Namikaze Yoru left the Senju Clan Compound feeling thoroughly satisfied. Before leaving, he even casually used a Fire Style technique to burn the training clothes Nawaki had left hanging outside to ashes.
Consider it a reminder: when it's windy or rainy, you're supposed to bring in your laundry!
Setting aside Nawaki's bewildered reaction, Konoha was already in an uproar.
The events hadn't unfolded quite as Yoru had expected, but the final result was more or less the same. Nearly every Anbu in Konoha had been dispatched to hunt down the audacious "Kaguya Clan" assassin.
Assassinations inside Konoha were exceedingly rare, and the victim's identity made it impossible to handle the matter quietly.
He was the last direct descendant of the Senju Clan: Senju Nawaki.
Even though most of the clan had already split off and assimilated into Konoha, the Senju Clan was one of the two great clans that had been founding shareholders of the village. If anything happened to Nawaki in Konoha, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say the shock would be no less than an earthquake.
With nearly the entire Anbu force mobilized, just as he'd expected, the moment Yoru had been waiting for had finally arrived.
He quietly slipped away from the crowds in an uproar and once again made his way to the outskirts of the secret hideout he'd already reconnoitered several times.
"The Root hideout should be somewhere around here."
Over the past few days, he'd secretly investigated several suspicious locations. This was the one where the most "Anbu" came and went, each with a cold expression and moving in perfect unison. They were practically emotionless machines.
Rather than use a known passage, he infiltrated the hideout directly with Earth Style.
Only after he'd truly made it inside did he realize just how vast the place was. It was practically a Hokage Building turned upside down and embedded underground, with a structure so complex it was hard to gauge its full extent.
Even though Yoru had anticipated something like this, Danzo's Root still left him a little stunned.
It wasn't very far from the Hokage Building. In fact, the two seemed to complement each other, which explained why Danzo always managed to reach the Hokage Building in time whenever anything happened, so he could "discuss important matters" with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
At the center was a bottomless atrium, surrounded by winding passageways that spread out like a beehive, leading to who knew where.
Seeing such a massive structure buried underground for the first time was even more shocking than seeing the Hokage Building. It would have been impossible to build it without the Hokage's approval.
"Heh. Is he living out his Hokage dream down here?"
Time was short, so Yoru picked a direction and began searching. According to the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, Root was practically deserted at the moment.
Perhaps Danzo had taken a group of them to the front lines, and the Anbu had called away quite a few more. For now, only two or three shinobi remained to handle business. Yoru had already tracked all their movements with the Mind's Eye of the Kagura.
He slipped into an empty room without hesitation, but didn't start rummaging around recklessly, in case he triggered some hidden seal or trap.
"Pawn."
[Scan complete. The following unowned items can be pawned:] [ Ding! Scrolls containing intelligence *51... Estimated value: 0] [ Ding! Blank scrolls *21... Estimated value: 0]
"Damn, I've hit a dead end..."
Yoru didn't touch anything in the room. He quietly backed out and continued to the next one.
[ Ding! Scrolls containing personnel files *38... Estimated value: 0] [ Ding! Blank scrolls connected to Explosive Tags *20... Estimated value: 0] [ Ding! Scrolls connected to Seal Techniques *10... Estimated value: 0]
"Damn it, that old bastard Danzo really is rotten to the core. He's laid out so many traps, mixing the real with the fake."
Looking at the messages from the system, Yoru couldn't help cursing under his breath. He'd expected Root to be full of traps, but this level of underhandedness was truly unusual.
Afraid the commotion might die down and Root shinobi return, Yoru decided he couldn't afford to waste any more time. He would have to take a risk and head deeper into Root.
At the lowest level, one Root shinobi was posted in plain sight and another was hidden. Without the Mind's Eye of the Kagura, they would have been extremely difficult to detect. This had to be the Core Area—perhaps Danzo's office.
Their positions covered each other, making a direct assault unwise. Yoru decided to try another approach and went to the room guarded by the other Root shinobi.
Using the Transformation Technique, he took on the appearance of one of the Root shinobi he'd seen downstairs. Then, pretending to be in a wretched state, he rushed into the room and said urgently,
"Something's wrong! An intruder has infiltrated the base!"
The Root shinobi handling the documents reacted quickly. He immediately stood up to check what was happening.
Yoru took the opportunity to approach. The Root shinobi was about to scold him for breaking protocol.
But Yoru clamped a hand over his mouth and drove a sharp Bone Spike through his heart and lungs. Blood gushed out as the man's life ebbed away.
He must have been some kind of low-ranking officer, but years of clerical work had dulled his instincts, leaving him far less alert than before.
"Pawn."
[ Ding! Dying Special Jōnin... Estimated value: 20] [ Ding! Unregistered Ninjutsu *32... Estimated value: 5 per item] [ Ding! Unregistered Advanced Ninjutsu *1... Estimated value: 10]
"Pawn the Ninjutsu."
[Current Pawn Points: 2060]
"Not bad. But it looks like the good stuff is probably further down."
Yoru didn't pawn the Root shinobi, who had passed out from blood loss. Instead, he hoisted the man up, changed his appearance once more, and helped carry him toward the bottom level.
Before he could get close, the Root shinobi on guard spotted him. Seeing Yoru carrying someone, he immediately grew wary.
"Who are you? Show me your authorization!"
"It's me."
Yoru didn't panic. Instead, he shouted back, "An enemy infiltrated Konoha! The base has been compromised! We need to save the wounded!"
The other man wasn't moved in the slightest. He remained coldly insistent on seeing the authorization and stopped Yoru from approaching. It was a typical Root response, like dealing with an emotionless machine.
Yoru suddenly shoved the wounded man forward with all his strength. Even the indifferent Root shinobi was caught off guard and instinctively caught his blood-soaked comrade.
At the same moment, while the man's view was blocked, Yoru lunged forward. The distance between the three of them closed in an instant.
The other Root shinobi, hidden in the shadows, noticed something was wrong first. He leapt out without warning, drew the short blade on his back, and slashed at the back of Yoru's neck with a fierce gust of wind.
Yoru seemed not to notice and took the blow head-on.
The blade ripped through his clothes with ease. At the same time, the shinobi who'd leapt from the shadows sensed that something was wrong.
The blade in his hand didn't feel as though it had struck anything solid, and the blood he'd expected to spray from Yoru's neck never appeared.
The "Yoru" who had been struck dissolved in an instant, turning into a pool of water that splashed across the ground.
The real Yoru had already silently risen from beneath the damp earth, like a ghost. His Hand Seals were complete, and cold words slipped from his lips like a whisper from the abyss:
"Lightning Style: Earth Running."
A blinding flash of electricity lit up the area. It surged along the water splashed across the ground and instantly wrapped around the bodies of all three Root shinobi.
The intense paralysis and shock left them unable even to groan. They lost consciousness completely and collapsed to the ground.
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