Deep beneath Konoha, the Root headquarters sprawled like a buried organism. Bridges crisscrossed a massive underground shaft, spreading outward like the tangled roots of an ancient tree.
"Lord Danzō," Kakashi reported, kneeling on one knee, "Uchiha Yoru has been extremely cautious. I was unable to uncover anything substantial."
Danzō Shimura tapped his cane lightly against the stone floor. His single visible eye narrowed with faint displeasure.
"If there is no progress and no valuable intelligence," he said coldly, "then maintain covert contact with Root only. Do not expose yourself."
Kakashi lowered his head. At that moment, the Sharingan beneath his mask flickered faintly.
"However," he added, voice steady, "the Third Hokage has instructed me to secretly investigate three Uchiha shinobi. Uchiha Tsuchi, Uchiha Shiji, and Uchiha Kaze."
The moment the third name left Kakashi's mouth, Danzō's grip tightened around his cane. His eye darkened.
"Why would the Hokage order an investigation into those three?" he demanded.
Kakashi did not look up, but he noticed the tension in Danzō's hand.
"The Hokage believes their deaths were suspicious," Kakashi replied. "They were reported killed in missions, yet all three lost their Sharingan. Officially, it was recorded as self-destruction before death, but there are too many inconsistencies."
Danzō's anger surged beneath his composed exterior.
So Sarutobi really had planted eyes inside Root after all.
No wonder his Wood Release operatives had been exposed. No wonder even the traces of his own activities involving the Sharingan had begun to surface.
"Enough," Danzō said harshly, regaining control. "The Uchiha are a clan born of instability. The Sharingan itself was used to control the Nine-Tails. That alone is reason enough for vigilance."
His tone shifted, heavy with manipulation.
"Kakashi, I need you. I need you to keep watching them."
Under normal circumstances, so soon after the Nine-Tails incident, those words might have sounded reasonable. The Sharingan had appeared in the beast's eyes. Fear among the village leadership was inevitable.
But now, Kakashi felt only unease.
If Root had truly been collecting Sharingan, then perhaps the power to control the Nine-Tails did not belong exclusively to the Uchiha.
That thought made his chest tighten.
Danzō's voice continued, low and insistent, pressing his point again and again. From his position, Kakashi appeared obedient, unmoving.
Satisfied, Danzō dismissed him.
When Kakashi emerged from Root, he stood still for a long moment, staring toward the Hokage Tower. His expression was conflicted, caught between doubt and duty.
In the end, he moved.
The Hokage's office was quiet.
"Lord Hokage," Kakashi said, kneeling once more, "recently, Elder Danzō has instructed me to secretly investigate elite Uchiha with fully awakened Sharingan."
He carefully altered the framing, recounting Danzō's attempts to draw him deeper into Root and the vague orders to monitor Uchiha movements.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, fell silent.
Only the soft rhythm of his pipe echoed through the room. Smoke curled upward as he stared into the distance. When the tobacco burned out, he lowered his hat slightly and let out a long sigh.
"Kakashi," he said gently, "do you know which bloodlines once held the power to restrain the tailed beasts?"
Kakashi hesitated, but Sarutobi continued without waiting.
"In the beginning, Konoha relied on two forces. The First Hokage's Wood Release, and the Uchiha's Sharingan. When the First passed, the village lost Wood Release. Under the pressure of war, desperate research was authorized to recreate it."
His voice was calm, reflective.
"The cost was terrible. When the losses became unbearable, the research was sealed away."
Listening, Kakashi said nothing. He understood the logic. For peace, sacrifices were sometimes demanded. He had made such choices himself.
Sarutobi studied him with quiet approval.
"After the Nine-Tails incident," the Hokage continued, "Danzō may have acted rashly, seeking another means of control. His intentions were misguided, but they were for Konoha."
Inside, Kakashi felt something shift.
The Hokage was not denying it.
He was justifying it.
Researching Wood Release was one thing. Hashirama Senju was long gone. But the Sharingan belonged to a living clan. No bloodline had ever tolerated being dissected by outsiders.
Yet here it was, spoken of as necessity.
Kakashi rose to leave, his thoughts heavy.
For the first time, the darkness beneath Konoha did not feel distant or abstract. It felt close enough to suffocate.