Chapter 159: Infiltrating the Root Base
The Root base.
Danzo wore the long-yearned-for Hokage Ceremonial Robe and draped the Hokage cloak over his shoulders.
The robe stitched with "Fourth Hokage" swayed with every step Danzo took.
Why the Fourth?
Because it had been sewn during the Third Great Ninja War, but Minato became the Fourth Hokage.
Danzo never threw it away.
He kept it hidden away, along with his thwarted ambition and the icy resentment he harbored toward Minato, toward Hiruzen, toward those "naïve" ideals.
Each solitary confrontation with the robe rekindled the undying flame inside him and his hunger for the title of Hokage.
And now, at last, he had draped it over his shoulders.
Though it was only a replica, though it was deep within an unknown shadow, the psychological satisfaction and illusion of power the garment gave him was exquisite; every pore seemed to tremble and cheer.
The robe fluttered gently with his slow pacing, producing a faint rustle in the dead-silent base.
He walked through the corridors of the Root base, past Root Ninja standing like stone statues, masked and absolutely obedient.
All this would soon usher in a brand-new beginning.
According to the plan of that dangerous ally—Orochimaru.
The "Hidden Leaf Village Collapse Plan" was about to commence.
Hiruzen, his former teammate, now political rival and stumbling block, would finally die.
And that fool Jiraiya, who had suddenly returned to the village, had been lured away by false information Danzo released about Orochimaru's whereabouts.
Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado were nothing to fear.
As long as Orochimaru succeeded in killing Hiruzen Sarutobi, as long as Hidden Leaf Village fell into brief power vacuum amid chaos and grief—then he, Shimura Danzo, the guardian who had always worked behind the scenes for Hidden Leaf Village, would become Fifth Hokage by dint of his seniority.
At the thought, Danzo's breathing quickened.
Years of lying low and careful maneuvering—all for this moment.
Ever since that doddering Hiruzen dissolved Root for a laughable reason, Danzo had sensed danger.
But would he sit idle?
Without Root, he still had his clansmen.
And if the clansmen were gone?
The Shimura Family was not some great clan handed down from the Sengoku era.
Their foothold, growth, and prosperity in Hidden Leaf Village had relied on Shimura Danzo's covert support, deals, and clean-up work.
Without Shimura Danzo, could they have peacefully enjoyed the fruits of peace, developed Family Ninjutsu, and trained their children?
Reaping without sowing—how could that be allowed?
He gathered the clan's children of suitable age and formed a new Root.
Young Ninja "requisitioned" from every Hidden Leaf Village Family filled his new Root.
With the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal he bound their bodies and souls, forging them into perfect tools that obeyed only him, with no past, no future, only missions.
Now, apart from the Hyuga and the Uchiha—reduced to one orphan and one missing-nin, already extinct in all but name—nearly every clan in Hidden Leaf Village had members under his control, serving him in the dark.
This was the vast hidden net he had woven, the bedrock of his power and the pieces with which he would one day control Hidden Leaf Village completely.
"Soon… very soon…"
Danzo murmured, fingers stroking the smooth cloth of the robe, a cold, determined gleam in his left eye.
He could already see himself atop the Hokage Building, stepping out of the shadows to bask in true sunlight while everyone knelt before him.
Under his leadership, Hidden Leaf Village would cast off weakness and naïveté, sweeping away all internal and external threats with iron and force, marching toward true, absolute strength.
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A pair of eyes opened soundlessly in the darkness.
An icy, crystal-clear blue like the polar deep sea.
Within that blue was none of the usual sunlight or warmth, only frozen killing intent and absolute focus.
A figure in a black cloak seemed to merge with the shadows, slowly "floating" out of a seamless rock wall.
Long black hair, black robe, and a fox mask.
It was the disguised Uzumaki Naruto.
He used no light.
After obsessive reconnaissance—repeated scouting, observation, analysis—his super-sharp senses and acute perception of Chakra fluctuations had mapped every sensory-node, energy flow, and guard rotation in the outer and shallow layers of the Root base.
Moments ago he had used the Inner Decapitation Skill to bury himself deep in the colder, deeper rock beneath Hidden Leaf Village, carefully avoiding every known detection layer.
He had descended three hundred meters straight below the Root base's lowest floor, slipping into the deepest sector through a "dead angle" no barrier covered and no one would imagine.
Right now, the Chunin Exams' final matches were in full swing above ground in Hidden Leaf Village.
A Shadow Clone had taken his place in the stands, cheering for his teammates.
The real Uzumaki Naruto had become the deadliest ghost, infiltrating Hidden Leaf Village's darkest, most forbidden heart.
He had to be certain—absolutely certain.
A cold sensation touched his palm.
Naruto opened his right hand; Ice Release Chakra condensed and crystallized above it with a faint crackle.
A blade of crystal-clear ice, exuding frigid air, formed silently.
Its edge was paper-thin, shimmering with lethal blue-white under the dim light.
At the same moment, vast, precise perception burst outward like invisible radar.
Kagura Minds Eye!
The sensorial art of the Uzumaki Clan, amplified by Nine-Tailed Chakra, reached an almost absurd level of range and precision.
In an instant the entire sprawling Root underground base, like a machine stripped of its shell, mapped every Chakra signature, life presence, and energy node into his mind.
Every guard, researcher, trainee—their positions, movements, even Chakra natures—became exact coordinates and points of light.
Without hesitation Naruto's hands flashed through seals.
"Shadow Clone Technique!"
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop—
Thirty identical clones in fox masks, each holding an ice blade, appeared amid soft white smoke.
Without a word they met the original's gaze, then shot off like loosed arrows, racing toward separate targets locked in his mind.
Their task: search, confirm, pin down, and ultimately help the original locate Danzo's exact position.
And the original Naruto moved at the same instant.
He slipped past every patrol route and surveillance point, a piece on a dark chessboard that could jump freely, unconstrained by rules, beginning a silent, efficient "walk" and "clean-up" through the vast subterranean base.
Right now Naruto was a King fused with the Rook's movement—charging straight ahead, unchecked.
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