Danzo remained where he was, his single eye fixed on the depths of the Central Hall.
He could sense Ōnoki's chakra in that direction.
The Third Tsuchikage was clearly searching for the Uzumaki Clan's most closely guarded secret—perhaps Sealing Jutsu texts, perhaps some forbidden inheritance.
And those were precisely what Danzo wanted.
Not for personal ambition—at least, that was what he told himself.
It was for Konoha, so that Root could truly become the "necessary darkness" that protected the village.
Nangō Kumoi walked a path beneath the sun, but someone had to do the things that could not see the light in the deepest shadows of the Ninja World.
He needed power.
Power enough to suppress all darkness.
"Treasure vault... the Uzumaki's accumulation of a thousand years..."
Danzo murmured, too quietly for anyone but himself to hear:
"With those, Root can truly take root in Konoha's shadows, instead of forever living under the Hokage's watch."
He slowly formed a hand seal, and his figure gradually faded away, dissolving like mist into the shadows of the ruins.
The true hunt had begun.
In the Uzumaki Clan's core district, the hall that had once enshrined their ancestors now lay half-collapsed.
Ōnoki floated before a damaged mural, his gaze sweeping across the reliefs depicting the Uzumaki Clan's glorious history.
The legend of the Sage of Six Paths granting them Sealing Jutsu, their achievements in helping Hashirama Senju quell an age of chaos, their oath of alliance with Konoha through generations... Though the mural was incomplete, the pride that had flowed through it for a thousand years could still be faintly seen through its mottled colors.
"Lord Tsuchikage."
An Iwagakure jonin appeared behind him in a Body Flicker, dropping to one knee. His voice was low, but he could not hide his excitement:
"An