My older sister is Kushina

A few days later, late at night.

Whirlpool Flower Path quietly left the village and then quickly stealthily headed in a certain direction.

He moved very fast in the darkness.

Soon, the Whirlpool Flower Path arrived at its destination.

At this moment, he had come to hand over the Root organization's secret prison surveillance mission to Hyuga Himaru. In recent days, he, Uchiha Shisui, and Hyuga Himaru had been taking turns closely monitoring the prison area.

Upon seeing Captain Wolf Fang arrive, Hyuga Hima immediately greeted him, "Captain!"

Uzumaki Hanamichi nodded: "How was it? Anything unusual today?"

Hyuga Mai: "There don't seem to be any special circumstances. Two masked men entered the prison area around dusk and haven't returned yet."

Uzumaki Hanamichi: "Can you confirm their identities?"

Hyuga Mai: "One of them should be target number 1, but I can't be 100% sure."

Uzumaki Hanamichi's expression shifted slightly. His number one target was Orochimaru, whom he had already locked onto. Orochimaru never entered the prison area without disguise; he would wear a black robe and a mask. The reason he was able to identify Orochimaru was actually quite simple: he had fought Orochimaru before and was very familiar with Orochimaru's chakra aura.

In the ninjutsu research system, Uzumaki Hanamichi had learned a special ninjutsu that could detect chakra aura, somewhat similar to Kagura's Mind's Eye Technique, but not as powerful as Kagura's Mind's Eye Technique. It was a simplified version with a very limited range. When he saw Orochimaru use this technique before, he was just testing him. He didn't expect to find out that it was Orochimaru.

Uzumaki Hanamichi did not tell Uchiha Shisui and Hyuga Mai about Orochimaru's identity, but simply named him Target Number 1. Although Hyuga Mai's Byakugan could not identify chakra aura, it could determine some characteristics of chakra through the Byakugan.

Immediately afterwards, Uzumaki Hanamichi asked Hinata Hima about the specific situation.

Hyuga Mai immediately gave a detailed report of the situation.

Uzumaki Hanamichi nodded: "Fire Dancer, you go back and rest first. Leave this to me."

Hyuga Mai: "Yes, Captain."

Whirlpool Flower said, "Wait, I almost forgot, this is a late-night snack for you."

Hyuga Mai was pleasantly surprised: "Thank you, Captain. I was a little hungry."

The late-night snack at the Whirlpool Flower Path is two rice balls, which are handmade.

Soon after, Hyuga Hima quietly left.

Uzumaki Hanamichi took over Hyuga Hima's mission and continued to monitor the Root organization's prison area.

In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour had passed.

Suddenly, a carriage slowly made its way towards the prison area.

Whirlpool Flower Path noticed the two carriages almost immediately, but his monitoring position was still some distance from the prison area. He first heard the faint sound of horses' hooves in the distance before he discovered the carriages heading towards the prison area.

Sharingan, activate!

Upon spotting the carriage, Uzumaki Hanamichi did not hesitate and immediately activated his Sharingan. His black pupils instantly turned blood red, and at the same time, his third sister's black tomoe appeared.

He awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.

Observing the carriage, Uzumaki Hanamichi felt that the three-tomoe Sharingan was enough, and there was no need to use the Mangekyou Sharingan.

After activating his three-tomoe Sharingan, Uzumaki Hanamichi quickly ascertained the situation of the carriage. It was being escorted by two masked men and contained more than ten children.

Those children should be in a coma, completely still.

"This is the third batch!"

Uzumaki Hanamichi took a deep breath. Since Uchiha Shisui discovered the first batch of children, and then sent another batch to the area a couple of days ago, this batch of children is the third batch.

There are about forty children in total across the three groups.

Whirlpool Flower Path had secretly investigated the secret prison once before. The secret prison wasn't very big. Now he guessed that the secret prison must have set up special hidden areas that he hadn't discovered before, otherwise, it would have been difficult to deal with such a hunched child.

After the third batch of children were sent in, there was nothing else happening in the prison area.

Orochimaru was not seen at Uzumaki Hanamichi either.

The next day, around 8 a.m., Uchiha Shisui arrived and took over Uzumaki Hanamichi's surveillance duties.

Uzumaki Hanamichi gave Uchiha Shisui a few brief instructions, then immediately left the surveillance point and headed towards the village.

Upon returning to the village, Uzumaki Hanamichi did not rest but went straight to the Hokage Building.

Soon after, he arrived at the Hokage's office.

Minato Namikaze has been busy in his office lately, and he has been frequently seen in various public places in Konoha, participating in various events, both large and small.

Despite his frequent public appearances and approachable behavior, the villagers of Konoha still held the Fourth Hokage in high esteem.

Subtly, Minato Namikaze's influence in Konoha has also increased considerably, and his say among Konoha's higher-ups has also improved somewhat compared to before.

Of course, another important factor contributing to this improvement was the support of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Since the exchanges between the two delegations from Kumogakure and Kirigakure, Hiruzen Sarutobi has provided Minato Namikaze with considerable support, such as intentionally or unintentionally supporting Minato's decisions at Konoha's high-level meetings.

Minato Namikaze has recently become very close to the Third Hokage.

The two often sat together to discuss various aspects of Konoha's affairs, and Minato Namikaze basically sought guidance from Hiruzen Sarutobi as a student.

On certain issues, Minato Namikaze and Hiruzen Sarutobi even reached a consensus.

To some extent, the two have actually formed an alliance.

In addition to maintaining a close relationship with the Third Hokage, Minato Namikaze also had a lot of communication with the Uchiha clan. In recent months, Minato Namikaze has even taken the initiative to visit the Uchiha clan on several occasions.

Minato Namikaze's goals were simple: on the one hand, he wanted to learn more about the Uchiha clan, and on the other hand, he sought the possibility of cooperation.

As things stand, although Minato Namikaze has not yet reached the Minato Pact with the Uchiha clan, the Uchiha clan's attitude towards him has subtly changed.

To outsiders, the Uchiha clan seemed to be subtly supporting Minato Namikaze.

Minato Namikaze's frequent contact with the Uchiha clan also aroused dissatisfaction among some high-ranking officials in Konoha, mainly the Shimura Danzo faction. They did not want Minato Namikaze to get too close to the Uchiha clan. Since the Second Hokage, the village had adopted a marginalization strategy towards the Uchiha clan, or even suppression. Minato Namikaze's behavior was undoubtedly destructive. In the village's secret high-level meetings, Shimura Danzo raised objections many times. He hoped to continue the policy of marginalizing and suppressing the Uchiha clan, and even join forces with some high-ranking officials to introduce some resolutions targeting the Uchiha clan.

Recently, Danzo Shimura has been quite active, firstly through frequent exchanges with the daimyo of the Land of Fire, and secondly through contact with various clans in the village, such as the Hyuga clan.

Clearly, he seemed to be aware of some crisis.