Capítulo 67: Chapter 67: The Legacy of Root
Aoba originally thought that the Third Hokage would assign him and Kakashi to investigate Danzo's affairs. Unexpectedly, the mission given to them was to control the situation within the Root organization.
After some thought, he guessed that Danzo might have left some contingency plans. The people at Root would likely be informed immediately if he died.
So, the Third Hokage must have already confirmed that Danzo was dead. For him, the most important thing now was ensuring the stability of Root.
Over the years, Danzo had operated in the shadows, misappropriating an unknown amount of resources to build up Root. Besides illegal experiments like those involving Hashirama's cells, Root had its own training base. Children gathered from orphanages or across the Land of Fire would be subjected to rigorous training here.
Those who survived would become members of Root. However, children who lacked "talent" would usually end up as cannon fodder or experimental subjects.
Root also had its own research department. The infamous "Curse Seal of Absolute Obedience" originated from here. Their human experimentation and secret technique development went even further than the Anbu.
Additionally, Root recruited members from all the major clans, including the Hyuga, Ino-Shika-Cho, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans.
Danzo hadn't been entirely unproductive over the years. Root had established its own intelligence network, intersecting with but independent of the Anbu's. It had spies placed throughout the five great nations.
These spies continuously funneled information back to Konoha. Strictly speaking, this intelligence was Root's greatest asset.
Danzo had done fairly well in his earlier years. Unfortunately, he later became obsessed with the position of Hokage, abandoning any sense of propriety.
Such vast resources were once in the hands of Danzo alone. But now that Danzo was dead, and with his two key subordinates—Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fu—also gone, Root was left leaderless.
To prevent chaos within Root, the Third Hokage immediately dispatched Anbu squads to maintain order. However, due to the ongoing investigation into Danzo's death, many Anbu squads were deployed elsewhere.
Root now required two high-level forces to stabilize the situation. After confirming that Danzo's death wasn't the doing of Aoba or Kakashi, the Third Hokage sent them to Root as a show of strength.
When Aoba and Kakashi arrived at Root, signs of unrest were already brewing.
Danzo's brainwashing had been quite effective. Though Root operated ruthlessly, there were still many diehard followers of Danzo within its ranks.
The unrest stemmed from a belief among these loyalists that Danzo's death was orchestrated by Konoha's higher-ups. This theory had gained some traction within Root, causing a number of individuals to grow restless.
However, all of this stopped once Aoba and Kakashi entered the scene.
The people of Root knew both of them. Kakashi had been a famous elite jonin for many years.
As for Aoba, he needed no introduction. Many Root members had witnessed his battle with the Raikage when they went to support Danzo. They knew he was one of Konoha's top-tier ninjas who had "defeated" the Raikage in direct combat.
While Root's members were fanatics, they weren't fools. The presence of Aoba and Kakashi was enough to deter any potential upheaval. The unrest in Root immediately quieted down.
Aoba pulled out the mission scroll from the Third Hokage. For some reason, it felt as though he was holding a royal decree. In terms of status, the Hokage's words in the village were, in fact, not unlike a royal command.
After Danzo's death, he initially thought the Third Hokage would appoint someone to take over Root. But instead, the Third Hokage's first move was to dissolve Root and merge all of its authority and resources into the Anbu.
This move brought the Third Hokage's power to its peak.
Of course, merging the two departments wasn't going to be easy.
Root had accumulated far too many unsavory secrets over the years. While Aoba and Kakashi could serve as enforcers, when it came to the actual recovery of Root's resources, the one in charge was Nara Shikaku.
This made it clear that the Third Hokage placed the most trust in the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Shikaku, as his chief strategist, handled the situation with ease.
However, what Shikaku didn't expect was to find two people who shouldn't have been there when he entered one of Root's secret laboratories.
Aoba and Kakashi acted as if nothing was wrong, packing up valuable equipment and experimental data for sealing.
They even greeted Shikaku when they saw him.
Shikaku stood silently for a moment. He was confident in his memory: the leaders of this operation were supposed to be him and no one else. Aoba and Kakashi were not on the list.
Yet here they were, standing in a place they shouldn't be. This gave him a bit of a headache.
He dismissed his assistants and entered the lab alone.
"Couldn't you two be a bit more discreet?" Shikaku said helplessly, though he didn't sound particularly surprised.
"How discreet? Like the experiments that Root has been conducting?" Aoba replied as he tossed a stack of documents in front of Shikaku. A quick glance was enough for Shikaku to recognize it as a record of illegal human experiments.
The key detail was that the test subjects were children from Konoha's orphanage.
"... You two killed Danzo." Though phrased as a question, Shikaku's tone made it clear he was sure of it. At this moment, Shikaku was certain that Danzo had been killed by these two.
No, perhaps it wasn't just the two of them. According to his intel, over thirty elite Root members had gone missing along with Danzo. None of them had sent any information back before silently perishing less than a hundred kilometers north of Konoha.
Shikaku was one of the few people in Konoha who understood Danzo. He knew that this man who operated in the shadows had many hidden cards to play.
And it was precisely because of this that Shikaku couldn't imagine the kind of power Aoba and Kakashi must wield to wipe out Danzo's entire group without leaving a trace.
He didn't even dare think further on it.
For years, Shikaku had kept an eye on Kakashi. But somehow, Kakashi had completely evaded his attention. No, the core of the matter wasn't Kakashi—it was Aoba.
Shikaku glanced at Aoba with a complex expression. This once-ordinary civilian ninja had turned out to be far more terrifying than he had imagined.
"Why dwell on the unimportant question of who killed Danzo? Shouldn't the real concern be how you plan to explain Root's dark secrets to the villagers?"
"Take a look at these human experiments. And here—this is a record of collaboration with Orochimaru. He's an S-rank rogue ninja. Shikaku, you'll need to put some serious thought into how to handle this."
Shikaku wanted to say that his whole purpose in coming here was to make sure none of this ever came to light. As long as the cover-up was done properly, the villagers wouldn't know about any of this, and he wouldn't have to explain a thing.
But... that wouldn't work anymore.
Shikaku was a very intelligent man, exceptionally so. He had already figured out Aoba and Kakashi's plan. They were waiting for him to name a price.
Or rather, they were waiting for him to bribe the two of them.
Check out the patreon and get 40 chapters in advance
Currently on Chapter 108 - Meeting Shukaku
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
SaintXI
SaintXI Remember to leave power stones and/or a review if you're enjoying this novel!!
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder