Danzo's Killing Intent

Danzo's eyes lit up, a sinister smile creeping across his lips. "Just surveillance?"

"Just surveillance." Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at him intently, enunciating every word. "Without my orders, you are absolutely forbidden from provoking them, setting foot in the Uchiha Clan District, or causing any conflict. I want you watching their every move. Report to me immediately if anything unusual happens. Do you understand?"

The smile on Danzo's face faded slightly, but he ultimately gave a cold snort and agreed. "Understood."

He turned and walked out of the office, his hand beneath the bandages clenched tightly into a fist.

He didn't care about Hiruzen Sarutobi's concerns.

After waiting all these years, he had finally gotten a legitimate chance to surround the Uchiha. No matter what Sarutobi thought, this time, he would make the Uchiha disappear from Konoha for good.

Meanwhile, in the clan head's residence within the Uchiha Clan District, Fugaku set down the bounty notice in his hand and looked at Natsu across from him with a helpless smile. "That move of yours has shut Sarutobi up completely. No matter how angry he is, he can't find a single fault with it."

Natsu lifted his teacup and took a sip, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes.

"This is just the appetizer." He raised his gaze toward the window. Beyond the clan district's perimeter, the black figures of Root ninja could already be seen silently setting up their defenses. "Two more days. Once those two days are up, he'll realize that all this surveillance he's deployed is nothing but useless decoration."

The moment Danzo walked out of the Hokage Building, the late autumn night wind swept withered maple leaves into his face, but he didn't so much as blink.

The lone eye beneath his bandages narrowed slightly, filled with the viciousness and killing intent he had suppressed for decades. Like a venomous snake lurking in the dark, he had finally waited for the instant his prey exposed an opening.

He didn't return to his own residence. Instead, he turned straight into a hidden alley behind the side of the Hokage Building, followed a secret passage, and descended dozens of meters underground into Konoha's Root Base.

There were no brightly lit halls here like those in the Hokage Building. Only eerie blue lights embedded in the rock walls cast a deathly chill across the entire corridor.

Root ninja wearing all kinds of animal masks moved silently through the passageways. There was no conversation, no sound of footsteps, and even their breathing had been reduced to the faintest whisper. The whole base was like a precise killing machine, and Danzo was its sole master.

He made his way to the command room at the very deepest part of the base. The moment he pushed open the door, the six Root squad captains waiting inside immediately dropped to one knee. They wore identical black combat uniforms, their masks concealing every expression. In their exposed eyes, there wasn't the slightest trace of emotion a living person should possess—only absolute obedience.

These people were death warriors he had personally trained. In their eyes, there were only his orders, not the so-called Will of Fire, much less Konoha's rules.

"Get up." Danzo walked to the seat of honor and sat down, his hoarse voice carrying undisguised brutality. "Lord Hokage has finally run out of patience with that Uchiha trash."

He raised a hand and tapped the tabletop. The arm beneath his bandages tensed slightly, and the grotesque outline of the Sharingan embedded beneath the cloth was clearly visible.

"Sarutobi has spent his entire life bound hand and foot by that ridiculous Will of Fire. Hesitant, soft-hearted. He clearly saw through the Uchiha's rebellious intentions long ago, yet he still worried about the so-called bigger picture and refused to strike them down."

Danzo sneered, the viciousness in his lone eye nearly overflowing. "But things are different now. He personally ordered Root to surround the Uchiha and not let even a fly out. That's enough."

He leaned forward slightly, his gaze sweeping over the six squad captains before him as he delivered his orders word by word. Every syllable carried bone-piercing coldness.

"Pass down my orders. All Root members are to enter the highest state of alert immediately."

"Double every sentry post around the Uchiha Clan District. Set up three layers of blockade at each of the four entrances and exits. The outer layer will be the combat unit, the middle layer the sensory unit, and the inner layer the barrier unit. Set up sensory barriers even ten meters underground. Don't let a single Uchiha out—not even a rat."

"Maintain watch twenty-four hours a day without interruption. Any fluctuation of chakra within the clan district, any gathering of personnel, any action beyond their usual routine, counts as an anomaly."

"Once an anomaly is discovered, there is no need to report to the Hokage Building and no need to wait for further orders. Immediately activate the encirclement plan and seal the entire Uchiha Clan District so tightly that not a drop of water can pass through."

At that point, his voice abruptly stopped, and a flash of mad killing intent crossed his lone eye.

"Once the encirclement is complete, you may strike immediately. Any Uchiha clansman who resists with a weapon, regardless of age or sex, is to be killed without exception.

"Priority targets—Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Kei, and those elite Jonin in the clan who possess the Three Tomoe Sharingan. Kill them first. Leave no survivors."

The command room fell deathly silent. Only the faint hum of electric current from the cold lights could be heard.

The six squad captains showed no hesitation. They bowed in unison, their voices perfectly synchronized and utterly devoid of emotion. "Yes! We obey Lord Danzo's orders!"

"One more thing." Danzo raised a hand to stop the men who were about to turn away, then added, "Keep a close watch on Naka Shrine. If there is any movement inside, rush in immediately. Bring back every Ninjutsu Scroll, forbidden technique inheritance, and the Sage of Six Paths' stone tablet. Especially the underground secret chamber—dig three feet into the ground if you must, but don't overlook a single thing."

He had waited for this day for far too long.

Ever since the Second Hokage's reign, he had believed that the cursed Uchiha would sooner or later become Konoha's greatest calamity.

For decades, he had watched the Uchiha get pushed aside step by step, forced closer and closer to the cliff's edge, while he laid out his own plans piece by piece.

He had already obtained one of Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan. Now, the Sharingan of the entire Uchiha clan, along with the foundation their family had accumulated over a thousand years, would soon become his for the taking.

He wanted to become Konoha's shadow, using the harshest means to cut away every malignant threat to Konoha. Even if his hands were drenched in blood, even if he had to bear eternal infamy, he would not hesitate.

The squad captains silently withdrew, and the orders spread across the entire Root Base like ripples in water.

The Root ninja who had been lurking in the darkness poured out like a tide, gathering in the direction of the Uchiha Clan District.

The surveillance posts that had originally been just a single layer became an airtight iron barrel overnight. In the darkness, countless pairs of eyes stared fixedly at every corner of the Uchiha Clan District. The kunai in their hands had long since been drawn, waiting only for a single command to pounce and tear the entire Uchiha apart.

Danzo stood before the command room's floor-to-ceiling window, gazing from beneath dozens of meters of earth toward the lights in the direction of the Uchiha Clan District.

The corner of his mouth beneath the bandages curled into a sinister, greedy smile.

The Uchiha's end had come.

As long as they dared show even the faintest sign of rebellion, he would make those cursed wretches vanish from this world completely.