Danzō moved quickly along the street. After a wary sweep with his single eye, he slipped into an unremarkable alley and tapped a pattern with his cane.
Stone slid aside without a sound, revealing Root's hidden passage.
The corridor was dim and winding like a maze. His pace was swift, cane ticking crisply on the slabs.
After several forks, the space opened onto the true entrance.
He gave the countersign to the watchers in the dark, passed through a sensory barrier, and entered a narrow hall.
Cane taps echoed. His steps quickened.
He never noticed that his shadow ran deeper than usual.
Within that shadow, a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan watched each sentry's post along the route.
Back at the entrance, the barrier team stared after him, puzzled.
The stretch Danzō had crossed seemed darker than normal.
One ninja reflexively spread his sensing net.
The feedback showed only a single chakra signature: his own.
Relief flickered, then froze. Three teammates should have been here with him.
Drip.
A water sound drew his gaze. He met a pair of spinning tomoe.
"Enemy—"
The warning flashed through his mind, but his mouth never formed the word.
He sank like a man in mire, down and down, until the floor's shadow swallowed him whole.
No ripple, not even a chakra tremor.
Meanwhile, in the core, Danzō was issuing orders.
"Lord Danzō," a Root operative knelt and reported. "All squads are set. We can depart at once."
"Good. Execute the transfer plan. Use border patrol as the pretext. Move fast."
"Yes."
Shadows peeled away down the tunnels.
A hard glint crossed Danzō's eye. He turned toward the deepest vault that held Root's most guarded secrets.
With his movements constrained, everything here had to be relocated, sealed, or destroyed before anyone else could claim it.
The stone door rumbled open, and unease pricked him.
He snapped around, eye fixed on the entrance. Nothing seemed amiss.
Unwilling to trust a feeling, he flashed through signs and cast a sensory veil.
The feedback said the base was empty. Impossible.
"Show yourself."
His voice was sharp. His hand slid toward a sealing scroll at his waist.
No answer came. But in the lamplight, his shadow warped, then bubbled like black liquid.
A human outline rose and resolved into Uchiha Jin.
"Good evening, Lord Danzō." The boy smiled, dangerous and easy. "You insisted. I could only accept your invitation."
Danzō's pupil constricted. He had never imagined anyone could ghost into Root's heart and ignore the barriers as if they were not there.
"Uchiha Jin," he rasped. "Do you know the price for trespass?"
"Trespass? I am merely answering your summons. How is that trespass?"
Jin tilted his head. Three tomoe turned slowly.
Danzō struck first. Kunai flashed as he signed. "Wind Release: Vacuum Bullets."
Keen wind tore the air, but a rising screen of shadow swallowed the blades and edge alike.
Worse, his own shadow climbed his legs like a rope and cinched tight.
"Impossible. The Nara Shadow Imitation?"
"Do not mix them up."
Jin walked forward. Shadow washed over the floor like a tide.
Lights began to flicker. The wall-shadows twisted into dozens of dark figures.
Each bore the same blood-red eyes and closed in on Danzō.
He understood that restraint had to end. He tore the bandage from his right eye, exposing a crimson Sharingan.
"Scum like you dares use Uchiha power?"
Jin's voice slid into his ear. Danzō's vision smeared.
Pain stabbed his right eye. Blood traced his cheek.
"You call the Uchiha born evil while drooling over their power in secret. You and Senju Tobirama are cut from the same cloth."
Jin pinched a scarlet eyeball between two fingers, voice thick with disgust.
"Fool. You know nothing. This is sacrifice for the village. And who are you to judge Lord Tobirama?"
Clutching the hollow of his eye, Danzō still spat his hatred of the Uchiha.
"Idiot."
Jin's patience snapped. Shadows bound Danzō, and Jin set a hand on his brow.
"Sheep talisman, spirit astral."
White light flashed. Danzō felt weightless, drifting in midair.
He looked down, aghast, at his body standing dazed below.
Before he could grasp it, Jin flicked a hand and cords of shadow pinned his spirit fast.
"I had planned to kill you," Jin said with a pleasant smile to the floating ghost. "Just now I changed my mind."
"I will drive your body and carry out your plan, keeping Root intact.
Those men you sent out, I released them. They will faithfully execute your orders for me."
He gestured. Shadow tendrils dragged the screaming spirit into darkness.
When the black closed over Danzō's soul, Jin looked to the empty shell.
He pressed a palm to the chest and fed in black energy.
The body's eye opened. A faint black gleam pulsed there, and it sank to one knee before Jin in wordless obedience.