Uprooting Root—Kill Danzō!

"Is that so? So that's what you think. Then that couldn't be better!" Uchiha Shunichi suddenly appeared beside Neji Hyuga and spoke.

"What?!" Neji Hyuga was startled by Uchiha Shunichi's sudden appearance and hurriedly retreated into a defensive stance.

Ninjas had high offense but low defense. For the vast majority of ninjas, a light slash was enough to kill them.

Therefore, the enemies all ninjas feared were the ones they could not see.

That was precisely why the Hyuga clan's Byakugan was so coveted, and why the Mist Shinobi's assassination techniques were so famous.

"As expected of the Uchiha Clan. His use of ninja tools and judgment of timing are no weaker than a Jonin's." A trace of greed and desire flashed through the eyes of Orochimaru, who was impersonating the Kazekage.

However, the one he coveted was neither Uchiha Shunichi nor Uchiha Itachi, but Uchiha Sasuke, who had yet to mature.

"Shunichi is a true genius," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with some emotion.

If not for the surveillance, Sarutobi Hiruzen would never have imagined that a child who had almost never been on a battlefield and had only trained at the academy could possess such strength.

"Neji, I'm curious. Has the branch family of your Hyuga clan truly never resisted the main family?" A massive Fūma Shuriken appeared out of thin air in Uchiha Shunichi's hand as he stood some distance away and asked Neji Hyuga.

"This has nothing to do with you!" Neji Hyuga's expression turned grave. In his Byakugan, no matter how he looked, Uchiha Shunichi had only a tiny amount of chakra.

A normal ninja could never possess such weak chakra. That amount probably was not even enough to cast a single ninjutsu.

"Don't worry. I have no backup plan, and I don't need one. All you need to face are my ninja tools." Uchiha Shunichi smiled as he watched Neji Hyuga's expression.

With that, Uchiha Shunichi directly hurled the enormous Fūma Shuriken in his hand.

With such a large ninja tool being used so openly, how could Neji Hyuga possibly fail to dodge it?

But what Uchiha Shunichi needed was not a hit. He only needed to throw it.

Neji Hyuga dodged the flying Fūma Shuriken, but before he could recover, Uchiha Shunichi suddenly pulled his hand backward...

The massive Fūma Shuriken instantly shattered, transforming into countless fragments that shot toward Neji Hyuga.

Having spotted everything with his Byakugan, Neji Hyuga decisively used Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. However, the successive explosions that followed sent him flying.

It turned out that Uchiha Shunichi had attached many Explosive Tags to those fragments...

"Hey, are you okay? According to my calculations, that shouldn't have hurt you, right?" Uchiha Shunichi walked over to Neji Hyuga and nudged him with his foot.

Suddenly, a finger jabbed fiercely toward Uchiha Shunichi's chest, but no matter how hard it pushed forward, it could not reach him.

That mere dozen or so centimeters seemed like an insurmountable abyss. No matter how hard the finger tried, it could not advance any farther.

"The limit of Gentle Fist is only within arm's reach. You don't have any long-range attack methods yet, do you? So as long as I watch this distance, I'm in an invincible position." Uchiha Shunichi lightly tapped Neji Hyuga's finger with the kunai in his hand.

Blood immediately flowed from Neji Hyuga's finger.

A ninja's kunai was not only well-made, but also extremely sharp.

"Neji Hyuga, admit defeat! Your opponent already held back twice. Otherwise..." Genma Shiranui, acting as referee, spoke up with a sigh.

Ordinarily, as the referee, he should not have said such a thing. The match had yet to be decided, and neither side had conceded.

But he truly could not bear to watch Uchiha Shunichi toy with his opponent any longer.

That was right—he was toying with him. Uchiha Shunichi had already displayed speed far beyond his opponent's, and both his combat experience and judgment of timing were nearly flawless.

If his opponent had been a Jonin, there might still have been some suspense. But Neji Hyuga was still lacking.

Neji Hyuga acted as though he had not heard the referee at all. He assumed the Gentle Fist stance once more.

At that moment, Uchiha Shunichi no longer wanted to waste chakra. Facing Neji Hyuga's charge, he turned smoothly, and a blade was suddenly held across Neji Hyuga's throat.

"The match is over. The winner is Uchiha Shunichi..."

"Uchiha Shunichi, are you really going to Root? That isn't a good place, and it's full of danger—more dangerous even than the Anbu." Yakushi Kabuto, who had been forcibly recruited by Uchiha Shunichi's original body, looked deeply troubled and was already starting to regret coming.

"Relax. Once you see Shimura Danzō, you can leave." Uchiha Shunichi estimated the time and hid near Root's entrance without rushing inside.

To Yakushi Kabuto, however, this looked like Uchiha Shunichi was hesitating, so he intensified his attempts to persuade him.

In Yakushi Kabuto's eyes, infiltrating Root alone was simply seeking death. Setting aside Root's many other ninjas, Shimura Danzō alone was troublesome enough, being roughly on the same level as Sarutobi Hiruzen.

And Uchiha Shunichi actually wanted to kill Shimura Danzō within Root. How was that any different from killing the Hokage in the Hidden Leaf Village?

"It's about time. Let's go!" Uchiha Shunichi strode openly toward the guards at Root's entrance.

"I want to see Shimura Danzō. Lead the way!"

Uchiha Shunichi wore an unfamiliar mask at the moment. Although he was dressed in Uchiha Clan clothing, Root's people still could not identify him.

"Who goes there?!" The Root guards immediately prepared to attack.

But in the next second, they were immersed in Genjutsu and collapsed unconscious.

"As expected, it still won't work. From here on, I can only rely on you." Uchiha Shunichi turned and looked at Yakushi Kabuto.

Yakushi Kabuto stared at the Mangekyō Sharingan pattern in Uchiha Shunichi's eyes in surprise.

Uchiha Shunichi's eyes... looked like that?

Of course not. How could Uchiha Shunichi possibly reveal his own Mangekyō Sharingan? His eyes were currently covered by a layer of Genjutsu. Anyone who looked into them would mistake them for Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.

Stepping over the Root members sprawled on the ground like corpses, Uchiha Shunichi continued deeper into Root.

Because of Sarutobi Hiruzen's orders, many Root members had joined the operation to monitor the Sand Shinobi. As a result, Uchiha Shunichi did not encounter many Root ninjas along the way.