In the Yes-or-No questioning,
Hyuga Yu instinctively chose "or."
That was exactly the answer Root needed.
For shinobi who had devoted themselves to darkness, keeping secrets was far more important than the secrets themselves.
Thus,
"Your assessment has been passed."
The sunglasses-wearing shinobi in a hooded trench coat spoke flatly:
"Hyuga Yu, you will operate as an auxiliary member of Root."
"Remember—"
"We are the 'Root' deeply embedded in the earth, supporting Konoha, the great tree, from the shadows."
"And those of Root have no names and no emotions; no past and no future. Their hearts contain only missions."
"An auxiliary member of Root...?"
Hyuga Yu raised his head in surprise and looked at the Root commander with some confusion before immediately asking:
"Then, what is my mission?"
Hyuga Yu had not joined Root to play ninja games. At his age, he had already missed the best opportunity to be brainwashed into a proper Root shinobi.
Now, he was more like a mercenary, each taking what they needed from the other.
Quite a few shinobi maintained this sort of relationship with Root, such as the Root commander before him, Aburame Ryūma, Orochimaru, and the Wandering Miko, Yakushi Nonō.
He believed Aburame Ryūma knew that as well and understood what Hyuga Yu was seeking at this moment.
Therefore, there was no need to dwell on pleasantries.
Soon, Aburame Ryūma took out an azure scroll from his trench coat and casually tossed it to Hyuga Yu.
"Next, you are to assist your superior, with whom you will communicate through a single line, in carrying out an important S-rank mission."
"You may decide when to depart, but no later than the day after tomorrow. Wait for further notice regarding the mission details. The mission location is the Konoha Medical Unit camp west of Grass Wave Coast."
"Your contact is Shigaraki Tanuki, captain of Team Eight of the Konoha Medical Unit."
"Failure to report within one week will be treated as desertion."
"That is all."
After saying that, Aburame Ryūma's figure abruptly vanished into the darkness.
The fluorescent lamp on the ceiling crackled several times.
Then,
Beep!
The circuit resumed functioning, and the lights in the apartment came back on. The small refrigerator in the corner began humming again.
It was as though everything that had just happened had merely been Hyuga Yu's imagination.
However,
He lowered his head and looked thoughtfully at the extra azure scroll in his hand.
He unrolled the scroll.
A line of handwritten cursive came into view.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade!
It was precisely the Wind Release ninjutsu that would complete the final link in Hyuga Yu's fledgling combat system!
However, Hyuga Yu did not immediately begin studying the ninjutsu from the scroll. Instead, he sat where he was and began to think.
Hyuga Yu had sought two things from Root:
First, the Wind Release ninjutsu mastered by Shimura Danzō.
Second, a deployment order that would allow him to bypass the arrangements of the Hyuga Main Family and choose when to head to the battlefield himself.
Root's response had perfectly resolved both matters.
It had merely done so in a way Hyuga Yu had not anticipated—
An auxiliary member of Root.
Aburame Ryūma's mission notice made that clear.
There was no official document, no mission scroll, no token, and even the instructions had all been delivered verbally. That meant no traces could be left behind, no records could be kept, and no one could find grounds to criticize him.
Hyuga Yu appeared to have spent one million ryō to use his connections to join Root, yet he had always remained outside of Root.
That was extremely dangerous.
However,
Root's attitude was rather interesting.
On the one hand, they did not see Hyuga Yu as a person at all. Even though he had very "sincerely" sought them out on his own initiative, their arrangements treated him as cannon fodder that could be discarded at any time.
Yet on the other hand, the Root commander who had interviewed him, Aburame Ryūma, had subtly hinted something to him through this "assessment"—
Since Hyuga Yu had already become entangled in this incident and found himself in a dangerous situation he could not easily escape,
Then the only way to change that situation was to do the opposite: come into deeper contact with Root,
And continuously draw closer to Root.
Looking at it that way, there seemed to be factions within Root as well?
Hyuga Yu smiled slightly at the thought. My life as a corporate drone in my previous life wasn't completely useless after all.
However,
Hyuga Yu quickly cast those little schemes to the back of his mind.
If factions truly existed within Root, then that faction certainly was not Shimura Danzō's. After all, Root was now less Root than it was Shimura Danzō's private army.
With Danzō's will effectively being Root's will, if that weak faction wanted to change the status quo, it would inevitably continue to contact in secret—and even recruit—shinobi like him who possessed a certain degree of "value."
Hyuga Yu was not smug merely because he possessed a little "value."
He understood very clearly that his "value" had been bestowed by the pair of eyes he had been born with. If he was worthless without those eyes, then the day the weight on the other side of the scale outweighed those eyes,
Would be the day he died.
In the Shinobi World, strength still had the final say!
With that clear and intense conviction,
Hyuga Yu opened the azure scroll in his hand and began reading it ravenously.
During wartime, Konoha beneath the night sky was like a silent beast, while the spy shinobi hidden within it were like lice clinging to that beast and constantly sucking its blood.
One spy shinobi after another moved through streets and alleys under the cover of night, exchanging the latest intelligence through every means capable of transmitting information—in trash bins, on billboards, beneath bridges.
And in the darkness, pairs of eyes opened from the night and silently watched their movements,
Like a mantis stalking a cicada.
Behind the watchers, more pairs of mocking eyes opened again, unaware that the corners of the former's mouths had quietly curled upward.
Silent, invisible intelligence wars erupted, evolved, and advanced amid the stillness!
At last, countless pieces of intelligence were compiled and finally placed upon the desks of decision-makers.
Thus,
At the hour when dawn had yet to break,
Teams of shinobi shot forth like arrows tearing open the night!
At the bottom of Root's lightless underground base,
Shimura Danzō stepped out of the tower with a short staff in hand. His cold gaze swept over the teams of Root shinobi half-kneeling before him like that of a hawk.
Expressionless, he spoke coldly:
"The prey has taken the bait!"
"Then the operation begins!"
Shimura Danzō narrowed his single eye, and a flash of greed passed through it.
"This time, Kirigakure must be taught a lesson in blood!"
Meanwhile,
The faint light of dawn passed through the window and fell into the apartment, where the lights were still on.
Having studied through the night and memorized every part of the ninjutsu training content within the scroll, Hyuga Yu stretched lazily.
Then he pulled a kunai from the table and held it in his palm, focusing intently on it.
Strands of blade-sharp Wind Release Chakra gathered in his palm and quietly entered the kunai.
Bzzzz!
The kunai trembled violently, nearly flying out of his hand.
Just then,
Knock knock!
Urgent knocking sounded from outside the door, followed by a somewhat hurried voice:
"Hyuga Yu, the clan has issued your deployment order!"
Before you continue