Yūto's pen scratched across the manuscript paper, a mischievous smile rising at the corners of his mouth. Even though he had not gone out gathering material lately, the specific scenes still came to him effortlessly.
"Lord Danzo... please give me another chance..."
The Root ninja kneeling on the floor had already knocked his forehead bloody.
The one-eyed old man in the shadows slowly rose. "Failures have no right to ask."
The old man abruptly changed tack. "I hear your wife works in the medical unit? Have her come to my office at eight tonight... to discuss your punishment."
Late at night in the medical room, the kunoichi's collar turned into scattered fibers. Danzo's calloused palm slid down her taut back. "Nervous? Think about your husband's transfer orders."
The candlelight flickered, a forehead protector clattered to the floor, and a white coat slid down her curves to pool at her feet.
"Your daughter's Ninja Academy assessment report is truly concerning." Danzo pushed the document across the desk.
The young mother clenched the cuffs of her kimono. "But my daughter has excellent marks in all her theory classes..."
"But she failed Taijutsu." With that single sentence, Danzo pronounced a death sentence on her daughter.
"Unless she receives special tutoring. For instance, starting tonight, I could personally teach you how to guide your daughter."
Early the next morning, the woman staggered out through Root's gates, the purple finger marks on her neck barely concealed by a high-necked sweater.
"Your younger brother's infiltration mission in the Land of Rain..." Danzo deliberately paused, savoring the sudden contraction of the ninja's pupils before him. "It seems his coordinates have been leaked."
"What do you want?" The older brother's fists involuntarily clenched. That was his beloved younger brother.
A walking stick suddenly lifted his