Root, as ever, remained a clandestine operation, buried deep beneath the village. Yet, it now thrummed with a renewed, if unsettling, vitality.
With the Third Hokage's reluctant support, Danzo had managed to recruit a new group of shinobi, and the underground base was slowly returning to life. His entire focus was on rebuilding his foundation, for Root was everything to him. Still, he had not given up on Naruto, and made time to personally oversee the boy's training.
Konoha's taijutsu was said to be divided between the Gentle Fist of the Hyuga and the Strong Fist exemplified by Might Guy, but Naruto seemed to master it all. Kenjutsu, like the Dance of the Crescent Moon Naruto had employed earlier, fell into a separate category altogether. He absorbed every technique Danzo showed him, from the most precise strikes to the most powerful kicks, and even proved a natural with kenjutsu. He learned so quickly that he had soon exhausted everything Danzo and his instructors had to offer, short of the Eight Gates, which only Guy knew.
After watching Naruto defeat two of his best agents with little more than a Leaf Hurricane, Danzo stepped out from the shadows, clapping slowly. "Excellent," he praised, his voice a low rasp. "Truly excellent. With your current skill in taijutsu, Naruto, no one in Konoha can match you."
But his thoughts were far from his words.
'Taijutsu, taijutsu... what is the point of all this?' Danzo fumed internally. 'No matter how strong your body is, it can't block a ninjutsu. Such talent would be so much better suited for my Wind Release. It is clearly the strongest element.' He gritted his teeth in frustration. 'And as a jinchuriki, you can't even draw on the beast's chakra. A complete and utter waste. I misjudged you.' Despite his raging thoughts, Danzo forced a benevolent smile onto his face.
Danzo found himself pondering whether to alter his approach or perhaps even abandon Naruto altogether. After all, what good was a jinchuriki who couldn't harness tailed beast chakra? If Naruto only excelled at taijutsu, wasn't he essentially a ninja without true power? Merely possessing the jinchuriki identity, without the jinchuriki's strength, would do nothing to advance Danzo's ambition of becoming Hokage.
The notion of simply seizing direct control over Naruto resurfaced in his thoughts, taking hold once more. That was Danzo's brutal pragmatism: anything and anyone could be discarded if it meant achieving his ultimate goal.
"Grandpa Danzo? Grandpa Danzo!" Naruto's voice pulled him from his dark thoughts.
"What is it?" Danzo asked, his irritation leaking into his tone.
Then he saw it. A faint, ominous dark orange almost red chakra was swirling around Naruto's palm.
"What's this?" Naruto's palm was enveloped in a layer of chakra, emanating a faint, ominous aura. It was...
'The Nine-Tails' power!'
"Naruto..." Danzo's expression twisted. His voice came out strained and thin with excitement as he forced a smile that looked more like a pained grimace. His entire demeanor had changed in an instant. He stared, almost obsessively, at the wisp of chakra in the boy's hand.
Hope, sudden and fierce, ignited within him. He began instructing Naruto on how to control the energy, his voice now filled with a disturbing warmth. "You must not tell your Grandpa Hiruzen about this, understand?" he admonished tirelessly.
'Once he masters this power...' Danzo thought, his mind racing. 'Hiruzen... I told you I would make you regret standing in my way. Let's see how you'll fight me then.'
The possibilities made him giddy. He could already picture himself in the Hokage's hat, looking down on the Third Hokage. Lost in the vision, he stood abruptly and waved his hands as if addressing the village, but a sharp pain shot through his knee and he collapsed back into his seat with a grimace.
He rubbed his leg, pulling a medicinal patch from his robes and sticking it to his knee. 'Damn this rheumatism,' he grumbled to himself. 'And my proposal for a surface base was rejected again. Damn you Hiruzen, you've already made me suffer from this disease now you are trying to make sure I die with it, just you wait!'
As Danzo seethed, Naruto, standing quietly behind him, gave a subtle wink to one of the nearby Root ninja. The operative gave a nearly imperceptible nod in return and, as he passed by, slipped a small scroll into Naruto's hand. The other agents, both new and old, gave no sign that they had seen a thing, their focus remaining entirely on their duties.
After a few more minutes of Danzo's careful instructions, Naruto was finally dismissed.
He found an empty training ground and, after confirming no one was watching, unrolled the scroll. It was a narrow strip of paper, filled with dense, coded script detailing Danzo's recent activities and conversations with the Third Hokage. Naruto scanned past the political maneuvering, his eyes going straight to the bottom of the scroll where he found the name he was looking for: Mizuki.
'So he hasn't been discarded yet at this time,' Naruto mused, a flicker of surprise passing through him. He knew that in his own timeline, roughly a year from now, this man would trick a failed Academy student, likely Naruto himself, into stealing the Scroll of Seals, only to be exposed by Iruka and ultimately pummeled into submission by Naruto's Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. Naruto knew Mizuki's overall strength was mediocre. Even later, when Orochimaru had placed that Animal Cursed Seal on him, transforming him into a monstrous half-human, half-tiger, his power had remained underwhelming. Becoming a complete furry, sacrificing his dignity for so little power.
Finding what he needed, Naruto let a flicker of chakra touch the scroll, and it disintegrated into dust. He wanted to find Orochimaru, and Mizuki was one of his two leads in the village. The other, Kabuto Yakushi, was a far more dangerous gamble. With his numerous identities as a spy, approaching him could easily backfire.
That night, Mizuki, having finished a long day of teaching, dragged his tired body back home. A man of significant ambition, he loathed his current job, teaching children was simply too tedious. Due to his limited abilities, Mizuki had never been promoted to Tokubetsu Jonin, forever relegated to this unfulfilling work. He possessed ambition in spades, but lacked the strength and intelligence to ever match it. He was, in essence, delusional about his own capabilities. No wonder Orochimaru would eventually use him as a mere pawn, destined to be discarded.
"Who's there?" Just as Mizuki began to undress, preparing for a hot bath, a chilling realization washed over him: a figure had appeared by his window.
'When did they get in here?'
Mizuki's hand moved slowly toward the kunai pouch on his leg.
'I haven't moved an inch from here, your vigilance is simply too low,' Naruto thought, his voice calm.
"Mizuki," a calm voice said from the shadows. "I need you to contact Orochimaru."
Naruto stepped forward into a sliver of moonlight. The blank, white mask of a Root operative reflected the pale light, sending a shiver down Mizuki's spine.
'I've always been so careful,' Mizuki thought, his mind reeling. 'How could I have been exposed?'
Naruto, from beneath his mask, almost rolled his eyes. 'You were exposed from the start, Mizuki,' he thought. 'Root operatives knew about your defection to Orochimaru the very day it happened. Root and Anbu's intelligence on Konoha shinobi is quite thorough.'
"Tell Orochimaru," Naruto said, his voice cold and devoid of emotion, "that this is an order from Danzo-sama."
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