Root

"Neji, these are the elites you were talking about? Why were they so easy to beat?" Sasuke walked toward the injured Hound by the door.

"Damn it!" Hound gritted his teeth beneath his mask. He couldn't have beaten Sasuke even if he hadn't been injured, much less now that he was hurt this badly.

"Elites are relative. Even without the Sharingan, members of the Uchiha Clan are elite compared to ordinary ninja. And you've already awakened yours," Neji said, at a loss for words.

These three Root Ninjas weren't Jonin. At best, they were somewhat above Chunin level. If he had to give them a rank, it would be Elite Chunin.

As they spoke, Sasuke finished off Hound and tied him up.

Neji stepped forward and struck several points on Hound's body with a special Gentle Fist technique, sealing off his Chakra and ability to move. Then he knocked him unconscious with a palm strike.

Sasuke dragged Fox and Tanuki out of the Shrine.

Neji got the idea. He did the same to the other two Root ninja, leaving them unable to move before knocking them out.

"So this is the level of the Anbu Itachi joined..." Sasuke sounded disappointed.

Neji laughed. "You're getting a little full of yourself."

He pointed at the three unconscious figures by the door. "The Anbu aren't all at their level. These three don't count as true elites. There are real Elite Jonin in the Anbu, and you're nowhere near their strength yet."

"Is that so? I'd like to see what an Elite Jonin can do." Sasuke was riding high. He felt he could hold his own even against one of those so-called Elite Jonin.

Neji nearly burst out laughing. "I'm sure you'll get your chance before long."

"I look forward to it." Sasuke pulled off one Root Ninja's mask, revealing a pale face. He pried open the man's mouth. "Just as I thought. There's a Cursed Seal. They aren't ordinary Anbu."

Neji had already seen the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal through his Byakugan.

Sasuke wiped his hands on the Root Ninjas' clothes, then searched them. All he found was a booklet filled with the contents of the Uchiha Clan's Stone Tablet. He looked at Neji. "Looks like that Elite Jonin you mentioned won't be coming."

Now that he knew these three were suspicious, Sasuke didn't think stronger Anbu would come after him.

They were the ones in the wrong. They had searched the Uchiha Clan's forbidden Shrine without giving any notice.

As the current Clan Head, Sasuke couldn't ignore that. Without his permission or a written order from the Hokage, the three had trespassed in the Uchiha Clan's Shrine.

"You'll see when the time comes." Neji patted him on the shoulder, then turned and left.

"Hah. I can guess even if you won't tell me. You mean the Jonin instructor who'll lead our team after graduation," Sasuke said with a cold laugh.

From the information he had gathered, Sasuke knew there was someone else in the village with a Sharingan: the renowned Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake, a powerful Elite Jonin.

If Naruto Uzumaki and I end up on the same team after graduation, Kakashi Hatake will almost certainly be our instructor. A Sharingan and the Nine-Tails make a perfect pair... Sasuke thought.

The village undoubtedly placed great importance on Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. He was, after all, its strongest weapon.

If Sasuke, the Uchiha Clan's sole survivor, held even a little weight in the village leadership's eyes, he would surely be assigned to Kakashi Hatake's team.

An Elite Jonin? I'm looking forward to it. Sasuke found himself eager to graduate.

He cast a disdainful glance at the three Root Ninjas outside the Shrine, then went down to its basement. He dug out the entire Stone Tablet and took it home.

What had just happened made it clear that the village was keeping an eye on him to some extent. To keep the Stone Tablet out of anyone else's hands, Sasuke had no choice but to take it home and put it in a Sealing Scroll.

As for the three unconscious ninja, Sasuke left them at the Shrine entrance.

Meanwhile, Neji was on his way back, wondering how Danzo's Root had come to take an interest in Sasuke.

To prepare for any trouble that might follow, Neji decided he needed to find Root's base in Konoha.

His Byakugan could see in a straight line for over fifty kilometers, enough to span almost all of Konoha. To find Root, he only needed to stand near the village center, activate his Byakugan, and look around.

The Hokage building stood at Konoha's center. Neji found a secluded corner nearby and activated his Byakugan.

"Found it!" After turning halfway around, Neji spotted Root's base on the northwestern edge of Konoha.

He knew it was Root the moment he saw Danzo.

It was a vast underground complex. Danzo sat in an armchair with a cane, speaking to someone.

Through Neji's Byakugan, Danzo's right eye appeared green. That was the color of the ocular power and Chakra within Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan.

Is that Aburame Ryoma? He's covered in insects, and at that height, who else could it be? Neji had spotted another person, likely Danzo's right-hand man.

"Huh? Why is this room full of corpses?" Neji frowned almost imperceptibly. In a huge room, rows of large containers held pale bodies suspended in liquid.

Through his Byakugan, he saw that the cylindrical containers were filled with an unknown liquid. Pale corpses floated inside—men and women, young and old.

"This is..." Shock spread across Neji's face.

These are the bodies of Uchiha Clan members! The discovery shook him.

He even saw a corpse that looked somewhat like Sasuke.

He couldn't imagine what Sasuke would do if he saw this.

Sasuke cared deeply about the Uchiha Clan's honor. When he won a fight, he credited the clan's strength; when he lost, he took the blame himself.

"Well, you've really outdone yourselves, Danzo, Hiruzen Sarutobi." Neji's expression darkened.

Sasuke was his friend. There was no way Neji could see his friend's relatives treated like this and not feel angry.

Neji shifted his gaze to another Laboratory inside Root.

The Laboratory was small. It held only one round Cultivation Containers, with a fist-sized piece of flesh floating inside.

Flesh preserved in a dedicated Cultivation Containers... Is that a piece of Hashirama Senju? Neji wondered.