Danzo's Invitation

"Clap, clap, clap..."

A round of applause drifted over from nearby, and Hane felt a jolt of alarm.

He turned to look, and he didn't know when a man had appeared standing under a tree to the side. The man wore a white kimono, his right eye was wrapped in bandages, a cross-shaped scar marked his chin, and he leaned on a cane.

"Clean and decisive."

"You didn't show the slightest hesitation when killing them."

"Yakushi Hane, you truly are a born shinobi."

Having witnessed Hane swiftly counter-kill the two Root chunin, the man who had suddenly appeared remained expressionless, though his tone sounded like praise.

Shimura Danzo!!

Seeing this man appear, Hane's pupils instantly constricted.

"A truly spectacular battle..."

"Even though I already held you in high regard, I didn't expect that I had still underestimated your abilities."

Standing nearby, Danzo offered his praise with a faint, peaceful smile, as if the two men lying dead before him were not his subordinates, but merely useless chess pieces.

If one didn't know his true colors, an ordinary person might truly mistake him for a benevolent elder. However, having read the original story, Hane could easily discern a strong sense of possessiveness and ambition in his eyes.

This is trouble... I didn't expect Danzo to come in person.

Although his expression remained unchanged, Hane's heart was churning with turbulent waves.

The aura radiating from Danzo made it clear that this was a Kage-level figure.

While he might not be at the pinnacle of the Kage level, his strength far exceeded that of any jonin.

Even though he still had other trump cards, Hane—whose chakra level had only just broken through to the chunin tier—felt no confidence at all facing Danzo.

"Yakushi Hane, come join my 'Root.' You will definitely be able to achieve more growth there than in any other department."

Danzo looked at Hane and got straight to the point, stating his intentions. "My organization is lacking a genius shinobi like you, someone who combines combat and medical skills."

After years of development and expansion, Danzo's Root organization had gradually absorbed various experts from Konoha. Shinobi from secret-technique clans like the Aburame Clan and the Yamanaka Clan were all present within Root.

Danzo even intended to infiltrate the Uchiha Clan, Konoha's greatest prestigious family, in a bid to get his hands on the power of the Sharingan.

Yesterday, after seeing the monstrous talent Hane displayed during his graduation exam and his ability to defeat Uchiha Shisui, Danzo had acted like a vicious shark catching the scent of blood, setting his sights directly on this promising young genius.

"I am very sorry, Lord Danzo."

"I am currently on my way to meet the Third Hokage."

Facing the invitation Danzo had extended, Hane did not explicitly refuse.

But for someone like Danzo, who constantly had "everything for the sake of Konoha" on his lips while carrying out the darkness in his own heart, Hane felt absolutely no goodwill.

In the original story, when Danzo used his self-sealing technique with the intention of taking Sasuke down with him, many seemed to feel that the character had been redeemed. Hane, however, did not think so.

As the saying goes, Konoha would have been fine if not for Danzo destroying the village—that sentiment certainly didn't come from nowhere.

For a person like Danzo, even if his starting point was truly for the sake of Konoha, the sheer number of dirty methods he employed and the countless innocent people who became his test subjects and sacrifices were unforgivable.

Even Nagato and Yahiko, who had once yearned for peace, were pushed into the abyss because Danzo destroyed their hopes for his own selfish ends.

As partners who had been on the same team since their youth, Danzo had even been willing to send people to stage a coup and assassinate the Third Hokage for the sake of his own ambition.

Could such a person, and such deeds, be washed clean with a single phrase about doing it for Konoha?

No matter how glorious his stated goals might be, his essence remained that of a despicable villain whose primary methods were malicious. That was Hane's assessment of Danzo.

Although Hane never considered himself a good person, he had always loathed people like Danzo—those who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals while still maintaining a high-sounding facade.

"Heh, don't be in such a hurry to refuse."

Seeing that Hane had not accepted his invitation, Danzo did not grow angry; instead, he smiled and said, "You must be the child adopted by Yakushi Nonō, right?"

"One can tell from your exquisite medical ninjutsu that you have fully inherited and even surpassed her talent for medical arts."

"But you might not know that your foster mother, Nonō, was also a shinobi who once served our 'Root'."

"She was the most outstanding intelligence and medical shinobi under my command, and she was once the captain of Konoha's Medical Corps."

Before Danzo could finish his sentence, Hane's amber eyes narrowed slightly.

He was, of course, aware of Yakushi Nonō's past, but Hane did not know why Danzo was bringing this up now.

Hane carefully observed the man known as the 'Darkness of the Shinobi World,' trying to glean something from his expression.

"Looking at you... you don't seem surprised by what I've said?"

Mentioning Yakushi Nonō's past and seeing that Hane's expression did not change as he had expected, the gaze in Danzo's exposed left eye grew a shade more sinister.

"But it doesn't matter. I believe we will certainly have the opportunity to cooperate in the future."

However, Danzo's face quickly broke into a smile again. "I will be waiting for you in 'Root,' because..."

"I can tell from your eyes that we are the same kind of person."

"Hehehehe..."

After leaving behind a trail of gloomy laughter, Danzo turned and walked away right in front of Yu.

"Take these two pieces of trash with you as well..."

"Root has no need for such useless waste that couldn't even handle a brat who just graduated from the Ninja Academy."

As he passed the corpses of the two Root chunin, Danzo spoke his order with indifference.

Two other Root ninjas immediately flashed into view from both sides of the woods, hoisted the bodies of the ninjas Yu had killed with his Chakra Scalpel onto their backs, and then vanished using Body Flicker.

Am I... the same kind of person as Danzo?

Quietly gazing at Danzo's retreating back, Yu chewed over the words he had just spoken, a sneer of disdain curling the corners of his lips.

It was common knowledge that the world of Naruto, due to war and slaughter, had birthed many troubled youths with fractured souls who were prone to walking down the wrong path.

Take Gaara, Kimimaro, or Yakushi Kabuto, for example; each of them was a brilliant, talented ninja, yet they were also troubled individuals plagued by pain, loneliness, confusion, and bewilderment.

If Yu were not a transmigrator who already possessed his own established worldview, he might very well have been led down a path of no return after some enticement and brainwashing by the likes of Danzo or Orochimaru.

But unfortunately for them, in this world, aside from those he cherished, Yu would never be swayed by the words of others.