Training at Root continued day by day. Yagami maintained his cover as an instructor, impassively gathering intelligence.
Root eventually snatched another four-year-old from the orphanage to fill the gap left by Shizune. Within seven days, Danzo had mastered the Tongue-Cursed Puppet Seal and applied it to all twenty children. A curse mark—represented by the hexagram for *Tun* (Retreat) with its two yin and four yang lines—appeared on each of their tongues.
'Danzo,' Yagami thought coldly, 'you have no idea. I have half the Uzumaki clan in my pocket. This seal you think is your trump card will eventually be unraveled by Yuka.'
In the world of sealing arts, the Uzumaki were the masters; Danzo was merely a crude imitator. Yagami noted the connection between the seal's structure and the trigrams. He suspected these seals required true Yin and Yang Release—not the "unconventional" versions he practiced with Qiaoyi. He made a mental note to learn the Four Symbols Seal, the core of Uzumaki techniques, from Yuka when he had the chance.
With the Tongue-Cursed Puppet Seal, these children could never reveal a single detail about their missions. Even if they were captured, interrogated, or had their brains picked after death, Danzo's secrets remained safe. They were being turned into absolute tools.
However, as Uchiha Itachi once said: every jutsu has a weakness. If Yagami and Yuka could crack the seal, they could feed Danzo false information and turn his "absolute" loyalty against him.
...
After finishing with Yamanaka Ryu's group, Yagami occasionally observed C training the toddlers. Today was "Anatomy Day."
C had brought biological waste—failed experimental subjects—from Orochimaru's lab to the training ground. He commanded the four-year-olds to dissect the corpses and extract the hearts using their own methods.
Seeing Fox standing nearby, C walked over. "Captain Fox, Root will only grow stronger from here."
"Congratulations," Yagami replied flatly. He couldn't help but add, "The kids look terrified. Look at those few—tears are leaking from under their masks and dripping onto their feet."
"Being a common villager is a blessing because they don't have to face the cruelty of the shinobi world," C said without emotion. "Being a ninja is cruel; being a Root ninja is crueler. They must become familiar with death and corpses as quickly as possible."
Yagami turned and left, unwilling to watch any longer.
...
The full moon hung in the sky like a silver plate.
Yagami received word from Yuka. She informed him that the scroll she carried didn't contain a direct counter to the Tongue-Cursed Puppet Seal, but she could attempt to reverse-engineer it. The seal incorporated the caster's blood, meaning Danzo's version was unique to him.
"To crack it, I need a live specimen," Yuka had written.
Yagami was the floor of ANBU morality, but even he couldn't bring himself to hand over one of the children for experimentation. He would have to target C or J. Given Danzo's paranoia, those two likely had the seal on their tongues as well.
He planned to use the Guardian Shinobi of the Shimura clan in the Land of Grass as bait to lure C or D out of the village. However, his "White Ghost" persona's strength was a bit lacking for a high-level Jonin encounter.
'How to power up this month?' He decided to "delegate" the Sharingan to the White Ghost persona. A 2-Tomoe Sharingan offered a massive boost—not just in perception, but in Genjutsu potency. He decided to learn a few specific illusions to round out the kit.
The only risk was exposure. If the Sharingan was spotted, Danzo would likely go to war with the Uchiha.
'Then again,' Yagami mused, 'the Uchiha are destined for extinction anyway. What's one more heavy "pot" of blame on their backs? Let the Uchiha suffer a bit more for the cause.'
He would just have to be careful not to let Yuka see the eyes. If she did, he'd claim he transplanted them to hide his Senju identity. She trusted him blindly; she'd be much easier to fool than Tsunade.
He spent his days training Root recruits and his nights practicing Genjutsu. He chose to master the Temporary Paralysis Jutsu to complement the Temple of Nirvana he already knew.
He also kept an eye on the orphanage. A few children were missing—taken by Danzo. A secret code appeared on the small blackboard where Nono wrote the daily menu. Yakushi Nono was desperate to meet him, but Yagami ignored her for days. Her previous false intel had nearly gotten Yuka killed in the Land of Iron. That was unforgivable.
Five days later, seeing the code still there, Yagami decided she was sufficiently desperate. That evening, he headed to a park three kilometers away.
A girl with black-rimmed glasses sat on a bench by a small lake. Her hair was smooth, and her silhouette was elegant from behind. Sensing someone in the thicket behind her, her anxious expression softened slightly.
"You finally came, Fox."
"Why are you looking for me?"
Nono flinched at the hostility in his voice. "Fox, why the sudden animosity?"
"You told me Root sent two people to the Land of Iron. There were four. You nearly killed the subordinates Lord Yellow Dog is cultivating in secret. Your incompetence made me fail in my duties. Why wouldn't I be displeased?"
Nono's heart skipped a beat. 'So the four from Root really were killed by Yellow Dog's people?' Yellow Dog was the Hokage's son. if she exposed him, she'd be buried without a grave.
"I apologize, Fox. Intelligence work is never 100% certain. As the recipient, it's your duty to verify. I am a spy, not the final decision-maker."
"You risked returning to the village and sent repeated signals," Yagami cut her off. "What do you want?"
He wasn't afraid of her. Her weakness was the orphanage. People with weaknesses are easy to manipulate—Danzo knew it, and so did Fox. Yagami just hadn't stooped that low yet.
"Fox, there are things we can cooperate on," Nono said urgently. "Do you know where the seven children from the orphanage went?"
***
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