The Shinobi Union’s Headquarters had been the first one to notice that.
Since it was Headquarters who handled all forms of requests for help and such,
they were the first to notice any patterns.
One such pattern had started to emerge about a year ago.
The requests for Shinobi dispatches had sharply decreased.
Since the Five Great Shinobi Coutries had decided to from a union,
the Daimyo had had remarkably less fighting in the outer lands they ruled as well.
Thus, it was a very natural thing for dangerous A-rank or B-rank mission requests to decrease.
However, the matter didn’t end there.
Even the relatively easy C-rank and D-rank mission requests had decreased in exactly the same way.
Shikamaru had heard of this matter relatively quickly,
since he had a place at the Shinobi Union’s Headquarters as well. But it wasn’t like there was something they could do to solve the sudden decrease of missions.
The Union had said it was a brief change brought along by the times, and closed the matter.
However, there was a man who said he could put an end to the problem of the declining missions,
as well as one other problem that had popped up since the end of the war.
That man was Kakashi.
The other problem Kakashi was intent on solving: the cases of missing nin within the Five Great Shinobi Countries that had been going on for a year.
Since about a year ago, every village had been losing one Shinobi per month.
That made 12 missing-nin for every village up to now.
The Five Hidden Villages had had 60 shinobi disappear in total. Furthermore,
they were all young, single, male Shinobi.
Abandoning your village was a grave crime.
Of course, each village had sent people in pursuit of the deserters, but somehow,
not a single one had been found.
“I probably did the wrong thing asking Sai to continue the investigation when he asked for back-up.” Kakashi said. “I should’ve pulled him out of the situation and gotten him mentally prepared before sending him to the Country of Silence.”
“Regretting it now isn’t going to change anything.”
“That’s true.”
Sai, who had been sent to investigate the cases of the missing-nin, had sent them notice of finding a lead about a month ago. Kakashi, who believed the increased missing-nin and the decrease of mission dispatches were related,
had told Sai to continue the investigation with the anbu as back up.
The lead Sai had found was the Country of Silence.
The Country of Silence could be found in the far west of a continent that rivalled the Five Great Shinobi Countries as well as the countries surrounding them.
It was a country that had never made contact with any of the Shinobi Villages – or any other foreign country,
for that matter. It was thus called ‘the Country of Silence’ by outsiders.
The only details known about it was that it was a country with samurai who kept its citizens in line,
and a Daimyou who ruled over the samurai. However,
anything further than that was a complete mystery.
According to what Sai had relayed,
it seemed that somehow Konoha’s missing-nin had run towards this country.
And those weren’t the least of their concerns. There was also the matter of the Konoha Shinobi who had gone missing in action during the war.
The Country of Silence was collecting shinobi who had gone missing in action as well as shinobi who had deserted the village…
For what reason?
Kakashi could see the reason as clearly as he could see the answer to the decrease of dispatches coming into the Shinobi Union.
“What do you think happened to Sai?” Kakashi asked.
“He’s alive.”
“Well, I agree with that.” The bottom of Kakashi’s mask moved as if he was smiling. “When you look at his obsessive sounding praise of this ‘Gengo’ he mentions in his letter…” Kakashi touched the fine, delicate handwriting on Sai’s message.
Seeing what he was thinking, Shikamaru kept speaking.
“It’s not something I want to believe, but we can’t discount the possibility that Sai’s been taken in by this man called Gengo.”
“Sai’s so pure, after all…”
“If Sai’s alive, we can’t just not save him.”
“That’s true…” Kakashi’s left scarred eye seemed to darken with despair.
Shikamaru could tell precisely what he was going to say without needing to hear it out loud.
This situation had a greater and more important matter than that of saving a comrade.
Shikamaru himself forced out the words.
“If the internal affairs of the Country of Silence are really as Sai’s reported, if the goings-on within are as you’ve guessed, then we have to take action immediately.”
“I know that.”
Shikamaru didn’t stop talking.
“It’s been two years since the war. All the villages have finally regained their stability, but the status of the country as a whole is still less than half as strong as it used to be.”
“We couldn’t possibly withstand another war.”
“Exactly.”
Letting out another huge sigh, Kakashi stood up from his chair. He stepped around his desk covered with scrolls and books and came to stand next to Shikamaru.
“It seems like you’ve come to the same conclusion that I have.” Kakashi said.
“Yes.”
“Then do you understand what I think of it?”
“You want to go and do it yourself, don’t you?”
Kakashi had a lot of experience from his youth spent in the anbu. He stood out amongst the anbu, whose specialty were shady missions, as a very capable soldier.
Shikamaru could see those thoughts on his face, and let out a sigh.
“Hokage-sama. I understand your feelings more than enough, but you must already know that what you want isn’t going to happen.”
“Heh. Your thoughts flash through your mind almost at the same speed as Minato-sensei’s jutsu, do you know that?”
Shikamaru simply gave Kakashi a long stare as an answer. Kakashi continued speaking in the face of Shikamaru’s silence.
“Anyway, going on what Sai said, the leading force behind that country is this man called Gengo.”
“Yes.”
“As long as we do something about him, then there won’t be any further problems.”
“That’s what I’m thinking as well.”
“Well then…”
Putting his hand at the middle of his back and giving a great stretch like an old man, Kakashi said, “Who do you think should be sent?”
“I’ll go.”
“Huh?” Kakashi’s eyes widened. “You’re Konoha’s representative. You have a lot of duties to the Union as well. There’s no need for you to go on an assassination mission at this time.”
Assassination…
Kakashi had finally put it into words. The thought that had been going through both of their heads was now out in the open.
If the Shinobi Union and the Country of Silence went to war, then the Union they’d spent so long maintaining would be disrupted, and possibly even rupture. Each nation was still exhausted despite all their recovery so far – there wasn’t a single person who wished for a war.
If Sai’s letter was to be trusted, then assassinating this ‘Gengo’ would be quickest and most effective way of stopping the Country of Silence from disrupting the world’s hard-attained peace.
“We have to keep the circle of people who know about this matter as small as possible.” Shikamaru said.
“But I’m telling you, for you to go is…”
“One of my comrades has been taken. Please allow me to go.”
Kakashi stopped talking when he saw Shikamaru’s determination.
As Kakashi said, there was no real need for Shikamaru to go.
It would’ve been more proper to find another capable person and entrust the matter to them.
And yet, Shikamaru himself volunteered.
He himself didn’t understand why he did it.
But he just couldn’t stay still.