The Torture and Murder of Danzo
At this time, Root was nominally a training institution for the ANBU, but in reality, it specialized in supplying civilian-born ANBU elites to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Fū Yamanaka and Torune Aburame had both been forcibly taken from their clans by Danzo after their respective families declined.
As for those truly powerful ninja clans, Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi did not yet have the courage to force them to send disciples into the ANBU. When it came down to it, the ANBU was the most direct force surrounding the Hokage, and Hiruzen Sarutobi was unwilling to arrange clan ninja at his immediate side.
Therefore, whether it was the Third Hokage or the Fourth Hokage, the guards at their sides were mostly civilian Jonin like Namiashi Raidō, Aoba Yamashiro, and Genma Shiranui.
Root was no different.
The ninja here were entirely elite operatives personally cultivated by Shimura Danzō during twenty years of peace.
Yet no matter how elite civilian ninja were, they stood no chance of fighting back against the signature jutsu of the God of Shinobi.
Abruptly rising roots and vines burst forth from all over the ground, and Root ninja were firmly bound one after another before they even had time to dodge. Immediately following that, the chakra within their bodies drained away swiftly along the vines, and dozens of people lost the ability to resist in the blink of an eye.
Only Danzo relied on his Kage Level strength to dodge the first wave of the offensive.
He opened his mouth and spat out a blade of wind.
Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!
The sharp wind blade slashed down, and the vines wrapping toward him snapped on the spot. Danzo immediately channeled wind-affinity chakra into his shuriken, and the shuriken carrying the vacuum wind blades flew