Root

Root.

"Night Owl, report the results of your investigations over the past two months."

A short-haired ninja sat in a chair, his eyes lowered as he looked at the half-kneeling ninja below.

"Yes, Captain."

The ANBU wearing an owl mask below hurriedly responded.

"Three kilometers east of the village, the Muto family's second son. According to his neighbors, he's had an excellent sense of direction since childhood and can identify directions without any tools."

"Mm, report that upward. Train him as a scout."

"A traveling merchant from the village mentioned that in the daimyo's capital, a woman named Ito Miyuki can hear faint sounds from far away."

"Report that one too."

"The clerk at the ninja tool shop said..."

Night Owl reported the information he had gathered over the past two months one item at a time.

Because of Danzo's obsession with gathering talent, Root had specifically formed a team to seek out exceptional people in various places.

They gathered and categorized these talented individuals, bringing them into Root for training.

Afterward, they assigned them to different positions based on their abilities.

This was also why Root had such unique strengths in intelligence gathering.

"Someone in the village saw a member of the Hyuga clan who was very good with a bow."

"At the training grounds? I have people watching the training grounds every day. Why haven't I heard any reports about that?"

"That person saw him at night?"

"At night?"

The short-haired ninja's face darkened, his expression turning displeased. "You need to pay more attention to accuracy when gathering intelligence in the future. How could someone see a person shooting arrows at night?"

"Yes." Night Owl lowered his head, then added, "That person said the Hyuga was five hundred meters from the target and still hit it accurately."

The short-haired ninja's brows drew together like mountain peaks. He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger in his heart.

"What's this Hyuga's name?"

"Hyuga..."

Night Owl took out a sheet of paper from his clothes, with quite a few names recorded on it.

"Hyuga Seisen."

"What did you say his name was?"

"Captain, his name is Hyuga Seisen."

The short-haired ninja could no longer contain his fury. He slammed the armrest and sprang to his feet.

His leg shot out with a boom.

Night Owl, caught completely off guard, was kicked flying. He rolled backward across the ground several times before barely coming to a stop.

The pressure knocked the mask from his face, revealing a young visage.

"Captain..."

Night Owl clutched his abdomen, his face filled with shock as he looked at the short-haired ninja in confusion.

"Can't you use your brain when gathering intelligence? Fine, let's say someone saw him shooting arrows at night—but they could also see him hit a target five hundred meters away?"

"I could put up with that, but then you tell me this talent is named Hyuga Seisen."

The short-haired ninja's face was flushed red, veins bulging across his forehead and neck as he roared.

"Do you know how much Lord Danzo and Lord Hokage have smashed recently because of this Hyuga Seisen?"

"Are you trying to get me killed, having me report this talent to Lord Danzo?"

As he spoke, the short-haired ninja saw Night Owl's somewhat aggrieved expression. His temper flared again, and he stepped forward to kick him once more.

"You're acting wronged? I practically have this man's intelligence memorized. He's been messing around with bows since childhood, and his range is at most a dozen meters. Yet you're telling me five hundred meters."

Night Owl was drenched in sweat. He had not expected the department to already have intelligence on this person, and for it to differ so greatly from what he had provided.

Seeing the captain about to step forward again, he hurriedly dropped to his knees and slammed his head heavily against the floor.

"Yes, this subordinate has failed in his duty."

"Go investigate intelligence in the Land of Water from now on."

"Captain..."

Night Owl still wanted to say something, but when he saw the sharp look the short-haired ninja gave him, his heart jolted and he did not dare speak again.

"Yes."

The short-haired man picked up a stack of documents from the desk and headed deeper inside.

After taking several twists and turns, he arrived at a completely empty room.

He bit his thumb, slashed his hand, and rapidly formed hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu."

Rumble!

A door appeared out of thin air on the wall.

He reached out and pulled it open. A thick stench of blood mixed with the smell of medicine rushed at him.

The short-haired man immediately felt nauseated, and it took him quite a while to adapt.

Before him was a long, spiraling staircase descending into unfathomable darkness.

He took a deep breath and hesitated slightly before finally stepping down.

This was Root's underground facility.

Though it was not his first time here, every time he stood before the door, he had to mentally prepare himself before daring to enter.

The staircase was extremely narrow. The stone bricks overhead nearly pressed against his head, while the stone walls on either side only allowed room for one person to pass.

Walking through it naturally produced a suffocating sense of oppression.

The stairs occasionally branched off toward platforms, and from the stairway, those platforms appeared bottomless.

From the depths of the darkness came intermittent wails, screams, and impacts that echoed off the walls without end.

The short-haired man turned a deaf ear to it, keeping his head down as he continued all the way to the bottom.

Only when he stepped onto level ground did he realize that his clothes were already soaked through.

He turned a corner and finally found the figure standing guard outside a room in the middle of the long corridor.

His expression brightened, and he hurried forward.

"Lord Ryoma..."

"Shh! Keep it down!"

Aburame Ryoma cut him off and cautiously looked inside the room.

The short-haired man's gaze followed his.

The lights inside focused on the operating table. A figure with his back to the door was continuously working on the person lying atop it.

Though he could not see the man's face, the long hair cascading down his back and the cold, sinister aura radiating from him made him certain that it was Lord Orochimaru, one of the Three Ninja.

Lord Danzo stood in the shadows to one side, staring fixedly at the operating table. His eyes were wide, the fury on his face nearly tangible, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.

After only a quick glance, the short-haired man did not dare look further and hurriedly lowered his head.

Seeing that the two people in the room had not been disturbed, Aburame Ryoma finally spoke.

"Come with me."

"Yes."

Inside the room.

Drip... drip... drip...

The steady sounds of the instruments operating continuously rang out.

Mixed with them were the occasional sounds of scissors snipping thread and blades slicing through flesh, echoing through the room.

Danzo's eyes repeatedly swept over the empty chains hanging from the walls around the room, his teeth clenched tight.

Several times, he wanted to speak, but seeing Orochimaru's focused expression, he feared disrupting the experiment.

He could only hold back his anger and watch silently, with nothing but the occasional grinding of teeth to be heard.

Time passed bit by bit.

Suddenly, the curves on the instruments began fluctuating wildly, and the warning sounds rapidly accelerated.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Orochimaru hurriedly sped up his movements, but the instruments' warnings grew faster and faster.

Soon, the intermittent warnings became a continuous alarm, and the heartbeat line changed from small ripples into a flat line.

"What a pity."

Orochimaru put down the scalpel, took a clean cloth from the side, and wiped the blood from his hands, his face full of regret.

Seeing Orochimaru stop, Danzo, who had been suppressing himself all this time, finally spoke.

"Orochimaru!"

His gaze was ice-cold, and the knuckles gripping his cane had turned white from the force.

"Why are the chains empty? The test subject was hanging from them..."