After leaving Ramen Ichiraku, Kenji said goodbye to Jiraiya and started wandering through Konoha's streets with no particular destination in mind. The afternoon sun was warm, the village peaceful.
He'd made it maybe three blocks when three figures materialized from an alley entrance.
ANBU.
They positioned themselves in a triangle formation around him, cutting off easy escape routes.
He stopped walking.
The one in the lead, wearing a bird mask, spoke in a flat, emotionless tone. "Yamanaka Kenji. The Hokage requests your presence. Come with us."
Kenji nodded slightly. "Understood. I'll head to the Hokage's office shortly."
"That won't be necessary." The bird-masked ANBU didn't budge. "You'll come with us now."
The other two shifted positions subtly, hands moving to rest on the hilts of their blades. Their body language radiated hostility.
This wasn't a normal summons. This was an arrest.
His eyes narrowed slightly. In his experience, ANBU delivered messages and left. They didn't surround you like an enemy combatant unless they expected resistance. This whole setup screamed ambush.
But he already had a pretty good idea who was behind it.
Only one person in Konoha was paranoid and ruthless enough to pull something like this.
"Fine," Kenji said. "I'll go with you."
The three ANBU turned without another word and started walking. Kenji followed, but his mind was racing through scenarios and his senses were on high alert.
They moved through the village at a steady pace. At first, the route seemed normal enough. But gradually, he noticed they were heading away from the center of Konoha. Away from the Hokage Building. Toward the outskirts where the buildings were older, more run-down, and far less populated.
When they reached a riverside area near the edge of the village, he stopped walking.
"This doesn't look like the way to the Hokage's office."
All three ANBU spun around immediately, closing the distance and boxing him in. Even through their masks, he could feel the killing intent radiating from them.
"Don't ask questions," the leader said coldly. "Keep moving."
"Right. Of course."
Kenji's hands moved, forming seals so fast they blurred.
The river beside them exploded into motion. Water erupted upward in a massive spiral, spinning like a tornado before expanding outward with Kenji at its center. The torrent slammed into all three ANBU, engulfing them in crushing pressure.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
One of the ANBU recovered quickly, hands flashing through seals even as water battered against him. A thick wall of earth rose from the ground, diverting the worst of the flood and giving all three operatives solid footing.
The water flowed back into the river.
Before it had fully drained away, all three ANBU launched themselves at Kenji from different angles.
Kenji parried the first strike, deflected the second, but the third got through.
Cold steel bit deep into his back, cutting through flesh and muscle until it scraped against bone. Blood erupted from the wound, soaking his shirt. The pain was overwhelming, and his legs gave out. He collapsed forward, hitting the ground, and didn't move again.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just cooperate?" The bird-masked ANBU grabbed Kenji by the hair, lifting his unconscious head to examine him. Then he slung the body over his shoulder. "Resisting just made this messier."
The three operatives moved quickly after that, carrying their captive toward a more secluded area near Konoha's edge. Within minutes, they'd reached an abandoned warehouse that looked like it hadn't been used in years.
They threw Kenji's body onto the dusty floor. The bird-masked ANBU dropped to one knee, facing the shadows at the back of the warehouse.
"Danzō-sama. The target has been secured. He resisted during transport, so we were forced to subdue him."
From the darkness, a figure emerged.
His right eye was wrapped in bandages, and his right arm was concealed beneath heavy wrappings.
This was Shimura Danzō, leader of Root.
Two more Root operatives materialized behind him.
Danzō looked down at the unconscious ninja on the floor with disdain. "A Yamanaka clan member without his precious puppets, trying to resist Root operatives? How foolish."
He had complete confidence in his subordinates. Root ninjas were trained from childhood to be weapons, nothing more. They didn't question orders.
He walked over to Kenji's motionless form and dragged him into the center of a complex sealing array that had been drawn on the warehouse floor. The symbols glowed faintly when the body crossed into the circle.
He pressed his hand against Kenji's forehead, chakra flowing from his palm.
"Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal."
Black markings spread from Danzō's hand, crawling across Kenji's face. They converged toward his mouth, forming a complete seal matrix.
"Good, now then—"
He was about to wake his captive and begin the interrogation, to extract every secret about those puppet techniques through whatever means necessary.
Then he felt something cold pierce his chest.
SPLURT!
A spike of iron sand went clean through his torso from behind. The sharpened tip emerged from the front of his chest, dripping blood onto the warehouse floor.
"Danzō-sama!"
The Root operatives shouted in alarm, rushing toward their leader.
"Don't move."
A voice drifted down from above. "That iron sand spike is maybe a centimeter from killing him. One wrong move from me, and he's dead."
All the Root ninjas froze in place. They turned toward the source of the voice.
Kenji sat on one of the support beams near the warehouse ceiling.
Danzō's eye widened. He looked down at the "Kenji" on the ground, and watched as the face began to shift and change. Features melted and reformed into those of a completely different person... Not a person, but a puppet.
The body was constructed from wood and metal, expertly crafted to mimic human appearance. Close inspection revealed the joints, the artificial muscles, and the mechanisms that allowed movement.
"Puppet Substitution Technique," Danzō ground out through clenched teeth.
"Not bad," Kenji called down. "You figured it out."
The puppet that had impaled Danzō was his Magnet Release model.
He had suspected something was wrong the moment those ANBU stopped him in the village. Given what he knew about the timeline and Danzō's character, it wasn't hard to guess who was behind it.
So when he'd used Water Release back at the riverside, he'd done two things simultaneously. First, created enough chaos and visual obstruction with the water to hide his movements. Second, used the cover of his own jutsu and the enemy's Earth-Style Wall to execute the Puppet Substitution Technique.
He'd left his Magnet Release puppet disguised as himself to be "captured" and carried away. Meanwhile, his real body had followed in the shadows, completely undetected, watching as they brought the puppet to this warehouse.
He'd even let Danzō place the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on it. What was the point of sealing a puppet's tongue?
"Do you have any idea who I am?" Danzō's voice was strained from the pain but still carried authority. "Attacking me... are you trying to defect from the village?"
"Oh, I know exactly who you are," Kenji said with a slight smile. "You're a spy from an enemy nation, right? And these must be your accomplices. Pretty bold, disguising yourselves as ANBU to assassinate a Konoha jonin."
"I am an advisor to Konoha!" Danzō snarled, trying to leverage his position. "Leader of Root! You've attacked a high-ranking official of this village!"
"Don't lie. I've never heard of Root. You should research Konoha better next time before infiltrating," Kenji said, shaking his head.
His Transparent Release puppet materialized out of thin air behind two of the Root operatives. Its blades slashed across both ninjas' throats in one smooth motion.
The operatives collapsed, clutching at their ruined throats, choking on their own blood as they died.
At the same moment, Kenji's Swift Release puppet appeared in a blur. It moved so fast the remaining three Root ninjas barely had time to register its presence before it was among them.
One died with a kunai through his eye socket. Another had his throat crushed by a chakra-enhanced strike. The third managed to draw his sword, but the Swift puppet was already behind him, snapping his neck with a quick twist.
Within seconds, every Root operative in the warehouse was dead. Only Danzō remained alive, still impaled on the iron sand spike.
The warehouse fell silent except for Danzō's labored breathing and the drip of blood hitting the floor.
For the first time in decades, he felt fear. This wasn't some naive ninja he could manipulate or intimidate. This was someone who'd walked into his trap, turned it around, and was willing to kill him without hesitation.
He forced himself to stay calm. Panic wouldn't help. Logic might.
"You didn't kill me. That means you want something. Speak. What do you want?"
Kenji gestured toward the three puppets standing among the corpses. "You've probably noticed by now. My puppets can use bloodline abilities. Magnet Release, Transparent Release, Swift Release. All bloodline limits that shouldn't be transferable."
"You can steal bloodline limits?" Danzō's eye widened. He'd spent years researching bloodline limits, trying to find ways to transplant or replicate them. But embedding them in puppets? That was technology he'd never seen before.
"Let's not use such crude terminology. I prefer to think of it as 'borrowing.' Anyway, I also know that Konoha's leadership has been researching the First Hokage's Wood Release for decades."
Danzō's entire body went rigid. He forgot about the spike through his chest for a moment, raising his head sharply to stare up at Kenji.
"You want Hashirama cells? Are you saying... you can create a puppet that uses Wood Release?"
"I'm not certain it'll work," Kenji admitted honestly. "But I'd like to try. So here's my proposal: you provide me with Hashirama cells, along with all your research data and laboratory resources. If I succeed in creating a Wood Release puppet, I'll give you one."
Danzō didn't even hesitate. "I agree."
Wood Release was the holy grail of Konoha's research programs. They'd been trying to replicate it since Tobirama's era, pouring resources into experiments that had failed again and again. If Kenji could succeed where everyone else had failed, any price would be worth paying.
"Excellent. We have a deal then." Kenji waved his hand.
The Magnet Release puppet slowly withdrew the iron sand spike from Danzō's chest. The wound bled, but far less than it should have. The spike had been positioned carefully to avoid major blood vessels.
The puppet's mouth moved, and words emerged in a raspy, mechanical voice. "Don't worry. I avoided your vital arteries. Get a medical-nin to patch you up and you'll survive."
Danzō was startled that the puppet could speak, but he pushed aside his surprise. More pressing matters demanded attention.
"When does the cooperation begin?" he asked urgently.
"Right now." Kenji pointed at the Magnet Release puppet. "It will accompany you. I'm not stupid enough to walk into your territory personally. Oh, and just to keep things honest... I left a small amount of iron sand near your heart. If I sense anything suspicious, that sand will pierce your heart instantly. You'll be dead before you hit the ground."
Danzō glared up at him with pure fury, but he didn't protest. He was in no position to negotiate.
"Well then, I'll be going."
Kenji's body dissolved into white smoke. The Transparent Release and Swift Release puppets vanished the same way, puffs of chakra dissipating into nothing.
In the warehouse, Danzō was left standing among the corpses of his Root operatives, with only the silent Magnet Release puppet for company.
He stared at the space where Kenji's clone had been sitting.
"A shadow clone."