Danzō's Pawn, Classroom Rules

Root Headquarters.

Twelve meters underground, there were no windows and no lights. The only source of illumination was an oil lamp on the table, its flame swaying from side to side in the airflow from the ventilation duct.

Fugaku Uchiha sat across from Danzō.

He had been there for less than three minutes. He had not touched his tea or said a word. His black eyes quietly watched Danzō, waiting for him to speak first.

Danzō was in no hurry. Leaning on a newly replaced cane—Tsunade had snapped yesterday's one in half, so he had another made today—he slowly pushed a dossier to the center of the table.

"Take a look."

Fugaku did not reach for it.

"What is it?"

"A preliminary assessment report on Nawaki Senju's combat strength after awakening Wood Release." Danzō's single eye was half-lit, half-shadowed beneath the oil lamp. "Three days ago, on the Land of Rain front, he used Wood Release to instantly kill three Sand Village chunin. The night he returned to the village, he nailed four Anbu to a wall with one kick. Yesterday—"

He paused.

"He set up a barrier beneath the Senju Clan Compound. One of my men touched it, got two ribs broken, and was thrown back out."

Fugaku's expression did not change.

But his fingers twitched beneath the table, where it was hard to see.

Danzō saw it.

"Fugaku, you're a smart man." Danzō pushed the teacup toward him. "You understand better than anyone what Wood Release represents. The First Hokage used it to build the village and suppress Madara Uchiha. Now, that power has returned in the body of a twelve-year-old child."

Fugaku did not take the teacup. His tone remained calm. "A Senju awakening Wood Release is the Senju Clan's business. What does it have to do with the Uchiha?"

"Of course it has something to do with you."

Danzō pulled another sheet from beneath the dossier and placed it on the table.

It was a draft proposal for restructuring Konoha's police force.

Fugaku's gaze finally fell on the paper.

"This is—"

"The Third Hokage is considering reorganizing Konoha's police forces." Danzō's voice was low, but every word landed precisely where Fugaku cared most. "Since Tsunade returned to the village, the Senju Clan's influence among the higher-ups has changed. If Nawaki's Wood Release keeps developing, do you think the Third Hokage will continue leaving command of the First Guard Unit in Uchiha hands?"

Fugaku's lips tightened into a line.

The police department and the First Guard Unit were the Uchiha's last remaining strongholds of power in Konoha. After being pushed out of the decision-making ranks during the Second Hokage's era, the Uchiha had spent two generations securing their footing there.

If they lost even that—

"What are you trying to say?" Fugaku's voice dropped half a note.

That was exactly what Danzō had been waiting for.

"Next week's elite joint suppression mission. A bandit stronghold on the Land of Fire border. The Third Hokage has appointed you as team leader, with Nawaki joining the team as a reserve member."

Danzō lifted his own teacup and blew on it.

"The mission is dangerous. Casualties are unavoidable. If the Senju family's only heir were to suffer some accident during the mission—"

"Enough."

Fugaku cut him off.

The sealed room fell silent for several seconds. The oil lamp's flame flickered twice.

Fugaku rose to his feet, picked up the restructuring proposal, folded it, and slipped it into the pocket over his chest.

"I'll take this."

"And what does that mean?"

"I'll join the mission." Fugaku walked to the door, his back to Danzō. "As for everything else—I'll see how things go."

He pushed open the door and left.

Danzō leaned back in his chair, satisfaction glimmering in his single eye.

He did not need Fugaku to agree. It was enough that he had not refused.

...Meanwhile, in another dark alley of Konoha.

A white snake lay sprawled across the iron grate of a sewer, its vertical pupils motionless like a piece of white stone.

Two minutes earlier, it had fully "heard" every word spoken in the sealed room.

The white snake slowly withdrew into the sewer.

In some dark corner, Orochimaru released the hand seal for his summoned sensory technique. He licked his lips.

"Danzō is still using the same old tricks."

But he had no intention of warning Nawaki.

A mouse was most interesting when it was being chased by a cat. If the mouse turned around and ate the cat—that would be even more interesting.

"Nawaki-kun, show me just how far your Wood Release can go."

Orochimaru turned and vanished into the darkness.

...Three days later. Konoha Ninja Academy.

It was Kushina Uzumaki's third official day of school.

She had endured the first two days.

On the first day, someone had placed a pair of scissors and a note on her desk. The note said, "Cut your hair and you won't be so ugly." She stuck the scissors into her desktop, tore up the note, and ate lunch as usual.

On the second day, someone splashed ink on her chair. She changed into another pair of pants, then threw the boy who had splashed the ink three times during afternoon taijutsu class. No one apologized, but no one splashed ink again either.

On the third day.

"Tomato Head's here again!"

A sturdy boy in the front row slouched in his chair, shouting loudly enough for the neighboring classroom to hear. The two lackeys beside him snickered.

Kushina stood at the classroom door, her red hair glaringly bright in the morning light.

She clenched her fists.

Today, it was not just verbal bullying. The sturdy boy was Akiyama Tatsuhiko, the young master of the clan head's family. He was a year older than her and much bigger. He had been leading the harassment for all three days.

"I heard you're from the Uzumaki Clan? The one whose village got wiped out? Tsk, no wonder no one looks after you—"

Kushina stepped into the classroom.

As she passed Akiyama, she did not look at him and headed straight for her seat.

Akiyama stuck out his foot to trip her.

Kushina did not fall. She staggered a step before steadying herself. But the textbooks in her hands fell and scattered across the floor.

Laughter rang through the classroom.

In the back corner, Minato Namikaze set down his pen.

He watched Kushina crouch down to pick up her books and pushed his chair back two inches.

He stood up.

Help her pick them up. Argue with Akiyama. He had rehearsed the words for three days—

Minato's knees had barely left his seat.

Boom!

The classroom door was kicked open from outside by brute force.

The door slammed into the wall and bounced back, only to be steadily caught by a hand and pressed against the wall.

Everyone turned to the doorway at once.

Nawaki wore a ceremonial robe embroidered with the Senju Clan crest. His left hand held the door against the wall, his right hand rested in his pocket, and he leaned crookedly against the doorframe with his head tilted.

He had shot up another stretch over the past three days. Standing in the doorway, he blocked half the light.

The laughter in the classroom was like a throat being seized—it cut off with a snap.

Nawaki did not enter. He simply stood in the doorway, his gaze slowly sweeping from left to right.

"Who was laughing?"

Two words. His voice was not loud, and he even sounded amused. Yet among the twenty-plus students in the classroom, not one could make another sound.

They did not know Nawaki.

But they recognized the clan crest on his ceremonial robe.

Senju.

Even the dullest students had heard Konoha's most sensational news of the past few days—the Senju Clan's only heir had returned, awakened the First Hokage's Wood Release, and nailed four Anbu to the village gate wall.

Akiyama Tatsuhiko's foot was still stretched into the aisle. He had not had time to pull it back.

Nawaki's gaze fell on that foot, then traveled upward along the leg until it reached Akiyama's face.

All arrogance vanished from Akiyama's face at once. He wanted to pull his foot back, but his body seemed unwilling to obey him.

Nawaki walked into the classroom.

None of his steps were fast, but every one made Akiyama's back stiffen another inch.

He stopped in front of Akiyama. Less than half a meter separated them.

"Were you the one who tripped her just now?"

Akiyama opened his mouth.

"I-I didn't—"

Nawaki bent down, bringing his face close to Akiyama's. His smile was incredibly gentle.

"Tell the truth. I have a good temper. I don't hit children."

Akiyama's Adam's apple bobbed. He looked at the lackeys on either side of him, but they had their heads lowered so far they were practically drilling into their desks.

Kushina, who had been crouching on the floor gathering her books, stood up.

"Nawaki, forget it."

"No." Nawaki did not turn around. He stared at Akiyama. "I'm asking you a question."

Akiyama finally pulled his foot back. His lips trembled twice before he squeezed out, "...It was me."

"Mm."

Nawaki straightened and casually slapped Akiyama's desk.

Smack.

The instant his palm touched the desktop, it split open down the middle with a crack. A tender branch as thick as a finger sprang from the fissure, swayed before Akiyama's nose, and bloomed with a white flower at its tip.

The entire class sucked in a breath.

Wood Release. Flowers blooming from a desk.

Akiyama's legs went limp, and he slid from his chair onto the floor, landing on his rear in the aisle.

Nawaki withdrew his hand. The branch and flower instantly withered and shrank back into the crack, and the desk returned to normal.

He turned and walked to Kushina. Bending down, he picked up the last textbook from the floor and placed it in her hands.

"If anyone touches you again, come home and tell me."

Kushina hugged the books to her chest. Her mouth opened, then closed. In the end, she only managed, "What are you doing here?"

"Bringing you your textbook. You forgot it when you left." Nawaki pulled a basic sealing arts textbook from his robe and handed it to her.

He straightened and swept his gaze around the classroom.

"My name is Nawaki Senju. This is Kushina Uzumaki, one of the Senju Clan. If anyone thinks bullying someone from the Senju family is fun—"

He did not finish.

Because he did not need to.

The classroom was so quiet that even the sound of breathing had disappeared.

Nawaki turned and headed for the door.

When he reached the third row, his steps paused.

In the corner by the window on the left side of the classroom sat a black-haired girl in silence. Unlike the others, she had not lowered her head to avoid him. Instead, she turned her face slightly, her pitch-black eyes calmly watching him.

It was not fear, nor was it flattery.

It was scrutiny.

Nawaki met her eyes for half a second.

He smiled, looked away, and walked out of the classroom.

In the corridor outside, Nawaki did not slow his pace as a line silently appeared in his mind's system panel.

[High-compatibility bloodline target detected—Mikoto Uchiha.]

[Issue bond mission?]

Nawaki did not select "Confirm."

He shoved the panel aside, the curve of his lips widening slightly.

No rush.

The bait had already been cast.

Inside the classroom.

Mikoto withdrew her gaze and lowered her head to open her textbook. Her fingers unconsciously flipped two pages, then flipped them back.

She remembered that smile from earlier.

It was unlike the smiles of the men in her clan. It was not false politeness, nor the prelude to a scheme.

It was like—a hunter seeing prey.

Yet it did not disgust her.

Mikoto frowned and closed her textbook.

In the back corner, Minato slowly sat back down.

His knees had never fully straightened.

From beginning to end, he had not even made it to the middle of the classroom.