Time in the mental world seemed to have passed for a long while, but Kato Osamu could clearly sense that only an instant had passed in the real world.
Danzo looked at Kato Osamu lying on the ground and slowly nodded. With a light tap of his Chakra-infused cane, "Yamanaka Fū" was awakened and slowly raised his head.
"Mi did not betray Root..."
Danzo's voice froze "Yamanaka Fū's" expression. His eyes behind the mask were filled with utter disbelief as he stared fixedly at Kato Osamu.
"Lord Danzo... This... this is impossible!"
"I... I want to try again..."
"Lord Danzo, let me try once more. This time, I'll definitely succeed..."
Before "Yamanaka Fū" could finish speaking, Danzo interrupted him. A single Gale Palm sent Yamanaka Fū flying, his chest covered in blood...
"For your wholehearted devotion to Root, I'll spare your life this time..."
"Yamanaka Fū" lowered his head, enduring the pain in his chest as he silently knelt on the ground.
"Yes! Lord Danzo..."
"Orochimaru, it seems your disciple has not failed your training..."
"Elder Danzo's Root truly is full of talent..."
Orochimaru's gaze fell upon Yamanaka Fū. That look, as though it could pierce through the soul, made Kato Osamu's heart tighten.
"Fū, wake Mi..."
"Then go to the medical division yourself. War is about to begin, and I don't want Root to have one more cripple..."
"Yes!"
"Yamanaka Fū" tapped Kato Osamu's forehead, and he pretended to slowly awaken, his eyes seemingly carrying a trace of confusion.
"Mi... You have not disappointed this old man's expectations. It seems it is time to entrust you with some important responsibilities..."
"Lord Danzo! Mi has absolutely no second thoughts!"
"Mhm..." Danzo nodded with a low grunt, without the slightest hint of guilt in his eyes. It was as if even killing Kato Osamu outright would not stir any unnecessary thoughts in him.
"War is about to begin. Mi, I want you to infiltrate Minato Namikaze's side. At a critical moment, launch a fatal strike, sabotage Minato Namikaze's mission, and make him Konoha's war criminal!"
"Mi, you can do that, can't you..."
"Yes! Lord Danzo!"
"After White Fang comes Minato Namikaze... Elder Danzo truly is cautious..."
Kato Osamu had not seen Orochimaru for a long time. He seemed to have been busy with his research lately, though he also appeared somewhat dissatisfied with Danzo's actions...
"Orochimaru, based on my understanding of Hiruzen, Minato Namikaze is very likely a pawn he has put forward to gain military merit. This time, he will certainly be entrusted with an important mission."
"Don't forget his identity... He is your good teammate Jiraiya's disciple..."
"Jiraiya? He will not become Hokage..."
The image of Jiraiya's foolish face with his thumb raised flashed through Orochimaru's eyes, and he gave a soft laugh.
"Hmph. Do you think you can fully understand a person? Excessive confidence is arrogance!"
"Is that why Elder Danzo's Cursed Seal is so formidable..."
"However, Elder Danzo seems not to understand that if one wishes to truly conquer someone, fear alone will never be enough..."
The contempt contained in Orochimaru's voice was so clear that Kato Osamu did not need any sensory ability to hear it.
"Insolence! Orochimaru, don't forget that you are still a member of Root. You are still this old man's subordinate!"
Danzo's chilling gaze was like ice that had never melted for ten thousand years. The several Root shinobi behind him also looked at Orochimaru with open hostility.
"Elder Danzo is already so old. If you continue to lose your temper like this, I'm afraid you won't live to see the opportunity you desire appear..."
As he silently listened to Danzo's words, Kato Osamu gradually gained a clearer picture of Konoha's situation.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was hesitating over the choice for the Fourth Hokage. Danzo's motives were unclear for the moment, but he supported Orochimaru and seemed even more eager than Orochimaru to clear away every obstacle.
Jiraiya and Minato Namikaze's faction were their primary opponents.
The next Hokage would likely emerge from between Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
But Kato Osamu could not understand for the time being why the most prestigious candidate, the First Hokage's granddaughter—the Princess of Konoha, Tsunade—seemed to have been excluded by them from the very beginning...
"Mi, withdraw for now..."
Although he had completely set aside his suspicions, there seemed to be more matters that Kato Osamu should not know.
Danzo gave a slight nod. Kato Osamu quietly responded and withdrew from the dark chamber.
Yet as he left, the look Orochimaru gave him seemed to carry a faintly strange smile.
Could Orochimaru have noticed something...
Kato Osamu silently left the passageway. It was already the quiet, deserted depths of night.
A crescent moon hung like a hook, while a few stars flickered at the edge of the sky.
A light breeze brushed his cheeks. The dim lights of the bustling streets in the distance condensed into a tiny point in his eyes, only to disperse again like an illusion.
Ordinary-looking things often concealed secrets unknown to others.
Although Kato Osamu had long mastered the Shadow Clone Jutsu, only recently had he discovered the unconstrained ingenuity and profound understanding of ninjutsu contained within it.
The moment he created a Shadow Clone, all his memories were copied in an instant and transferred to that clone composed entirely of Chakra.
Before the Shadow Clone dispersed, it possessed a completely independent personality.
And after it dispersed came the most astonishing and miraculous moment for Kato Osamu—memories running in parallel along the same timeline instantly returned to the original body.
Kato Osamu did not sleep all night. He simply continued casting the Shadow Clone Jutsu, then dispersing the clones before continuing again...
This continued until dawn. When he raised his head once more, the sky was already glowing pale white at the horizon.
Standing before him was a black-haired boy wearing a black hood, with azure-blue eyes.
"It worked..."
The two spoke in unison. Their expressions and appearances were as though a mirror stood between them.
After obtaining the Yamanaka Clan's secret technique, Kato Osamu thought of the first Yamanaka Clan member he had encountered—Yamanaka Inoichi.
He treated mental energy as a kind of wave, transmitting it like electromagnetic waves. Then, through some special restraint, he bound that energy into a link for transmitting any information he wished to know...
Though he still did not understand how a Shadow Clone's memories could return to the body instantaneously, that did not prevent Kato Osamu from developing a small trick for real-time communication between clones.
"Unfortunately, I was one step too late..."
If he had completed this technique before yesterday, then the mental clone of "Yamanaka Fū" separated from his spirit body would have allowed him to know Root's movements in real time.
But without Yamanaka Fū's soul and memories, he could not have developed such a trick so quickly.
With a light poke of his finger, he dispelled the Shadow Clone. Kato Osamu sat cross-legged on the floor of the small bamboo building and created another ten Shadow Clones.
Looking at the ten identical versions of himself sitting cross-legged around him, Kato Osamu slowly closed his eyes and entered his mental world.
Faint soul fluctuations gradually spread throughout the training ground as well.
However, they were limited to within a hundred meters of the area. He could now fully control the sensory technique brought about by soul fluctuations and would not alert others again as he had last time.
"A real-time communication link has been established with the Shadow Clones..."
Kato Osamu could clearly sense ten pale-blue threads condensed from mental fluctuations extending from behind his spirit body.
He could inspect the thoughts, perceptions, and vision of all ten Shadow Clones at any moment.
"The spirit body also seems to have become more solid..."
All the treasures left behind by the ancestors of the Kato Clan over several hundred years had been fully absorbed by Kato Osamu.
He did not know whether Uncle Kato Yuan had prepared this for him long ago or whether it was merely a fortunate coincidence.
Like a balloon absorbing too much soul energy, the spirit body had now expanded into a giant a hundred meters tall.
Yet it was no more than an empty shell with only the appearance of substance.
Kato Osamu could feel the spirit body's weakness. Even maintaining such a form was difficult, and it needed more pure soul energy to solidify its body.
Slowly drawing the long blade composed of pure soul energy from beside him, Kato Osamu sensed greed and longing.
After stripping the soul-devouring ability from the spirit body, he used Sealing Jutsu to condense it into a long blade densely covered in black seal markings. He named it the Soul-Extinguishing Blade.
But his Sealing Jutsu was still far too rudimentary, and he could only barely maintain it within the mental world.
"There will be an opportunity... Soon..."
Feeling its longing, Kato Osamu gently stroked the Soul-Extinguishing Blade. A faint smile appeared on his face, though it carried a trace of gloom.
Perhaps only within his own mental world could he completely let down his guard.
"I only want to survive..."
"Whoever stands in my way, dies!"
Yesterday's danger remained vivid in his mind. If not for Nonō's warning, he might already have become a piece of rotting flesh in a sewer, devoured by rats as though he were a gift from heaven.
Kato Osamu was afraid.
He had seen too many shinobi disposed of like garbage. At some point, his heart had seemingly gone numb. Having grown accustomed to life and death, he had come to treat it with a measure of contempt.
But never before had there been a moment when he felt death was about to truly descend upon him—he really would die!
When he left the dark chamber, his hands and feet had been trembling. It was regret over his own arrogance and overconfidence, which had nearly cost him his life!
A person's greatest suffering might be the gap between understanding and action.
He had clearly recognized the Sword of Damocles hanging above his head, yet time had made him develop a sense of luck.
"Lord Danzo, perhaps I should thank you as well..."
"Thank you for nearly killing me... Really, it was that close!"
Kato Osamu's voice grew deeper and deeper. His entire body seemed to tremble as a manic and somber aura raged through every part of him.
Right now, he had the urge to destroy everything!
This world seemed to have changed Kato Osamu more and more into someone unlike his former self—more gloomy, more repressed...
Before you continue