Tailed Beast Bomb: Blast Root

The fire on Central Street was eclipsed by the Tailed Beast Bomb.

The pitch-black Chakra sphere hovered before Naruto's palm, orange-red patterns spinning along its edge like a sun compressed to its absolute limit.

The ninja around the clearing retreated at once.

Ordinary villagers could barely stand. All they could hear was the hum of Chakra squeezing the air.

For the first time, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen looked genuinely alarmed.

"Naruto, stop!"

He charged forward with the Body Flicker Technique, forming Hand Seals at blinding speed.

An earthen wall rose in front of Naruto.

It wasn't meant to attack him. It was meant to block the Tailed Beast Bomb's path.

Naruto didn't even look at it.

Nine-Tails Chakra formed a fox's claw and smashed the wall apart with one strike.

Broken stone flew to either side.

Naruto's target wasn't the Hokage Building or the residential district.

He was looking at the unremarkable old training ground beneath Hokage Rock.

Root's true entrance was hidden underground.

Danzo thought it was deep enough.

But to Naruto now, the lingering trail of the Cursed Seal was as clear as fire in the dark.

"Kid." The Nine-Tails lay in the Sealing Space, its red eyes fixed on the outside world. "It's your first time using one. Don't blow up the whole village."

Naruto answered coldly, "I know what I'm doing."

The Tailed Beast Bomb shrank.

It hadn't grown weaker.

Its power was packed more tightly.

He raised his hand and aimed at the cracked stone monument in the center of the old training ground.

Third Hokage had already reached him.

"Do you know what this attack will do?"

Naruto looked at him.

"I do."

"That's why I didn't aim at the Hokage Building."

With that, the Tailed Beast Bomb shot out.

It left no earth-shaking trail.

A single black-and-red beam passed over the rooftops and struck the old training ground dead center.

The next instant, the ground collapsed.

A roar rose from below, as though some giant beast had turned over beneath Konoha.

A vast round crater blew open in the center of the old training ground. Earth, wooden beams, stone slabs, and shards of metal shot into the air. The underground passages collapsed layer by layer, tearing the shell from Root's long-hidden base.

Black smoke billowed upward.

Brief screams and alarms sounded from within.

The people on Central Street were thrown off their feet.

Uchiha Tekka braced himself with his sword and looked up at the blasted underground entrance in the distance, his throat tightening.

He knew the Nine-Tails was powerful.

But seeing a six-year-old fire a Tailed Beast Bomb with such precision still sent a chill down his spine.

Third Hokage stood before Naruto, his face so pale he seemed to have aged ten years.

Naruto gave him no further glance and turned toward the old training ground.

"I don't need a guide anymore."

As he passed the Root ninja whose body had been sealed with poison, he stopped.

"Stay alive. You're going to identify people for me."

For the first time, fear appeared in the Root ninja's eyes.

Third Hokage raised a hand, and several ANBU blocked Naruto's path.

This time, they weren't following orders without question.

They had seen Root seize people on Central Street. They had seen the Cursed Seals and heard Danzo's name forced out into the open.

But the Hokage had not ordered them to stand aside.

Naruto looked at the ANBU in front of him.

"Move."

No one moved.

Naruto raised his hand.

Third Hokage's voice was hoarse. "Let him through."

After a moment's hesitation, the ANBU stepped aside.

Naruto kept walking.

The crowd followed like a tide.

Some were afraid. Some wanted to see the truth. And some ninja had realized that if Root was fully exposed today, part of the Konoha High Command would come crashing down.

Outside the old training ground, the surviving Root ninja rushed out of the smoke.

They didn't flee the village. Instead, they tried to seal the entrance and destroy the records inside.

These were the people Danzo had trained.

The mission came before their lives.

When Naruto arrived, he saw two Root ninja carrying a chest of Scrolls toward a brazier.

He vanished and reappeared between them.

Chakra arms seized them by the throats and slammed them into the ground.

The Scroll chest overturned.

A heap of numbered secret scrolls spilled out.

Uchiha Tekka arrived moments later. His expression changed the instant he saw the markings on the Scrolls.

"Human experimentation records?"

He picked one up and read just two lines before the veins bulged on the back of his hand.

It recorded the selection of orphans, the stripping away of emotion, and the implantation of Cursed Seals.

The dates spanned more than a decade.

The department listed was Root.

Danzo's name was absent from the approval field. There was only a code name.

But beside it was the seal reserved for the Hokage Advisor.

Naruto stood before the blasted underground entrance. Black smoke rose from below, carrying the smells of blood and medicine.

He glanced down.

The stone steps were still there.

They led deep underground.

The Nine-Tails warned him from within, "There's an old man down there. His Chakra is cold and foul, like rotting wood."

"Danzo?"

"Most likely."

Naruto started down the steps.

The Third Hokage followed, his face grim.

He couldn't let Danzo die at Naruto's hands.

At least, not before he had the scene under control.

The underground passage was wider than expected.

Paper seals covered both walls, many already burned away by the Tailed Beast Bomb's impact. Room doors hung crooked on their hinges. Inside were training equipment, operating tables, medicine cabinets, and rows of files bearing no names.

As Naruto passed the first room, he saw Konoha's emblem carved into the wall.

Beneath it was a row of children's height records.

Some stopped at age seven.

Others stopped at nine.

The final column read: Failed. Dispose of subject.

Naruto paused for half a breath.

He said nothing.

At the end of the corridor, a heavy iron door opened.

Danzo emerged leaning on his cane, his right eye covered by a bandage and his right arm hidden in his sleeve. The last of Root's elite followed behind him.

He glanced at the blasted passage, then at Naruto.

"Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, do you know what you're doing?"

Naruto stopped ten paces from him.

"I do."

Danzo snorted.

"Konoha is no place for you to run wild. The Nine-Tails inside you belongs to the village. Root has the authority to take you into custody."

Naruto raised a hand and pointed at the right arm hidden in Danzo's sleeve.

"Then do the Sharingan in your arm belong to the village too?"

Danzo's uncovered eye contracted sharply.

The Root ninja behind him drew their swords as one.

Golden light flared in Naruto's eyes.

"Stop hiding it."

"Show the Uchiha."

With that look, Konoha's last veil of shame was bound to be torn away.