"As a ninja, why are you fighting publicly within Konoha?"
After a brief standoff, one of the Anbu wearing a dog mask finally spoke.
"This man says he's from Root. I just followed the village's orders."
Hyuga Soushu immediately replied.
Since his clan leader believed that knocking out Root members the previous night had been too conservative, Soushu had no problem being more extreme this time.
"Is that so?"
The dog-masked Anbu seemed indifferent.
But after pretending to think for a moment, he revealed his true intention: "In that case, please come with us, Soushu, for a quick investigation. It'll help clear your name faster."
"Such sweet words. Bet you even wipe your mouth after using the toilet, huh?"
Soushu yanked open the sealing scroll and pulled out a torch pole, mocking without mercy: "You really think one word's enough to haul away a jonin? Do you actually think you're here to just walk right in and take control?"
"What do you mean?"
Obviously, the dog-masked Anbu didn't understand Soushu's Zuan expression.
"Heh."
Soushu let out a cold chuckle without bothering to explain. Instead, he injected chakra into the torch pole. The lantern at its tip lit up with a flameless mimicry flame.
His attitude was clear enough.
Meanwhile, the three Anbu ninjas found themselves in a dilemma.
For one, it was broad daylight—fighting another jonin openly would've led to consequences they weren't ready to face. Moreover, judging from last night's battle, unless they used special techniques, they might not even subdue this prick named Soushu.
Inside the Hokage office, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the scene unfold through the crystal ball. Rubbing his temples in frustration, he turned toward his old friend crouched in the corner: "This time, you really went too far."
"He must be closely watched regarding his ties with the Uchiha!"
Danzo Shimura, hidden in the shadows, thumped his staff and shouted back: "Don't you want to see the Uchiha and Hyuga clans teaming up together?"
"Now is a wartime period. If those self-serving clans start allying together, what will become of our village?"
"Hiruzen, don't be careless!"
Facing his old friend's passionate outburst, Third Hokage remained calm.
He slowly loaded his pipe before rummaging around to find matches. After lighting it with an aged demeanor, he took a deep satisfying puff.
"Puff…"
A slender plume of smoke rose straight up, drifting directly toward Danzo Shimura in the corner.
"What are you doing!"
Furious, Danzo slashed his hand forward, sending a gust of wind to slice through the smoke before rushing at Sarutobi behind the desk.
With a casual flick of his nearly extinguished matchstick, Third Hokage made the wind blade vanish into nothingness.
"I'll overlook the fact that your Root forged handwritten commands to manipulate Anbu ninja."
The Third Hokage took another deep puff from his pipe. His face half-hidden behind the smoke, he spoke in a voice far colder than usual. "However, you should immediately withdraw all personnel Root left behind in the Anbu Training Division. From now on, don't go near the Anbu headquarters anymore."
"What exactly do you mean by this?!"
Danzo couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Root's ability to continue operating within the village relied entirely on its nominal connection to the Anbu Training Division. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than an unauthorized, illegal organization!
If cut off from the Training Division, Root would lose access to the Barrier Unit's updated secret passageways and could no longer use Anbu passwords to pass through the tight checkpoints set up by the Policing Department. Without these privileges, entering and exiting the village would become an extremely high-risk endeavor!
And if something like last night's betrayal happened again, Danzo's Root organization might be completely wiped out!
Moreover, Root had already become the target of every major clan in Konoha. If even the staff stationed at the Training Division were expelled, Root would have absolutely no foothold left in the village. Where would he find fresh recruits then?
After all, Root had always followed the principle of quality over quantity, so its numbers were naturally limited. Many members were already deployed across the Ninja World on classified missions. If word of this decision got out...
Thinking about it, Danzo couldn't help but shiver—imagining the Policing Department's red-eyed Uchiha warriors charging his doorstep, incited by rival clans.
Ignoring Danzo's reaction completely, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi directly shook the bell on his desk. A moment later, there was a burst of smoke as an Anbu ninja wearing a white cloak appeared kneeling before him.
"Shou," ordered the Hokage while pointing at the unconscious Chunin visible in the crystal ball, "retrieve these people. Especially this new recruit from the Training Division. Don't let him fall into the hands of the Policing Department."
"It shall be done!"
Anbu Shou vanished instantly.
"What does this mean!?"
Repeatedly undermined and pushed aside, Danzo finally snapped, ready to explode in anger.
"Just take a look."
With a casual flick of his hand, Third Hokage cleared the image in the crystal ball, revealing a different scene.
Danzo focused his gaze and saw a distant view of the Uchiha Policing Department compound where more than ten Uchiha ninja were clearly assembling together, seemingly preparing for something significant.
"A cursed clan," Danzo muttered under his breath.
At this moment, challenging the Uchiha extremists head-on would bring trouble not just to himself—but also to the Hokage himself.
"I plan to assign some Jonin from my own clan to join Anbu. They will take over training operations going forward. As for your Root..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said softly, yet pointedly, "There are still over a dozen off-the-books Jonin in the Shimura clan. You can directly incorporate them into Root. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
"Are you trying to get my entire Shimura clan wiped out?!"
Danzo's expression darkened immediately. Glaring fiercely at the old monkey, he gritted his teeth and said, "If you transfer them to Root, the elders in the clan will surely die of anger on the spot!"
"Just make sure to calm them down properly."
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi happily took one last puff from his pipe. He then casually tapped the ashes against the ashtray with a casual flick of his wrist. Yet his words were unusually cold: "They even managed to provoke a raid from the Policing Department while you were away from the village! I suppose they didn't tell you about that?"
"You waited two and a half years and didn't say a word about it?!"
Danzo was stunned speechless.
He figured the young ones from his clan might've gotten a little rowdy while at the Academy. But apparently, they'd done something serious enough to bring down those red-eyed cops. This must have been no small matter!
"That Uchiha girl so close to Soushu was deliberately sent to the battlefield in the Land of Rain by administrative ninja from the Shimura clan—and this is only one of their many deeds."
Slowly refilling his pipe, the Third Hokage once again took a blissful puff before continuing, "But since you happened to leave the village back then, I personally instructed Anbu to suppress all information about it."
Furious but helpless, Danzo clenched his teeth in frustration.
Besides the noble clans, most other shinobi families in Konoha remained fiercely loyal to Sarutobi Hiruzen as Hokage—especially the chūnin and genin trained during his reign. Though Danzo had managed to attract some support among the hardliners through Sarutobi's influence, he still lagged far behind both in power and connections. To not even know about something that directly involved his own clan—how humiliating!
"Oh, right, around thirty minutes later, the heads of the various shinobi clans excluding the Uchiha will convene a meeting. Would you like to join us?"
Said the Third Hokage casually.
"You!"
Angrier than ever, Danzo pointed a trembling finger at the old monkey for a moment before finally snorting and sitting back down.
He knew exactly what the old monkey intended—to drive him out—but he absolutely wouldn't allow himself to play along!
"Oh, by the way, the Policing Department's gathering is happening behind Kage Rock."
After finishing his second bowl of tobacco, the Third Hokage gently tapped away the remaining ashes in the bowl, speaking slowly and without urgency.
"You! How could you—"
Now completely unable to sit still, Danzo shot up like his butt had caught fire. Stammering and waving a hand angrily, he finally stormed off with a dark expression.
His secret Root headquarters lay precisely behind Konoha's Kage Rock!
"Such a hot-head."
The Third Hokage couldn't help shaking his head slightly in disappointment as the heavy doors of the Hokage Office slammed shut behind Danzo.
Interrupting Root's attempt to extend its reach into Konoha was merely a simple side move for him—a minor issue not worth much concern.
Far more troubling instead were the upcoming discussions with the various shinobi clans about mobilizing clan ninja for battle.
"Talk about luck."
Hiruzen Sarutobi rewound the scene in his Crystal Ball back to where Hyuga Soushu was and made an ambiguous clicking sound with his tongue.
"That's it?"
Hyuga Soushu, originally preparing for an unavoidable street conflict against some Anbu ninja, hadn't expected that shortly afterward Haku wearing a floral mask and a white cloak would appear, make several hand gestures, and just like that, the three Anbu who'd been confronting him took the unconscious person away using Body Flicker Technique.
They left decisively without hesitation, not even bothering to issue a warning like "you'll regret this."
Come to think of it, avoiding a public confrontation was ultimately a good thing.
Shaking his head slightly, Hyuga Soushu glanced at the merchants peeking out from behind their shutters—watching nervously but clearly enjoying the drama. He realized he'd probably go down as infamous in the village from today onward.
Let's be real—most Konoha ninja would've shit themselves after one yell from Anbu. The only ones gutsy enough to draw weapons in broad daylight and stand down Anbu face-to-face were always just the stubborn Uchiha hotheads. No one else had ever done something like this before.