章節 20: Chapter 20

~6 months after Naruto's arrival. April 10th. Monday.

Naruto looked towards the base of the root shinobi, tucked deep underground beneath the hokage mountain. The only way to get in was through an obscure tunnel unknown to the eyes of the non-root, with its entrant in a guarded house in Konoha, mundane and obscure, completely unsuspecting amidst the many similar buildings…Or so they thought.

Sai, Naruto's former teammate, had informed him of the base's location as well as another entrance only known by a select few. Its original purpose was to allow the escape of certain members should the headquarters be compromised. Little did they know that their very path of escape would doom them all to the light that they so detested.

Naruto understood that in the shinobi world, justice just meant who had the bigger stick. It was an immoral world they lived in. One of bloodshed and tears, tragedy and loss.

But he was here to try and make it better, to spread the original teachings of ninshu.

The entire existence of root, the upbringing of their members…it's existence spits on the founder's intentions, their legacies.

Naruto would see it fall.

There were many that needed to be dealt with. Many that needed to be subjected and captured, but not killed. Killing them wouldn't be justice for they had no autonomy over their actions. Root shinobi were like brainwashed ants, only doing what they're told, trained to have no emotion, and had their tongues sealed to not leak information, ensuring absolute loyalty. He felt sorry for them, and he promised justice for those of Root that deserved it. Those like Sai.

Yet their number was so great that it would have taken the entire combined forces of jonin and anbu to carry out this mission.

But Naruto wasn't called the one man army for nothing.

He had a plan, devised by both him and his mother over the months.

In front of Uzumaki Kushina, no seal could hold against her prodigious mind, no matter how complex their designs. She only needed to examine it first before finding ways of removing it.

The only thing that was left was to deal with Danzo but Hiruzen had assigned himself along with a few other shinobi to that task.

Naruto had been reluctant to agree to it but seeing the eyes of Hiruzen as he insisted that it was his responsibility to deal with his old friend…Naruto could only relent.

Naruto knew that look all too well. It was the look he gave to his own friends when he asked to deal with Sasuke.

Naruto sent a look Kushina's way and she returned his gesture with a nod.

She was ready.

He nodded as well.

It was time to get to work.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Danzo-sama," A root anbu said as he appeared beside him. "We seem to be experiencing a communication blackout. We can't contact the HQ"

Danzo waved off the Root Anbu's concern. Being located where it was, it was normal to experience fluctuations in radio signals, even with technology as advanced as theirs. It wasn't the first time the line went dead.

Danzo took a sip of his tea, letting it fill him with pleasant warmth. Being as old as he was, oftentimes the simplest things brought him the greatest joy, other than seeing Konoha prosper and flourish. His ambitions could wait during times like these. His will to become the Hokage would be all but guaranteed once his plans played out. Under his rule, he would ensure the safety of Konoha, no matter how ruthless his methods were.

"Danzo-sama," The same Root addressed once more. His voice was monotone and lacking even a drop of emotion…a feat that Danzo took pride in achieving. Whilst taking inspiration from Kirigakure, he'd made them let go of the judgement-blinding nature of emotions through the raising, bonding and killing of their own brothers and sisters as they grew. It was a worthy sacrifice for loyal soldiers, as well as rooting out the weak from the strong.

"Yes?" Danzo responded.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the line, it's just…silent on the other end…" The root said.

Danzo narrowed his eyes. His paranoia had jumped up a notch but he dismissed his fears. There was no chance of the root base being discovered with the seal he placed on the root's tongues–no secret of his could be leaked...that was unless the Uzumaki matriarch was involved.

Her existence was a risk for his entire organisation but her worth as a sealmaster was too valuable to the village for him to eliminate. She was perhaps the only thing standing between them and other village's jinchuuriki, and with how tightly each village guarded their human beasts, it was difficult for him to procure one for his own uses. Too bad her son had died on that fateful day.

"Hm," Danzo hummed, "Send someone to check."

"Hai."

"Oh, there'll be no need for that, Danzo," A voice interrupted.

Danzo felt a chill run down his spine, despite showing no outward reaction to the voice. He recognized it all too well. The root had immediately disappeared into the floor.

"...Hiruzen," Danzo greeted, nonplussed, "what brings you to my humble abode?"

Hiruzen only stared at him with cold, uncaring eyes. Danzo knew that beneath that veneer of a kind old man Hiruzen so often puts out, there was nothing more dangerous in the entire elemental nations than pissing off this kindly old man.

Danzo eyed him, sceptical of his intentions but too secure in his own position to regard this as a threat, "...I'm going to have to ask you to leave…many duties await me."

Danzo got up, his joints popping and aching.

"Duties like performing maintenance on the near dozen sharingan you have within you?"

Danzo froze in his tracks. He turned to face his old friend. It was the final straw in confirming his suspicions. The sudden root communications black out, the appearance of Hiruzen, now the addressing of his…tools…

Hiruzen was planning on something. Something entirely to do with him. Yet he could not believe that his old friend would have the guts to take him out, not when Konoha was so vulnerable, not when his work was necessary.

Danzo's eyes narrowed. He didn't expect this situation to happen at all, much less right at this moment.

"I assume you have something to do with the communications blackout?" Danzo asked, throwing subtlety to the wind.

Hiruzen only puffed on his pipe but Danzo knew his old friend's habits enough to know he was right.

Somehow, Hiruzen had discovered his root base…as well as the secrets of the implanted sharingan.

…No matter.

"What do you want, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked, "It's not like you to want to play politics…"

Hiruzen only gave a chuckle, an eerie one that Danzo had only heard from him during times of war…during times where he massacred his opponents. A cold sweat formed on his back.

Hiruzen continued. "I think we both know what it is I want…"

Danzo looked into Hiruzen's dark eyes, not believing his words. Yet as he looked into the dark pools, he could only see resolve…and regret.

"You're making a mistake, Hiruzen…" Danzo warned, already signalling the Root behind his back.

Hiruzen scoffed. "The only mistake I made is waiting this long to get rid of you. You're no use to konoha anymore, Danzo. You're just a leech that I was too blind to detach from me."

At that, something within the old bandaged man boiled.

"No use? NO USE?!" Danzo snapped, though his expression remained calm and unmoving as stillwater, "The things I have done for this village, the burden I carry for Konoha. You should be ashamed to even step foot in my home, pretending to take the high road when you were too soft to do what was necessary."

Hiruzen shook his head disappointingly. "Danzo…you're more trouble than you're worth. Konoha's future is unsafe with you still in the picture. The travesties you've caused…and would cause in the future. We would've been far stronger had you not existed at all. I know that now. You've even gone against my orders to disband root after the Uchiha massacre. I should have seen it then, the corruption you placed amongst our own ranks."

Danzo only looked at him for a second before he let out a depreciating laugh. "Oh, pretending to be innocent, are you? You already know the things I've done over the years, you have probably always known that I would never disband Root. Yet you turned a blind eye as I had the courage to do things you could never do, for the safety of Konoha. Do you think the Uchiha's would have taken the peaceful route?" Danzo laughed condescendingly. "Please, you may be old, but you aren't blind to the truth."

"The only peaceful route was taken away when you killed Uchiha Shisui," Hiruzen muttered, then he channelled his chakra, no longer stalling in his mission. He no longer gave a damn about what else Danzo had to say.

Immediately five Root anbu dashed out of the shadows and struck Hiruzen.

…or tried to, at least, as they were intercepted by Hiruzen's own Anbu guard.

Danzo sneered. They were only a mere distraction.

"Now!" He ordered and 5 more root anbu appeared from behind the fire shadow to strike at his unguarded back.

Jonin Kakashi and Might Guy stopped them in their tracks, one disarming two of them and the other doing a twirling leg kick on the other three.

Danzo's insulting remarks died in his throat. "You…fool. I am the root of Konoha, the one that never steps into the light to do what is necessary! The one that holds our tree to the ground!"

"You're no root, Danzo, you're just a weed that only takes and pretends to give," Hiruzen stated, making Danzo all the more furious, "You do this for your own ideals, for your own ambitions, for your own power in the blind delusion that it was for Konoha. You believe Konoha needs protection yet you do not see what Konoha truly is: Our predecessor's wish for peace."

Danzo channelled his own chakra, ripping the bindings off his eye. "You're too weak, Hiruzen. You should have taken me years ago. Now, even with the copy ninja and the green beast at your side, You stand no chance."

'Not against Kotoamatsukami. Not against Izanagi.' Danzo thought.

Hiruzen chuckled at him, irritating him to no end. "Oh I wouldn't have brought them here if not for the insistence of someone who cares deeply for me. They are very much excessive as helping hands, especially when I've already prepared for all your tricks."

Hiruzen made a hand sign. "Fuin."

Danzo tried channelling chakra into his sharingan to distort reality but to his surprise, it burned like someone had poured boiling acid down his socket. "ARGHHHHH!"

"Danzo-sama!" the root Anbu called out.

One of them took their leader upon his shoulders, executing immediate evacuation procedures. Before he could dash away however, Kakashi was already there, an expression of fury unlike anything the copy ninja had on before. His chidori took off the Root Anbu's leg.

"Raikiri," He muttered, voice cold.

There was a gurgled scream.

All Danzo saw before unconsciousness took him were the regretful but resolved eyes of his long time friend as well as hearing his final words.

"I'd have had a tough time had I not known beforehand what you are capable of. Now, rest easy, Danzo."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Sai was cleaning his gear, preparing to take his shift on the night watch. He hated night watches…or came as close to hate as he could. Then…he noticed the silence around him. It wasn't the usual silence of hidden Root behind the walls and beneath the floor.

…it was the silence of absence.

Before he could react, he felt an impact on the back of his neck and his body could no longer respond to his commands.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto's clones worked far better than any team of shinobi could. To make the mission as safe and swift as possible, he went all out from the get go. Nature energy coursed through his veins, his senses dialled to 11, his speed far too fast for even the most gifted of root anbu to see.

Before they knew it, each found a paralysis and chakra sealing tag placed upon various parts of their bodies. Out of the hundreds of root Anbu that existed in the base, each dropped like flies as Naruto's clones swept through them.

His mother was truly a genius to have prepared this many seals. He knew ever since he first saw her that she was powerful beyond belief. Not just in combat strength, though she had that in spades too, but in her extraordinary versatility. She could come up with seals for anything given enough preparation and time. The pure genjutsu suppression and backlash seal she made for Danzo being a prime example.

She gave an arbitrary explanation of it that frankly flew over Naruto's head but it had something to do with the seal's relation with illusions. The stronger the genjutsu those within the seal's radius casted, the stronger the backlash the seal would cause within that user. He'd learnt much from her over the past…nearly a year now, but he could still not match her genius, despite having his own talents in his field of fuinjutsu, that oddly being space and storage seals.

"We're over three quarters through," Naruto informed his mother.

She looked at him in shocked silence and wonder. "It hasn't even been a minute since we started."

Naruto nodded. "Sage mode allows me to sense precisely where everyone is, even buried in rock and darkness. Still, getting to some of them took longer and more effort than I thought, especially when doing it silently."

Kushina gave him a prideful smile and looked onwards. There was almost nothing to be seen, so dark it was. In this confined space, even the tiniest of sounds would echo across caverns and tunnels.

…Yet no sound was made.

Naruto was terrifyingly efficient.

"You're incredible, son," Kushina said, the compliment slipping from her without conscious thought.

Naruto gave her a beaming smile. "Thanks, mom."

Kushina returned one back.

They say that no plan survives first contact with the enemy and throughout his years of war with its many skirmishes and battles, Naruto found that to be generally true. But with experience and strength, his plans were executed flawlessly. It was malleable and accounted for surprise factors like tripwire traps and explosive-rigged rooms; his clones were also experts in adapting on the fly. With his extrasensory abilities, along with his now mastered rinnegan eyes, it was hard for him to fall for anything.

A minute and forty one seconds was all it took for the entire root base to be subjugated and a second sweep over to check for anything he'd missed. After micromanaging the war with his clones, this entire operation was something Naruto could do in his sleep.

Root anbu may be Jonins, they may have special powers or unique abilities that would cause trouble for anyone worth their salt.

…but not for Naruto.

"It's done," Naruto informed his still astonished mother. She quickly composed herself and nodded, making her way to the Root anbu one of Naruto's clones brought to her.

The root's expression was stuck into one of mild surprise right as he looked before the paralysis seal was stuck on him. While his face remained frozen his eyes darted towards the Uzumaki matriarch.

She cared not for it as she pried open his mouth and held his tongue in her hands, observing the seal used on it. She clicked her tongue, a habit of frustration, after identifying the core of it.

"It's a cursed seal," She said to Naruto as he approached. "It's tied by blood and removing it would either require the death of the one who placed it, Danzo, or by taking his blood and making a key to unlock the seal."

Naruto nodded. "Danzo must've been captured by now."

He didn't miss the slight widening of the eyes that the root Anbu gave.

…the root Anbu who just happened to be Sai.

"It's a shame how far he's fallen," Naruto muttered, "or perhaps he was just born this way. Corrupt, bitter, manipulative."

Naruto stared at the downed root. "I feel sorry for you, you know? Taken without your consent, growing up, being forced to kill those you considered friends, having everything taken away from you before getting turned into emotionless slaves."

He said it loud enough for all the Root Anbu to hear him. He continued. "For some, it was out of your control, for others it came to be from the choice you made. Worry not. We'll give you all a chance to redeem yourselves once Danzo is taken care of. Hopefully some of you will walk out of it better and with your life back in your hands. For others…hopefully you will choose to turn to the light before it's too late…"

Naruto glanced towards his mother who returned his gaze with a look of empathy. She saw how tired her son was of all of this. Of the terrible atrocities in this world.

"One thing's for sure," Naruto continued, "the Yamanaka's are about to move up a tax bracket from all the therapy they have to dish out."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Danzo awoke in a cell, his vision bleary, and it was as if he could only see from one of his eyes.

…

He bolted upright and felt for his right eye, where his sharingan was. With a shock and a bit of pain, he found…nothing. It had been removed. His breathing quickened as he looked towards his arm.

'No, no, no!'

Nothing. No Sharingan. All that was left were open sockets of the attached arm. Danzo was usually calm, no matter the circumstances. But now…everything had been taken away from him so quickly. His world, once secure and predictable, flipped upside down within a night.

…and his own instincts, sharpened after years of underhanded tactics, knew that this was…the end of him. Just as it had been the end of everyone who dared cross his path before this day.

He…he lost it. He lost it all.

'My plans…After all these years!'

"It seems that you're awake," a voice said.

He turned towards it. Oh how he hated that voice.

"HIRUZEEEEEEN!" he screamed, deranged, almost like a cornered animal that saw no path for escape. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"

There was none of his usual calmness, none of his usual smugness that he had as if he knew things no one else did. He was like a child in the body of a grown man once his toys were taken away from him. Hiruzen was disgusted in himself that he hadn't seen it all before.

'First with Orochimaru. Now with my oldest friend…how blind have I been to my own folly?'

Hiruzen felt a hand being placed on his shoulder, giving him an affectionate squeeze as a show of support. He turned towards the understanding face of Naruto, who's blindfolded eyes didn't diminish how expressive he was.

"I know what it's like to lose an old friend to the darkness, Jiji," Naruto said, "don't blame yourself for the mistakes of others."

Danzo sneered at the newcomer. "You…you're that boy Hiruzen introduced. How you managed to escape my eyes, I do not know, but know this…I will remember this slight."

Naruto chuckled, grating Danzo's nerves. "Don't worry Danzo-san. You can take your grudges with you to the underworld."

Danzo felt a pit form in his stomach. "You're going to execute me?"

Hiruzen only stared at him impassively.

"After all I've done for this village…" Danzo spat.

Naruto shook his head. "After all you've done for you. All you've done is assassinate prized targets for their bounties under the pretext of Konoha. Yet in doing so, you ignited hatred and scorn against us. You've created far more enemies than you've taken."

Danzo's eyes narrowed and he sneered. "You don't know me!"

"Oh," Naruto responded, despondently, thinking back to how his Danzo was the one to have leaked the secret of him being the jinchuuriki to the village, " Oh I do...and even if I didn't, I know psychopaths when I see them."

"How dare you…"

Hiruzen continued for him. "We'll use you as a scapegoat for your many, many crimes…goodbye old friend."

"Damn you…" Danzo said.

The other two were already turning away from him.

"DAMN YOU!"

They ignored him.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief after the meeting. It was one thing down and many more things to go. Over the past eleven months, he only took D or C rank missions within the village parameters, as full deployment was limited until he was eighteen. Still, gathering complete information of the root had taken the majority of his mission time.

At this moment, It was coming to an end.

He still had a lot on his plate but at the very least, he'd cleansed Konoha of the filth that rotted within. He wondered how much will change just from this alone. Would Orochimaru still invade the village?

Whatever came, he'd be prepared to meet it. His training was now complete and he was even stronger than he ever was in his old world.

In regards to Root and Danzo, he liked to think of himself as a person who'd give anyone a chance…but after all he'd seen in the war, after all he's been through…he knew the necessity of closing his heart to those that do not deserve it, as well as the will to put down any who could not be redeemed.

Hiruzen sighed from beside him. "How far we've fallen…"

Naruto gave him a supporting smile. "It is not your fault, Jiji…"

Hiruzen shook his head, still despondent. "I've recently come to realise the many failures that I've turned a blind eye to…or the failures that I would've done had things been different…"

Naruto gave him a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

Hiruzen sighed once more, his hands itching for the rough surface of his pipe. "I haven't apologised to you yet, Naruto."

He shook his head before Naruto could ask what for.

"From the struggles I've seen through your memories…it was largely my fault that you've lived a life so unjust and so terrible," Hiruzen continued, looking towards the sky, "It was my responsibility to make sure you grew up living the life you deserved if your parents hadn't perished that day, and even if the Hiruzen of your world wasn't me specifically, I can't image that I would have done anything different should the situation have occurred in this world..."

"Jiji…" Naruto said.

Hiruzen held up his hand to tell Naruto that he had more to say. "My sins are not just what I've done, but what I didn't do. It was neglect that your world's version of me had done to you. It was neglect that Orochimaru and Danzo ended up the way they did. I know that regardless of my namesake, I am no god, but I still should have done more…"

Hiruzen looked into Naruto's concerned expression, the blindfold not hiding the worried arch of his eyebrows. Hirzen smiled at the soon to be young adult. "Yet, you still loved me anyway, Naruto, no matter how little I offered you in support, in time, in love…For that, I cannot believe that you turned out the way you did. I am…proud beyond imagination of the man you've chosen to become rather than yet another monster I would've made."

Naruto looked towards the stars as well, letting the silence reign for a minute. Then, with kindness beyond Hiruzen's expectations, he spoke. "I don't blame you, gramps. The hard times I've been through shaped me to who I am today. It could have been easier, sure, but it also could have been worse. I may have been stuck in that Root base I've just cleared today for my entire childhood, never seeing the light of the sun. I could've been made into a root, a weapon for the village–"

"-I would have never let that happen!" Hiruzen interrupted.

Naruto smiled. "I know."

Hiruzen could see that Naruto truly held no hard feelings, despite how much he could have done better for him. An odd sense of…relief filled him, as if someone had lifted him of one of the many burdens holding him down.

"You had so much on your plate, Jiji," Naruto continued, "After the Kyuubi disaster, Konoha was weak beyond belief. It was a miracle that it hadn't been attacked by the other villages, especially when my mother didn't exist in my world, and the fact that you managed to drive off any attempts in doing so by yourself…it was otherworldly. Yet no matter how large your responsibilities, when I was kicked out of the orphanage, when I was scorned by all but a few, you were always there to help me. You shouldn't be ashamed, Jiji, for not being able to give me a better life. You should be proud that you've already done so."

Hiruzen felt his old, weary eyes sting with suppressed emotion for the first time in many years. How much had he kept bottled up after all these years, he did not know. Yet now he felt like he'd just been told that all his sacrifice, all his hard work was worth it in the end. That he'd done well over the years. Naruto had no idea how much his words meant to the old man.

"Thank you, Naruto…" Hiruzen said, his voice throatier than usual, trying to clear the ball that wedged itself in his throat.

"It's no problem, Jiji," Naruto beamed, "Remember. I'm here to help, so you can count on me, dattebayo."

Hiruzen chuckled at that. Naruto was so…Naruto. He was exactly the combination of Minato and Kushina that Hiruzen hoped he would be.

"I will see you tomorrow then," Hiruzen said, dismissing the boy before his calm demeanour would break.

Naruto nodded and shunshin'ed away. "See ya, Jiji!"

After a minute of being alone, Hiruzen wiped the lone tear that streaked down his cheek. He looked to the stars once more but instead of being filled with contemplation and worry, he was filled with hope.

'Thank you, Naruto…'

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-