Root Ninja

Xia Yan suspected that the ninja they had encountered very likely belonged to Konoha's most notorious organization.

But he had to admit that both the deterrent power and strength of this organization were truly frightening.

Especially in Konoha, the role Root played and the responsibilities it shouldered inspired far more despair than the Anbu's.

To be honest, the duties of the Anbu and Root seemed to overlap in certain respects, but in reality, they did not overlap at all.

For instance, when the Anbu moved against their own, they would at least establish whether their targets had truly betrayed the village. Root would not.

Their very purpose was to eliminate those whom the Anbu could not act against directly, or for whom they had yet to obtain conclusive evidence!

Viewed this way, the Anbu were actually like a great tree bathed in light, while Root was completely buried beneath the soil, forever remaining in darkness.

They carried out the most dangerous missions and handled the most unsavory assignments. They shouldered all the infamy the Anbu bore.

This contrast was, in fact, very much like the relationship between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō.

One was the noble Hokage standing in the light, while the other was the sinister, cunning Darkness of the Shinobi.

As Xia Yan pondered this, he suddenly noticed that those fellows' chakra fluctuations seemed to be growing increasingly obvious.

Clearly, they had also noticed Xia Yan and Kakashi's movements and were beginning to react to them.

Their reaction made Xia Yan shake his head inwardly. It seemed that Root had suffered truly severe losses, and rebuilding it was proving somewhat troublesome.

It was not as though Xia Yan had never dealt with Root. After one particular mission, he and his squad had returned with the enemy's bodies, only to be stopped just as they entered the village.

Even now, he remembered just how cold each of those Root ninja had been.

They had been composed, indifferent, and as lifeless as dead men. They could absolutely have been called more corpse-like than Kakashi was now!

Yet in the eyes of an Anbu like Xia Yan, the performance of these fellows before him was utterly inadequate.

Still, it was precisely because the vast majority of Root's main force had been wiped out that Xia Yan felt a little safer, because Root had once invited him to join!

Root had not yet become the utterly unrestrained organization it would be later. It still cared somewhat about appearances, building up its reputation, perhaps.

Danzo's desire to become Hokage was hardly a secret. Almost all of Konoha's senior leadership knew what he wanted.

And Danzo was the sort of man who dared to act on whatever he dared to imagine.

Why had the matter of Orochimaru's human experiments come to light during the selection of the Hokage?

The implications could hardly have been clearer: Danzo had used the power at his disposal to interfere!

First, he had used the pressure of public opinion to force Hiruzen Sarutobi to step down over the peace treaty he had signed with the Stone Ninja.

Then he had spread ambiguous information about Orochimaru, intending to ruin Orochimaru's eligibility for the election and secure enormous benefits for himself.

What he had not expected, however, was that his Root would suffer such devastating losses in the Land of Rain, forcing him to throw his full support behind Orochimaru.

What he had expected even less was that his own interference would make it impossible for Hiruzen Sarutobi to install the now-disgraced Orochimaru as Hokage.

At the same time, under immense pressure because of the agreement he had signed with the Stone Ninja, Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to retreat behind the scenes.

But with Orochimaru no longer an option, he had also abandoned any intention of surrendering the power in his hands.

The final result was that Danzo was stabbed in the back once again. Orochimaru lost the election, and Minato Namikaze, a member of Hiruzen's grandstudent generation, stepped into the spotlight. Danzo could be said to have suffered a complete defeat.

"Hm?"

Just as Xia Yan was reflecting on the changes the Pot Kage and his Root had undergone, several ninja likewise dressed in Anbu attire suddenly emerged without a sound.

They were fully armed, weapons in hand, and chakra continued to ripple around them.

At the sight, Xia Yan and Kakashi both froze for a moment.

Xia Yan had never expected these fellows to come out. Their stance was openly hostile!

Kakashi simply drew his Ninja Blade, though he was puzzled as to why fellow Anbu would adopt such a posture.

But when facing enemies, he would not show the slightest mercy.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing?"

Just then, a figure suddenly emerged from underground to one side and loudly rebuked all the ninja present.

Xia Yan turned his head slightly. Only then did he notice that there was actually an entrance leading underground not far from them!

The seals here are so powerful!

Xia Yan frowned slightly. He was certain he had already scanned the surrounding area when these ninja appeared.

Yet his earlier scan had detected only the seals and the approximate positions of these Root ninja. He had not discovered that entrance at all!

Sealing Jutsu like this was truly rather frightening. It was clearly intended to conceal important secrets.

Then this underground entrance...

"My apologies for causing you both some trouble. Are you members of the Anbu?"

As the man spoke, the Root ninja who had looked ready to attack all stopped, then slowly concealed themselves in the shadows.

Only then did the man walk up to Xia Yan and Kakashi and calmly pose his question.

"Hello. I'm the captain of Squad Five, First Anbu Division. You can call me Nightingale. This is a member of my squad. You can call him White Fang."

Xia Yan answered in a mild voice, though he remained relatively wary. These people were Root, after all.

"I've just returned from a mission and was heading back to the village, but I didn't expect someone to lock on to us halfway there. Which division are you from?"

"Nightingale? White Fang?"

The man did not answer Xia Yan's question. Instead, he scrutinized the two of them.

He knew both code names. Nightingale was a fairly talented young ninja. Root had once tried to recruit him, but he had refused.

As for White Fang, that code name had belonged to Hatake Sakumo. Now that the boy before him had inherited it, did that mean this boy was Kakashi?

Sure enough, as the man continued observing him, he soon confirmed that this white-haired boy called White Fang was definitely Kakashi!

That Sharingan could not be hidden. There was no way he could mistake it.

At that thought, the man could not help sighing softly. He truly loathed those newly recruited ninja now. These fellows were absolute idiots.

Were they going to come out and intercept every ninja who passed by?

With so many seals here, how could this place be exposed so easily? If that were possible, they would have been exposed long ago.

Besides, ordinary ninja could have been dealt with, but these two clearly could not be disposed of casually.

Especially this boy Kakashi. He was the Fourth Hokage's student...