Yakushi Nonō's voice was filled with worry and urgency.
"Do you know where the seven children from the orphanage were taken?"
Yako answered calmly, "Of course. They're being trained in Root."
"I can't enter Root. Can you tell me what kind of training they're undergoing?"
"What kind of training does Root conduct?" Yako said flatly. "Nothing more than standard procedures.
"Routine corpse dissection. Routine mutual killing. Routine emotional erasure.
"Unfortunately, they've already lost their parents—otherwise, they'd probably be trained to go home and wipe out their own families."
Nonō's chest tightened.
To someone like Fox, raised within ANBU, these were merely "standard procedures." But to any normal person, every single one of them was inhuman. They were only four years old.
Her vision swam.
She asked again, "Root has an elimination system. Of my seven children… how many will be accepted in the end?"
Yako replied, "Root maintains ten official operatives. Orochimaru occupies one slot, leaving nine.
"From what C said, five slots will go to adult shinobi. Four will be reserved for those raised in Root from childhood.
"This time, twenty children are being trained. Only four will remain in the end.
"The other sixteen will serve as the final test for those four—becoming the targets on which they draw blood with their blades.
"After years of training together, they inevitably form bonds. But by killing their companions, they complete the final stage of Root training: the total erasure of personal emotion."
Yako remembered Sai from the original story—how, after years in Root, he had killed his own brother Shin to become a "qualified" operative.
"In other words," Yako said after a pause, "of the seven children your orphanage contributed, about 1.4 will survive.
"Maybe it'll be one plus 0.4. Or perhaps 0.9 plus 0.5. Disabled shinobi can sometimes still be… surprisingly useful. Don't you agree?"
Nonō knew Fox was ruthless—but she had never expected him to speak so bluntly about the children's fate.
"I want to save them."
Not everyone was Tsunade. Yakushi Nonō had no such privileges.
Yako laughed softly. "Wandering Miko, I admit your skills as a spy are impressive. But your combat ability? That's another matter.
"What, are you planning to disguise yourself as Danzo and stroll into Root to free them?
"Even I have to behave myself inside Root."
"Unless…"
Nonō seized onto the last thread of hope. "Unless what?"
"If you want those children to live, then Root must continue to be weakened."
"How do we weaken Root?"
Nonō hated Root with every fiber of her being, but she lacked the power to oppose Danzo directly. All she could do was trade intelligence again and again in exchange for his mercy toward the orphanage.
Yako said, "Yakushi Nonō—if you oppose Root in the shadows, Danzo could kill you at any time. Why should I trust you?"
Multiple possibilities flashed through her mind. Her instincts told her that now was the moment to appeal to emotion.
She had always felt that Fox's outward cruelty was merely a mask he wore to survive in ANBU.
She said:
'I know you oppose Danzo for Vice Commander Yellow Dog—for control of ANBU.
You have overwhelming strength, and you have the Hokage and the Vice Commander backing you.
I have nothing. All I want is for the orphanage to take in more children. All I want is for those children to grow up safely.
I only want to raise more children like Jenri.
I have nothing at all. Isn't that reason enough to trust me?'
Just as she'd expected, Fox did not question her further.
Yako said, "I want all intelligence on the Shimura Clan—especially on their jōnin."
Nonō answered without hesitation, "Come back here in five days."
...
Five days passed quickly. Yakushi Nonō returned with the information on the Shimura Clan's jōnin.
Yako said, "Go back and wait. Lord Yellow Dog will continue weakening Danzo—until Danzo can no longer control Root, and can no longer remain as ANBU's commander."
In the underground cellar of a tavern, Yako studied the intelligence.
The Shimura Clan currently had fifteen jōnin.
About eight were genuinely qualified. The remaining seven were… questionable.
They had no remarkable battle records. Each had been promoted after a single lucky S-rank mission, rapidly recommended for jōnin status.
Fake jōnin. So watered down that they weren't even outstanding among Tokubetsu jōnin.
After promotion, their mission success rates were mediocre. Over time, the higher-ups reassigned them into "important" administrative roles.
Departments in the Hokage Tower. Guardian posts. Positions with low risk but high authority.
It was the same in any world—administration was always filled with people who had connections.
The ones doing the real work got crushed by clients and superiors, and when they finally transferred into administration or finance, they still had to endure the people with connections. Wasn't that infuriating?
Yako's eyes settled on two names.
These two were jōnin assigned as guardians to the daimyo of the Land of Grass: Shimura Kōhi and Shimura Ryō.
Fortune favored him—Shimura Ryō was one of the watered-down jōnin.
Several days later, deep in the night, Yako received a notification from his Contract Seal.
He immediately went to the underground training hall and summoned White Porcelain and White Glaze.
The two were already highly proficient.
After White Glaze performed a reverse summoning to Yuka's side, Yako appeared on a vast grassland.
The three "Demons" were already waiting for White Ghost.
Yuka said, "We've located the Land of Grass's moving capital.
"Tonight, the daimyo is temporarily encamped not far from here.
"A temporary camp during migration is far less secure than a permanent capital. This is the best opportunity for a strike."
At the same time, she handed him a map.
It showed the layout of the temporary camp—the daimyo's tent, and the positions of the guardian shinobi.
Yuka continued, "The daimyo has twelve guardians. Eight are from Konoha, four are personally recruited retainers.
"Among the eight from Konoha: two Shimura Clan jōnin, two Shimura Clan Tokubetsu jōnin, one Hyūga clan ninja, and three others.
"The troublesome one is the Hyūga."
Uzumaki Yuka's investigation was thorough. Tent placements. Personnel distribution. Everything was accounted for.
Now, what remained was for Yako to deliver the final blow—eliminating those four Shimura shinobi.
"That is troublesome," Yako admitted. "But not impossible.
"The Hyūga branch family's Byakugan has blind spots in its field of vision.
"We can exploit that blind spot and set up a feint."
No one understood the Byakugan better than Yako. His own eyes were the main family's Byakugan—unbound by the Caged Bird.
After studying the map, Yako said, "I'll need your help for this. Alone, I can't complete the ambush."
Uzumaki Kaichō spoke, "We have long prepared ourselves for battle and for revenge. White Ghost—please tell us your plan."