Deep within an underground base in Konoha, cold and damp, where sunlight never reached.
This was the headquarters of Root.
An old man with bandages wrapped around his face, leaving only one eye exposed, sat quietly in the seat of honor. He was the dark side of Konoha, a shinobi who would stop at nothing to protect the village: Shimura Danzō.
A Root shinobi wearing a pure-white animal mask, with no identifying marks on his person, knelt before him on one knee. In a flat, emotionless voice, he reported on the recently concluded Chunin Ninja Exams preliminaries.
From Ling Xuan's flawless written exam, which could have passed for an assessment report, to his calm, efficient command and slaughter in the Forest of Death, and finally to the recording of his battle, in which he crushed Sunagakure's elite in a manner no one could understand.
Each piece of intelligence made the air in the chamber colder and more oppressive.
"That is the full report on Genin Ling Xuan." Having finished, the Root shinobi bowed his head and waited for his master's orders.
Danzo said nothing. He simply studied the file in his hand with the eye not covered by bandages.
It contained only a few lines.
[Ling Xuan, male, parents unknown, orphan who survived the Nine-Tails' rampage. No record of a Kekkei Genkai. Raised at Konoha Orphanage as a child, with unremarkable performance. After entering the Ninja Academy at age six, began to display extraordinary learning and analytical abilities...]
"An orphan... no background..." Danzo tapped the armrest lightly with his fingers, the steady rhythm of the knocks filling the room.
To Danzo, a shinobi's strength was not what made him frightening. What was frightening was strength that could not be controlled.
The Uchiha Clan possessed powerful Kekkei Genkai, but their emotions and pride were liabilities that could never be rooted out. The descendants of the Senju Clan inherited immense vitality, but the so-called Will of Fire in their hearts was far too bright and naive.
Yet this boy named Ling Xuan seemed to him like the most perfect uncut jade.
He had no family ties, no bloodline shackles, and his past was a blank page. What he displayed was intelligence and rationality in their purest form—the very qualities needed to become Root's sharpest, most perfect tool.
There were no unnecessary emotions in Ling Xuan's eyes; every action was guided by the optimal solution. His way of acting, indifferent to all feelings and concerned only with results, was practically tailor-made for Root.
"I can't let him keep growing up in the sunlight." Danzo made his decision. "Sarutobi's Will of Fire is too gentle. That insubstantial ideal will only blunt the edge of this divine weapon. Only in the soil of darkness, taking root in the deepest shadows of Konoha, can he become a true Root—one capable of protecting the village and eliminating every threat!"
"Pass down the order. Raise Ling Xuan's surveillance level to Class A. I want to know everything he does over the next month, everyone he meets, every word he says, even every fluctuation in his chakra."
"Also, start drawing up a plan to guide him. It's time he learned what the true darkness and will of Konoha are."
"Yes!" The Root shinobi replied respectfully. Then he vanished in a flash, as if melting into the darkness.
Silence once more filled the chamber. Only the light in Danzo's single eye remained, greedy and feverish, like that of a man who had discovered a priceless treasure.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office.
"Yes, Third." Kakashi's voice still held a trace of irrepressible shock.
"I confirmed it repeatedly with my Sharingan. Ling Xuan wasn't using genjutsu in the fight. It was an application of chakra nature transformation so advanced that I couldn't begin to understand it. His fighting style is already starting to break away from our existing system of ninjutsu."
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell into a long silence. Better than anyone, he knew what it meant for a stable village when a genius could break the existing rules and even attempt to create new ones.
Ling Xuan was a divine sword capable of opening up the future, but he might also become a double-edged blade that could overturn everything.
"Kakashi." Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone turned grave. "My mission for you hasn't changed. Over the next month, do everything you can to bind him tightly to the village and his comrades."
"At the same time, I'll have Jiraiya speak with him."
"Lord Jiraiya?" Kakashi was startled.
"Yes." Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded. "Orochimaru has already set his sights on him. This is no small matter. Jiraiya knows Orochimaru better than anyone and can offer protection when necessary. Besides..."
"Perhaps only someone like Jiraiya—a sage who has traveled the world and seen countless wonders—can truly understand and guide a seeker like Ling Xuan."
"I understand." Kakashi answered solemnly.
As currents swirled beneath the surface among Konoha's leaders over one boy, Ling Xuan, at the center of the storm, had already returned to his humble room at the orphanage.
He calmly turned down Naruto's invitation to celebrate over ramen, ignored the complicated look Sasuke sent his way, and devoted himself entirely to planning for the future.
The preliminaries had yielded a great deal.
Not only had he gathered combat data on every opponent worth watching, he had also tested his initial application of the new theory of the "Annihilation Field" in his battle with Temari.
"The Annihilation Field is still at its most primitive, version 1.0. It can only defend passively, and its energy consumption is enormous."
Ling Xuan's main body sat cross-legged as the Eye of Truth rapidly reviewed and optimized his findings.
"There are two directions for optimization. First, reduce energy consumption and improve precision. Second, turn it from defense into offense. If I can compress the Annihilation Field into a single point and release it by throwing or attaching it to something... it will become a rule-level attack that can ignore all defenses."
For him, this month was a golden opportunity for training and research.
Ling Xuan created five Shadow Clones again, assigning each one an even more precise and advanced task.
These included, but were not limited to, figuring out how Gaara achieved absolute defense, reverse-engineering the Eight Inner Gates, gathering and analyzing intelligence, and developing optimal battle plans.
Besides continuing to improve the Domain of Silence, he also needed to design a defensive Sealing Jutsu that could protect against attacks on the soul. This was to prepare for Orochimaru, as well as even stranger forms of mental attack that might appear in the future.
Ling Xuan's main body, meanwhile, devoted all its energy to the subject that interested him most at present.
He took a faintly glowing scroll from his ninja pouch. It recorded a technique that was incomplete, yet possessed boundless charm.
The ultimate Space-Time Ninjutsu, invented by the Second, Tobirama Senju—
the Flying Thunder God Technique!
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