Deep underground, the air was so cold and damp it felt as though water could be wrung from it.
Surrounded by a group of trusted subordinates, Shimura Danzō staggered back into Root's innermost chamber. Blood still seeped from the wound in his left shoulder. It was not an injury caused by an ordinary ninja tool; the muscle around the wound was charred and torn apart as if by high-speed rotation, while waves of agony battered his taut nerves.
"Seal all exits! Activate the highest-level defensive barrier!" Danzo's voice was as sinister as the cold wind in a cavern. He leaned back against a stone chair, his face ashen.
A fiercely loyal medical ninja immediately stepped forward. Green chakra glowed around his hands as he began treating the wound. His movements were professional: first clearing debris from the injury, then using fine chakra needles to stitch together the severed blood vessels and muscles.
The only sounds in the chamber were the faint sizzling of medical ninjutsu and Danzo's heavy breathing.
Just as the medical ninja focused on applying the final bandages, Danzo suddenly fixed his eyes on him.
"Kazuma Satou." Danzo spoke without warning. His voice was quiet, but the medical ninja's hands visibly trembled.
"If I defected from Konoha today, would you still follow me?"
The question was like an ice-coated blade, stabbing into everyone's hearts without warning.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on Kazuma Satou's forehead, and even the chakra glow in his hands flickered for a moment. It was a fatal question, one with no correct answer. Follow a rogue ninja? That meant betraying the village, betraying everything he had been taught since childhood. Refuse to follow? Then right now...
His lips quivered, and unmistakable hesitation flashed through his eyes.
It was that fatal hesitation.
"My loyalty belongs only