Root, Blooming Again

Eight in the evening.

Despite White Fang's earnest attempts to keep him, Hideki still resolutely chose to go home and sleep.

His wall still had not been repaired. He had merely slapped some tape over it, turning it into a temporary window. It would not be good if some thief set their sights on his house.

After walking along a mountain path and passing through a park, Hideki saw the elderly men and women exercising there, which gave him the urge to do some nighttime training.

He had not exercised much today, and he had barely practiced Water Release at all.

Although the "Root Resistance" plan had made some progress and White Fang's response had been positive, meaning he needed to keep working at it, Hideki also understood that one had to be strong enough oneself.

Half past eight, Training Ground Three.

This was not the training ground closest to Hideki's home, yet he still came here. Unfortunately, the old man was not around.

"Ox—Monkey—Rabbit—Rat—Boar—Rooster..."

Hideki continued forming hand seals with some familiarity. Water Dragon Bullet had an absurd number of seals, and apparently there were many different versions as well.

The old man had given him one with a full twenty-five seals, while Hiruzen Sarutobi's had only twenty-one, apparently a streamlined version.

Hideki truly would not have noticed the difference without looking closely.

He just wondered why Zabuza needed forty-four seals for a Water Dragon Bullet. The key was that Kakashi had copied his homework exactly. How embarrassing.

What Hideki was using now was the Refined Water Dragon Bullet Hiruzen Sarutobi had given him.

It had two activation methods: manipulate the surrounding water into a water dragon, or use one's own chakra to spray out a water dragon.

Hideki naturally disdained borrowing the force of water. The Senju Clan had the pride of the Senju Clan.

He would do it himself.

Following the chakra circulation method in his memories, Hideki steadily formed seals and mobilized his chakra. The process went smoothly, and his eyes lit up. This might work!

"Water Release: Water Dragon... damn?"

Hideki spat out quite a bit of saliva. Something had still gone wrong in the final step, directly consuming more than twenty percent of his chakra.

"Why aren't you home sleeping in the middle of the night? What the hell are you doing?"

Hideki irritably looked at the two figures in his field of vision. They were of average height and looked about eleven or twelve.

The problem was that they had suddenly appeared and were staring straight at him like ghosts, disturbing his focus and causing him to reenact Obito's tragedy from that day.

"Damn it, I was so close... Again!"

Annoyed as he was, the training ground was public. He twisted around to continue, only to spot two more half-grown children staring straight at him as well!

"..." Even if Hideki did not want to face it, he had no choice but to temporarily put aside his Water Release training.

He looked behind him and to either side. Sure enough, he had been surrounded.

There were eight of them in total, all half-grown children around eleven or twelve. They wore no forehead protectors, but each had a ninja tool pouch strapped to their thigh.

Hideki determined that they were definitely ninjas, because the Ninja Academy was still a three-year program at this stage.

As for why they were not wearing forehead protectors... their intentions were clearly not good anyway.

"Are these Uchiha people? A group beating?" Hideki looked around for Uchiha Beiying's cousin. He remembered that Uchiha Retsu had made some harsh threats.

Come to think of it, Danzo was to blame for this.

Their credit for bringing back the Kumogakure ninja had probably been suppressed. There might be rewards, but few people likely knew the news.

Otherwise, the Uchiha would not have dared to come looking for trouble with him.

But then, a figure suddenly appeared, wearing a Root mask Hideki recognized, and he immediately understood.

"It's Root!"

Hideki's expression instantly turned serious.

Root's persistence had exceeded his expectations. They had come looking for him three times in just two days!

But the key was... were they seriously sending a bunch of people without even masks?

Hideki curled his lip. Rounding up, this was in the bag.

Then, under Hideki's gaze, the older youths surrounding him from all sides began walking toward him, each putting on a mask as they moved.

"..." Hideki was speechless. What was this supposed to be?

"Genin Hideki, I come on behalf of Konoha Elder Danzo." The Root ninja stepped forward. His tone remained cold, but this time Hideki detected a composure absent from the previous two encounters.

They were certain of victory.

Hideki somewhat regretted being so reserved in front of White Fang. He really should have stayed the night at his house.

Still, he was not overly worried—when he had gone to Kakashi's home to stock up this time, besides a pile of ninja tools, White Fang had told Kakashi to give him several signal flares before he left.

In White Fang's words, it was called being prepared for anything. The next time they went out of the village to mess around, they had to ensure they could contact the village as quickly as possible.

At that moment, White Fang had displayed the bearing expected of an ANBU squad captain. Kakashi's Dead-Fish Eyes instantly turned into starry eyes. He was definitely a dad fanatic.

Hideki watched as the encirclement grew tighter and tighter.

One hand rested on his ninja tool pouch as he looked directly at the Root ninja, yet he revealed an innocent smile filled with excitement and hope.

"Really? Elder Danzo agreed to my request!?"

"Kakashi and Obito can join Root too!?"

The Root ninja said, "..."

One was the son of Root's greatest current target, and the other was an Uchiha clansman. Elder Danzo might have wanted that, but how could it possibly be so easy?

"My answer is the same as yesterday, Genin Hideki." The Root ninja replied calmly, his gaze unmoved and even colder than before.

"Also, there is no need to put on that act. You did not look like this yesterday when you left the gas on at home."

Hideki shrugged, dropping the pretense and laying his cards on the table.

"Then my answer is the same. If you want me to join Root, Kakashi and Obi—"

"You need not rush to answer." The Root ninja interrupted Hideki. "Elder Danzo said that you have the right to refuse, but that right can only take effect after you join and come to understand the true Root."

"..." Hideki choked. He did not know if those were Danzo's exact words, but the meaning was indeed Danzo's style.

If he did not understand Root, he could not refuse to join Root. He had to join Root and understand Root before he could refuse to join Root.

So there was no room for negotiation?

Once in Root, there was no leaving. Once Root, always Root, unless Hiruzen Sarutobi personally pulled someone out.

But Hideki was not arrogant enough to believe Hiruzen Sarutobi would fall out with Danzo over a commoner like him. This was not the era of the Third-and-a-Half Hokage; the two of them were still on excellent terms!

Nor could he reveal his identity as a member of the Senju Clan. That identity would only put him in greater danger.

"So, can I choose not to understand it?" Hideki made one final attempt, though one hand had already gripped a signal flare.

But the Root ninja merely sneered and flashed backward. Along with that movement, all eight older Root youths simultaneously drew their kunai!

Killing intent surged as swords were drawn and bows bent.

"You may choose one group of opponents. Defeat them, and only then will you have room to choose."

Those words made Hideki lower the signal flare.