Root

Beneath Konoha lay a place untouched by sunlight.

Root's headquarters was hidden deep beneath the Hokage Building. There were no windows, no wind, only endless gloom. The walls were gray-black, as though soaked through with layer upon layer of something. They felt rough and cold, with an indescribable stickiness. Occasionally, water seeped through gaps in the pipes and fell to the floor with a drip that echoed through the empty corridors for a long time.

Danzo sat behind his desk, bandages covering his right eye and half his face. His exposed left eye betrayed no emotion in the dim yellow light.

Aburame Ryoma knelt before him, his voice low and even, as though reading a report.

"Hatake Sakumo has been confirmed to have lost his Chakra. Tsunade's diagnosis matches Root's intelligence: his Chakra pathways are severely damaged and cannot recover. He is currently recuperating at home, with no unusual activity."

Danzo said nothing.

"Kakashi Hatake has been assigned to Minato Namikaze's squad. Minato is a direct disciple of the Third and a former Anbu member. His counter-surveillance skills are exceptional. Continuing to monitor them is becoming both more difficult and more risky."

Aburame Ryoma paused.

"Also, men have been sent to find Gekkō Byakuya."

He raised his head, a trace of puzzlement in the eyes behind his mask.

"There is one thing I don't understand."

"Speak."

"Gekkō Byakuya is only a medical-nin. His Chakra reserves barely reach Chunin level, he has no military achievements, and he has shown nothing remarkable. Is someone like that worth your personal attention?"

Danzo did not answer immediately.

He was silent for a moment, his left eye narrowing slightly.

"How much do you know about the Gekko Clan?"

Aburame Ryoma thought for a moment.

"Once a prominent clan. Their Kekkei Genkai, Transparent Release, allows them to turn their bodies transparent and conceal their presence. But because of their Bloodline Disease, their members gradually dwindled. Now... there should only be a mother and her two sons left."

"The younger son, Gekko Hayate, is eight years old and in excellent health. He presumably hasn't awakened Transparent Release," Danzo added.

Aburame Ryoma made no reply.

"But Gekkō Byakuya is different." Danzo's voice remained completely flat, as though he were stating something that had nothing to do with him. "He came close to death several times as a child, which shows he has exceptional talent for Transparent Release. What is even more surprising is that he survived every time."

"Awakening his talent at such a young age and surviving such a severe Bloodline Disease... a Gekko clan member like that..." Aburame Ryoma's tone changed.

"The stronger the talent for Transparent Release, the more severe the Bloodline Disease. That means his talent for Transparent Release far surpasses the average person's." Danzo paused. "Someone like that was born to belong to Root."

Danzo did not say how he would train Byakuya once he was brought to Root, but Aburame Ryoma had already understood something.

Root certainly needed fighters who excelled in direct combat, but it also needed shadows who could slip silently into any place without anyone noticing.

If Gekkō Byakuya's Transparent Release was truly as Danzo described, then he was born for Root.

"I understand." Aburame Ryoma lowered his head.

He was just about to rise when a voice came from outside the door.

"Lord Danzo, Lord Hokage requests your presence."

Danzo's brow twitched slightly.

"What for?"

"I don't know."

"Understood."

"Lord Hokage's instructions were... immediately."

Danzo was silent for a moment. Then he stood and walked toward the door.

Aburame Ryoma remained kneeling where he was.

"You can withdraw the men watching the Hatake Clan," Danzo said from the doorway. "We'll discuss Gekkō Byakuya when I return."

"Yes, sir."

The Hokage Building.

When Danzo pushed open the door, the Third was sitting behind his desk, smoke curling from his pipe. Tsunade stood to one side, arms folded and an unfriendly expression on her face.

A man lay on the floor.

He wore a mask and a black bodysuit, with a cloak over it.

He was a member of Root.

Danzo glanced at the man on the floor, his gaze undisturbed. He raised his head and looked at the Third.

"What's going on?"

"This man tried to take away one of our hospital's doctors." Tsunade's voice was as cold as the winter wind. "I knocked him out."

She stared at Danzo, enunciating each word.

"Do you know him, Advisor Danzo?"

Danzo did not look at Tsunade. He looked at the Third, who was not looking at him—he was leisurely packing tobacco into his pipe, as though doing something that had nothing to do with him.

"Root is a training division of the Anbu." Danzo's voice was utterly flat. "It has the authority to transfer and investigate any ninja."

"But this time, you didn't have the Hokage's permission."

Tsunade's voice grew colder still. She took half a step forward and pressed her palm against the desk.

Danzo finally turned his gaze to her.

"If he was merely inviting him for a talk, I don't believe the Hokage's permission was necessary."

"The problem is... your subordinate doesn't seem to have given the 'invitee' a choice."

Tsunade pointed at the man on the floor.

"He said, 'Come with me.' Not 'please,' not an invitation. It was an order."

Danzo was silent for a moment. He looked at the Third, who still wasn't looking at him.

Danzo understood the Third's position.

He lowered his head and looked at the unconscious Root ninja on the floor.

"He acted on his own initiative."

He raised his hand.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed sharply—she saw Danzo's hand coming down toward the Root ninja's neck. She instinctively reached out to stop him—

Smack.

Tsunade caught Danzo's wrist. But at that very instant, a line of blood suddenly burst from the back of his hand.

Drops of blood scattered through the air.

Tsunade's pupils contracted sharply. Her body went rigid, her face turned deathly pale, and her breathing grew rapid. Her fingers came loose, and she stumbled back two steps, bumping into the desk.

The Third's hand stopped.

His pipe fell onto the desk with a dull thud.

"Enough of this!"

The Third stood. His voice wasn't loud, but the temperature in the entire room seemed to drop.

He looked at Danzo, a rare anger in his eyes.

Danzo stood where he was, blood still dripping from his hand. But his expression did not change at all.

"He took it upon himself to twist my orders." Danzo's voice was calm. "If he won't obey me, he deserves to be punished."

He seemed to be talking about the Root ninja, but his gaze remained fixed on Tsunade.

Clearly, those words were meant for her.

Tsunade's chest heaved. Her Hemophobia had flared up, her hands were trembling, and cold sweat beaded on her forehead. But she gritted her teeth and did not retreat, staring fiercely at Danzo.

"Enough."

The Third's voice came from behind the desk. He sat back down and picked up his pipe.

"Take him away. Keep your people under control."

Danzo turned and walked toward the door.

"Don't trouble Gekkō Byakuya again," the Third called after him.

Danzo stopped.

"That child is naturally suited to the Anbu." He did not turn around. "He needs Root's training to realize his full value."

"He's only a medical-nin." Tsunade's voice was a little weak, but every word was firm.

"Hiruzen has seen the Gekko Clan at its peak." Danzo finally turned and looked at the Third. "I shouldn't need to say much more about how strong his talent for Transparent Release is."

The Third said nothing.

"To overcome such a severe Bloodline Disease and survive..." Danzo's voice was quiet, but each sentence was like a nail. "Leaving someone like that in a hospital is a waste."

"The Bloodline Disease has only been suppressed temporarily. It hasn't disappeared!" Tsunade's voice grew firmer. "If he uses Transparent Release frequently, it will relapse sooner or later, and it will only get worse."

Danzo was silent for a moment.

"He's a ninja. He must accept his fate."

Tsunade's expression darkened further.

"Bastard—"

"Enough!"

The Third's voice interrupted their confrontation.

He put down his pipe and looked at Danzo.

"I've heard what you have to say. But my decision stands."

Danzo stared at him.

The Third met his gaze.

"This is the end of the matter with Gekkō Byakuya. Root is not to trouble him again."

Danzo was silent for a long time.

"Very well."

He turned and pushed open the door.

"I hope you won't regret this."

The door closed behind him.

Tsunade's hands were still trembling. She leaned against the desk, closed her eyes, and took several deep breaths.

"Sit down," the Third said from beside her.

Tsunade opened her eyes, walked over to a chair, and sat down.

"Was what you said earlier true?"

"What?"

"Byakuya's Chakra is effective against your Hemophobia."

Tsunade was silent for a moment.

"...It is. Although it doesn't seem able to cure it completely at present, it can suppress it. His Chakra is very unusual. It can stabilize my condition in a short time."

"How does it do that?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"I don't know. Maybe some unknown changes occurred when he was fighting his Bloodline Disease as a child..."

The Third looked at her without speaking.

"His Medical Ninjutsu is improving very quickly too, and he's consciously trying to control the unusual properties of his Chakra."

Tsunade's voice dropped. "His Chakra has a kind of... feeling, as though it can soothe the soul."

The Third was silent for a long time.

The soul. He recalled that the word "soul" had appeared more than once in the scrolls of forbidden techniques left behind by the Second. There was even the Reaper Death Seal, which could extract and seal an enemy's soul.

There was also Dan Katō—the young man's Spirit Transformation Technique could allow his soul to leave his body.

Tsunade had been with him back then, so she surely wasn't unfamiliar with souls.

Dan.

The Third sighed inwardly.

He had also been an outstanding Konoha Ninja, an inheritor of the Will of Fire... and the deepest wound of Tsunade's life.

"I understand." The Third picked up his pipe and relit it. "I'll deal with Danzo."

The Third looked out the window, smoke blurring his face.

"I'm old," he said. "Konoha's future needs you."

Tsunade said nothing. Of course she knew what her teacher meant—he wasn't asking her to state her position, he was asking her to succeed him. But she couldn't even hold a complete photograph in her hands.

She gave no answer, and the Third did not press her. Outside the window, Hokage Rock gradually sank into the darkness.

"Go on back."

The Third did not look back again. The situation in the Shinobi World was unstable, and he did not have much time to dwell on his melancholy.

Root's headquarters.

Danzo pushed open the door and entered his office.

Aburame Ryoma was still waiting there. When he saw Danzo return, he straightened on his knees.

"Lord Danzo."

Danzo did not sit down. He stood in front of the desk, his back to Aburame Ryoma.

"Put the matter of Gekkō Byakuya on hold for now."

Aburame Ryoma raised his head.

"Yes, sir."

"But we're not letting it go." Danzo turned around, his left eye betraying no emotion in the dim yellow light. "I was too hasty this time. To make Tsunade and even Hiruzen step in, this child... has something else behind him that I don't know about."

He was silent for a moment.

"We need someone else to sound him out."

"Who?"

Danzo did not answer immediately. He walked to the wall and opened a hidden compartment. There were several scrolls inside. He looked through them, pulled one out, and tossed it onto the desk.

Aburame Ryoma lowered his gaze.

Three characters were written on the cover of the scroll—Uchiha.

There was not a single member of the Uchiha clan in Root. Its leader, it seemed, was much like his teacher, full of prejudice and hostility toward Konoha's foremost clan.

If the person wasn't a member of the organization, then...

"He is the descendant of an old friend of mine."

Danzo touched his bandaged right eye and spoke softly.

"It's time to make contact."