Root beneath the ground!

Not far from the orphanage.

Lin Ze dragged his exhausted body toward the orphanage.

Although the recovery power of the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon made the physical side effects of opening the Gate of Opening fade rapidly,

the price was the rapid depletion of his body's energy reserves.

Grrr~~ Grrr~~

His stomach rumbled again and again. Hungry. He was so hungry!

"I'd better hurry back for dinner! Nonō should have it ready by now."

He rounded a street corner. The orphanage was just ahead.

"Hm? What's that?!"

Lin Ze suddenly stopped at the corner. A dark figure flashed past near the orphanage gate, moving furtively.

Although it was only a blurry silhouette, Lin Ze's eyes, enhanced after eating the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, still made out the black cat mask on the person's face.

"ANBU?"

"Or Root?"

Lin Ze looked in the direction the shadow had gone. The person's chakra felt cold and clammy, giving him an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

Rubbing his chin, Lin Ze recalled that Root was the ANBU within Konoha's ANBU, established single-handedly by Shimura Danzō. It used extreme methods and believed in sacrificing anything for Konoha. Its members all bore the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, preventing them from revealing any information about the organization.

Lin Ze quickened his pace, rapidly analyzing the situation:

"If it's ANBU, I'll have to hold back a little during my Eight Gates Released Formation training for now. But if it's Root? Then they're here for Nonō."

Recalling Nonō's unusual behavior a while ago, Lin Ze felt it was most likely Root!

He pushed open the orphanage gate, and the aroma of food greeted him. Two little girls were chasing each other around the yard, while Miyamoto Ichirō, who had the weekend off, sat on the veranda reading a ninjutsu scroll.

"Lin Ze! You're back?" Miyamoto Ichirō looked up in greeting. "How was training today?"

"Not bad," Lin Ze replied casually, scanning the yard. "Where's Sister Nonō?"

"In the kitchen." Miyamoto Ichirō pointed. "Oh, right, do you know when Satō and Inoue are coming back? They've been away on their mission for almost a month..."

Lin Ze shook his head. Satō and Inoue, whom Miyamoto Ichirō had mentioned, were two other older children at the orphanage. Since becoming genin six months ago, they had often gone away on missions. This time, they really had been gone a little long...

"Nothing happened to them, did it..." Miyamoto Ichirō muttered.

Lin Ze said nothing and headed straight to the kitchen. He pushed open the door and saw Nonō chopping vegetables, with Rei Uesugi making soup beside her.

"You're back?" Nonō did not look up. "Go take a bath first. Dinner's almost ready."

Lin Ze did not move. He stared at Nonō's back for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Sister, has someone been making trouble for you lately?"

The kitchen knife paused for an instant before resuming its chopping. "No. Why do you ask?"

"I just saw someone suspicious hanging around nearby," Lin Ze said deliberately. "Wearing a mask and sneaking around."

Nonō's expression remained unchanged as she said gently, "It might have been a ninja on patrol. Don't overthink it. Go take a bath, then have dinner."

Although Lin Ze could find nothing wrong with Nonō's answer or expression, there was that momentary pause of her knife at the start...

Something really was wrong!

Back in his room, Lin Ze recalled the original story as he changed:

That scheming old bastard Danzo loved using the orphanage to threaten Nonō. In the original story, he threatened to cut off the orphanage's funding to force her to keep carrying out dangerous missions...

"It looks like Nonō hasn't officially left Root yet at this point."

Lin Ze had been in Konoha for over a year, and Nonō had never left Konoha during that time. This had once led him to believe she had already left Root, but only today did he discover that was not the case.

"I'm still too weak!"

"Luckily, I've already gotten hold of the Eight Gates Released Formation. My strength should improve extremely quickly from here."

After dinner, Lin Ze returned to his room and was about to begin his daily dragon transformation training.

Knock, knock, knock!

A sudden knock at the door interrupted him.

"Lin Ze, are you asleep?" It was Nonō's voice, a little quieter than usual.

Lin Ze quickly sat up. "Not yet. Come in, Sister."

The door slid gently open. Wearing a pale blue kimono, Nonō entered carrying a tray with a small bowl of red bean soup on it.

"I noticed you didn't have much dessert earlier, so I saved you some." Nonō set the bowl on the low table, her smile as gentle as ever.

"Thank you, Sister." Lin Ze picked up the spoon but did not bring it to his mouth. "Is there something you need, coming to see me so late?"

Nonō's movements paused for a moment, then she wiped the tray as though nothing had happened. "Nothing special, really."

She paused briefly. "Actually, Lin Ze, you've probably already figured it out. The person you spotted today was a teammate I used to go on missions with in the village."

Lin Ze quietly drank the red bean soup in his bowl and nodded without speaking.

What teammate? That was clearly someone from Root.

"He came to ask me to go on a mission with him. Just a small mission. It'll only take two weeks."

"I know you're sensible, much more mature than other children your age, so I won't hide it from you-I need to leave tomorrow for this mission. I'll be back in two weeks."

Nonō took a deep breath, softening her tone further. "While I'm away, I'd like you to help look after the other children. Also,"

she raised her eyes to Lin Ze and made an effort to lift the corners of her mouth. "Don't worry about me, either. Your big sister is very strong. I've completed missions ten times harder than this before."

As she spoke, she deliberately puffed out her chest, as though proving she really was strong.

"Is that so? Then I can rest easy."

Of course, Lin Ze knew how much Nonō was downplaying things. For instance, even if the little mission she mentioned was not a near-certain death sentence, it was definitely a tricky assignment fraught with unpredictable dangers.

But Lin Ze also knew that, as he was now, he had no ability to stop it. Never mind facing Danzo, who stood at the threshold of Kage Level-even against an ordinary Root ninja, charging in with his current strength would only get him killed.

"Don't worry. I'll be back in two weeks. I'll leave the other children in your care until then."

Nonō added, "Oh, right, the director, too."

The director she mentioned was the orphanage's only elderly resident. Having worked at the orphanage for decades, the director had now been bedridden for years and normally relied entirely on Nonō's care.

Lin Ze looked at Nonō and caught a rare trace of exhaustion in her eyes, so he nodded and said, "Don't worry, Sister. Go ahead. I'll take good care of everyone!"

Seeing Lin Ze nod, Nonō gave a reassured smile, picked up the empty tray, and turned to leave the room.

The instant the door closed, the calm on Lin Ze's face vanished.

"Still too weak..."

If I had Kage Level strength right now, how could I let Nonō go on a mission where she'd barely have a chance of surviving?

But that was how the ninja world worked. If you were weak, you had to let others dictate your fate-either die on one dangerous mission after another, or die in the future Shinobi World War, with no choice at all.