After he began setting up the chakra network, Zou Hyuga had come to regard the earth veins as his private property. After all, the largest of them, the Leyline, was still working for him.
Now someone was stealing his power, and that was absolutely unacceptable.
Even when capturing tailed beasts, he charged tailed beast chakra as a toll, milking Nagato, the strongest ninja in the Shinobi World, for all he was worth.
Sensing the thief's approximate location, Zou Hyuga suddenly realized that they did not seem far away-at most a little over ten kilometers. He could get there in under fifteen minutes.
His reason for bringing Oto along was simple, too: more strength meant more insurance.
After all, in a Shinobi World where even the Second, who had mastered Flying Thunder God, could die in battle, and even Six Paths Madara could be ambushed, no amount of caution was excessive.
Soon, the two left the Village and arrived near the Valley of the End.
Crouching in the grass, they discovered that the Root ninja stationed here seemed to be guarding an entrance.
Apparently remembering something, Oto tugged at Zou Hyuga's clothes and whispered, "Isn't that where you once took me to test the power of my dojutsu?"
At her words, Zou Hyuga frowned and surveyed the surroundings with his Byakugan.
Before the Byakugan's penetrating vision, the Root Base hidden underground had nowhere to hide. Although the Sealing Jutsu Formula prevented Zou Hyuga from seeing inside, he could still be certain that the "thief" was in the deepest part of the Underground Base.
Was Danzo the "thief"?
Once he spotted the Root ninja, Zou Hyuga immediately thought of Danzo, the darkness of the Shinobi World. Given Danzo's knack for stirring up trouble, and his presence at an earth vein node that