On the other side, beneath Konoha,
A steel tower stood firm, suspended above a bottomless ravine and supported by countless thick iron chains.
This was Root, deep beneath Konoha. A plant's roots lay hidden underground, just as this steel tower had been built below ground.
At that moment, inside an office reserved for Root's higher-ups in the steel tower, two figures stood before a floor-to-ceiling window, looking down into the pitch-black darkness outside.
One of them held a classified scroll and wore a hood and sunglasses, giving him a somewhat non-mainstream look. He was Ryoma Aburame, one of Root's Core Members.
The scroll in Ryoma's hands was identical to the report Shio Nara had prepared on Sora Uchiha.
Standing before Ryoma Aburame was a man in his fifties or sixties with spiky black hair. His right eye and arm were wrapped in bandages.
This man was the Root Leader, hailed as the "Darkness of the Shinobi World."
—Shimura Danzō.
"Sora Uchiha, of Kagami Uchiha's line, is exceptionally talented and hailed as the most gifted Uchiha in thirty years.
"He knows many unusual ninjutsu techniques and may possess All-Attribute Chakra. He has also developed his own style in the Way of Summoning. His Sharingan has yet to awaken.
"Yesterday, he took first place in the Chunin Ninja Exams by an overwhelming margin."
Ryoma Aburame quietly read the information about Sora Uchiha from the classified scroll, his sharp gaze fixed on the man standing with his back to him.
"Lord Danzō, are we really going to bring Sora Uchiha into Root?"
Danzō gazed pensively into the darkness beyond the window.
"Ryoma, what do you think of Root's strength?"
Ryoma Aburame was taken aback, unsure why Danzō had suddenly asked. After a moment's thought, he lowered his hood slightly. In the dim light, a few tiny insects could just be seen crawling beneath his sunglasses.
"At present, Root has eighty people, ten more than Anbu."
"And their strength?"
"Ten Jonin. The rest are all Chunin."
Danzō gave a derisive chuckle, a trace of gloom in his laughter. "What about our elite combat power?"
Elite combat power meant fighters at the level of an Elite Jonin.
Ryoma Aburame hesitated for a moment. "Two, Lord Danzō: you, and... Orochimaru, who does as he pleases."
"Two. Yes... two." Danzō sighed. "At a glance, Root seems a little stronger than Anbu, but we're far behind in high-end combat power. Anbu has more than twice as many Elite Jonin as we do.
"What's more, we lack someone capable of turning the tide of battle—someone at least on Minato Namikaze's level."
Root's biggest problem wasn't its numbers or its intelligence network. It was the lack of top-tier fighters.
Root had only been developing for a few years, between the Second and Third Shinobi Wars. That was a short time compared with a force like Anbu, which had been around for decades. Root simply lacked the same foundation.
Its rapid growth in such a short time meant it had many shortcomings, and the lack of powerful fighters was the most pressing.
Over the years, Danzō had tried to recruit powerful people, but Konoha's clans had no spirit of sacrifice. Especially in recent years, they had all treated their own disciples like treasures and refused to let him recruit them.
The only clan that had agreed was the Hyuga Clan.
But the Hyuga Clan had a serious problem: the Caged Bird Seal. The clan was divided into the Main Family and the Branch Family, and every member of the Branch Family was branded with the Caged Bird Seal.
That meant no matter how talented or exceptional a member of the Branch Family was, the Main Family still controlled them.
A Branch Family genius who appeared only once in decades might ultimately be assigned a mundane role by the Main Family, devoting everything to them without ever achieving anything.
And the people the Hyuga Clan could offer Root were naturally Branch Family Disciples. Danzō simply couldn't accept people he couldn't control.
Ryoma Aburame fell silent. At last, he understood what Danzō meant.
Sora Uchiha, a genius the Uchiha Clan saw only once in thirty years—someone like him could influence the balance of power in Konoha.
Danzō wanted Sora Uchiha under his command, as his right-hand man.
After a moment's hesitation, Ryoma Aburame asked, "Lord Danzō, do you think the Uchiha Clan will hand Sora Uchiha over to us?"
Danzō gave a soft laugh. "If it were anyone else, that old fox Fugaku would certainly refuse. But Sora Uchiha is Kagami's grandson. His branch doesn't get along with Fugaku Uchiha, and they won't resist us much." He paused, a strange smile on his face.
"Besides, anyone with eyes can see that Hiruzen is suppressing the Uchiha. If Sora Uchiha is smart, he'll understand that joining either Anbu or Root is the only way to get the best opportunities."
Ryoma Aburame fell silent for a moment, then pushed up his sunglasses. A deep, shadowy gleam flashed across them.
"Lord Danzō, under ordinary circumstances, that's true. Joining Anbu or Root would give Sora Uchiha room to grow—provided the Uchiha aren't plotting a rebellion."
"A rebellion?" Danzō echoed with a mocking laugh. "Would they dare?!" His voice abruptly rose several pitches. "If the Uchiha rebel, they'll only bring about their own destruction!"
Ryoma Aburame opened his mouth, then said nothing. He thought so too. Perhaps he had been overthinking it.
Silence—
The room fell quiet.
After a long while, Danzō narrowed his eyes slightly, looking thoughtful.
"Still, what you said is a possibility."
"Then what should we do?"
"Tomorrow, come with me to visit Momosuke Uchiha. We can't afford to delay the cultivation of talent."
"And... what if Momosuke refuses?" Ryoma Aburame asked slowly.
"Refuses? Then we destroy him." Danzō spoke calmly, his expression unchanged, as if destroying Sora Uchiha were no more than stepping downstairs to take out the trash.
If Sora Uchiha couldn't be brought under his control, Danzō would have him assassinated. An Uchiha genius he couldn't control was a liability.
In all of Konoha, Danzō was probably the one who best understood just how terrifying the Uchiha's power could be.
"Only a genius who survives to see the future deserves to be called a genius," he said quietly, his expression shifting beneath narrowed eyes.
Ryoma Aburame nodded without a word. Danzō's gloom left him unmoved. As one of Danzō's trusted men, he knew all too well how extreme he could be.
The title "Darkness of the Shinobi World" was well deserved.
Once, in a certain battle, only one Konoha Ninja survived. Every other Konoha Ninja had died.
Normally, surviving such an ordeal should have allowed that person to enjoy a peaceful life with his family.
But Danzō believed that the survivor might pose a threat simply because he had lived when everyone else had died. So, on the man's very first night back in Konoha, mercenaries recruited by Danzō assassinated him.
And Ryoma Aburame himself had been the one to negotiate with the mercenaries on Danzō's behalf.
He knew Danzō wasn't joking. For Konoha's safety, he would do anything.
If Momosuke Uchiha refused to let Sora Uchiha join Root tomorrow,
then Ryoma would have a new mission immediately.
Within a month, the mercenaries would arrive as promised to assassinate the Uchiha genius.
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