Yakushi Nono had originally been a Root ninja, having only recently left the organization.
She was also the only ninja who, while Danzo was still alive, managed to leave Root alive.
From Danzo and Ryoma Aburame's perspective, this wasn't exactly shameful, but losing such an almost-perfect top-tier spy was undoubtedly a significant loss.
There were very few spies in all of Konoha as capable as Yakushi Nono.
Kaede Tsukasa said, "Lord Ryoma, as you know, I'm just a war orphan without much talent. I have to cherish every moment and give everything I've got. My body has always been weak; the fact that I've survived this long is thanks to everyone's care. I want to contribute through my own efforts and never be a burden to others."
Ryoma Aburame stared at the young man in front of him, but in reality, Kaede Tsukasa was not in his true line of sight. His mind was focused entirely on analyzing Yakushi Nono's motives. As Danzo's right-hand man, he instinctively considered matters from the perspective of their darker side.
As for Kaede himself? Ryoma Aburame barely regarded him. Just a genin who had learned the Dead Soul Technique—one of the flawed underachievers he had personally eliminated years ago, lacking talent.
Instead, Ryoma speculated based on the emotional bond between Yakushi Nono and Kaede, casually flipping through Kaede's dossier while tagging him with labels:
Lacking potential (short-lived), reclusive (actually avoiding infecting others with pathogens), overly attached to comrades' lives (always ready to use comrades as expendable combat resources), and so on.
Now, another tag was added: "Yakushi Nono," with a question mark.
"You've formed bonds with the village, which is good—but not enough. You need to do more to repay the village for its care. As for following the miko to learn this controversial jutsu, I will not pursue it further," Ryoma Aburame said coldly.
"What do you want me to do? Is this a task from the deputy commander of the medical corps?"
"You may refuse, but I will immediately cut off the village's support for war orphans, and send all trained war orphans straight to the front lines," Ryoma said, emotionless. "Although the intensity of the war has lessened, all battlefields still lack manpower. Both resources and personnel should be fully utilized."
Establishing the medical corps during wartime had already consumed vast village resources; Ryoma had every right to cut off economic support for war orphans.
Observing Kaede Tsukasa's constantly shifting expressions, Ryoma silently nodded, concluding that this young man's personality was similar to Yakushi Nono's—ripe for coercion through moral leverage.
"If you refuse, the few people you know will bear greater risks. You wouldn't want that to happen," Ryoma said coldly.
Kaede frowned. "You're the deputy commander, yet you say such things… Are the village's comrades worthless in your eyes?"
"In missions, comrades are secondary. It seems your orphanage's approach to training war orphans needs a complete overhaul, at the very least discarding that childish teaching philosophy. A ninja is ultimately a weapon serving the mission. Apart from that, a ninja is nothing."
Ryoma Aburame did not hide his cold-blooded nature. That was simply how he viewed things: Konoha-born ninjas could be discarded if necessary; war orphans, even more so, were merely thinking, expendable tools.
The current mindset was the complete opposite of the Naruto-Sasuke era—a factor that, six years later, would lead to Sakumo Hatake being blamed by thousands and ultimately forced to commit suicide to atone for failing a mission to save comrades.
…
Not long after, Kaede Tsukasa walked out of the medical corps office expressionless, appearing burdened with thoughts.
Yet inside, he felt completely calm, even slightly amused.
"Ryoma Aburame… it seems he's lumped me together with Yakushi Nono… But the problem is, my jutsu isn't the Dead Soul Technique at all, nor have I ever received Nono's true teaching. In her eyes, I'm just an unremarkable member. She'd only been in charge of training war orphans for half a year, and I had already left the orphanage to start taking on village missions."
In the original history, Danzo would have taken Ryoma Aburame and Orochimaru to the orphanage to coerce Yakushi Nono, demanding she rejoin Root, perform espionage missions in various villages, and use Kabuto's life to force her compliance.
At that time, Ryoma would have used the condition of not cutting off the orphanage's financial support—a typical Root-style tactic that always carried an air of arbitrary pressure—coercing the target even over things they were rightfully entitled to, minimizing operational costs.
It wasn't until Yakushi Nono died during a mission that Root could be said to have completely exhausted the miko's final value.
No one could casually leave Root after joining; Danzo used this method to silently declare that to everyone.
Ryoma Aburame, unwilling to part with Yakushi Nono, the top-tier intelligence asset, intended to try a new approach through Kaede Tsukasa.
"Root would never place their hope of controlling Yakushi Nono on me. Their intelligence operations are comprehensive; when necessary, they will play all their cards to force Nono to comply… But what does this have to do with me?"
The person who had watched over Kaede Tsukasa and shown him kindness was the previous orphanage director, who had long since died on the battlefield, leaving the way open for Yakushi Nono to take over.
"Still, at least Ryoma Aburame is willing to spend resources to get things done, assigning me to corpse handling… From a transport role to terminal processing, it seems I'll have some free time for a while. Ryoma is deliberately giving me low-value corpses to process, providing opportunities to practice my jutsu."
For this alone, Kaede Tsukasa had a very positive impression of Ryoma Aburame. He sincerely admired him as the second-in-command of Root and the medical corps. No matter the coercive methods, at least benefits were provided.
It wouldn't be until Sasuke killed Danzo, Root was disbanded, that Ryoma Aburame would officially lose power and status, disappearing from sight.
Perhaps he was purged—after all, over these decades, no one knew how many unscrupulous things Ryoma had done for Danzo, or how many people hated him deeply.
"If I fail to produce value that satisfies Ryoma Aburame, I'll be mercilessly discarded… This brief interval is a rare opportunity."
Kaede Tsukasa returned to his dilapidated residence to rest, making full use of the time to recover his strength.
News that he had killed a Kirigakure chūnin and rescued three comrades from enemy hands, as expected, caused no reaction. Aside from Ryoma Aburame, no one else would summon him for this.