Kakashi Hatake

After Uchiha Toko drew his blade and blocked the strike, he glanced at the kunai in Aburame Ryoma's hand and chuckled. "A specially made glass kunai? Too bad. It's useless."

The next second, the shuriken hovering around Uchiha Toko shot toward the exposed Aburame Ryoma.

Aburame Ryoma hurriedly escaped with Insect Substitution, but the instant he landed, Uchiha Toko's next slash was already upon him. With electricity flashing all over his body, Uchiha Toko moved at an unbelievable speed.

Every slash in the relentless barrage was lethal, leaving Aburame Ryoma unable to cope. As an insect handler, close combat had never been his strength. He could only repeatedly use Insect Substitution to escape Uchiha Toko's blade, but each use meant another batch of insects he had cultivated would perish beneath Uchiha Toko's lightning.

Within minutes, Aburame Ryoma had narrowly escaped death several times. Just as Uchiha Toko intended to finish him off, his vision suddenly went black.

"Using that move against an Uchiha Clan member who has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan? You're courting death."

Within the spiritual realm, Uchiha Toko's Mangekyō Sharingan flashed. Yamanaka Fu, who had been hiding in the shadows and trying to ambush him with the Mind Transfer Jutsu, immediately let out a muffled groan, vomited blood, and collapsed.

"Go catch that one. Alive." As Uchiha Toko forced Aburame Ryoma to use Insect Substitution once more with another slash, he calmly instructed Inaho and Saito beside him.

"You little rat who plays with bugs, now that we have a better captive, it's over for you." Smiling, Uchiha Toko drove his blade through Aburame Ryoma's back. Lightning surged in an instant, and before long, only a charred corpse remained on the ground.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Inaho and Uchiha Saito easily captured Yamanaka Fu, who had completely lost the ability to resist under the backlash of his clan's secret technique.

"Saito, take this guy back to the clan's Interrogation Room and give him a proper welcome. Don't let him die. Inaho, go report to the Hokage Building. Tell them that, during our investigation, we encountered violent resistance from the remaining Root forces, forcing us to take emergency measures. All the criminals have been executed." After dealing with Aburame Ryoma, Uchiha Toko turned and gave the orders.

"Yes!" The two nodded, then headed off in separate directions as Uchiha Toko had instructed.

Uchiha Toko, meanwhile, headed alone toward the underground Root Base.

After entering the Root Base, the remaining Root members began launching one desperate assassination attempt after another against Uchiha Toko. Yet each time, a single slash was all he needed. In this way, Uchiha Toko fought his way from the Root Base entrance to its core. What should have been a ten-minute walk was now lined with the corpses of dozens of ninja.

Inside Danzo's office, the first thing Uchiha Toko saw was a floor full of ashes. It seemed all of Danzo's secrets had already been burned away. Seeing this, Uchiha Toko smiled faintly, then opened a Sealing Scroll and took out a stack of documents.

"Root's efficiency is pretty impressive. I thought I'd have to help them clean up their mess." Uchiha Toko tossed the documents into the air, then used a Great Fireball to set them ablaze.

After a small portion of the documents Uchiha Toko had taken out had burned away, he slowly formed hand seals.

Water Style: Wild Water Wave.

A great deal of mist emerged around Uchiha Toko, then condensed into droplets that fell onto the still-burning papers on the floor. Wisps of green smoke rose up, and only then did Uchiha Toko pick up the half-burned documents one by one.

A long while later, Uchiha Inaho, who had gone to report to Sarutobi Hiruzen, finally returned with the Anbu ninja dispatched by the Third Hokage.

Though the leader wore an Anbu mask, his white hair made it easy for Uchiha Toko to identify him: Konoha's famed Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake.

After entering the Root Base and seeing corpses scattered everywhere, Kakashi could not help frowning. It was not out of pity. These Root ninja were still, in the end, ninja of the village. After Danzo's death, they might have had some chance of turning over a new leaf. But now, all of them had been killed by Uchiha Toko.

"Kakashi-senpai, so it's you." Uchiha Toko greeted Kakashi with a smile. He was not surprised that the Third Hokage had not come in person. Under the threat of Kotoamatsukami, that Hero of the Ninja World probably had little desire to face Uchiha Toko himself.

Kakashi gave no response from beneath his mask. Uchiha Toko did not mind and simply continued.

"When I arrived, these Root remnants were destroying the evidence Shimura Danzō had left behind. Fortunately, I got here in time and managed to preserve some of it." Uchiha Toko walked to Kakashi's side and lowered his voice. "I found something interesting in these documents. I imagine it'll interest you."

With that, Uchiha Toko took out a document that had mostly been burned and showed it to Kakashi.

The names written on it made Kakashi's pupils contract: Hatake Sakumo, Kishida Keisuke, Arima Kinya, and a ninja whose name had only the surname Higashiyama remaining. Yet Kakashi immediately filled in the rest—Higashiyama Ryota.

These were the participants in the mission that had changed his father's life.

And the words marked after those names—silenced—made Kakashi's heart pound even harder.

"All right, now that you're here, help deal with the bodies." Uchiha Toko put away the document, patted Kakashi on the shoulder, and sighed. "What a shame. They were all ninja of the village, yet Danzo brainwashed them into becoming like this. I didn't want to kill them either."

With that, Uchiha Toko headed outside, signaling for Uchiha Inaho to follow him.

"Wait!" Kakashi suddenly called out to Uchiha Toko, who had already reached the office door.

"Is something wrong, Kakashi-senpai?" Uchiha Toko turned back with a warm smile. "I still need to go back and organize this remaining evidence, as well as interrogate the Root remnants we captured."

"No... nothing." Beneath his mask, Kakashi Hatake struggled for a moment before suppressing the urge to ask Uchiha Toko for the truth.

"Then I'll be going. Give my regards to Lord Hokage." Uchiha Toko turned and left. After walking for a while, he seemed to remember something and looked back. "Oh, Kakashi-senpai, come visit the clan sometime if you're free. Grandma Miori hasn't been well lately. She's been asking about you, too."