Chapter 81: Danzo's Spirit of Sacrifice
Root Headquarters.
In his secret office, Danzo opened a drawer and took out a glass vial filled with a swirling, dark green liquid.
Pop.
As the cap was removed, a surge of concentrated chakra wafted into the air.
Rolling up the wide sleeve of his robe, he revealed a heavy right arm bound tightly in bandages and encased in a restraint made from special chakra metal.
With a hiss of release, the seal opened, and the bandages fell away.
Danzo exhaled deeply as he extended his pale arm, which was studded with crimson Sharingan eyes. A look of relief crossed his face.
"Hashirama's cells are too powerful. Even the Sharingan can't suppress them—constant sealing is required."
After the Uchiha massacre,
Danzo struck a deal with Orochimaru. After many human experiments, he successfully implanted ten Sharingan into his right arm.
Including the one he took from Shisui, he had eleven in total.
Lacking Uchiha blood, the Sharingan placed a tremendous mental burden on him. Under Orochimaru's persuasion, he fused his right arm with cells from Hashirama Senju.
While this created a fragile balance between physical and spiritual energy, it required ongoing maintenance.
The vial contained a serum mixed by Orochimaru—designed to stabilize the Sharingan and Hashirama's cells, preventing one from consuming the other or overloading Danzo's mind.
Because of this, Danzo could never fully sever ties with Orochimaru.
Recently, the snake had even threatened to withhold the serum unless Danzo handed over the village's defense map.
Reluctantly, Danzo had complied.
However, he had spies in Orochimaru's ranks and was confident that any movements from the Sannin would be discovered immediately. Letting him have a map posed no real threat.
Besides, after the Chunin Exams ended, he would discuss revising Konoha's defense layout with Hiruzen.
Orochimaru's schemes would ultimately fail.
But this had crossed a line. Danzo could not allow any act that endangered Konoha. His cooperation with Orochimaru had to end.
Danzo mused, "News from Lab No. 9 should be coming soon."
After Orochimaru's defection, all the experimental equipment and data he left behind had been secretly collected and used to establish new labs.
Lab No. 9 was a hidden facility dedicated to researching Hashirama's cells.
Most of the test subjects were death row inmates or murderous bandits.
Of course, when the injections were too much for ordinary subjects to survive, they also used rogue shinobi and—when those ran out—shinobi who had gone "missing" during missions or "died in service."
Danzo felt no guilt about this.
He snorted coldly. "Investigations showed they'd made contact with enemy villages during missions and failed to report it. They lacked sufficient loyalty."
He recalled a Root report stating that elite jonin Kakashi Hatake had released a female spy from the Land of Locks named Karin, even when the evidence was clear.
"Foolish, Hiruzen."
Behavior like that—ambiguous ties to enemy shinobi—deserved nothing less than having his Sharingan gouged out and being locked away.
And Hiruzen had done nothing.
Was that the kind of man his teacher hoped would become Hokage?
Danzo's emotions spiked. His arm trembled. The Sharingan began spinning wildly, a wave of itchiness and pain flooding through him.
He grabbed a syringe.
Injecting more than half the green liquid into his arm,
the muscles bulged like inflating balloons. Sweat poured down his face from the pain.
Two minutes later,
the spasming muscles finally settled, and the spinning Sharingan slowed as if tranquilized.
"Whew."
Danzo let out a long breath, quickly rewrapping the arm and reattaching the heavy seal device.
Everything was back to normal.
He locked away the remaining serum, then tapped his desk.
A shadow appeared immediately, kneeling respectfully.
Danzo asked without looking up, "Has the game merchant arrived in the village?"
"Yes."
The Root agent replied succinctly.
As Danzo's personal rapid-response unit, Root members abandoned names and emotions from the moment they joined. They lived only to carry out the village's will.
No past. No future.
Danzo frowned. "To reveal himself so boldly—is it arrogance, or does he have something to rely on?"
From conversations with Shimura clan players, Danzo had formed a theory.
The game merchant came from another world.
His full power could only be used within the game. Bringing that power into reality required enormous reward points.
Despite his terrifying abilities, the merchant hadn't seized the ninja world by force. Instead, he spread his influence slowly through trade and gameplay.
Did that mean he too was bound by rules?
Did those strange abilities cost a heavy price to use in the real world?
Once that thought occurred, he couldn't help but want to test it.
Danzo said calmly, "Jackal, from now on, you are no longer a Root shinobi—you are one of Orochimaru's men, undercover by my side."
Root shinobi came from two sources:
talented children from prominent clans, and orphans like Jackal, who were hand-picked and trained through brutal survival trials.
The former were valuable tools and not easily discarded.
But soldiers like Jackal, barely chūnin-level, were expendable.
"Yes."
The masked shinobi responded without emotion.
"I will release your curse seal—the Seal of Absolute Silence."
Danzo tossed him a vial of blood-red liquid. "Kill the game merchant. Force him to reveal his true abilities. Drink this when necessary—it's all for the village."
The vial contained a defective serum created by Orochimaru.
It would violently stimulate cells, burn through life force, and unlock a "Curse Mark Mode."
Unfortunately, the form only lasted a few minutes before death from cellular collapse.
With it, they could pin the attack on Orochimaru.
"Yes."
Jackal accepted the serum and vanished.
Danzo sensed his departure and sighed internally.
Even if he personally made a move, his chances of killing the game merchant were close to zero—let alone sending a mere chūnin. It was practically suicide.
But that didn't matter. He'd get the test he wanted—and make life harder for Orochimaru, too.
As for a Root ninja's life?
From the moment they joined, they were expected to die for Konoha. They were the buried roots that held up the great tree.
That was the will of Root.
If the day came when Danzo had to sacrifice himself, he believed he would do so without hesitation.
Hiruzen had become Hokage first not because Danzo was weak—but because Hiruzen was sly.
Bang.
At that moment, a Root scroll appeared on his desk via summoning jutsu.
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