"All right, I understand." Zou Hyuga looked at Yamato and nodded slightly.
"Then I'll leave getting my workload reduced to you, Senior Zou."
Yamato scratched his head, stepped out from behind the tree, and crossed the wooden wall, disappearing among the buildings.
Zou Hyuga watched Yamato helplessly and shook his head.
Yamato had always regarded him as a senior, while he had always regarded Yamato as a disappointing son. That was what it meant to be both a father and a friend.
Just then, Oto suddenly appeared behind Zou Hyuga and laid a hand on his shoulder.
Zou Hyuga took Oto's hand, feeling the calluses on her palm. "Yamato came to me to plead his case. You should at least do me this favor..."
Oto looked straight into Zou Hyuga's eyes. "You were the one who proposed it, and now you want me to play the villain? I'm not agreeing to that."
Leaning against the tree, Zou Hyuga grew serious. "Let's put that aside. What has Danzo been up to lately? Has he been making any moves behind the scenes?"
"What else could he be doing? Keeping his guard up against the Uchiha," Oto said coldly. "During those attacks on the village, his Root stayed holed up in its base.
"An old fossil like him would probably burn to ashes the moment he stepped into the sunlight."
As Zou Hyuga listened to Oto's complaints, his brow gradually furrowed, and he sank into thought.
With Danzo's venomous nature, he was more dangerous lurking in a cave and waiting to strike than he was out in the open.
Whatever else Danzo might be, he was still an elder of the village, with Kage-level strength.
Meanwhile, outside the Valley of the End.
Danzo led a Root squad to a hidden cave entrance.