Danzo's Ecstasy! My Home Has Been Emptied by Undercover Agents

The iron gates of Konoha High-Security Prison screeched harshly.

Two Root ninjas wearing animal masks strode into the dim corridor.

The captain of the guard squad was about to question them when a black token stopped him in his tracks.

"By Lord Danzo's order, we are here to interrogate the high-security prisoner Hatake Sakumo."

Seeing the mark on the token, the guard captain swallowed and obediently stepped aside.

Deep within the cells, Hatake Sakumo leaned against a damp wall.

His hair was somewhat disheveled, and Chakra Suppression Shackles still bound his wrists.

The Root ninjas opened the iron bars and tossed a document bearing Root's seal before Sakumo.

"Sign it, and you live."

Sakumo lowered his head and looked at the document.

He recalled what Qian Ye had told him in his cell the night before.

The Hidden Leaf would not allow someone to remain forever at the center of power merely because of his achievements.

The Hokage was waiting for an appropriate moment to show mercy, while Danzo had simply placed a blade before him.

Joining Root meant losing his identity beneath the sun, but it also meant gaining a path to continue living.

For Kakashi, and to see just how rotten the roots of the Hidden Leaf's great tree had become, he had to stay alive first.

Sakumo picked up the pen and signed his name on the document.

There was no hesitation in his movements. Only a layer of deliberately maintained numbness remained on his face.

To the Root ninjas, that posture looked like a defeated dog whose spine had been completely broken.

Only Sakumo himself knew that what he had surrendered was merely a temporary identity, not his right to wield a blade.

The Root ninjas collected the document with satisfaction and removed the heavy shackles