Danzo Has His Sights on Me? Old Dog, You Must Be Tired of Living

Sen had been released by the old Third.

He descended the long stairs of the Hokage Building step by heavy step.

The sun was nearly setting, and the last rays of light stretched his shadow long behind him.

His face appeared calm, but the faded old clothes on his back had already been thoroughly soaked with cold sweat.

Every word he had spoken in the office had felt like dancing on a blade's edge.

The old Third's seemingly clouded eyes were far too sharp.

Sen had no doubt that if he had revealed even the slightest flaw, what awaited him would not be "protection."

It would be round-the-clock personal "care" from the Hokage's ANBU.

How was that any different from prison?

"Good thing I managed to fool him for now."

Sen let out a long breath, and the weight in his heart finally lifted.

He stepped out through the imposing gates of the Hokage Building, intending to hurry back to the orphanage for the last mouthful of meat soup.

Just as his toe landed on the stone slab at the entrance engraved with the Will of Fire—

An incredibly faint yet bone-chilling gaze, like a venomous snake hidden in the shadows, instantly locked onto the center of his back.

Sen abruptly halted.

The Divine Tree Origin had strengthened his senses far beyond those of ordinary people.

There was not a shred of goodwill in that gaze.

There was only naked, spine-chilling greed and possessiveness.

Like a hungry butcher sizing up a prime cut of pork belly.

"Tch. Trouble really does love to come in groups."

Sen did not turn around and pretended not to notice anything.

He continued onward, leisurely blending into the crowd on the street.

Yet that cold gaze clung to him like a parasite, never once leaving him.

Only after he turned into the secluded alley where the orphanage stood did that feeling of being watched quietly vanish.

Sen stood at the orphanage entrance and looked back at the empty street corner.

A hint of icy killing intent, utterly unfitting for his age, flashed through his formerly lazy eyes.

"Danzo..."

He barely needed to guess to know where that gaze had come from.

In Konoha, the only one who could stare at a Senju orphan like him with such disgusting eyes was Shimura Danzo—the so-called "Pot King," a man willing to do anything for power and nearly obsessed with the First Hokage's cells.

"The old Third had barely let me go, and you already set your sights on me."

"Looks like you've infiltrated the Hokage Building until it's as full of holes as a sieve."

Sen sneered and pushed open the orphanage gates.

Meanwhile.

Deep beneath Konoha Village lay a vast space that never saw daylight.

This was Konoha's dark side—the Root base.

Ghostly green flames burned along the cold stone walls, casting the masked faces in an eerie light.

At the deepest part of the base, within a spacious secret chamber—

Shimura Danzo stood with his cane, silently listening to the ANBU kneeling on one knee before him.

That ANBU wore the exact same mask as the guards outside the Hokage Building.

"...That was everything. Lord Third appears to believe that the child's bloodline awakened only by chance and that his ability is uncontrollable."

In an emotionless tone, the ANBU recounted everything that had happened in the office.

Danzo remained silent for a long time after listening.

His lone remaining eye gleamed with a terrifying light beneath the dim flames.

"Awakened by chance? Uncontrollable?"

Danzo let out a raspy sneer, his voice like sandpaper scraping together.

"Hiruzen, Hiruzen. You really are getting more muddleheaded with age."

"Instantly casting large-scale Wood Release—how could that possibly be explained by the word 'chance'?"

He understood better than anyone how terrifying the First Hokage's cells were.

How great a price had he paid just to transplant a tiny amount of them?

And now, a perfect, living vessel capable of using Wood Release on his own had openly appeared before him!

This was practically a gift from heaven!

"That child..."

Danzo's voice trembled slightly with extreme excitement.

"He isn't some uncontrollable monster. He is the foundation of my, Shimura Danzo's—no, of all Konoha's future!"

"As long as I obtain his body and that perfect Wood Release bloodline, forget a mere Konoha—even unifying the entire shinobi world would no longer be a foolish dream!"

The ANBU kneeling on the ground shuddered faintly.

He could feel the nearly crazed ambition radiating from Lord Danzo.

"Go!"

Danzo suddenly slammed his cane against the floor, producing a dull thud.

"Gather squads A, B, and C. Move at the hour of the boar tonight!"

"I don't care what methods you use—kidnapping or assassination."

"Before dawn, I want that brat called Sen Senju on my operating table!"

Greed like that of a starving wolf erupted from Danzo's lone eye.

"Remember, I want him alive!"

"Yes, Lord Danzo!"

The ANBU ninja accepted the order, his figure instantly dissolving into a cloud of smoke.

The chamber returned to deathly silence.

Only Danzo's increasingly heavy breathing remained, roughened by excitement.

"The First Hokage's power..."

He extended his bandage-wrapped right arm and clenched his hand tightly into a fist.

"Soon, it will be mine!"

The night deepened.

Snores rose and fell throughout the orphanage's communal sleeping quarters.

Ishikawa slept like a dead pig, a glistening trail of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Sen lay quietly on his small wooden bed, his eyes shut and breathing steady.

He looked to be sound asleep, but in truth, his mind was on high alert.

The powerful senses granted by the Divine Tree Origin acted like a flawless three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radar, clearly reflecting every movement around the orphanage in his mind.

The rustling of leaves in the wind.

The footsteps of a wild cat chasing mice across the roof.

And...

Three extremely faint yet bone-chilling sources of chakra.

Under cover of darkness, they were closing in on his room from three different directions like ghosts, without making a sound.

"They're here..."

Sen sneered inwardly.

[Ding! Warning! Three chakra signatures carrying intense hostility have been detected approaching. Threat level: Medium.]

The system's prompt sounded in his mind.

"Three people? Elite ANBU?"

Through his sensory radar, Sen could clearly "see" the three figures lurking outside the window and on the roof.

They moved with agility, landed without a sound, and radiated the killing intent of people steeped in bloodshed for years.

They were obviously the inhuman dead soldiers under Danzo's command.

"Looks like this old dog really is getting desperate."

A cruel curve slowly formed at the corner of Sen's mouth.

He had originally planned to keep developing quietly for a while longer, waiting until he was strong enough before uprooting that old dog Danzo entirely.

He had not expected the other party to be so eager to stick his neck out.

"There's a road to heaven, yet you refuse to take it. Hell has no gate, yet you insist on barging in."

Sen slowly opened his eyes. The laziness had vanished from them, leaving only an icy coldness without a trace of warmth.

"Since you love the darkness so much, tonight I'll grant you eternal sleep."

Outside the window, moonlight flowed like water.

One of the Root ninjas silently pushed open the creaking, battered wooden window.

Like a black cat, he lightly slipped into the room.

The other two infiltrated without a sound through the front door and a hole in the roof.

The three formed a perfect triangular formation, surrounding Sen's bed.

They exchanged glances and simultaneously drew the short blades on their backs, their edges gleaming with a grim, cold light.

They raised them high.

Aiming at the small, thin body "sleeping" on the bed.

Then stabbed down fiercely!

"Danzo?"

A contemptuous murmur sounded in the darkness.

"I didn't provoke you, yet you insist on coming here to die?"