Shota immediately went to spider after returning to the village to give the mission report and to confirm his suspicions.
Shota pushed open the door to Spider's office without knocking. The man sat behind his desk, spinning a kunai on one finger while reading a scroll with the other. He looked up and smiled like a proud parent.
"Ah, my favourite little student, Raven. Back already? The mission must have gone well. Well, considering that there has been no outrage against Suna yet, it must be a success."
Shota snorted and dropped into the chair. "Favourite? I'm your only student."
Spider laughed. "Details, details. Come, give me the report."
Shota kept it short. "Tamashiro is dead. No one saw me doing the deed. No one knows it was Suna. It was as clean as possible"
Spider nodded slowly. He noticed the way Shota's fingers kept tapping the armrest.
"You have questions, little raven."
Shota hesitated.
On the long run home, his brain had done its usual paranoid dance.
What if Spider was the traitor?
What if Spider had sent him to die in that trap?
What if Spider was working with the elder and Danzo, and right now he was planning to silence a ten-year-old who knew too much?
What if Spider opened a drawer, pulled out a poisoned senbon, and turned him into a quiet little corpse that would disappear forever in the desert?
Shota had actually stopped in the middle of a dune and stared at the stars for ten minutes, seriously considering running away to the Land of Rivers and opening a rice-ball shop under a fake name.
But then the logical part of his brain kicked the paranoid part in the shin.
Spider had fought for this mission to go to Shota.
The Kazekage had wanted an experienced team or Spider himself.
Spider had risked his own reputation to put a child on the job.
If Spider wanted him dead, there were a thousand easier ways.
Also, Spider had given him the mouth launcher, the poisons, the camouflage lessons, and never once tried to murder him during training. That had to count for something.
In the end, Shota had thought it was better to just trust Spider and tell him and ask his questions. It was not only a emotional reason since he could not believe that spider would betray him after getting close to him for the past few months but also logical.
The mission was given and confirmed by the Kazekage himself and spider was just the medium for it.
So Shota took a breath and spoke.
"I met mercenaries wearing ANBU masks. They called themselves Silent Talon. I killed three and sealed the bodies. From what I have gathered, the Silent Talon is from the Land of Fire."
Spider's kunai stopped spinning.
"Silent Talon? Are you sure?" he asked quietly.
Shota nodded.
Spider leaned back for a few seconds. "And you think we have a traitor."
"You don't look surprised," Shota said, raising an eyebrow under his mask.
Spider chuckled. "Of course I'm not surprised. I've known for months. What's funny is that a ten-year-old figured it out faster than half the elder council."
Shota sat up straight. "You knew?"
"We know there is a traitor," Spider said. "Me, Earthworm, and one other commander."
"If we know about a traitor in Elder council, Why not do something about this?" Shota asked.
"Well, We only know there is a traitor in the elder Council. But we don't know who it is and without much proof we won't be able to do anything about this." Spider said with a sigh
"Why Not? We can just go to the Kazekage and he can suggest a way to find the traitor."
Spider sighed. "I am sure the Kazekage also suspects this and is not as stupid as many elders of the council are. But even he can't do anything without any solid proof."
"The elders are not just old people who drink tea and complain. Each one controls a faction in the village. Some control the hospital. Some control puppet corps supplies. Some have half the civilian council in their pocket. If the Kazekage accuses one without iron proof, the others will panic. They will think he wants total power. They will support the traitor just to keep the balance. We would have a civil war inside the village while other shinobi villages laugh from the border."
Shota stayed quiet. He understood. Politics was worse than poison.
Spider continued. ""And now with what you have told me, the situation has turned more disastrous as well as delicate. The Silent Talon is another name for an organisation called Root of the hidden leaf. That name is used to get missions from people who don't want to involve themselves with hidden villages. The Root is headed by one of the elders of Konoha which you might know about since he is one of the students of the second Hokage, Danzo shimura."
Shota pretended to be shocked with his body language since he was not supposed to know about Root.
Spider kept talking. "This explains too much. During the war, Konoha always knew where our forces were moving. They even had the antidote to our best puppet poison before we used it in battle. We lost good people because someone was talking. Someone.in the elder council is working with Danzo. "
He looked at Shota with serious eyes. "Good work, Raven. Say nothing about this to anyone. I will take the bodies and the information to the Kazekage myself."
Shota crossed his arms. "You want me to just sit quiet while a traitor walks around free?"
Spider smiled under his mask. Shota could hear it in his voice.
"I said don't spread the information. I did not say don't do anything. You are smart. Look at everything we talked about today. Maybe you will find an interesting trail."
He leaned forward. "Think of it as a test. Let's see how good my favourite student really is."
"Consider this as a test of your analyzing and investigation talents," Spider said, and Shota was sure that he had an amused smile underneath the mask.
---------Author Notes--------
Thankyou Roman Aronson and Matthew Gonzales for supporting me!
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