In the dim, cramped chamber, only three points of candlelight remained.
Two figures, one seated and one standing, were burned into the mottled stone wall by the orange glow.
Just like the old days, and yet nothing like them at all.
"That's everything."
The deep black lenses of Aburame Ryoma's sunglasses were stained amber by the flame. His violet eyes flickered faintly as he watched the one-eyed old man sitting rigidly in front of him.
Danzō sat alone on a wooden chair, leaning on his cane. His thin frame sank into the darkness until it almost merged with it. His narrow, shadowed eye swept over the mission report Ryoma had presented. In it were shock at the power of Akatsuki, cold killing intent toward the masked man who had once controlled the Nine-Tails to attack the village, and greedy hunger for that invincible Mangekyō ability.
But there was not even a trace of the warmth he once had.
How tragic.
Danzō.
Unable to bear watching the sun he once knew fall this far, Ryoma lowered his head and counted the fine lines on the floor, tangled like tree roots, as if searching for proof that his old friend had ever existed.
Unaware of what his most capable subordinate was thinking, Danzō pinched the corner of the intelligence page with his aged fingers. Inside his chest, waves crashed like a storm surge.
He had already read the intel Uchiha Itachi sent back once. The moment many of those names appeared, he had recognized their origins.
For example, the shinobi called Kakuzu was a notorious bounty hunter in the black market.
With an extremely high mission success rate and an absurd level of "customer satisfaction," he was ranked at the top year-round. Clients threw money at him by the fistful. He was a true pillar of the underground.
Danzō's own men had clashed with him once. After that, they replaced many members, yet still failed to dig up anything more. They only managed to confirm the name "Kakuzu," and that he excelled at large-scale composite ninjutsu.
Then there was Sasori of the Red Sand.
Chiyo's grandson. Suna's most gifted puppeteer, a title that carried no debate.
Konoha had never fought him directly, and they did not know his full depth, but the name alone made one thing clear. He was no weaker than Kakuzu or Orochimaru, a brutal figure in his own right.
And there was more. Uchiha Itachi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and the mysterious masked man who had attacked Konoha.
Akatsuki was already terrifying, but the most terrifying part still had not even come into view.
"You're saying Konome first killed Kisame Hoshigaki without a scratch, then later fought the masked man who once clashed with the Fourth Hokage… and it ended in a stalemate?"
The wrinkles at the corner of Danzō's eye deepened.
Looking at Aburame Ryoma with his head bowed in absolute obedience, he could hardly believe it.
It was not that he doubted his subordinate. Ryoma's loyalty was unquestionable, built over nearly forty years and tested through countless trials. That trust could not be shaken.
Even if the entire world betrayed him, Danzō believed Ryoma would be the one person still standing at his side.
But he simply could not believe a child like Konome had that kind of power.
Kisame Hoshigaki was known as the "Tail-less Tailed Beast," famous for terrifying Water Release mastery. Even Orochimaru would be forced into a disadvantage against him, pressed into a corner.
And yet Konome had supposedly killed him instantly without injury.
That would mean Konome had far surpassed Orochimaru. It might even mean Danzō and Hiruzen Sarutobi could both fail against her.
No matter how he turned it over, he could not accept it. The girl he had sent on missions not long ago had still needed to request leave from the Ninja Academy's instructors.
If Ryoma told him this ten years later, he would not doubt a thing. As the greatest genius Konoha had ever produced, that kind of combat power would be natural.
But now?
It was not just unreasonable. It trampled on the world's basic laws.
Hearing the doubt in Danzō's voice, Ryoma shook his head without hesitation.
"It was not a stalemate. He fled in panic. He relied on Izanagi to rewrite reality and on the flexibility of space-time ninjutsu, and he did not dare continue fighting her."
The report only became more absurd. Danzō felt as if Ryoma had been caught in a genjutsu.
"This is what I, Iwakuma, and the others experienced personally. If you still don't believe it, you can test Konome yourself. Her strength is not exaggerated in the slightest."
Ryoma's voice remained cold and emotionless, like ice sealed for countless years.
Could it all be true?
Danzō stared at Ryoma's certainty and felt real confusion.
One person being trapped in an illusion was possible. Everyone being trapped was not.
Besides, Konome was in the Root base right now. Her strength could be verified in moments. Even if it were genjutsu, there was no point telling a lie that could be punctured with a single pinprick.
Which meant she truly had done it.
At an age that should have belonged to the academy, she had stepped onto the highest threshold of the shinobi world.
A monster.
Danzō's breathing visibly thickened. Firelight reflected in his pupils as they shrank, yet the light inside them grew brighter and brighter.
Wary, and greedy.
Konome's power made him uneasy, but it also fed a dangerous fantasy.
A fantasy where Kotoamatsukami's brainwashing hypnosis, paired with years of subtle indoctrination, could bind her firmly to his war chariot.
A fantasy where, with her at his side, killing Hiruzen Sarutobi and seizing the Hokage seat would no longer be a distant dream.
If Konome became a second "God of Shinobi," then perhaps he could even lead Konoha to unify the entire shinobi world.
What a sight that would be.
After decades of life in darkness, he finally saw a sliver of dawn. Danzō could hardly hold on to his reason.
He believed it.
Aburame Ryoma pushed the bridge of his sunglasses with one finger, lips pressing flat. The corner of his mouth had nearly lifted, and he forced it back down.
Konome's combat power was indeed terrifying, but not as exaggerated as he had painted it.
She defeated Kisame because Kisame had lost Samehada and was severely weakened. She drove off the masked man for two reasons. Her techniques countered his, and Samehada's stored chakra had helped.
That reserve was now gone.
Without someone like Kisame feeding her chakra, Konome in her normal state was still only an elite jōnin who ran slightly above the line. She was far from the ridiculous battlefield nightmare Ryoma had described.
Danzō was basically beyond saving.
Ryoma reached that conclusion after awakening his memories, after thinking long and hard on the road back to the village.
The gentle Danzō had become a rotten parasite. And Ryoma would have to fulfill his promise, ending him completely.
Killing Danzō would not be easy.
At his peak, Danzō had only been slightly weaker than the Third Hokage. In recent years he had grown complacent, but he still remained among the shinobi world's top tier.
Ryoma, an elite jōnin specialized in infiltration, could not kill him alone. He needed allies.
Uchiha Itachi was his first ally. They hit it off immediately and formed an alliance. As long as Danzō stepped outside the village, Ryoma would provide the location and Uchiha Itachi would carry out the kill.
But there was a second problem.
What if Danzō never left Konoha?
Would they really just wait forever?
Ryoma refused to sit still and beg fate for an opening. He needed a second ally.
The ideal candidate was Konome.
There was no other reason.
She was strong enough.
If he could turn Konome against Danzō, Danzō would lose a major pillar, while their side gained a terrifying weapon. One move, two wins. Their odds would jump.
And Uchiha Itachi could not easily infiltrate Konoha to strike, but Konome was already inside the village, inside Root's base.
For her, the difficulty was far lower.
She was the best choice.
The plan looked perfect in theory. How to turn her was the real problem.
First, he had to create conflict.
Exaggerating Konome's strength was step one. Danzō had tolerated Konome for two reasons. One was Kotoamatsukami. The other was that her strength still hadn't risen high enough to make him feel threatened.
To ignite conflict, both sides needed to feel danger.
Real danger.
The kind that could threaten their lives.
That kind of fear was far more effective than simple clashes of利益, and once it appeared, it turned into a life-or-death feud that could not be repaired.
Once Danzō believed in Konome's power, he would test her loyalty at all costs. The moment he sensed anything out of line, he would grow wary.
Then he would attempt more Kotoamatsukami uses, or any other means of control he could find.
Through the Raiko Drum Mountain mission, Ryoma had also probed Konome's temperament.
Neither good nor evil.
Greedy, and domineering.
As long as her core interests were untouched, she was manageable. But the moment someone tried to take something from her, her retaliation would be swift and brutal.
And with both of them sharing that same greedy, domineering temperament, as if carved from the same mold, all Ryoma had to do was stir the pot and expose the hypnosis.
The crack between them would widen until it shattered.
That would be the best moment to kill Danzō.
The chamber sank into silence.
The firelight flickered.
Danzō and Aburame Ryoma, once close friends, remained in the same room, but their thoughts had already drifted far away.
"Fine. I understand. You did well this time," Danzō said.
His mind was full of Konome. As always, he offered the usual perfunctory praise to the man waiting for orders.
He was about to dismiss him when, for some reason, he remembered a conversation before the mission.
"That person. Did you remember who it was?"
"Hm?"
Ryoma, who had been racking his brain for ways to use Konome to kill Danzō, froze.
His absent-mindedness made Danzō frown. What had been a casual question now became sharp.
After years together, Danzō believed he understood Ryoma completely.
Calm. Serious. Reliable.
In Danzō's mind, Aburame Ryoma was the standard. The perfect tool. He should never lose focus while reporting.
Had that person affected him this much?
Danzō would not allow anyone to influence Ryoma to this degree.
No matter who they were.
The old man's face formed a false smile. His wrinkles deepened, but there was no kindness there, only a chilling ferocity.
"The one you told me about. The person with the gentle smile. You said you couldn't remember his name. Have you remembered it now?"
Ryoma, watching Danzō's expression the whole time, let his deep violet eyes sink like poison.
"I have."
"Oh?" Danzō's smile widened.
But his eye held no warmth. The mask was so fake it was grotesque.
"Who is he?"
"He's dead."
Silence.
Firelight painted their profiles, like the scene from the early days when they had founded Root together.
Danzō's eyelid twitched. Staring into the depth behind Ryoma's sunglasses, he found he could not meet it.
Was it shame?
Fear?
Something else?
He did not know, and he did not want to know.
As the absolute leader of Konoha's "roots," any abnormal emotion meant weakness.
The one who led Konoha to greatness had to possess absolute rationality and an iron hand. That was the truth he had always believed.
All weakness must be discarded.
All bonds must be severed.
That long-buried weakness showed signs of waking. Danzō looked at the one who had stirred it, and the killing intent in his eye nearly took form.
He would not allow anyone to influence Aburame Ryoma.
And he would not allow anyone to influence himself.
Hiruzen was like that. Ryoma was the same.
Sensing the bone-deep killing intent, Ryoma's eyes narrowed. Kikaichū crept silently from his sleeve toward his fingertips.
A faint breeze swirled through the chamber.
The candle flame trembled uneasily.
Their faces brightened and darkened in the shaking light. The shadows on the wall twisted into strange shapes.
The pressure thickened. Murder sat on the edge of a blade.
Then.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor outside, loud in the tense silence.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Danzō demanded.
"It's me."
A crisp child's voice rang through the hallway, paired with footsteps that were far too heavy for such a voice.
In all of Root, those traits belonged to only one person.
The breeze in the room vanished.
The candle flame steadied.
The twisted shadows returned to normal, one seated and one standing, as if everything a moment ago had been an illusion.
Danzō eased the accelerating chakra flow within him, his killing intent slowly withdrawing. Konome's strength was growing. Her coldness during experiments was even more extreme than his, and she was difficult to control.
His Kotoamatsukami was still in its recovery period. He could not use it a second time yet.
In Root, the only person besides him who could somewhat oppose Konome was Aburame Ryoma. If he killed Ryoma now, he would be left with no one to use.
So he would spare him for the moment.
Once Konome could replace Ryoma's position, then he would deal with him.
"Come in," Danzō said.
Ryoma, who had escaped death, withdrew the insects crawling across his body and exhaled silently.
Click.
The door opened.
Konome stepped in, carrying a massive blade on her shoulder.
Danzō glanced at the great sword Samehada and immediately recognized it as the chakra-devouring tool Ryoma had described.
"If you want the Sharingan, go to Chihaya," Danzō said.
"It's not about the Sharingan."
Sensing the strange atmosphere in the room, Konome's Byakugan pierced through their bodies, reading abnormal heartbeats and breathing rhythms. Confusion stirred in her.
Are they this tense because I'm here?
Are they plotting something against me?
Konome lifted her eyes to the "emotion lights" above their heads. Above Danzō were wariness, fondness, and greed, but not much malice. Above Ryoma was murky and hard to read, but it was not hostility or killing intent either.
It was deception, and… goodwill?
Not understanding, Konome filed it away.
"I've got a new research project. I need what's in the research division's underground facility, that tree."
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