Deep within the shadows of the Hidden Leaf Village's secretive underworld, Danzo Shimura's eyes blazed with fury. He stood over a group of Root operatives, his voice cold and commanding as he slammed his cane against the ground.
"Tell me! Where did our ninjas disappear to? Huh?" Danzo demanded sharply.
The Root ninjas remained silent, heads bowed, unwilling or unable to respond.
"Hmph! A bunch of useless fools," Danzo sneered, frustration lacing his tone. "They let enemies infiltrate right under their noses and invade our own territory without so much as a warning."
His gaze sharpened as he pointed his cane accusingly at the Root masters standing nearby.
"Find out who's responsible. Find that intruder for me! I will tear him to shreds personally."
"Understood!" The Root operatives vanished in a flurry of afterimages, scattering in all directions to investigate the breach.
Danzo narrowed his eye—the one wrapped in his ever-present bandage—and glared ahead with a sinister glare.
Since the Hokage had curtailed his power, Danzo's influence had waned considerably. Once a terrifying force in Konoha, he was now restricted and watched carefully.
And yet, here he was, faced with a shocking mystery: someone had managed to slip past Root's elite guards, their intricate surveillance systems, and disappear without leaving a trace.
Who could it be? Danzo pondered silently. What kind of shinobi has the skill to infiltrate Root itself and evade detection by the best?
He recalled that all Root surveillance personnel were paired carefully, trained to monitor and assist each other. Even a ninja with the Byakugan had been on duty.
Yet none of them had detected the intruder.
Did the attacker resolve the battle instantly? Was it the Third Hokage? Uchiha Shisui? Or some other formidable master?
But nothing was missing or destroyed.
What was their purpose?
Danzo's mind raced through possibilities.
Or did they discover the formidable defenses and simply flee?
At a loss, Danzo could only await the results of the investigations.
Suddenly, a troubling thought crossed his mind.
What about the scrolls? The ninjas guarding them insisted no one entered the storage room.
But I need to check that myself.
Without hesitation, Danzo strode purposefully toward the chamber where the forbidden ninjutsu scrolls were stored.
As he approached, the two Root ninja guarding the door bowed quickly.
"Lord Danzo!"
Danzo nodded in acknowledgment.
"I will enter. The password is 'darkness.'"
"Yes, Lord Danzo!" The guards moved aside instantly.
Inside, Danzo was greeted by countless scrolls, meticulously organized and radiating dangerous energy.
He approached a bookshelf and carefully pulled out a scroll, unsealing the jutsu inscribed within.
As he began to read, Danzo suddenly realized something was off.
The jutsu's seal, which he had just undone, did not stop releasing its energy.
Suddenly, the word "Explode" appeared before his eyes in fiery red characters.
Almost immediately, all the scrolls in the room flipped open as the same ominous "Explode" character manifested over each of them.
"Hmm!" Danzo's eyes widened in alarm.
Before he could react further, an immense explosion tore through the chamber.
The two ninja guarding the door were hurled violently away by the blast.
Several Root operatives in the vicinity were injured, screaming in pain as debris rained down.
Other Root members scrambled desperately, searching for Danzo amidst the chaos.
Danzo emerged from the smoke and rubble, unscathed—though his bandaged eye was now permanently blinded.
"I'm fine. Attend to the injured first!" Danzo barked, his face grim.
He slammed his cane against the ruined wall, rage boiling over.
"Don't let me catch whoever did this!"
Surveying the damage, Danzo's mind reeled.
All the forbidden ninjutsu scrolls he had painstakingly collected… gone in an instant.
He sank down, closing his eyes as a deep ache filled his heart.
---
Meanwhile, perched atop a distant tree branch, Uchiha Izumi quietly observed the tremors shaking the underground Root base.
A cruel smirk tugged at her lips.
"Hmph, serves them right, don't you think?" she murmured with satisfaction.
She turned her head sharply to the side, where suddenly a figure emerged from the shadows of the nearby trees.
It was Uchiha Obito, clad in his signature single-eyed mask.
Obito had been gathering intelligence within Konoha when the massive explosion caught his attention.
Curious and cautious, he had come to investigate—and unexpectedly ran into Uchiha Izumi.
Obito's voice was muffled as he spoke in surprise.
"How did you find me? A little girl managing to track me down—how is that possible?"
Izumi licked her lips with a hint of amusement.
"There are many ways to locate someone like you," she said coyly. "Coincidentally, I possess sensory ninjutsu and a few other tricks."
Obito chuckled softly twice.
"Interesting," he said. "Little girl, you seem quite powerful."
Without warning, Obito lunged toward Izumi, his hand reaching out swiftly.
"Hehehe," Izumi chuckled contemptuously.
Instantly, she summoned a paper clone before her—a shimmering figure composed of countless sheets of paper adorned with intricate talismans.
"Hmm? Is this Konan's technique?" Obito murmured, intrigued but unimpressed.
"But it doesn't matter."
Obito passed through the paper barrier and reached out, finally touching Izumi's body.
"I've got her," he thought. "She's just a little girl, after all. Absorb."
The moment his hand made contact, Obito began absorbing Izumi.
But Izumi's smile only widened.
She had used Konan's signature ninjutsu—the Dance of the Shikigami.
Her lower body vanished into fluttering sheets of paper, while her upper body hovered freely in the air.
When Obito grabbed her, the part he touched transformed into paper—making it impossible to absorb her true self.
At that instant, Izumi slipped away effortlessly.
"What!" Obito's eyes widened in surprise.
He had not expected the girl to be so well-prepared.
"Where did you learn that move?" he demanded grimly.
Izumi smiled confidently.
"I copied it from a woman I met during a mission in the Land of Rain."
"That woman was performing the technique when I encountered her. Convenient, isn't it?"
Obito's mind raced as he studied Izumi's tactics.
She uses Konan's ninjutsu more flexibly than Konan herself…
That woman wasn't so clever after all.
He realized that by absorbing the paper attached to Izumi, he had nearly no chance of absorbing her actual body.
Every time he tried to touch her, he would only absorb the paper covering her.
Izumi smiled slyly.
"You're also from the Uchiha clan, aren't you?"
"But I've never seen anyone quite like you before."
"You seem capable of phasing through objects, yet you need to materialize and physically touch me to use your absorption ninjutsu."
"But what you touched just now was only paper."
"So your ability is peculiar—but it's limited by that fact."
Izumi's paper clone scattered into the air, exploding into a swirling dance of exploding tags, each flying in precise formation with tiny gaps between.
She warned Obito, "If you dare to materialize here, these exploding tags will embed themselves inside your body—and you will certainly be blown to bits."
Obito's expression hardened.
"Oh? Kid, your tone is quite arrogant," he said coldly.
"Let me show you the true power of the Uchiha clan."
He revealed his own Mangekyō Sharingan, eyes glowing crimson as he fixed Izumi with a chilling stare.
"Ah? This… this is—"
Obito's face flushed with shock.
On the opposite side, Izumi revealed her scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan, staring coldly back at him.
Then, with a mischievous glint in her eye, she stuck out her tongue and licked her lips.
"It's just the Mangekyō Sharingan," she said with a smirk.
"Who doesn't have it?"
"Tell me, old man, what are you pretending to be here?"
Obito scowled.
"How is that possible?"
"Alright, little girl," he said with a dark tone, "you're young—but you already possess the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"What's your name?"
Izumi sat back on the tree branch, swinging her legs leisurely.
"My name is Uchiha Izumi."
She raised an eyebrow and teased.
"You're sneaky, so I'm guessing you're someone who prefers to lurk in the shadows, huh?"
"You even have the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Was the Nine-Tails' attack on the village in the past… your doing? Did you control the Nine-Tails?"
Obito's voice was low and icy.
"Who knows, Uchiha Izumi?"
He gave her a cold smile.
"I remember you."
"I'll find you again."
In a flash, Obito's figure spun and disappeared into the shadows, vanishing from the area.
Izumi's triumphant smile returned immediately.
She stuck out her tongue again and licked her lips with satisfaction.
"Cleverness backfires, Uchiha Obito."
---
Not far away, Black Zetsu observed Obito's sudden return, noticing the anger burning in his eyes.
"What's wrong, Obito?" Zetsu inquired quietly.
"I need you to investigate someone," Obito said grimly.
"Who?" Zetsu asked.
"Uchiha Izumi