The thick darkness pressed down on the forest like something solid.
Chiya hid in the shadows, moving quickly across the gnarled branches of ancient trees. The three tomoe in his Sharingan rotated slowly.
Ten elite Uchiha followed close behind, keeping a tight lock on the distant Root ninja. Their breathing blended almost completely into the night wind.
On the path below, two Root ninja stumbled and fled.
One of them had his right arm twisted at an unnatural angle. Blood left a broken trail across the fallen leaves.
The other turned to look back every ten or so steps, his bloodshot eyes filled with panic.
"These Iwagakure people are completely insane. Are they actually trying to start a war?"
The injured ninja rasped.
"We have to hurry. We need to report this information to Lord Danzo!"
The other one scanned the quiet forest around them, noticed nothing unusual, and spoke in a low voice.
"Yes!"
The two of them pushed their speed up another level and pressed forward.
At that moment, one of the Uchiha dropped silently to Chiya's side and drew a finger lightly across his own throat.
Chiya shook his head. His crimson pupils flickered in and out of the shadows.
He made a gesture. Let them go.
Chiya knew that Root members were not like ordinary outside ninja.
Trying to extract information about Danzo or anything related to Danzo from them was almost impossible.
'The only way to find Danzo's base is to let them lead us there.'
After roughly half an hour, the two ninja slipped into a hidden base and then disappeared from sight.
The Uchiha watching from a distance all turned their eyes toward Chiya, clearly waiting for orders.
Chiya gave a signal, then stepped out on his own and made noise on purpose.
The eight Root ninja on guard duty looked over.
They met a pair of crimson Sharingan eyes directly.
They were pulled straight into a genjutsu.
With his current ocular power, the genjutsu he cast was strong enough that even after they woke, they would not remember Chiya at all. They would not even know how they had been caught in the illusion.
And besides, Chiya was still wearing the identity of an Iwagakure ninja.
Chiya turned and waved back at his team.
Eight Uchiha moved up quickly and transformed to match the appearances of the eight guards.
Chiya's crimson Sharingan swept the area once more to confirm it was safe, then he spoke quietly.
"First plant the traps all around. Once it is ready, blow the whole thing up!"
Move out.
The moment the words left his mouth, everyone grabbed their equipment with excitement and spread out to set things up.
And at that same moment, inside the base.
"Useless!"
Danzo's cane slammed into the stone floor and sent cracks spreading across it like a spider's web. The fury in his eye looked ready to become something physical.
"You sent out that many elites and only two of you came back?"
The two Root ninja kneeling on the ground said nothing, looking disheveled and worn.
"You just told me you ran into an elite Iwagakure squad. Were they a spy unit or a combat unit?"
"Lord Danzo, we are not sure."
Danzo stared at the two wretched figures in front of him, his brow deeply furrowed.
Something about this felt wrong to him.
This Iwagakure combat unit. Their numbers were not small. He had sent people to monitor the area before, and it should have been perfectly possible to detect their movements. So how had they suddenly entered the Land of Fire without warning?
And if they were a spy unit, why did they have such overwhelming combat strength?
The more Danzo looked at the two in front of him, the more displeased he became.
'If only Yakushi Nono were here.'
Nono was the spy ace he had personally trained.
With her around, she would have been able to map the entire situation with complete clarity.
'Damn Hiruzen!'
'Always using the title of Hokage to hold me down!'
'Was it really that big a deal that he spoke up first that one time?'
'Why should I not be the one to become Hokage?!'
'If I were Hokage, not just Iwagakure but even Sunagakure would have to fall in line!'
Suddenly, a violent explosion rang out.
The entire building shook. The ceiling beams let out a groan under the strain.
Above...
A second, earth-shattering blast swallowed the rest of the sentence.
"What is happening?!"
Danzo's heart lurched.
This was his own Root base. Only a handful of people knew its location.
Danzo snapped his gaze toward the two Root subordinates across the room.
A bad feeling hit him immediately.
'Did those two lead someone here?'
The stone above made a deep rumbling sound and then cracked apart like a fragile eggshell. Rubble scattered and fell from all directions.
In an instant, the open sky was visible above.
Countless kunai covered in exploding tags swarmed in like a swarm of bees.
Explosions rang out one after another. The ceiling collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Danzo had not even begun to form hand seals before the blast wave hurled him off his feet.
When he crashed through a wooden window and rolled out into the courtyard, he saw something he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The Root base he had spent years building in secret was being shattered from below by earth spears that rose from the ground like stone dragons.
"Damn Iwagakure!"
Danzo was covered in dust. The Root ninja inside the base quickly rushed to his side to protect him and scanned the surroundings with sharp alertness.
Danzo raised his head and looked at the figures standing on top of the ruins.
"You are looking for death!"
The words had barely left his mouth before a storm of exploding tag kunai answered him.
Danzo's pupils shrank sharply. The coordination of these Iwa-nin was terrifyingly precise.
Every wave of attacks landed exactly in the gaps between his defenses.
"Wind Release, Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Danzo darted aside to avoid the blasts. The violent wind sphere he released tore three figures apart.
But there was no blood or flesh.
'Clones!'
The hair on the back of Danzo's neck stood on end. Years of life-and-death experience made him tilt his head on instinct.
A kunai grazed his ear and carved a deep gash across his face, cutting all the way to the bone.
That Iwa-nin had changed direction a second time in midair.
Danzo blocked quickly. His cane and the kunai clashed and threw off a sharp burst of sparks.
The attacker was none other than "Iwagakure's" Chiya.
Chiya shifted his technique rapidly. The short blade in his other hand slid toward the eye that was wrapped in bandages.
Danzo clearly panicked when he saw that move.
He retreated fast. He avoided the attack, but in doing so the bandages on his head were sliced open.
A flash of red light passed through the gap in Danzo's bandages.
Chiya's gaze sharpened.
'Is that a Sharingan?'
The thought had barely surfaced when he flung the exploding tag in his hand straight at Danzo.
The blast wave from the explosion drove the two of them hard apart.
As Chiya fell back, he made a withdrawal gesture to the rest of the group.
The Root base was destroyed. Half the Root ninja inside were dead.
Danzo crashed heavily onto a burning beam. His thigh was soaked in blood from the explosion blast.
He could only watch as they pulled back in a calm and orderly fashion.
Danzo's voice came out like a shriek from a demon.
The Root ninja beside him steeled themselves and charged hard toward Chiya and the others.
Chiya led the group away without any hesitation to linger.
As they left, he still looked back once and swept his gaze toward Danzo in the distance.
Danzo's figure, shaking with fury, was clearly visible.
"Clan Head, should we intercept and finish him off?"
One of the Uchiha came up beside Chiya.
Chiya looked toward the direction of the border.
He shook his head lightly.
"Making them fight each other like dogs, that is our goal. Move out. The border."
Ten dark figures melted into the night. Behind them, flames shot into the sky. Danzo's twisted face was lit up by the fire, making him look like a demon.
Faintly, his roar could still be heard.
"Damn Iwagakure!!"