Root Base.
Standing in the empty Cross-Shaped Atrium, Danzo tilted his head back toward the faint light filtering down from the dome. After the battle at Takigakure, he had fled back to the village in utter disgrace.
Not only had he lost more than half his elite forces, but the Third had also slashed Root's funding.
These blows had severely weakened Root, but they had not shaken its foundations. As long as the Hokage wanted to maintain a virtuous image in public, the village's darkness would always belong to Root.
Even after losing its elite forces, its training system remained intact, ensuring a steady supply of fresh blood.
Nor did Root, which operated in the shadows, rely solely on funding from the Daimyō. With Root's methods, amassing wealth was child's play, and there were countless examples of substituting one person for another.
What darkened Danzo's mood was something else: Hiruzen had begun showing signs of intending to choose a successor.
Normally, Hiruzen choosing a successor would not have been a bad thing for him. He could have seized the opportunity to become one of the candidates and contend for the Hokage position.
But that was assuming he had not suffered those losses in the battle at Takigakure.
As things stood, the moment he expressed even the slightest interest in running for Hokage, Hiruzen would spread damaging information about him, such as the Wood Release Experiment.
At that thought, Danzo's expression grew even darker, and his resentment extended to the Uchiha.
The Uchiha had watched from the sidelines the entire time, only intervening after he had been defeated. If not for Izanagi, he would have died at Konan and Nagato's hands long ago.
One could say that the Uchiha had intended to stand by and watch him die from the very