After leaving the Hokage Tower, Danzo returned directly to the Root Base.
He was in an exceptionally good mood.
By now, Ryoma should have begun his operation, right? Aburame Ryoma, his most prized right-hand man, was a legendary ninja of the Aburame Clan who wielded Nano-Poisonous Insects.
Nano-scale poisonous insects possessed killing power and stealth far beyond ordinary Kikaichū! With the slightest touch, the Nano-Poisonous Insects within Aburame Ryoma would invade the enemy's body and destroy their flesh at the cellular level!
Such injuries were nearly irreversible.
Touch them, and death was certain! To maximize the potential of this terrifying ability, Aburame Ryoma had specifically modified the Transformation Jutsu.
Even Root members skilled in sensory techniques found it difficult to see through his disguise.
As long as there was an accidental touch while passing by...
Namikaze Mirai would...
The corners of Danzo's mouth nearly curled up beyond restraint.
The thought of Namikaze Mirai, who had been throwing his weight around in the Hokage Tower one moment, dying in some unattended alley the next—
Filled Danzo with irrepressible excitement.
It was as though he were about to climax...
Just then, a Root member entered to report.
"L-Lord Danzo..."
The Root member's gaze darted about, and his voice carried an unusual trace of trembling.
"What? Has Ryoma returned? Has he completed his mission?"
Danzo smiled smugly.
With such a meticulous plan and Nano-Poisonous Insects that guaranteed death upon contact, Aburame Ryoma truly was his most prized aide.
A subordinate like that suited this old man's tastes perfectly.
"No, Lord Ryoma, he..."
The Root member swallowed.
"He failed..."
Failed??? Danzo's pupils trembled as fury surged through him.
"How could that be possible! How could he possibly fail with Nano-Poisonous Insects? What exactly happened?!"
The Root member making the report gathered his courage and said shakily,
"You should go see for yourself!"
In a hidden room within the Root Base, Aburame Ryoma's corpse lay flat on a wooden board. His Root uniform had been stripped away, leaving him completely naked.
There were no eyeballs in his sockets. Two dried trails of purple-black blood ran from his hollow eye sockets.
His nostrils, ear canals, and even his mouth still bore large amounts of dried purple-black blood.
Making his current appearance all the more chilling and terrifying...
As Danzo looked at Aburame Ryoma in that state, the pupil of his left eye trembled.
It felt as if a massive stone were pressing against his chest, leaving him unable to breathe.
His entire body stood frozen in place, as stiff as stone.
"When we arrived, we found only his corpse. Every cell in his body had been destroyed, and all the Nano-Poisonous Insects had died. Besides that, we also found an extremely high concentration of metal elements remaining in his blood..."
Danzo clenched his teeth. The crimson veins bursting from the corners of his eyes attested to the fury in his heart.
He could not understand it! He simply could not understand it!
How could Aburame Ryoma, who possessed Nano-Poisonous Insects, have lost so badly?! Every Nano-Poisonous Insect had died, and even his blood contained large amounts of metal elemen—
Wait?! Metal elements???
Danzo's pupils shook violently!
It was as if he had suddenly remembered something. "Get back!"
Almost the instant he roared!
Aburame Ryoma's body, lying on the wooden board, suddenly began to swell violently at the abdomen, like a balloon expanding at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, it had reached its limit!
"Protect Lord Danzo!!!"
This drastic change entered the eyes of the surrounding Root members.
Having been completely brainwashed, they reacted almost instinctively, desperately rushing toward Danzo!
The next second! Boom!!! The corpse, swollen to its limit, suddenly exploded!
Thick, foul-smelling blood mixed with an intense stench of gore splattered everywhere, like a crimson flower blooming within Root. Its spreading petals swallowed the entire chamber in an instant! The walls, floor, and even the ceiling were all sprayed with scarlet blood! The entire chamber became a bloody hell in moments!
Danzo's pupils trembled, trembling madly!
His body had been dyed red by Aburame Ryoma's blood. A tiny bead of blood rolled down the lashes of his single eye and fell from his blood-smeared face onto the equally crimson floor.
"L-Lord Danzo, are you all right?"
A Root member standing beside him asked in a trembling voice.
This sudden scene had completely exceeded their expectations!
"Ahhhhhh!!!! Namikaze Mirai! This old man will not rest until one of us is dead!!!"
Throwing back his head, Danzo's eyes were bloodshot as his hate-filled, furious roar echoed through the room.
"Quick! Medical Squad! Examine Lord Danzo!"
"Where is the Medical Squad?!"
Root descended into chaos.
As they helped Danzo leave the room, many members frantically searched for Medical Ninjas.
Panic, chaos... in an instant, it spread out from this room.
Even now, they did not understand how Namikaze Mirai had done it! They had clearly examined Aburame Ryoma's corpse beforehand and found nothing unusual apart from the excessive concentration of metal in his blood.
Amid the chaos, the room that had held Aburame Ryoma's corpse was gradually forgotten.
Only the bloodstains covering the walls remained, recounting the horrific scene from moments ago.
A few minutes later.
The blood remaining on the walls and floor changed.
At first, only a faint trace of silver seeped out from the bloodstains. Then, that gleaming silver grew more plentiful, forming tiny silver droplets.
Until they gathered into streams of silver, converging toward the center from every direction.
At the spot where Aburame Ryoma's corpse had exploded, more and more Silver Fluid gathered, gradually taking on a human form.
Golden hair, with an appearance almost identical to Namikaze Mirai's.
Azure eyes swept over the empty room.
"Looks like it worked."
Magnetic Fluid Clone! After killing Aburame Ryoma, Namikaze Mirai had left a contingency within his corpse.
Part of the Magnetic Fluid had not been withdrawn into his body. Instead, it had remained within Aburame Ryoma's blood in its smallest possible form. That was why those Root members had detected an excessive concentration of metal in Aburame Ryoma's blood.
The explosion just now had merely been meant to draw them away.
With Root thrown into chaos, now was the best time to act!
"Unfortunately, to avoid letting Root detect anything suspicious, and because I still need to conserve energy for the next stage of the plan, I could only reduce the explosion's power..."
A trace of regret appeared in Namikaze Mirai's eyes.
If he had concentrated all the energy into that explosion, he might have been able to kill Danzo outright! Of course, that would still have been far too difficult.
The Root Base was Danzo's lair. Even if he suffered severe injuries, countless Medical Ninjas would desperately try to save him.
Besides, Namikaze Mirai vaguely felt that Danzo was not as simple as he appeared.
Perhaps he possessed some special means of preserving his life!
"It's time to move, while the Root Base is in chaos..."
Namikaze Mirai's azure eyes flickered faintly.
There would never be a better opportunity!
Before you continue