"Lord Danzo, the ANBU are directly under the command of the Hokage. You have no authority to order us around. Even if you are the leader of Root, if you want us to go anywhere, you'll need to provide a proper reason. Otherwise, we will not obey."
Leo's gaze locked firmly on Danzo's eyes, his presence unyielding. His steadily growing power now gave him the right to stand on equal footing with Konoha's shadowy forces.
Though he had no wish to betray the village—after all, he owed his life to Konoha and had many acquaintances here—if Danzo insisted on making him an enemy, then rebellion would be his only path.
At worst, he would simply leave the village. With his current strength, he could survive anywhere in the shinobi world. There was no need to keep bowing his head. In his eyes, as his strength grew, even Danzo's so-called authority was nothing worth fearing.
"Hm?"
Danzo's gaze turned cold and sharp. He looked straight at Leo, his voice chilling. "Is that so?"
"Yes," Leo replied calmly. "We are ANBU operatives, directly under the Hokage. Other than Captain Hatake and the Hokage himself, even you, Lord Danzo, have no right to mobilize us."
Leo's eEXPression remained serene, unshaken.
What a joke. Danzo wanted to take Team Nine away? Who knew what he intended to do with them?
Following Danzo would be pure folly—the outcome was easy to predict.
Hadn't Uchiha Shisui, a loyal shinobi of the Hokage's faction, ended up having his eyes gouged out by this same man? Despair drove him to leap off a cliff in the end.
Danzo's face darkened. He let out a cold snort, voice heavy with gloom.
"The Hokage is not present. As his senior advisor, I have the authority to act in his stead. Are you defying orders?"
A faint pressure radiated from him, filling the tent.
But Leo felt no fear.
When it came to sheer presence, he had never lost to anyone. With his Conqueror's Haki surging beneath the surface, such posturing meant nothing to him.
"I'll need to see the Hokage's written orders," Leo replied, his tone steady and indifferent, as if Danzo's coal-black eEXPression didn't even exist.
Moonlight, Hayate, and the others were drenched in cold sweat, their hearts pounding in their throats. They didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Danzo narrowed his eyes, anger flickering deep within.
It had been a long time since anyone dared defy him like this.
He had already told Sarutobi Hiruzen that Leo had a rebellious streak and should be placed under Root's supervision.
Outsiders were to be treated only as tools—not given the slightest sense of independence.
And yet this brat dared to challenge him to his face!
A mere child—did he think joining the ANBU gave him the right to ignore the Hokage's advisor?
No matter how talented he was, he was still just an unripe boy.
"Presumptuous!"
Danzo barked sharply, eyes frosty.
Whoosh!
In the next instant, several masked Root operatives appeared, surrounding Leo.
The tent was filled with Root agents—over a dozen in total.
Was Danzo seriously planning to make a move?
Leo didn't even glance at them. His tone remained cool. "You intend to fight me, Lord Danzo?"
To him, their numbers meant nothing. Most of them were just mid-level shinobi—utterly insignificant. Against true power, they were no more than paper tigers.
"I am acting under the Hokage's orders!" Danzo said icily, his eEXPression dark and severe.
"Hmph, you're not the Hokage yet," Leo shot back with a mocking sneer, refusing to yield even an inch.
Danzo's face twisted. The fact that he had never become Hokage was the deepest scar in his life. Hearing Leo throw it in his face filled him with uncontrollable fury.
Such insolence! How dare this brat speak to him that way!
The Root agents tensed, ready to strike. Moonlight Hayate and his teammates were so terrified they didn't dare to move a muscle.
But before they could act, Leo's pupils flashed crimson—
—and an overwhelming, suffocating pressure burst forth!
The air in the tent dropped to freezing cold in an instant. Everyone felt a chill rise from the depths of their souls, their instincts screaming of a monstrous predator in their midst.
"Stop!!"
Just as the tension reached its peak, a deep, commanding voice thundered from outside the tent.
At once, Leo withdrew his aura, and the temperature returned to normal.
Everyone was left bewildered—what had that terrifying sensation been just now?
Even Danzo felt uncertain. Had his senses deceived him? That fleeting moment of dread—why had it felt so real?
Before he could dwell on it, the owner of that voice stepped into view, making Danzo's eEXPression change drastically.
Hatake Sakumo had returned.
Wasn't he supposed to be leading a mission outside the village?
A moment later, Sakumo strode into the tent, a squad of elite ANBU following behind him. His calm, steely eyes swept over the room.
He removed his mask and stared directly at Danzo.
"Captain," Leo and the members of Team Nine immediately saluted.
"What's going on here?" Sakumo's tone was firm and heavy, his very presence radiating quiet authority.
Even before entering, he had sensed the tense atmosphere—and that brief, terrifying killing intent that had flared moments ago.
It was too pure, too potent. It reminded him of the murderous aura left clinging to the corpses of Iwagakure shinobi on the battlefield.
He scanned the room: Danzo, Team Nine, the Root operatives. None of them should have possessed such an aura.
Then his gaze landed on the figure wearing the Rakshasa mask.
Leo.
A chilling thought flashed through Sakumo's mind—so bold, so unbelievable that even he hesitated to accept it.
Could Leo be the one who single-handedly annihilated that entire Iwa squad?
When Sakumo asked what had happened, Moonlight Hayate hurriedly eEXPlained everything from the start.
When he finished, gasps filled the tent. Shock. Disbelief. Awe.
Leo had slaughtered eighteen Iwa chūnin alone, and even cut down two jōnin after that?
Even Sakumo was dumbstruck. He could hardly believe it himself. Such strength—in only half a year? It was monstrous.
Even "genius" felt insufficient.
That level of growth defied reason!
As everyone stared at him—Sakumo included—Leo calmly delivered the eEXPlanation he had already prepared.
"Well… actually, I've been training in the Eight Inner Gates. Captain, you've probably heard of it—it's a forbidden technique that can temporarily unleash immense power."
The others immediately nodded in understanding. Of course! The story of Maito Dai using the Eight Inner Gates was already well known in Konoha.
Leo was close with Dai—so it wasn't strange for him to have learned the technique as well.
Sakumo, however, remained silent, his eEXPression unreadable.
Leo knew perfectly well that while this excuse might fool the others, it wouldn't deceive Sakumo.
But that was fine. It was enough.
Danzo was too ruthless, willing to do anything for his own gain.
But Hatake Sakumo—was not Danzo.
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