Root

Root.

"Night Owl, report the results of the past two months of investigation."

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

"Yes, Captain."

The ANBU wearing an owl mask below hurriedly replied.

"Three kilometers east of the village, the Muto Family's second son. According to the neighbors, he had been highly sensitive to direction since childhood and could identify directions without any tools."

"Mm. I'll report this. Train him as a scout."

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

"Report that one as well."

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

Night Owl reported, one by one, all the information he had gathered over the past two months.

Because of Danzo's obsession with collecting talent, Root had specifically established a team to seek out exceptional people from all over.

They gathered and categorized these exceptional individuals, then brought them into Root for training.

Afterward, they assigned them to different positions according to their abilities.

This was also why Root had unique strengths when it came to gathering intelligence.

"Someone in the village saw a member of the Hyuga clan at the training grounds who was very skilled with a bow."

"The training grounds? I have people watching the training grounds every day. How had no one reported this?"

"That person saw him at night?"

"At night?"

The short-haired ninja's expression darkened, and displeasure appeared on his face. "Pay attention to the accuracy of your intelligence from now on. How could anyone see someone 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 precisely."

The short-haired ninja's brows knitted tightly together. He took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.

"What was this Hyuga's name?"

"Hyuga..."

Night Owl took out a sheet of paper from his clothes, covered with quite a few registered names.

"Hyuga Qingchuan."

"What did you say?"

"Captain, his name was Hyuga Qingchuan."

The short-haired ninja could no longer contain his fury. He slapped the armrest and abruptly rose to his feet.

His leg shot out with explosive force.

Bang!

Night Owl, caught completely off guard, was kicked flying by the sudden blow. He rolled backward across the ground several times before barely managing to stop.

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

"Captain..."

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

"Could you use your brain when gathering intelligence? Fine, let's say someone saw him shooting arrows at night. But they could even see him hit a target five hundred meters away?"

"I could put up with that, but then you told me this talent was named Hyuga Qingchuan."

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

"Do you know how many things Lord Danzo and Lord Hokage have smashed recently because of Hyuga Qingchuan?"

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

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

"You're feeling wronged? I practically have this man's intelligence memorized. He had been fiddling with bows and arrows since childhood, and his range was at most a dozen meters, yet you're telling me five hundred meters."

Cold sweat poured down Night Owl's body. He had not expected the department to already have intelligence on this person, and for it to differ so greatly from what he had reported.

Seeing his captain about to step forward again, he hurriedly knelt and slammed his forehead heavily against the ground.

"Yes, yes, this subordinate neglected his duty."

"You'll investigate intelligence in the Land of Water from now on."

"Captain..."

Night Owl wanted to say something more, but when he saw the short-haired ninja glaring sharply at him, his heart jolted and he did not dare speak again.

"Yes."

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

After turning through several winding passages, he arrived at an empty room.

He bit his thumb, drew it across his palm, and rapidly formed hand seals.

Summoning Jutsu.

Rumble...

A door appeared out of nowhere in the wall.

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

The short-haired man's stomach immediately churned, and it took him quite a while to adjust.

Before him was a narrow spiral staircase descending into bottomless darkness.

He took a deep breath, hesitated slightly, then finally stepped downward.

This was Root's underground facility.

Though this was not his first time here, every time he stood before the door, he had to steel himself before daring to descend.

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

Walking through it naturally created a suffocating sense of oppression.

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

Wails, screams, and the sounds of impacts echoed from the depths of the darkness, striking the walls and ringing without end.

The short-haired man turned a deaf ear to them, lowering his head and continuing all the way down until he reached the lowest level.

Only after his feet touched level ground did the short-haired man realize his clothes were already soaked through.

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

His expression brightened, and he hurried over.

"Lord Ryoma..."

"Shh! Keep your voice down!"

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

The short-haired man followed his gaze.

The room's lights were focused on an operating table. A figure with his back to the door kept working with both hands on the person lying upon it.

Even without seeing his face, the long hair down his back and the cold, sinister aura radiating from him were enough for the man to determine that he was Lord Orochimaru, one of the Sannin.

Lord Danzo stood in the shadows to one side, his gaze fixed rigidly on the operating table. His eyes were wide, and the anger on his face was almost tangible, like a suppressed volcano.

The short-haired man took only a hurried glance before quickly lowering his head, not daring to look further.

Seeing that the two people inside 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 normally continued to ring out.

Along with them came the occasional snip of scissors cutting thread and the sound of blades slicing through flesh, echoing through the room.

Danzo's gaze occasionally swept over the empty chains hanging from the walls around the room, and he clenched his teeth.

He wanted to speak several times, but seeing Orochimaru's focused expression, he feared disturbing the experiment.

So he could only swallow his anger and watch silently, with nothing but the occasional grinding of his teeth audible.

Time passed bit by bit.

Suddenly, the curve on the instrument fluctuated wildly, and the warning beeps accelerated frantically.

Beep beep beep!

Orochimaru hurriedly quickened his movements, but the instrument's warning sounds grew faster and faster.

Soon, the intermittent warnings became a continuous alarm, while the heartbeat line went from small fluctuations to a completely straight 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 filled with regret.

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

"Orochimaru!"

His gaze was icy, and the knuckles gripping his cane had turned white from exertion.

"Why are the chains empty? There were experimental subjects hanging from them..."