A familiar feeling echoed in every corner of the Nine-Tailed's Chakra.
It wasn't Uzumaki Mito's warm, spring-like vitality, nor Uzumaki Kushina's fiery yet resilient sealing.
This feeling was closer to... Uchiha Madara.
No, that's not right.
A ripple appeared in the Nine-Tailed's consciousness. Madara's suppression was pure dominance, the brute force of "You must obey me." But this brat, this guy who called himself "Emperor," his will was purer and more terrifying. It was an absolute confidence of "You already belong to me," an absolute law that eliminated any possibility of resistance from its very root.
Madara wanted to be the ruler of the world, but this brat, he wanted to reshape this world... On an inconspicuous civilian rooftop somewhere in Konoha Village.
Three Root Ninja lay motionless in a triangular formation, their presence blending seamlessly with the surroundings. They were the eyes of the Root, ghosts in the darkness, responsible for twenty-four-hour, uninterrupted surveillance of specific targets.
Their target: Uzumaki Naruto.
"Surveillance log, day seven." One Ninja conveyed the information to the other two using encrypted hand gestures.
"Target woke up at precisely 4 AM. Ran fifty kilometers around the village with a two-hundred-kilogram load. Two hours of Taijutsu training, moves identified as 'Non-Konoha fighting style,' danger level: extremely high. Due to the target previously discovering our tracking, our teammates B3 and C7, who were responsible for tailing, are currently receiving leg muscle treatment at the medical squad."
"From 8 AM to 12 PM, the target used 'Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu,' a total of one hundred clones, to enter the village library. According to the librarian's report, all books on engineering, tactics, basic sealing jutsu, and continental history were borrowed and returned. Books included 'Advanced Engineering Theory,' 'Sengoku Battle Formation Replays,' 'Sealing Jutsu: From Beginner to Giving Up'..."
One Ninja paused, adding a personal observation: "That book really seems to be called that."
"Shut up, record objective facts."
"From 1 PM to 5 PM, the target supervised the training of his teammates Uchiha Sasuke and Sakura Haruno. Their evaluations were 'Unsatisfactory, power release too dispersed' and 'Satisfactory, but the time spent crying could be used to do fifty more pull-ups' respectively. Uchiha Sasuke requested to spar with the target and was subdued by the target with one finger, lasting ten seconds. Afterwards, Sakura Haruno did not cry at all and successfully did fifty more pull-ups."
"Conclusion: Target shows no emotional fluctuations, no unnecessary social interaction, and a schedule so regular it's infuriating. Conventional psychological infiltration is impossible. Recommend increasing surveillance level, or... abandoning surveillance and directly reporting 'This person is not human.'"
After the last piece of information was transmitted, the three Ninja fell into a long silence. They were tools, forged through brutal training, and should not have emotions. But for seven consecutive days, they felt as if they were not monitoring a twelve-year-old boy, but an indefatigable war machine, relentlessly optimizing itself.
This job was too damaging to their self-esteem... Late at night, Naruto's apartment.
The room was unlit, and Gekko streamed through the window, casting a cool patch of light on the floor.
Outside the window, a dark shadow, like a leaf blown by the wind, silently clung to the wall. He wore a white mask and was one of Danzo's most elite assassins, skilled in infiltration and silent assassination.
He regulated his breathing, lowering his heartbeat to a minimum, and like a phantom, slowly pushed the window open a barely perceptible crack. He intended to quietly place a black secret scroll on Naruto's bedside.
However, he had just extended one hand.
"Go back and tell Danzo, I'll be there in three minutes."
A calm voice came from the darkness of the room.
The Root Ninja's muscles instantly tensed, as if struck by lightning. He could swear to the heavens that he had made no sound, leaked no Chakra, and even the frequency of his breathing was synchronized with the wind.
How did he find out?
Fear, an emotion he had long stripped from his body, now climbed frantically like a vine from deep within his spine.
He dared not linger, his body turning into an afterimage, disappearing into the night.
Naruto rose from the darkness, unhurriedly putting on his orange jacket. He didn't even glance out the window... Three minutes later, Naruto arrived punctually at the agreed location, led by a Root Ninja, and walked deep into the underground of Konoha.
Chilly, damp, oppressive.
Twisted curses were etched on the walls of the corridor, and a faint sense of resentment permeated the air. This was the Root's method to intimidate newcomers and the shackles to maintain members' loyalty.
Naruto walked without looking sideways, his heart undisturbed.
[Environmental scan: Defense system is outdated, trap placement is unoriginal, psychological suppression methods are too crude, main energy source comes from several diverted underground water veins, utilization rate is low.]
[Overall evaluation: A gloomy basement with a decor style stuck in the last century. Needs upgrading.]
Finally, he was led to a spacious stone chamber.
Danzo Shimura, the dark side of Konoha, sat on a cold stone throne. Only one sharp eye was visible on his bandaged face, like a predatory bird lurking in the darkness.
"Uzumaki Naruto." Danzo spoke first, "I've seen your performance in the Land of Waves. It was excellent."
He praised the emotionless "extermination," the ruthlessness of toying with enemies.
"Konoha has been bathed in sunlight for too long; people have forgotten the necessity of darkness. Where the leaves dance, the fire burns. But they've forgotten, the brighter the flame, the deeper the shadow it casts."
Danzo began his decades-old rhetoric.
"Emotion is a Ninja's greatest enemy. Sympathy, pity, hesitation—these all become fatal weaknesses. The Monkey is old; his benevolence is rotting the great tree of Konoha from within. We need stronger methods, we need someone to bear this darkness, to do the dirty work."
He looked at Naruto confidently, believing that this young man before him was the perfect heir to his ideals, a born Root.
"Join me, Naruto. Here, you will gain true power, you will become the true cornerstone protecting Konoha..."
"Lord Danzo."
Naruto spoke calmly, interrupting Danzo's passionate and seductive lengthy discourse.
The temperature in the stone chamber seemed to drop several degrees instantly. The Root Ninja who led Naruto here instinctively tightened his grip on the short sword at his waist.
No one had ever dared to interrupt Lord Danzo.
Danzo's single eye narrowed slightly; he said nothing, waiting for Naruto to continue.
"Your ideology contains a fundamental logical fallacy." Naruto looked directly at the man on the stone throne, enunciating each word clearly.
"What?"
"The 'Root' you speak of does not exist to protect the collective 'Konoha'." Naruto took a step forward, "Its existence is to consolidate your personal authority; its operation is to fulfill your political ambitions; its expansion is to satisfy your desire for power."
"You place your personal will above collective interests, and you package it as 'necessary sacrifice' and 'the darkness protecting Konoha'."
"This is an extremely inefficient and structurally highly unstable management model."
Naruto's words were like a sharp scalpel, precisely dissecting Danzo's core selfishness, wrapped in the guise of "righteousness."
"Once you, this core node, collapse due to aging, death in battle, or any accident, the entire 'Root' system will instantly paralyze due to losing its sole object of loyalty, or even backlash against Konoha."
"You are not bearing the darkness for Konoha."
Naruto stopped in front of Danzo, delivering his final verdict.
"You are merely using Konoha's resources to build yourself an underground kingdom."
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