Kakashi Hatake

After drawing his blade to block the strike, Uchiha Toko 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 revealed Aburame Ryoma in an instant.

Aburame Ryoma hastily escaped with Insect Substitution, but the moment he landed, Uchiha Toko's next slash was already upon him. With lightning flickering across his body, Uchiha Toko moved at an unbelievable speed.

Every consecutive slash was lethal, leaving Aburame Ryoma unable to cope. As an insect controller, he was never skilled at close combat, and could only repeatedly use Insect Substitution to flee Uchiha Toko's blade. Yet every use of Insect Substitution 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 prepared to end his life, 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 mental world, Uchiha Toko's Mangekyō Sharingan flashed. Yamanaka Fu, who had been hiding in the shadows and attempting a sneak attack with the Mind Transfer Jutsu, immediately groaned, spat out blood, and collapsed.

"Go catch that one. Keep him alive." As Uchiha Toko forced Aburame Ryoma to use Insect Substitution once again 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, this is over." Smiling, Uchiha Toko drove his blade into Aburame Ryoma's back. Lightning instantly surged, and before long, only a charred corpse remained on the ground.

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

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

"Yes!" The two nodded, then headed off in separate directions to carry out Uchiha Toko's instructions.

Uchiha Toko, meanwhile, headed alone toward Root's underground base.

After entering the Root base, the remaining Root members began launching fearless attacks against Uchiha Toko one after another. Yet Uchiha Toko needed only a single slash each time to solve the problem. In this way, he slaughtered his way from the entrance of the Root base to its core. What should have been a ten-minute walk was now littered with dozens of ninja corpses.

Inside Danzo's office, the first thing Uchiha Toko saw upon entering was ash scattered across the floor. It seemed that all of Danzo's secrets had been burned to nothing. Seeing this, Uchiha Toko smiled faintly, then opened a Sealing Scroll and took out a stack of documents.

"Root's efficiency is pretty good. I thought I'd have to help them clean up the loose ends." Uchiha Toko tossed the documents into the air, then used a Great Fireball to ignite them.

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

Water Style: Wild Water Wave.

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

After a long while, Uchiha Inaho finally arrived with the Anbu ninja sent by Sarutobi Hiruzen after his report.

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

After Kakashi entered the Root base and saw the corpses strewn across the ground, he could not help frowning. It was not out of pity. These Root ninja were still, ultimately, ninja of the village, and after Danzo's death, they might have had some chance to turn over a new leaf. But now, they had all been killed by Uchiha Toko.

"Kakashi-senpai, so it's you." Uchiha Toko smiled and greeted Kakashi. He was not surprised that the Third Hokage had not come in person. Under the threat of Kotoamatsukami, that legendary ninja was probably unwilling to face Uchiha Toko directly.

Kakashi gave no response beneath his mask. Uchiha Toko was not bothered and simply continued speaking.

"When I arrived, these Root remnants were destroying the evidence Shimura Danzō left behind. Fortunately, I got here in time and preserved part of it." Uchiha Toko walked over to Kakashi's side and lowered his voice. "I found something special in these documents. I imagine it should interest you."

With that, Uchiha Toko took out a document that had already been mostly burned and displayed it before Kakashi.

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

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

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

"Alright, since you're here, help deal with the bodies." Uchiha Toko put away the document, patted Kakashi on the shoulder, and sighed. "What a pity. They were clearly village ninja, yet Danzo brainwashed them into this. I didn't want to kill them either."

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

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

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

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

"Then I'll be leaving. 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, right, Kakashi-senpai. If you have time, come visit the clan. Grandma Miori hasn't been feeling well lately, and she's still been talking about you."