Hiruzen Sarutobi left. Before he went, he didn't tell the two advisors that he had transferred his consciousness into Danzo.
It wasn't that he didn't trust them. He simply knew that, under the circumstances, no one would believe anything he said while posing as Danzo.
Hiruzen left the hospital and stopped in the open space by the entrance. He looked up at the glaring sunlight and stood in silence for a long while before speaking.
"What's your name?"
Shiraishi, who had been following Hiruzen, stepped up beside him. "This subordinate's name is Shiraishi."
"Good. Starting today, have the Root ninjas keep watch on the hospital. If anything happens to the Third Hokage, notify me immediately," Hiruzen ordered.
"Yes!" Shiraishi replied, lowering his head.
"Come on. Let's go back," Hiruzen said at last, setting off.
Shiraishi said nothing and followed him.
When the two returned to Root Base, Hiruzen had no memories of Danzo and knew little about the base's layout. He'd initially planned to make up some excuse to wander around and gradually learn his way around.
But Shiraishi, following behind him, took the initiative and led him to the room where Danzo usually handled business.
One of the most confidential rooms in Root Base, it was small and simply furnished, with only a wooden desk, a chair, and a bookcase. There was nothing else.
A number of scrolls lay on the dark brown desk. They contained various reports from Root. Most were still unopened, while a few had been unsealed and were scattered across the tabletop.
Hiruzen's eyes lit up at the sight. He was full of questions about his current predicament. If this really had something to do with Danzo, he thought, he might find some answers among these scrolls.
With that in mind, Hiruzen calmly walked around the desk and sat down. Rather than hurriedly going through the scrolls, he looked at Shiraishi, who was standing in front of the desk.
"Shiraishi, my injuries have left me a little foggy, and I can't remember some things clearly. I'm going to ask you a few questions. You must answer truthfully." Recalling how Danzo usually acted when they met, Hiruzen narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Shiraishi with a composed expression.
"This subordinate will tell you everything I know," Shiraishi replied.
"What's your position in Root?" Hiruzen asked.
"Thanks to your trust, my lord, you promoted me to be your personal guard," Shiraishi replied.
Hiruzen nodded slightly, thinking, A personal guard, eh? That means he must be one of Danzo's trusted men. I may be able to get plenty of secrets out of him.
"How old are you?" Hiruzen continued.
"Sixteen." After taking over Danzo's body, Shiraishi had looked over the identity documents Danzo had given him.
Hiruzen was a little surprised. Anyone who could become Danzo's guard at sixteen had to be exceptionally gifted.
"Take off your mask," Hiruzen continued.
Shiraishi complied, removing his mask and revealing a face that still looked youthful and immature.
Hiruzen studied Shiraishi carefully. A few seconds later, he spoke again. "What ninjutsu have you mastered?"
"This subordinate specializes in the Spirit Transformation Technique," Shiraishi answered, prepared in advance.
The Spirit Transformation Technique!
Hiruzen's eyes flew open. He quickly realized he'd let his surprise show, and hastily composed himself.
The Spirit Transformation Technique was an S-rank ninjutsu, with a bizarre and versatile range of abilities. It was no exaggeration to say it could kill without a trace. Ever since Dan Katō's death, no one in the village had mastered it.
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor, knew very little about the technique.
He had never imagined that Danzo had been hiding such a trump card in Root. What a cunning move!
Thinking this over, Hiruzen regarded Shiraishi with even greater respect, his manner growing more cautious.
"When you entered the underground passage last night, did you notice anything unusual?" Hiruzen stared intently at Shiraishi, watching for the slightest change in his expression.
"When I entered the passage last night, you, the Third Hokage, and Minato Namikaze were all unconscious. I didn't notice anything unusual," Shiraishi replied calmly, betraying nothing.
"You didn't see the Black Mist?" Hiruzen pressed.
"No!" Shiraishi answered firmly.
Hiruzen fell silent at the reply. He stared straight at Shiraishi for several seconds, then sighed softly and continued, "I understand. You may go. Have someone keep a close eye on the Third Hokage."
"Yes!" Shiraishi replied, lowering his head. He turned to leave, but stopped when he reached the closed door.
"What is it? Do you have something else to say?" Hiruzen asked when he saw Shiraishi pause.
Shiraishi turned back to face Hiruzen. "My lord, do you remember? Before you went to your appointment last night, you went to the secret chamber in the restricted area. When you came out, you were holding that Soul Banner."
A thunderclap seemed to go off in Hiruzen's mind. He jumped to his feet and asked urgently, "Where is it?"
Shiraishi looked at Hiruzen with deliberate suspicion. "My lord, have you really forgotten everything? After I entered the passage last night, I found only the three of you unconscious. I didn't find the Soul Banner."
Hiruzen knew he had let himself get carried away. He quickly composed his expression and suppressed his excitement before asking again, "You really didn't find it?"
"No," Shiraishi replied.
Hiruzen took a deep breath. He had a strong premonition that the mysterious banner Shiraishi had mentioned was probably the cause of his current predicament.
"Do you know what that Soul Banner is?" At this point, Hiruzen couldn't concern himself with anything else. He asked urgently.
"My lord, Root found that thing a year ago, and you've kept it in your possession ever since, storing it in the sealed chamber. No one else was allowed inside without your permission. Of all the ninjas who entered the chamber, not one came out alive except you," Shiraishi answered truthfully.
After finishing, Shiraishi looked at Hiruzen with even greater suspicion. "Lord Danzo, have you forgotten?"
"Something happened to my body last night, and I can't remember a lot of things clearly. Go for now. I need to think," Hiruzen said, once again blaming everything on his unconsciousness the previous night.
"Yes," Shiraishi replied. He turned and left the room.
After Shiraishi left, Hiruzen sat back down and turned his attention to the scrolls on the desk. He picked up an opened one and began to read.
As Hiruzen pored over the intelligence, time flew by. Several hours passed before he knew it. He had not only read every scroll on the desk, but had also gone through a large number of scrolls on the bookcase behind him.
When he set down the last scroll, Hiruzen's expression had shifted from surprise to dismay, and finally to numbness.
Quite a few of the reports recorded Danzo's secret schemes, most of which Hiruzen, as Hokage, had known nothing about.
"Danzo! What are you trying to do?" Hiruzen exclaimed, both angry and exasperated.
According to the reports, Danzo had been hiding the truth from him. Under the pretext of training Anbu ninjas, he had secretly trained a large number of unregistered Root recruits.
In Danzo's reports to Hiruzen, these people were all still in training or had died in training accidents.
But in reality, none of them had died. They had instead become Danzo's loyal operatives.
Based on the reports, Hiruzen made a rough estimate. Danzo had secretly expanded his force by at least fifty ninjas.
To put that in perspective, the Anbu under Hiruzen, the Hokage, had only seventy positions.
As for Root, the force Hiruzen had authorized Danzo to command, it was only supposed to have enough positions for one Anbu squad. That meant it could have only seventeen members, including Danzo.
Hiruzen knew Danzo would never be content with recruiting and training only sixteen ninjas. But he had never imagined Danzo would be so audacious. The number of ninjas he had secretly added was already close to the public strength of Anbu.
Well, well, Danzo. What a fine Hokage's advisor!
What was he trying to do?
Start a rebellion?
Before you continue