Root Ninja Who Gets Seen Is Nothing but Trouble

Shazo could afford to ignore Hyuga Hiashi, because the Byakugan's main function was x-ray vision, not dynamic vision.

He was confident that with his high speed, he could make Hyuga Hiashi unable to see his face clearly—or even make out his height and build.

But facing several pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Shazo was not nearly as confident.

The Sharingan's dynamic vision was far too powerful, and the Uchiha Clan currently had two Mangekyō Sharingan users hidden away. If they were here too, they would definitely be able to see his face clearly.

Shazo reached into his clothes and pulled out a pure white mask, fastening it tightly over his face.

He also channeled chakra and, with the pull of his muscles, shifted some of his bone joints out of place, reducing his height to 180 centimeters.

There was no helping it. A height of 200 centimeters was extremely rare in Konoha. They could identify him quickly without even seeing his face.

How could Lord Shazo's first official appearance be so casual?

It had to be grand. At least three Kage-level Ninja had to be present, there had to be a hidden mastermind wreaking havoc across the Ninja World as a witness, and he had to stand center stage at the heart of a major event that affected the Ninja World's situation.

He absolutely could not accept showing his face in such an unimpressive situation, chased around by others like this!

After disguising his appearance, Shazo turned sharply at a ninety-degree angle and shook off the Uchiha Jonin blocking his way.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan's dynamic vision was indeed powerful. The Uchiha Jonin's gazes all followed Shazo's movements, but their bodies clearly could not keep up.

Not only could their bodies not react, even the Sharingan genjutsu they could cast instantly all missed because they could not lock onto Shazo.

Inabi Uchiha, who was leading them, shouted furiously, "Damn it, he's too fast!"

Hyuga Hiashi caught up and asked, "Did you see his face clearly?"

Inabi Uchiha shook his head. "He was wearing a white mask. All we can confirm is that he's between 178 and 182 centimeters tall. He's exceptionally muscular, even somewhat bulky."

Hyuga Hiashi cried out in surprise, "He's actually fat?"

Inabi Uchiha spat. "We were actually toyed with by a fat man. No matter what, we can't let him get away today."

"Get him!"

"Get him!!"

A huge group of Konoha Ninja surged after him, but Shazo, in his Swift Style state, did not feel the slightest bit nervous.

Not a single Kage-level Ninja had appeared today, yet a group of Jonin dared to think they could catch a Swift Style Ninja while he was running. It seemed they truly had not obtained any intelligence on him.

Suddenly, a huge net roughly twenty-five meters wide and fifteen meters high unfurled at the edge of the forest, every knot fitted with barbs.

Then came a second net, and a third.

A total of five barbed nets were spread open.

The people deploying them were Root Ninja wearing masks covered in intricate patterns, their entire bodies giving off an uncomfortable aura.

The moment they saw those Root Ninja, every Konoha Ninja felt deeply uneasy.

Shazo, in particular, felt uncomfortable. It reminded him of even more plot developments.

But with so many Konoha Ninja present, it was not convenient for him to kill them outright.

So, having originally focused on activating his left kidney, he pushed his right kidney to the limit as well. The Emperor Engine roared at full output, driving Swift Style to its absolute limit.

Not only did his speed increase by another ten percent, more importantly, his agility in a confined area increased dramatically. That was the right kidney engine's specialty.

Under the watch of the Sharingan and Byakugan, the Gray Shadow accelerated again, flashing past every Anbu Ninja at once as though he had split into clones.

He removed every Root Ninja's mask, then gently slapped each of them across the face.

Only then did Shazo weave around all the barbed nets and plunge headfirst into the Forest of Death.

In the blink of an eye, the Gray Shadow had vanished completely.

Not a single Konoha Ninja continued the pursuit into the Forest of Death. Even the Root Ninja did not rush in.

They had originally assumed their opponent was merely extremely fast. Who would have thought that when facing the Root Ninja's nets, he would display such outrageously exaggerated agility as well?

In an instant, he had swept past twenty Root Ninja, removed their masks, slapped every one of them, and left sharply defined handprints on their left cheeks.

Such an outrageous speed was even more terrifying than creating twenty clones with the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.

All the ninja thought of one person: Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage known as the Yellow Flash. This man seemed worthy of being called the Gray Phantom.

One Konoha Ninja stared at the twenty bright red slap marks and muttered, "Gray Shadow seems to be right-handed..."

Someone else added, "Maybe he is..."

Then they realized it was inappropriate and shut their mouths.

The scene fell into awkward silence once more.

Until a dim-witted Uchiha Ninja broke it.

Inabi Uchiha said bitterly, "Damn it. If we'd known the troublemaker was such an insanely fast ninja, we should have brought Shisui along. If he had come, he definitely wouldn't have let Gray Shadow escape so easily!"

Another Uchiha Jonin agreed. "That's right. Shisui's nickname is Body Flicker Shisui. He's much faster than us. He would definitely make that bastard suffer."

The Uchiha Ninja did not realize that when they spoke of Shisui Uchiha, they had not used words such as "definitely."

Without realizing it, they had lost their absolute confidence in Shisui Uchiha.

Aside from the Uchiha, who were still talking tough, and the dead-silent Root Ninja, all the other Konoha Ninja had fallen into dejection—especially the Hyuga Clan ninja.

Compared to the Anbu, Root, and the Uchiha Clan's Konoha Military Police Force, the Hyuga Clan had even sent out their publicly acknowledged strongest member, their clan head, yet their performance had been worse than both the Uchiha and Root.

Coincidentally, among the four major forces present, only the Hyuga Clan also had no Kage-level Ninja.

The Hyuga Clan had declined to such a state. No wonder the Third Hokage had dared to cut them down a few years ago, forcing Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga to choose one of them to die in order to satisfy the Cloud Ninja's demands.

How could the Hyuga ninja not feel dejected when they thought of that?

Suddenly, an Uchiha pointed at one of the Root Ninja and shouted in terrified fury, "I know him! H-he wasn't already dead?"

Inabi Uchiha asked, "Who is he?"

That Uchiha Ninja shouted, "He was Katsu's older brother's teammate. He disappeared at the same time Katsu's older brother died in battle, and was later confirmed dead."

"He's actually alive. He's living perfectly well! Captain Inabi, there's something wrong with Katsu's older brother's death!"

Inabi Uchiha froze for a moment before flying into a rage. "Take him down! Have the clan head go find the Third Hokage. This time, Shimura Danzō must give us an explanation!"

"Yes!"

The Uchiha Ninja were filled with righteous indignation as they roared in fury and charged forward.

The Root Ninja remained expressionless, but they immediately raised their weapons and prepared to fight.

Root was part of the Anbu, and its official name was the Anbu Training Department.

But by now, who did not know that Root was an independent kingdom? It was not under Anbu control at all, and the Anbu Ninja had no desire to help them.

Besides, the Uchiha were not trying to kill anyone. They had discovered a suspicious Konoha Ninja who had long been confirmed dead. Taking down such a ninja was precisely the Konoha Military Police Force's responsibility.

Therefore, aside from sending someone to urgently notify the Third Hokage, the Anbu Ninja did not know what else they should do.

As for the Hyuga ninja, they had long since slipped several hundred meters away under Hyuga Hiashi's lead.

The Hyuga Clan had managed to endure until today—and continue enduring—for good reason.

At the very least, they knew how to read the room.

With no one stopping them, an internal conflict was about to erupt.