corporations to join together…"

  The older man's eyes widened in surprise when he heard his master's pn. 'An informatiowork like that will certainly increase the young master's influend reach. Even though he's young he's certainly a ing man. I made the right choice joining his side.'

  The two spoke for a short while before aopic came up.

  "I still 't believe the Leaf ninjas would let go of their prisoners in exge for information… I wonder who they were…" Hotoja slightly shook his head and woo himself.

  "I believe I have an idea." Katsuya chuckled as he already deduced an answer.

  Hotoja silently looked at his master and waited for him to speak.

  "This meetiweewo was kept a secret and was on a o know basis. Only very few people could have gotten access to that information aside from Fujin's spy leaking the intel. I khat possibility and was keeping an eye on Yuta. Imagine my surprise when I learhat it was some unknown shinobi who tacted him regarding the iations and not the other way around…"

  "So Yuta wasn't the one who hired the ninjas?"

  "No. He just tried to take advantage of the opportunity that came…" The prince replied.

  "But who could have known about this…? And what reason would they have to interfere?"

  "The only ones with the means to get secret intel like this in this try are very few people. The one I'm suspeg is Danzo Shimura." Katsuya crossed his arms and spoke.

  "Based on our intelligence he's the former advisor to the Hokage and the ander of Root. From what I know the Hokage ordered and disbahe Root but there is scattered evidence of its activities across the 5 nations. But young master, why do you suspect him?" Hotoja recalled the information on the anization.

  "I suspect him because of the as of the Leaf ninjas… Danzo isn't someone who likes others to have great power. An alliaween those two corporations would have signifit eic ges. The power and influence of the two panies would greatly increase and I'm guessing he didn't want that to happen. And perhaps he even foresaw the potential of what their merger might bring. He's a paranoid old man who still lives in the warring era… But then again sidering my pns I suppose he was right to be wary."

  Hotoja soon uood why his master suspected Danzo. "But that's not a valid reason to attack Ryoma and disrupt the iatioween those two. If the 3rd minister found out that ninjas from Leaf vilge were interfering like that, he would report it to La and he would take a."

  The prince agreed. "Yes. Father would not be pleased and the as of the ninjas would cause fri between the vilge and the Royal court. The Hokage wouldn't san a mission like this so I'm guessing the ninjas were operating on Danzo's orders behind the Hokage's back."

  "I see. The Leaf ninjas must have e to this clusion as well. They didn't want the identity of the attackers to be revealed because they didn't want them to be ected back to their vilge. They must have captured them i and found the information some other way."

  "Yes. The fact that the Leaf ninja wao hide the identity of their prisoners is the very reason I suspect Danzo." The prince spoke.

  Hotoja looked at his master. "Are you going to take any ay Lord?"

  Katsuya ughed. "Why? The Leaf ninjas lied. True. But those two did their job perfectly and I have a feeling the Hokage will take the needed a ohis news reaches him, if he hasn't already… I won't waste energy on a problem others will take care of for me…"

  Hotoja nodded and stood silently while his master looked at the starry night sky with a small grin.

  Author's Note:

  This is all for narding the B rank mission as at the capital. From the chapter onwards we'll focus solely on Kakashi, Daichi, Naruto and the others till the end of the graduation debacle.

  Anyway, I hope you ehe twist in this chapter. How are you guys liking the Katsuya Hinoo character so far?