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1 PM.
Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi finished correcting a document and stretched his stiff arms.
His eyes fell on the photo album on the table, and a smile curved his mouth.
The photo album contained a group photo of five people: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Biwako Sarutobi (his wife, not pictured in the prompt text, but implied by the context of family photos), Shinnosuke, Ruri, and Asuma.
"Shinnosuke is the Anbu captain, and Ruri is the vice-captain."
"After the two of them get married, the Anbu's control will be more stable."
Thinking of this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a great deal of emotion.
Since he took power, he had worked tirelessly. Internally, he benefited the people. Externally, he struck hard. And he had full control over the Anbu.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, you are indeed the strongest Hokage of all time!"
After admiring the photo, Hiruzen Sarutobi was full of energy and ready to devote himself to the great business of correcting documents.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, an Anbu appeared.
"Lord Hokage, something abnormal has happened at the Anbu base!"
"Oh?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was slightly surprised.
With his son, Shinnosuke, stationed there, what could possibly happen?
"Shouldn't you report this kind of thing to the Anbu Captain?" Hiruzen Sarutobi said with dissatisfaction.
In his view, this Anbu had clearly overstepped his authority.
This suggested that this person was small-minded and wanted to bypass Shinnosuke to curry favor with him.
For this reason, Hiruzen Sarutobi was unhappy.
"Captain? But the Captain is not at the base," the Anbu's tone was full of doubt.
"Huh? Not there?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned.
Today was the day Team Minato entered the Anbu, and Shinnosuke was definitely supposed to be training them.
"Could it be that he dragged Team Minato to another place for training?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi could only think of this possibility.
"Tell me what's abnormal." After a gesture, he decided to ask in person.
"There is a lot of black smoke in the base, and there is a smell of blood."
"What?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his voice and stood up immediately.
Black smoke, he didn't care about. But the smell of blood meant that something had happened.
Anbu base.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in the hall, looking at the lingering black smoke.
He found that the black smoke was corrosive, and the smell of blood came from within it.
After thinking for a while, he summoned an Anbu.
"Go and call the hospital director, Heiji."
"Also, get Shinnosuke back."
The Anbu quickly left.
Soon after.
Director Heiji arrived.
"Lord Hokage!"
"Heiji, take a look, what is in this black smoke?" Hiruzen Sarutobi gestured.
"Yes."
Heiji observed the black smoke for a moment, and made hand seals.
Bead Technique!
His hands were covered with Chakra, and he reached towards the black smoke.
Strangely, the black smoke disappeared where his hand had touched it.
A moment later, a drop of black-red liquid appeared in his palm, wrapped by Chakra.
After sensing it through the Chakra in his palm, Heiji's face showed a solemn look.
"Lord Hokage, this is a snake's venom, which has a strong corrosive effect. Moreover, it is mixed with blood."
"Snake venom? Mixed with blood?" Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned slightly.
For some reason, the first thing he thought of was the defector, Orochimaru.
Because no ninja in the village was known to use snake venom; only Orochimaru did.
After Heiji left, Hiruzen Sarutobi walked to the gate of the base, waiting for his son, Shinnosuke.
"Lord Hokage, the Captain was not found."
When the Anbu brought back the news, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly panicked.
He hadn't assigned Shinnosuke any out-of-village mission, only training Team Minato.
So, where did Shinnosuke go?
"Team Minato!"
After uttering these two words, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes narrowed.
When Team Minato was called to the Hokage Building, the familiar scene reappeared.
"Stop! Only one person can enter at a time."
The Anbu's voice was cold and unemotional.
"Akira, you go in first."
Pushing open the office door.
Akira saw the Third Hokage, and Danzō.
"Akira, tell me what you did with Team Minato this morning," Danzō asked in a low tone.
"Uh... I waited outside the Anbu base all morning," Akira replied seriously.
"Outside the base? You didn't go in?" Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly said.
"No, no one opened the door for us," Akira shook his head.
Danzō and Hiruzen Sarutobi exchanged glances. They were not satisfied with the answer, but it was expected.
Next.
Kakashi was the second to be questioned.
His answer was exactly the same as Akira's: he also said they waited outside all morning.
Mitarashi Anko, Rin, and Yūgao Uzuki also said the same thing.
At last.
It was Yamato's turn.
"Yamato, you must answer truthfully. Have you ever entered the Anbu base?"
"That... no," Yamato denied.
When Yamato left, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō looked towards the corner together.
Swoosh!
Inoichi Yamanaka manifested his body, his complexion solemn.
"Inoichi, tell us the results of the investigation," the two asked.
"Akira is not lying; everyone else is lying."
The voice fell.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō froze.
The six members of Team Minato spoke exactly the same words, yet the polygraph test found two different situations?
"How do I remember that the last polygraph test was very similar to this time?" Danzō muttered to himself.
"In the same way, Akira didn't lie, but the other five did. Inoichi, is your clan's secret polygraph technique really okay?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked with a frown.
"No problem! After the incident last time, I have conducted many tests, and there has never been an issue," Inoichi said, forcing himself to be firm.
To be honest, he was already traumatized by running polygraphs on Akira.
In both polygraph tests, Akira was the one without the problem.
Inoichi was confident that his clan's secret technique was fine, which meant that Akira was once again being fooled by his teammates.
As Inoichi was signaled to leave, only Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō were left in the office.
Whoosh!
At this time, an Anbu appeared.
"Lord Hokage, the search of the Anbu base has concluded. Here is the report."
After submitting the report, the Anbu immediately left.
Picking up the report, Hiruzen Sarutobi scanned the contents.
Danzō also leaned in to look, and he had a suspicion in his heart.
"There are no traces of fighting in the base, nor has it been damaged in the slightest."
"In other words, Shinnosuke was killed by someone."
Hiruzen Sarutobi muttered to himself, heartbroken.
The attacker was an acquaintance who also used snake venom to destroy the corpse; it could only be Orochimaru.
Danzō agreed with this guess and added a few more words.
"Orochimaru, who left after the murder, must have met Team Minato. He then threatened them. Therefore, Team Minato didn't mention Orochimaru!"
"And Akira, as far as I know, is late for every assembly."
"I'm afraid that's why Team Minato fooled him."