At that time.

  After hearing the analysis from his advisory team, Raikage A folded his arms, a dismissive snort esg his lips as he offered his critique:

  "That Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, doesn't even seem like a real leader. Has Konoha Vilge fallen so low that it's all about favoritism now?"

  "Or has Konoha deed to the point where even a in hold such a prestigious position?"

  In the shinobi world, strength is everything. Even for administrative roles that rarely require physical force, someone in the position of advisor or deputy headmaster of the ninja academy should at least be a Tokubetsu Jōnin.

  No wonder Raikage A held such disdain.

  "So, what's the pn?"

  "The pn is this-" The chief advisor of Raikage's cil fshed a ing smile. "Samui's physical attributes make her one of our most promising spies."

  "Her talent in ninjutsu is equally remarkable. Teiques that typically take years for others to master, like suppressing one's chakra signature, took her just a week."

  "With this potential, we shouldn't treat her as just another pawn."

  Pawn...

  Even though Samui had mentally prepared herself for this, hearing herself referred to in such a way still stirred an unfortable feeling deep within.

  "We pn to infiltrate the highest ranks of Konoha, with Samui being our most elite spy. She'll establish a covert work and, possibly, eve up our bck ops division within Konoha."

  The chief advisor spped his hand down on a photograph of Gojo Kaigetsu: "Our target is Gojo Kaigetsu!"

  "Acc to our intel, Gojo Kaigetsu is a shinobi of on birth, a war orphan. His family likely migrated to the Land of Fire from a neighb try decades ago."

  "With this background, we create ay for Samui that will allow her to approach him."

  "Samui, once you infiltrate Konoha, your name will be Gojo Ai, a distaive of Gojo Kaigetsu from a branch family that settled in another nd decades ago."

  "Approag him too quickly could draw the attention of Konoha's Anbu. You must act as though you stumbled upon your e to Gojo Kaigetsu by act, gradually being acquainted with him."

  "Although you are an outsider, you might fa intensive background check. However, with your mastery of chakra suppression teiques, you should pass without issue. From there, you aturally assume the role of a member of the Gojo d embed yourself beside Gojo Kaigetsu, gathering intelligence for our vilge."

  The chief advisor's smile grew more enigmatic: "Ultimately, you could even marry Gojo Kaigetsu, seg the highest level of trust. And who knows... perhaps you might even turn him into an ally for us."

  "Do you uand now, Samui?"

  "…" Samui remained silent, standing before Raikage A and his senior advisors, fag their expet gazes. Beh her bold exterior, her heart had already grown cold. But for her vilge, personal feelings could be sacrificed!

  A shinobi is nothing more than a tool.

  She nodded firmly: "I will fwlessly plete the infiltration mission."

  ....

  Back to the Present.

  The two gate-keeping shinobi exged gnces: "Gojo… That's a rare sur sounds familiar. Do you remember anything, Hyūga?"

  "Idiot, Gojo is the name of Kaigetsu!"

  "Ah, of course, it's Teacher Kaigetsu!"

  "You really fot your own teacher's surname? Holy… you're hopeless." The Hyūga shinobi sighed, shaking his head.

  The gatekeeper who had fotten seemed quite young; as it happened, he had been a student of Gojo Kaigetsu during his time as a regur instructor at the ninja academy.

  Samui took note of every word they said.

  Her eyes sparkled with realization; she hadn't expected to enter such a perfect opportunity to ect with Gojo Kaigetsu.

  To be fair, Konoha's shinobi were careless, not at all ed with the fidentiality of their versations. Or perhaps, after enjoying so many years of peace following the Third Shinobi War, Konoha had fottehe most basic principles of being a shinobi?

  Samui's finely crafted, aloof face took on a puzzled expression, vingly portraying the awkwardness of a civilian in the presence of shinobi: "Excuse me, shinobi-san, but what are you talking about? Are there others with the surname Gojo in Konoha?"

  "Yes, there are."

  The female shinobi nodded: "But they're part of our Konoha Gojo . You're from the Land of Flowers, so although the surname is unon, it should be…"

  The Hyūga ninja rolled his eyes and tugged at the female shinobi's sleeve, whispering into her ear: "Did you fet? Back when Teacher Gojo introduced himself, he mentiohat he's a migrant from the Land of Flowers…"

  "Eh?!"

  ....

  Meanwhile, at the Printing Factory.

  Gojo Kaigetsu reed in his chair, sipping on a fizzy drink with a id-back attitude.

  He was in high spirits.

  This batch of *Imai* was the final ohe previous prints had already been distributed to warehouses across the freat nations, and nearly all the iial nobles had been persuaded to support the venture.

  Wheime es and Gojo Kaigetsu gives the word, these nobles will be seen at high-society events with copies of *Imai* in hand. Soon enough, the merts will notice, and the demand will skyrocket.

  Ohe ine of other hidden vilges plummets, and they trace the source of the problem, it'll be too te.

  "Hah, *Imai*, activate!"

  Gojo Kaigetsu muttered to himself in his office, caught up in his excitement.

  Even Danzo had been lying low these past few days, not stirring up any more trouble. The vilge's prosperity had only increased.

  But then, his smile froze.

  He jolted upright in his chair.

  ....

  System Messages:

  1. A mysterious spy from Kumogakure has infiltrated Konoha. Prosperity -11.

  2. The mysterious spy from Kumogakure has pleted a reaissance of Konoha. Prosperity -11.

  3. The mysterious spy from Kumogakure has established initial trust with Konoha shinobi. Prosperity -11.

  Gojo Kaigetsu: "?"

  Wait a minute-what is this?

  A Kumogakure spy?!

  With his brain running at full speed, enhanced by chakra, Gojo Kaigetsu quickly started pieg things together from the inal timeline.

  "If I'm not mistaken… the only time Kumogakure ever infiltrated Konoha was during the alliance ceremony when a Kumogakure shinobi attempted to kidnap Hinata…" Gojo Kaigetsu frowned, certain that his memory was accurate.

  In that case, there's only one expnation.

  His presence had caused a butterfly effect, altering the timeline!

  Kumogakure had sent a spy into Konoha earlier than expected, with an unknown objective.

  Based on the system's three notifications-"infiltration," "reaissance," aablishing trust"-could it be that the Kumogakure spy inteo remain in Konoha long-term?

  Typically, if the goal were just to plete a mission, would there be a o build trust with Konoha shinobi?

  Gojo Kaigetsu wasn't sure, but it ossible the spy po use this trust to get close to high-profile figures for assassination.