Morning in Konoha was deceptively peaceful.
Children raced down alleys with wooden kunai. Jonin chatted near tea stalls. To any outsider, the village was whole.
But Kiyoshi knew better now.
Hidden truths were buried beneath that calm—and he was ready to start digging.
Archive Level B4 – Restricted Access Zone
The Konoha Intelligence Archives sprawled beneath the Hokage Tower. Level B4, however, was nearly abandoned. Few even knew it existed, and fewer still had reason to descend that deep.
Kiyoshi held his breath as the elevator creaked down. The Root tag hidden in his pouch burned like a secret against his side.
"If anyone knew about Danzo's old experiments, they'd be here."
The elevator stopped with a jolt. A single flickering bulb greeted him.
He stepped into a hallway lined with rusted file cabinets and torn scrolls.
A man hunched over a cracked desk at the far end, muttering to himself as he sorted yellowed papers.
Long white hair. Twisted fingers. An eyepatch.
Kiyoshi cleared his throat.
"Are you Shin Gureta? Former intel officer?"
The man looked up slowly. His one eye narrowed.
"Who's asking?"
"A shinobi… looking for the truth about Root."
The man cackled. Then, strangely, smiled.
"You've got the eyes for it. Crimson… like a curse. Haven't seen those in years."
Kiyoshi didn't flinch.
Gureta pointed to an old folder near a cracked tea kettle. "You want Project Umibozu."
Kiyoshi opened it.
Inside were blurred photos, chakra signatures, and genetic data… and one name that made his stomach turn:
"Chinoike Clan—Control Group C."
"Danzo kept bloodlines locked away. Not just to hide them—but to break them. Twist them."
Gureta's voice dropped to a whisper.
"He took children from forgotten clans. Fused their chakra with beasts. Called it 'stabilization.' Most… didn't survive."
Kiyoshi's hand trembled. His father's face flashed in his mind. So did the cage back home. The silence. The fear.
"The chakra-mutated animal," he said, eyes widening. "It wasn't random."
Gureta nodded. "One of the last test subjects. Escaped when Root was dissolved. Rumors say someone's trying to rebuild it. In the shadows."
Suddenly, the lights flickered.
Gureta went still.
"Someone followed you."
Kiyoshi tensed.
Then—crash! The elevator's cord snapped.
Boom!
The ceiling above them cracked. A smoke bomb hissed from the vent.
"Get down!" Kiyoshi yelled, tackling Gureta.
A kunai embedded itself in the desk where Gureta's head had been.
From the smoke, a shadowed figure appeared—taller, broader, with a stitched mask. The chakra flaring from him was… wrong.
Twisted. Warped.
The masked man didn't speak.
He threw two explosive tags and vanished before Kiyoshi could respond.
When the smoke cleared, half the archive was on fire—but the files Kiyoshi held were intact.
Gureta coughed hard, laughing through the smoke.
"You've rattled a hornet's nest, boy. Better be ready."
Later, outside the ruins…
Kiyoshi sat under a lone lantern, reviewing the single photo that survived the attack.
A boy in a cage. Crimson eyes dulled by sedation. A beast's chakra coiled around him like a parasite.
The note read:
"Subject C-12. High compatibility. Terminated – escaped. Status unknown."
[End of Chapter 10]