Danzo's Misjudgment

Root Base.

This place never saw the light of day year-round. The air was thick with the smell of damp and mold. Heavy stone walls cut off the clamor of the surface, and also cut off that suffocating Nine-Tails chakra.

Danzo Shimura sat in the chair that symbolized power, his hand gripping the cane that had snapped in two.

His lone eye flickered in the candlelight, shifting with an uncertain gleam.

"You're saying... the Uchiha Clan Compound is empty?"

Danzo's voice was low, carrying a suppressed rage.

The Root captain kneeling before him buried his head even lower.

"Y-yes. We searched every house, every street. Aside from a few stray cats, there wasn't a single person. Even the elderly and children who usually never go out were gone."

Danzo shot to his feet.

He paced back and forth in the cramped room, that lone eye darting rapidly.

Empty.

Several hundred members of the entire clan had suddenly vanished from the face of the earth right before the Nine-Tails appeared.

What did that mean?

It meant this was a premeditated operation!

"They must have known long ago that the Nine-Tails would come out." Danzo stopped, his gaze turning incomparably cold. "They may even have... released the Nine-Tails themselves!"

In his logic, only the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan could control the Nine-Tails. That was exactly what Madara had done back then.

Now, the Uchiha Clan had emptied the compound. They must have done it to avoid being accidentally wounded by the Nine-Tails, while also lying in wait in the dark for the right moment.

Waiting for what moment?

Waiting for the Hokage's faction and the Nine-Tails to wear each other down!

"That fool Hiruzen is definitely still fighting with his life on the front lines." Danzo let out a cold laugh. "He has no idea that the real enemy isn't the Nine-Tails, but the Uchiha hiding behind him!"

"Lord Danzo, then we..." the Root captain asked cautiously. "Should we go support the front line?"

"Support?"

Danzo snapped his head back, his gaze as if he were looking at an idiot.

"Going to support them now would be exposing our backs to the Uchiha! Once we get entangled with the Nine-Tails on the front line, the Uchiha will come charging out from behind and wipe us all out!"

He sat back down in the chair and slammed his palm hard on the armrest.

"Pass down my order!"

"All Root members are to contract the defensive line and defend the base entrance to the death! Activate level-one combat readiness!"

"Without my order, no one is allowed to leave the base by even half a step! We must preserve the spark and guard against the Uchiha's coup!"

"Yes!"

The Root ninja left to carry out the order.

Danzo looked at the empty room, the corner of his mouth curling into a cold smile of someone who thought he had seen through everything.

"Fugaku, you want to play the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind? What a pity. This old eagle won't step into the game so easily."

At the same time, above ground.

The Hidden Leaf Village had already turned into a sea of flames.

"Hurry! This way!"

Uchiha Tekka charged out of a burning house with an old man whose head was covered in blood on his back. Several holes had already been burned through his black combat uniform, and his face was smeared with soot and blood.

"Cough, cough... thank you... thank you, Lord ninja..."

The old man lay on Tekka's back and thanked him weakly.

Tekka put the old man on a stretcher and roughly tossed a medical kit to the nurse beside him.

"Cut the crap! Treat him!"

With that, he turned and was about to charge back into the fire.

"Um..."

A woman holding a child tugged at his sleeve. Her eyes were filled with fear, but also a trace of confusion.

"Aren't you... bad people? Everyone says the Uchiha are an evil clan..."

Tekka froze for a moment.

He looked at the woman, then at the surrounding villagers, who were terrified yet wore expressions of gratitude.

On ordinary days, whenever these people saw the fan crest of the Police Force, they either hid far away or pointed and whispered behind their backs.

"Bad people?"

Tekka wiped the blood off his face, revealing a smile uglier than crying.

"I really am no good man. But I am the Hidden Leaf Police Force!"

He shook off the woman's hand and drew the short blade from his back.

"Protecting the village is my duty! Whoever dares block the way, whether it's the Nine-Tails or anything else, I'll cut them down!"

With a furious roar, he charged once more into the ruins that could collapse at any moment.

More and more villagers saw this scene.

They saw those Uchiha clansmen who were usually arrogant and cold now using their flesh and blood to stand before the Nine-Tails.

They used Earth Release to build defensive lines, Fire Release to clear roadblocks, and their bodies to block flying rubble for civilians.

No complaints, no running away.

Only silent sacrifice.

Below Hokage Rock.

"Adamantine Staff!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a violent shout, and the iron staff in his hand suddenly lengthened, slamming hard into the descending claw of the Nine-Tails.

Boom!

The immense force instantly shattered the rock beneath his feet. The old man known as the "Shinobi Hero" was already panting heavily now, drenched in sweat.

He was old, after all.

"Hiruzen! This won't work!" The iron staff transformed from Enma rang out with an anxious voice. "The Nine-Tails is too strong. We need support!"

The Third Hokage gritted his teeth and looked around.

Minato had gone off somewhere to divert the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb.

Jiraiya and Tsunade were both outside the village.

At this moment, the only ones he could rely on were...

He saw the flank.

There, a purple flame barrier had risen. It was the Uchiha Clan desperately blocking the Nine-Tails' movement.

"Uchiha..." The Third's eyes were complicated.

He had always guarded against this clan, but he had never expected that at the most critical moment, they would be the ones fighting with their lives.

But what about the other force?

"Where is Root?!"

The Third grabbed an Anbu beside him and roared.

"Where the hell did that bastard Danzo go?! He still won't come out at a time like this?!"

That Anbu removed his mask, revealing a pale face.

"Lord Hokage... we can't contact Advisor Danzo..."

"Information came in just now... Root Base has been completely sealed off."

"Sealed off?" The Third froze. "Why?"

"Supposedly... Advisor Danzo ordered them to guard against an Uchiha coup. He demanded that Root defend the base to the death and preserve their strength."

Crack!

The Adamantine Staff in the Third's hand smashed hard into the ground, gouging out a deep crater.

"Idiot!!"

The old man's beard was trembling.

He looked at the Uchiha clansmen in the distance, struggling beneath the Nine-Tails' feet like ants, yet still not retreating a single step.

Then he looked toward the direction of Root Base. It was deathly still over there, like a massive grave.

"At a time like this... still playing internal power games..."

For the first time, the Third felt deep disappointment toward this old friend who had fought alongside him for a lifetime.

Even disgust.

At the very front line of the battlefield.

Uchiha Fugaku stood within the ribs of Susanoo.

The green skeleton that had originally seemed indestructible was now covered in cracks.

"Pfft!"

One of the Nine-Tails' tails swept across and slammed hard into the skeleton.

Fugaku suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, his entire body sliding back more than ten meters and plowing two deep trenches into the ground.

"Clan head!"

Several clansmen wanted to rush over.

"Don't come over! Hold the line!"

Fugaku wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood straight once more. His Mangekyo Sharingan spun wildly, and his back, which had been somewhat hunched, now stood tall like a pine.

"The village is behind us! Not one step back!"

On a high tower not far away.

Uchiha Xuanshi quietly watched this scene.

His sensory ability covered the entire battlefield, so naturally, he also sensed what was happening over at Root.

Or rather... the lack of anything happening.

"Heh."

Xuanshi let out a cold laugh.

He turned to Shisui beside him and said, "Look. This is the Hidden Leaf's 'Root.'"

"When the leaves are burning, the roots hide in the soil, fantasizing about coming out to absorb nutrients after the fire is over."

Shisui clenched his fists, his eyes filled with anger.

"Lord Danzo... how could he..."

"From today on, the roots of this tree are rotten."

Xuanshi patted Shisui on the shoulder.

"But that's just fine."

He raised his head and looked at the Nine-Tails, which was condensing a second Tailed Beast Bomb.

That black ball of energy was even larger and more terrifying than before.

The Nine-Tails seemed to have grown tired of these insects blocking its way and was preparing to clear the field in one strike.

And directly opposite it.

The chakra of three hundred Uchiha clansmen, under Xuanshi's guidance, had finally completed synchronization.

A vast ocular power so immense it made one shudder gathered above the battlefield.

Xuanshi raised the ninja blade in his hand high, the tip pointing straight at the sky.

"Danzo hid away and handed the stage to us."

"In that case..."

Xuanshi's voice spread through chakra into the mind of every clansman.

"Tonight's glory will be ours, the Uchiha's... all of it!"

"Raise the formation!"