The battle within Root had been intense enough to darken the skies and shatter the sun and moon. Of course, that was an exaggeration. Under Hayashi's deliberate control, only the main hall of Root had been destroyed.
The internal structure of Root was complex and layered like a maze. An ordinary person would easily lose their way inside.
Although Hayashi possessed a hand-drawn map of Root created by the "Soul artist" Hiruko, it was so abstract that he wisely chose not to rely on it.
Otherwise, if he got lost, it would only create unnecessary trouble.
Moreover, every exit of Root was heavily guarded, and a massive barrier surrounded the entire perimeter. There was no need for him to go deeper inside.
After Danzo escaped, the battle lost its meaning. Hayashi did not continue slaughtering the remaining Root ninja.
Especially after the Third Hokage arrived.
With the Hokage's order, most of the Root ninja ceased their attacks and lowered their weapons.
After all, Root was still part of Konoha's military structure. Not every ninja was a fanatical loyalist to Danzo, nor were all of them completely brainwashed.
Looking at the corpses scattered across the ground and the collapsed Root main hall, the Third Hokage remained silent for a long moment.
What could he even say?
Hayashi had already brought Nawaki and Hiashi in advance to confirm that Danzo had transplanted a Sharingan.
That alone was enough to label Danzo a rogue ninja, regardless of any other hidden secrets.
Add in the large number of casualties from this battle, and the situation had already become irreversible.
Fortunately, Hayashi had not brought Danzo's corpse back. That alone slightly eased the tension in the air.
"Where is Danzo?" the Third Hokage asked.
Regardless of how things would be handled later, Danzo had to be found first. He could not simply be allowed to die out there.
There were still questions the Third Hokage needed answered.
"He fled toward the other exits. Minato is guarding them," Hayashi replied calmly.
The Third Hokage narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment, then turned and left immediately.
Hayashi did not interfere. He simply waited for Minato's report.
However, as expected, Danzo proved once again why he was called an old fox.
When Danzo attempted to break through another exit, he encountered Minato Namikaze. He immediately sacrificed another Sharingan to activate Izanagi, escaped back into Root, and vanished without a trace.
Afterward, Hiashi dispatched Hyuga clan shinobi to search floor by floor, but they found no sign of Danzo. Instead, they discovered two additional hidden exits in a remote section of the base.
Danzo had prepared far more escape routes than anyone expected. Even with four known exits, he still did not feel safe and had secretly constructed two more that only he knew about.
"That old man probably already knows where Danzo is," Orochimaru said in his hoarse voice as he stood in the ruined hall.
"Yeah. The old Hokage knows Danzo best," Hayashi agreed with a nod.
The Third Hokage had left immediately upon confirming Danzo's disappearance. It was not necessarily because he did not care, but because he likely already knew where Danzo would reappear.
Perhaps he had rushed off to intercept him directly.
The two of them truly understood each other too well.
"What should we do with these Root ninja?" Hayashi asked.
"Keep them, of course. They're all valuable assets," Orochimaru replied without hesitation.
A faint excitement flashed through his eyes. He had long coveted the talent buried within Root, and now it was all about to fall into his hands.
As for potential rebellion, Orochimaru was confident in his ability to control them.
More importantly, most of these Root ninja were already emotionally hollow toward Danzo. Their loyalty was not genuine devotion, but conditioning.
From childhood, they had been raised as tools. Forced to kill comrades. Stripped of personal identity. Under such conditions, true loyalty was difficult to define.
They were closer to puppets than people.
And now that Danzo had abandoned them, those strings had already begun to loosen.
That said, not everyone had fully detached.
Danzo had personally founded Root, and some ninja still held absolute loyalty to him.
Seeing their leader escape, a few of his inner circle immediately attempted to fight back.
But the outcome was predictable.
Under Orochimaru's direction, the battlefield was arranged with three sides blocked and one deliberately left open. A clear escape route was offered.
Outside that path, traps had already been set.
All that remained was for them to step into them.
Once everything settled, Orochimaru began taking control of Root.
The first step was the curse seals.
Danzo had used multiple seals to control Root ninja.
The most notorious was the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, placed on the tongue to prevent them from speaking any secrets related to Danzo or Root.
There was also the Self-Curse Binding Seal, which could paralyze a target's body when triggered.
In addition, there were various seals designed to suppress chakra and enforce obedience.
These were the mechanisms that ensured Root remained under absolute control.
But now Danzo was focused entirely on escape. This was the perfect opportunity to dismantle them and replace them with new ones.
In every sense, Root was a massive treasure trove.
In the original timeline, Orochimaru had needed to build the Hidden Sound Village from scratch for his research.
Now, he had directly inherited Danzo's accumulated foundation. His future experiments would progress at an unprecedented speed.
"Will the Hokage abolish Root directly?" Hayashi asked while observing the seal removal process.
Orochimaru shook his head.
"Impossible. Root is Konoha's most important infiltration and counterintelligence organization."
"Danzo also spent years infiltrating not only the Five Great Nations, but smaller villages like Amegakure as well."
"Konoha cannot function without Root anymore. Even if they wanted to abolish it, they couldn't do it immediately."
In simple terms, Root represented decades of accumulated intelligence and operations. Its value was too high to discard.
The Third Hokage had neither the authority nor the practicality to disband it outright.
But at the same time, Danzo's existence meant Root had become dangerously intertwined with Konoha's internal structure.
Now that Danzo had been confirmed to possess Sharingan and Wood Release, he would inevitably be classified as a rogue ninja.
If he was not eliminated, Konoha risked having its secrets exposed.
Yet at this moment, only the Third Hokage knew Danzo's location.
Whether Danzo would be executed or allowed to escape depended entirely on his decision.
But Hayashi already had a rough expectation of the outcome.
In the original timeline, even when Orochimaru's experiments were exposed, the Third Hokage had failed to bring himself to kill his own disciple.
Would things be different this time?
As for Kagami's Mangekyo Sharingan, Hayashi had already ensured control over Hiruko. He was not without contingency plans.
To put it bluntly, if the Third Hokage truly chose to let Danzo go, then as Hokage, he would have to bear the consequences.
While Hiruzen Sarutobi waited for Danzo's explanation, Hayashi was also waiting for the same thing from him.
What price could the Third Hokage possibly offer in exchange for Danzo's life?