Whether Samui agreed or not, Teizawa did not care.
He left a shadow clone in the bed. His real body had already slipped out of the inn without a sound.
The night wind was cool, and the moonlight flowed like water. Teizawa's figure skimmed lightly across the rooftops, like a silent ghost.
He left Konoha and headed toward the pitch-black forest to the south.
The Forest of Death.
The second exam site of the Chunin Exams.
Few people set foot there under normal circumstances, but according to what he knew of the plot, Danzō's Root base was hidden in the deepest part of that forest.
Still, he did not know the exact location.
That old bastard had tried to get himself killed again and again. Teizawa did not mind giving him something to keep him busy.
Teizawa landed on the branch of a giant tree and closed his eyes.
With him at the center, circles of electromagnetic waves invisible to the naked eye spread out in every direction.
They passed through layers of leaves, through thick soil and stone, through the tangled tunnels and hollow spaces underground, then rebounded, bringing back all kinds of information.
What was on the surface. What was underground. Where there were hollow spaces. Where there was flowing water. Where there were living creatures with body heat and heartbeats.
Everything was mapped clearly inside his mind.
A radius of three kilometers.
Five kilometers.
Ten kilometers.
He opened his eyes, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Found it.
Southeast. Roughly thirty meters underground.
There was a massive hollow space.
It had been excavated by human hands, with a complex structure and multiple tunnels extending outward.
Inside the hollow space were dozens of faint heat signatures.
People. Motionless, as though waiting for orders.
Teizawa vanished from where he stood.
He moved through the forest like a specter, making no sound at all beneath his feet.
The hidden sentries, traps, and sensory barriers were all as good as nonexistent before him.
His electromagnetic field could detect everything, and it could shield everything.
In the sentries' perception, he was only the night wind, the rustle of leaves, the mist drifting through the trees.
Soon, he found the entrance.
It was at the root of a giant tree.
The tree hollow was concealed by genjutsu. An ordinary person could pass within three hundred meters of it and never notice anything.
Teizawa stood before the hollow and closed his eyes.
His perception passed through the thick layers of earth and extended downward.
The underground passageways were intricate and tangled, like an ant nest. Sentries were stationed at regular intervals. Every corner had traps set in place.
He opened his eyes, but he did not enter through the tree hollow.
His body seemed to lose its weight. The soil beneath his feet parted to both sides like water, and he sank underground without a sound.
The earth flowed around him, yet not a speck of it could stain him.
He passed through layer after layer of soil and stone, bypassed tunnel after tunnel, avoided sentry after sentry.
Someone walked over his head, their steps very light.
Yet to his ears, the sound was as clear as a beating drum.
He did not stop.
At thirty meters underground, he came to a halt.
Above him was an empty space. The marks of artificial excavation were obvious.
He slowly rose upward, the soil parting around him.
Half of his body emerged.
It was a corridor.
Stone walls. Stone floor. A night pearl was embedded every few steps, giving off a cold, dim glow.
There was no one in the corridor, but there was light at its end.
Faint voices could be heard.
Teizawa stepped out of the earth and landed silently on the floor.
He walked down the corridor.
His footsteps were erased by the electromagnetic field. There was not even an echo.
When he reached the corner, he stopped.
There were two people around the bend. Their breathing was steady, and their heartbeats were slow.
Well-trained Root ninja.
Teizawa extended a hand and lightly touched two fingers together.
Two senbon condensed from Iron Sand pierced through the air.
They struck the sides of the two men's necks with perfect precision.
Their bodies stiffened slightly, then went limp and collapsed.
Teizawa reached out and caught them.
He laid them gently on the ground without making the slightest sound.
He continued forward.
At the end of the corridor was a stone door.
The door was half-closed, and yellowish light seeped out from inside.
Voices came from within.
They were very faint, too indistinct to make out clearly.
Teizawa stood before the door and closed his eyes.
His perception passed through the stone door, and the scene inside appeared clearly in his mind.
An old man was sitting at a stone table, with a map spread out before him.
Several young ninja stood beside him.
The old man's heartbeat was strong and powerful, his breathing long and steady.
It was Danzō.
The young ninja beside him were breathing more quickly.
Clearly, they were tense.
"Tomorrow is the fifth day," one of them said. "Once Iwagakure's money arrives, the Four-Tails will belong to them. We can't wait any longer."
"But the last two attempts both failed. That Kazekage isn't easy to deal with."
"That's why we have to strike tomorrow, during the handoff. In the chaos, no one will realize it was us."
Danzō did not speak.
He simply sat there, his fingers lightly tapping against the tabletop.
The rhythm was slow and steady.
It carried a kind of certainty that allowed no argument.
The corners of Teizawa's mouth lifted slightly.
This old bastard really hadn't given up.
He reached out and gently pushed the door open.
The stone door slid aside without a sound.
Danzō raised his head. His exposed left eye suddenly contracted.
"You…"
Teizawa stood in the doorway with his hands behind his back, his posture relaxed, as if he were strolling through his own backyard.
"Danzō," he said, his voice unhurried. "Sending people again and again to steal what belongs to me is rather inappropriate, don't you think?"
The young ninja reacted with extreme speed.
In an instant, they drew their kunai and stood in front of Danzō.
Teizawa did not even glance at them. He only looked at Danzō.
Danzō looked back at him. In that left eye were shock and vigilance.
But he quickly suppressed them.
Only a deep, ancient-well calm remained.
"Kazekage," he said, his voice hoarse and low. "What brings you here so late at night?"
Teizawa walked into the room and stopped in front of the young ninja's kunai.
He lowered his gaze, glanced at the blades pointed at him, then lifted his eyes to Danzō.
"Nothing much," he said. "I only came to tell you one thing. You can't touch the Four-Tails."
Danzō narrowed his eye slightly.
"You jest, Kazekage. The Four-Tails belongs to Sunagakure. This old man has no interest in it."
Teizawa laughed.
"No interest? Then who sent the men in the last two attacks?"
He paused. "Don't tell me you're going to say someone else framed you, Danzō."
Danzō was silent for a moment.
"This old man does not understand what you are saying."
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand." Teizawa turned and walked toward the door. "You only need to know one thing. The Four-Tails leaves Konoha tomorrow."
"No matter whose hands it falls into, don't even think about touching it. Touch it again…"
He stopped, but did not look back.
"And I'll pull up your Root one stalk at a time."
The young ninja's faces changed.
Danzō's expression did not, but his hand clenched tightly beneath the table.
After Teizawa finished speaking, he prepared to leave.
"Is that so?"
But just then, Danzō's sinister voice sounded behind him.
It was like a venomous snake flicking its tongue out from the darkness.
"Since the Kazekage has come…" His voice was hoarse and low, carrying malice suppressed for far too long. "Then don't leave."
Teizawa did not turn around.
He could feel the air changing.
The auras hidden in the darkness had originally been coiled up like hibernating snakes.
Now, all of them had awakened.
One. Two. Ten. Twenty.
They surged in from every direction, carrying cold killing intent.
"Do it."
As Danzō's voice fell, the entire underground space abruptly boiled over.
Kunai shot in from every angle, their sharp sounds tearing through the air and weaving into an airtight net.
The light of ninjutsu flashed in the darkness.
Fire Release, Wind Release, Lightning Release. They all blasted toward him from different directions at the same time.
The Root ninja closest to him had already drawn their swords.
The blades were coated with eerie blue poison as they stabbed straight toward his vital points.
Front, back, left, right, above, and below.
Every angle was sealed. Every inch of space was filled with killing intent.
Seeing that Teizawa was about to be swallowed by the attacks, Danzō narrowed his eye, and a trace of contempt appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"A mere Kazekage dares to barge into my base alone. Who gave you that courage?"
"You truly do not know your own limits."
Danzō had never looked Sunagakure in the eye.
Whether it was the Third Kazekage or the Fourth.
Let alone Teizawa, a man he had never even heard of.
In his eyes, the young man before him had already invited his own death.
Since he had come all this way to die, Danzō would remove this unstable factor for Konoha himself.
Everything he did was for Konoha.
(End of Chapter)
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