An Assassination from Root

Noon.

Fugaku returned home with a grim expression.

As Qing Xuan had said, today's meeting had not gone smoothly.

From the moment he brought up Cloud's conspiracy, his proposal was destined to be rejected by everyone.

Years of warfare had left everyone in the village weary of fighting, and after the Nine-Tails Attack two years ago, stability had become the overriding concern in everyone's minds.

What's more, he was an Uchiha...

Uchiha...

Fugaku sneered inwardly. Even so, he felt no gloom at all—instead, he felt utterly at ease.

That kid Qing Xuan had said there'd be a good show coming up, so he'd just wait and see.

He walked into the house and saw the empty courtyard. Mikoto was the only one there, hanging up laundry.

That rascal Qing Xuan was always wandering around, so that was nothing new. Itachi should have had a mission today, but what about Sasuke? Shouldn't he be crawling around the courtyard right now, then running up to shout "Daddy"?

"You're back?"

Mikoto wiped her hands on her waist and smiled at Fugaku. "Wait a moment. I'll get lunch ready right away."

"Where's Sasuke?"

As soon as Fugaku asked, Mikoto giggled. She remembered how helpless Itachi had looked when two of their clan members dragged him away that morning, and she couldn't help laughing.

That boy could stand to experience a little special treatment now and then.

She'd realized that ever since Qing Xuan arrived, the house had felt far less gloomy.

"Qing Xuan took both Itachi and Sasuke with him! He said he wanted Itachi to teach him how to practice with shuriken."

"Practice?"

Fugaku furrowed his brow. "But didn't Itachi have a mission today?"

"Qing Xuan sent someone to get him excused."

"Absurd!"

Fugaku scolded them, then turned and went inside.

"Get lunch ready. I'm exhausted from this morning's meeting. I'm going to rest for a while..."

In a desolate forest southeast of the Uchiha compound, there was a clearing that had been roughly cleared out. It was Itachi's favorite training ground.

Whenever he had free time, he would practice various ninjutsu and throwing techniques with Shisui.

But now, a group of unwelcome visitors had arrived.

Sasuke gazed curiously at his unfamiliar surroundings with wide eyes. A butterfly flew past, and he happily reached out with his chubby little hands to catch it.

"Waaah! Ya-ya!"

[Uchiha Intermediate Throwing Technique + Itachi's throwing insights + Sharingan coordination and throwing instincts—calculating value—total: 349 Soul Points! Copy and combine?]

Holding the restless Sasuke in his arms, Qing Xuan gave him a swat, then propped up his chin and watched Itachi seriously demonstrate various throwing techniques and their practical applications with a kunai in hand.

Over three hundred points! Itachi really was a genius—even Orochimaru had marveled at him. At only seven years old, he'd already mastered so many techniques?

As Qing Xuan thought this, a gust of wind swept fallen leaves across the open forest.

Itachi, who had been explaining the techniques, and Qing Xuan, who had been smacking Sasuke, both stopped what they were doing. A single tomoe appeared in each of their eyes.

Qing Xuan scooped Sasuke up with his right arm and held him securely, while Itachi gripped his kunai and moved in front of the two of them to shield them.

"Clang!"

Itachi knocked away several shuriken that had flown in without a sound. His eyes instantly locked onto a target, and he vanished from the spot.

A whistle of wind rang out, sharp and piercing, followed by a gust of pressure aimed straight at Qing Xuan.

As the kunai came whistling toward him, Qing Xuan sat there, unmoved as a mountain, still holding Sasuke.

"Crack!"

Transparent ice froze in an instant, forming an unbreakable wall. A cool, elegant figure stood beside Qing Xuan, her slender fingers hooking through the ring at the end of the kunai. She spun it around a few times before holding it horizontally in front of her beautiful, snow-white face.

Her long hair danced in the wind. Haku smiled as she held her kunai and deflected every attack that followed.

A series of fighting sounds then came from deeper in the forest. Before long, three pairs of Sharingan with Three Tomoe appeared in the darkness, and several damaged, bloodstained masks were tossed right in front of Qing Xuan.

Qing Xuan lowered his head slightly, covering Sasuke's eyes with one hand. He looked at the painted faces beneath the bloodstains, a cold smile tugging at his lips.

"If they can't have it, they'll destroy it completely?"

He stood up and handed Sasuke to Itachi, who had returned. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the brilliant blue sky framed by the trees around the clearing.

"Too bad. I'll always be the man you can't have!"

He sighed and ordered, "Burn them all."

The Uchiha jonin didn't say a word. They turned and left.

Not long afterward, a dazzling blaze flashed across a distant barren mountain.

"Who were those people?"

Itachi's brows were tightly furrowed.

He recognized their clothes and masks, but he still couldn't believe it. Why would the Hokage's own assassination squad try to kill him and Qing Xuan?

"They weren't Anbu."

Qing Xuan corrected his unspoken assumption. "More accurately, they were a special organization within Anbu that was no longer under the Hokage's control."

Seeing Itachi's confusion, he explained quietly, "Root was originally Anbu's training division, but after Danzo took it over, it became his personal force. They've done plenty of dirty work, including things like trying to assassinate the Hokage."

"Assassinate the Hokage?"

Itachi was stunned! Could a Konoha shinobi really assassinate the Hokage? What would that make them?

Qing Xuan gave Itachi a sly look from head to toe and smiled in a way that made no sense. "Some people even kill their own families. What's so strange about assassinating a Hokage? Don't be so naive."

He continued, "After the Fourth Hokage died, when the Third Hokage was on his way to the Daimyo's estate, Kakashi was originally involved too. But his conscience got the better of him, and he went to warn the Hokage. That's why the assassination failed."

"What about Danzo?"

Qing Xuan shrugged. "Nothing happened to him. He even went to the Ninja Academy to ask you questions last time, remember?"

Itachi was utterly shaken. It felt as though everything he believed in had been turned upside down.

He stared at Qing Xuan, his eyes filling with confusion. Is this really the kind of thing someone my age is supposed to know?

"Why do you know all this?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

Qing Xuan raised an eyebrow. "My dad works under Danzo. He's a bona fide second-in-command in Root. How could I not know?"

"Hiss—"

Itachi felt completely numb. "Uncle used to do this kind of work? Then why are they trying to kill you?"

Qing Xuan looked at Itachi as if he were an idiot. "Because my dad stopped working there afterward. It really shows how fickle the world is. Root can't be trusted, and Danzo is even less trustworthy!"

[Plot character: Uchiha Itachi has suffered a tremendous shock. Uchiha Itachi's opinion of Danzo has changed. Reward: one Premium Bronze Treasure Chest. Congratulations, host—you have obtained one Intermediate Sculpting Experience Book!]

Damn! Itachi really didn't have anything good on him!

Qing Xuan was at a loss. Ever since he returned to the village, Itachi had been the hardest one to fleece.

He just couldn't understand it. Why the hell was that?

Did he have to keep picking on an honest guy?

As the two talked, they didn't notice the two figures standing beneath the trees in the distance.

"Hey, Tsunade, you have to stay calm until we've investigated everything!"

"Damn it!"

"Hey, Tsunade! Where are you going? Don't do anything rash!"