Morning light broke across the rooftops of Konoha as Kiyoshi sat quietly at the edge of the hospital rooftop. Bandages wrapped around his left arm and ribs. He had refused a room, saying he didn't need rest.
But in truth, he couldn't stop thinking about what the beast had said.
"Mountain… black roots… experiment…"
He had reported everything—well, most of it—to the Chūnin at the mission desk. ANBU took the creature's unconscious body for examination, but Kiyoshi knew the system. They wouldn't share what they found. Not with someone like him. Not with a Chinoike.
So he'd have to find answers himself.
Later that day, with most of the bandages hidden under his flak vest, Kiyoshi slipped into the Hokage's library under the guise of research. The old librarian barely looked up.
Kiyoshi made his way to the back—where sealed village maps and environmental records were kept.
"Mountain. Black roots…"
He skimmed old expedition logs, terrain maps, even forbidden zone records—until something caught his eye.
A restricted area just outside the western border of the Forest of Death.
A place once nicknamed: "The Rooted Hollow."
Marked with danger-class red, abandoned decades ago due to "chakra instability." No official records of habitation. No village squads assigned patrols there in recent years.
But more importantly—it sat near where the beast came from.
Kiyoshi narrowed his eyes.
"Rooted Hollow… black roots… it lines up."
That night, with the village asleep and no ANBU trailing him, Kiyoshi slipped beyond the walls under a minor cloaking jutsu. His injuries slowed him, but his resolve didn't waver.
The forest grew darker the deeper he went. And then—he saw it.
A ridge covered in ancient, twisted trees—their roots blackened, almost as if burned by some inner chakra.
The air buzzed faintly, like a humming noise just out of reach.
As Kiyoshi crept closer, he spotted something half-buried beneath the earth—a metallic tag covered in rust and blood. He knelt and carefully brushed it off.
It was an old Root division tag.
His heart sank.
"Danzo's old experiments...?"
Just as he stood, he felt it—a shift in the air.
And then—
Snap.
A wire trap triggered nearby.
Shuriken exploded from the trees.
Kiyoshi dove aside just in time, barely dodging a barrage of chakra-wired projectiles.
"So I'm not the only one out here."
As he landed, he looked up—and saw a shadowed figure standing across the clearing.
Face covered. Wearing a modified ANBU mask.
Their chakra… was dark. Controlled. Trained.
The figure didn't speak.
They simply drew a blade, and lowered into a stance.
"Not Root," Kiyoshi whispered. "But someone trained like them."
[End of chapter 8]