Root's watchers

"That's Danzo's Root..." Suddenly, Neji turned to look in a certain direction.

Three ninja dressed in Anbu uniforms appeared in his nearly 360-degree field of vision. They had come from inside the village and stopped in the forest outside the Shrine.

Sasuke looked coldly toward the spot Neji was watching. "Root? That secret organization you mentioned, the one loyal to the Hokage Advisor? Why are they watching us?"

Although Root nominally belonged to the Anbu, in practice it was essentially Danzo's private army. The Anbu served the Hokage, while Root served Danzo.

Neji had mentioned this secret organization to Sasuke before.

Neji patted Sasuke. "To be precise, they're here to watch you. I'm just a member of the Hyuga Branch Family, a caged bird. In their eyes, I'm worth very little."

"But you're different. You awakened your Sharingan so early that, to them, your value is on a completely different level from mine. In their eyes, you don't just represent a shinobi clan. You're also a powerful future asset, an important means of keeping the Nine-Tails in check," Neji said.

"Tch!" Sasuke scoffed. "Just a bunch of rats skulking in the shadows."

"Don't underestimate them. Only Konoha's elite ninja can join Root or the Anbu. The difficulty of their missions is nothing like ordinary ninja assignments," Neji said.

Some of the contempt faded from Sasuke's face. "So the ninja who can join those two organizations are all first-rate fighters?"

As he spoke, an eager look appeared on his face.

"Give it a rest. Stop wanting to challenge every strong fighter you see." Neji was exasperated. Sasuke seemed to have an innate love of fighting powerful opponents.

Should I say that's only to be expected of the reincarnation of Indra's chakra? Neji quipped inwardly.

Sasuke glanced at Neji. "I want to see where my strength stands now. Apart from you, I haven't had a chance to fight a proper ninja."

"You're probably not far off a proper jonin," Neji said.

Sasuke was far from weak, especially after receiving a transplant of Naruto Uzumaki's Cloned Limb. His chakra and eye power had increased enormously. Although his Sharingan only had two tomoe, its eye power was even stronger than that of an ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan. He had also used his Sharingan to copy a great many ninjutsu.

Sasuke was now proficient in ninjutsu of three elemental types: Fire Release, Wind Release, and Lightning Release. Aside from not yet having developed a true finishing move and being limited by his still-growing body, he had no real weaknesses.

It was fair to say that this Sasuke Uchiha was far stronger than the Sasuke Uchiha of the original story.

"A jonin..." Rather than looking excited at Neji's words, Sasuke fell silent. After a while, he said, "That bastard Uchiha Itachi was already beyond that level at my age."

"That's because Uchiha Itachi developed too quickly." Whether Neji was mocking him or simply stating a fact was unclear. "You should know better than anyone. Uchiha Itachi grew up too fast. By eleven or twelve, he already looked fully grown."

Neji gave Sasuke a careful once-over and smiled. "You're nearly twelve yourself. Take a look at how far you've come."

"Shut up!" Sasuke was annoyed. "What am I supposed to do about that? We ate the same food. I've already been trying my hardest to grow!"

As he spoke, Sasuke seemed to regain a little confidence. But when he looked at Neji, who stood a full head taller than him, his bravado wilted. The guy in front of him was another one who grew too fast.

"You must have been a picky eater when you were little. Otherwise, you could be even stronger," Neji said.

"Give it a rest." Sasuke echoed Neji's usual phrase.

Neji shook his head with a chuckle. "Let's just leave. Don't bother with those three little rats outside. Just pretend we haven't seen them."

Sasuke knew Neji was far stronger than he was, so Neji's attitude did not surprise him.

"We're just leaving?" Sasuke looked somewhat reluctant.

"What else do you want to do? Kill them all?" Neji asked, amused.

Sasuke rubbed his chin. "It's not out of the question. With our strength, we could easily do it."

"What are you thinking?" Neji was speechless, his expression darkening. "You're already this arrogant with the little strength you have now. I can't even imagine what you'll be like once you're as strong as a Kage."

"Forget it, then." Sasuke did not mind. He had only been making an offhand remark.

He simply wanted to see how Neji would react. In his mind, Neji was the truly lawless one.

The two left one after the other. Although they were gone, Neji did not deactivate his Byakugan. He wanted to see why Root was watching them.

"Captain, have they left?" a Root ninja hidden in the woods asked quietly.

"They've gone. Let's go inside and have a look." Their leader wore a fox mask and an Anbu uniform, with a short sword strapped to his back.

"Captain, didn't that Hyuga kid notice us?" asked another Root ninja wearing a Cat-Faced Mask.

"Relax. An ignorant Branch Family member couldn't possibly detect my insects," the ninja in the fox mask said.

He had never imagined that Neji's Byakugan was far beyond the norm.

With that, he and his subordinates in cat and dog masks used the Body Flicker Technique to head toward the Uchiha Clan's Shrine.

Once inside the Shrine, the three Root ninja quickly began a thorough search.

All three were elite Root ninja with extensive experience. They soon found signs that a stone slab had been pried up and located the passage to the Basement without trouble.

Without the slightest hesitation, two of them entered the Basement, leaving only the Root ninja in the dog mask to stand guard above.

"Captain, there's nothing here," said the Root ninja in the Cat-Faced Mask.

The Root ninja in the fox mask fixed his gaze on the Stone Tablet beneath the wall.

But all he could see was a stone tablet engraved with patterns of unknown meaning.

"Copy the patterns on this Stone Tablet. We'll take them back and try to decipher them," the Root ninja in the fox mask said.

"Yes, Captain." The Root ninja in the Cat-Faced Mask took out his recording tools and copied them on the spot.

Meanwhile, Neji saw everything they did through his Byakugan. He said to Sasuke, "They're copying the contents of the Stone Tablet. Should we stop them?"

At Neji's words, Sasuke's face immediately darkened. "Of course we're stopping them!" he said coldly.

With that, Sasuke immediately turned around and raced toward the Shrine.