Death Paper

In Root's secret chamber, the only light came from a few flickering, ghostly green lamps on the walls.

They stretched and twisted the shadows, casting them across stone walls covered in Sealing Runes.

Shimura Danzō's lone eye was sharp as a hawk's as he stared at the shapeless being formed from shadow and miasma before him—Naraka.

"Are you saying you can help me get rid of Minato Namikaze?"

Shimura Danzō's voice was low and hoarse, with a trace of urgency and doubt he could not quite hide.

Lately, Minato Namikaze had grown deeply dissatisfied with the way Root handled its affairs. If things continued like this, Danzō might actually find himself forced into retirement from his position as a Konoha elder.

That was why he was so eager to find someone to eliminate Minato Namikaze.

Naraka's form rippled faintly within the miasma, and he gave another rustling laugh, like countless insects gnawing on rotten wood.

"Heh, heh, heh... So it's that Yellow Flash who troubles you?

"But for one who comes from darkness, snuffing out a light that shines too brightly is no difficult task."

Shimura Danzō narrowed his lone eye. "And what's the price?" He never believed in help given for nothing, least of all from a being as strange as this.

Naraka's tone turned playful and cruel, crimson points of light flickering within the miasma. "The price? Simple. I hate the Uchiha clan's eyes, always seeing through illusions."

"Their very existence is an eyesore."

He drifted closer, his sickly sweet stench of decay nearly washing over Shimura Danzō's face. "Help me wipe out the entire clan. How does that sound as a price?

"After all, isn't that what you've always wanted too? We each get what we need. What do you say?"

Shimura Danzō's heart gave a violent thump. Wipe out the Uchiha clan! It was exactly what he had dreamed of!

Not only would it remove a source of instability within Konoha, it would also give him countless precious Sharingan.

Minato Namikaze dead and the Uchiha clan destroyed—two birds with one stone! Yet he kept his composure.

"The Uchiha are one of Konoha's great clans. Their roots run deep, and their strength is considerable. Getting rid of them won't be easy!"

Shimura Danzō spoke gravely, as though stating a difficulty—and testing what Naraka could do.

"Heh, heh..." Naraka's voice dripped with disdain. "I can only provide you with a little 'help.'"

"As for the rest, Lord Danzo, I'm sure a man of your methods and abilities can handle it without breaking a sweat!"

A brief, suffocating silence followed. Light flickered rapidly in Shimura Danzō's lone eye as ambition and caution warred within him.

In the end, his hunger for power overwhelmed everything else.

"Deal." Danzo forced the word through clenched teeth, cold as ice.

"A wise choice," Naraka murmured with satisfaction.

A sheet of seemingly ordinary washi slowly separated from his roiling miasma.

The paper drifted toward Shimura Danzō, as though it weighed nothing at all.

Shimura Danzō took it cautiously, but no matter how he examined it, it appeared to be nothing more than a sheet of plain white paper.

"This is Death Paper." Naraka's voice seemed to bore directly into Danzo's mind. "No elaborate ritual. No need for the target's flesh, blood, or hair."

"You need only write the true name of the person you want dead on this paper."

Naraka's voice grew deeper and more seductive.

"As you write, picture their face clearly in your mind. The clearer, the better."

"Then, no matter where they are or what power they possess,

"His fate will be entwined with Formless death, until he meets his inevitable end."

Silence returned to the chamber. Only the ghostly green flames flickered uneasily.

Danzo studied the paper again and again with his keen lone eye.

He held it up to the light, carefully rubbed every corner with his fingers, and even sent a faint trace of Chakra into it to probe it.

Ordinary. It was utterly ordinary.

The paper was coarse, its edges slightly ragged. It was the cheapest grade of washi, the kind found anywhere in the Shinobi World.

There was nothing special about it. No powerful energy, no complex Sealing Technique inscribed on it. Nothing.

"Hmph!" Danzo snorted, the doubt in his lone eye deepening.

A strange being like Naraka had offered this as payment for the fate of the Fourth Hokage—and even the entire Uchiha clan?

It was a bad joke.

Shimura Danzō was suspicious by nature. He would never readily trust something of unknown origin that he could not understand.

What if it was all a trick? He might write Minato's name and get no result, only to alert him. It might even be a scheme of Naraka's.

No. I have to test it!

Naraka seemed to sense Shimura Danzō's doubts and reminded him in his raspy voice:

"Remember, you can write only three names on this Death Paper. After that, it will become nothing more than an ordinary scrap of paper."

Shimura Danzō considered Naraka's words for a moment. Then he spoke quietly toward an empty patch of shadow in the chamber. "B, come here."

A Root ninja wearing a tanuki mask appeared before Danzo without a sound, like a ghost.

He knelt on one knee with his head bowed, showing no emotion, as though he were nothing more than a tool.

He was one of Shimura Danzō's trusted subordinates, tasked with handling some of his darkest assignments. As a result, he knew many of Shimura Danzō's secrets.

Shimura Danzō looked at him, his lone eye betraying nothing.

After all, to him, every member of Root was a tool that could be sacrificed at any time.

What better use for him than testing an item that might help Danzō become Hokage?

"Take off your mask, raise your head, and tell me your true name!"

"Lord Danzo, my name is Kurihara Ranmaru."

Shimura Danzō picked up the special little pen he normally used to write mission orders. Without the slightest hesitation, he put its tip to the paper.

The name he wrote was not "Minato Namikaze," but Kurihara Ranmaru.

Naraka, Shimura Danzō thought coldly, if you're lying, losing one subordinate is nothing. But if this is real...

As he wrote the name, Shimura Danzō focused, clearly picturing the face and build of the subordinate kneeling before him.

But the chamber remained deathly silent.

B, the Root ninja kneeling on the floor, felt nothing. He remained still as a statue, waiting for orders.

Shimura Danzō fixed his lone eye on him. He looked at the paper, then back at the ninja.

One second, two seconds, ten seconds...

A full minute passed, and still nothing happened.