The air was laced with choking morning fog.
Arashi looked down at Konome Taketori's small frame. Beneath his mask, his sharp features were twisted with irritation.
He was not one of Root's cold-blooded machines, trained from childhood. He was a shinobi who, by chance, learned of Root and its creed of "dark heroes," then chose to join of his own will.
He had endured brutal training and survived layers of selection before earning a place among the "glorious" Root.
Yet this girl, Konome Taketori, had been personally recruited by Danzō-sama. Not only that, Danzō had even taken her as his disciple, passing down his legacy. Faced with such favor, she did not show the slightest gratitude. Her attitude contained not a shred of respect.
Danzō was the Second Hokage's disciple, the Hokage's advisor, a man who had abandoned honor and sentiment for an entire lifetime, hiding in darkness as an iron-blooded hero.
And she dared to call him by name.
"His name is not something you can shout whenever you please."
Arashi's voice was like wind cutting across snow, cold enough to sting. Violet-blue jealousy and red anger, however, betrayed everything boiling inside him.
"Oh. Fine. Let's go. Take me to Root."
Konome Taketori glanced at the emotional glow above his head and ignored him completely. She could not be bothered with tools that had been brainwashed by Danzō.
After all, who wastes effort arguing with someone mentally ill?
"You…!"
"Arashi."
Iwa Kuma's low voice snapped Arashi back.
Under the captain's warning stare, Arashi's lips trembled, and the rest of his words were swallowed down.
Back during Root training, Iwa Kuma had been his instructor. No one understood better just how ruthless their captain could be.
Usually mild. Easy to speak to.
But once angered, it was like the sky collapsing.
"Apologies."
Iwa Kuma withdrew his warning gaze and turned to Konome Taketori to offer a quiet apology. His broad body shifted slightly aside, clearing the path for her, and he pointed deeper into the forest.
"That way is Root's Third Base. Danzō-sama has been waiting for you, so Arashi got impatient."
"You're the captain? What should I call you?"
Konome dispersed the wind chakra already coiling around her fingers and studied the brawny shinobi with interest.
Sharp battle instincts. The moment her killing intent moved, his muscles tightened, and his chakra began shifting nature, ready to erupt into violence at any second.
Yesterday's clash had been too brief to notice details. Only now did she see: the jōnin's face was stern, brow bones high. His chakra carried an earthy yellow-brown hue. The man felt like a slab of granite, cold, heavy, and unforgiving.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had once said that chakra nature could shape temperament. Those skilled in Fire or Lightning often ran hot-blooded. Water and Earth tended to produce steadiness. Wind could make a person sharp and restless.
The deeper the nature transformation, the more obvious the effect. Sometimes, just from personality alone, you could estimate an opponent's strength.
The man in front of her was clearly an expert who had driven Earth Release so deep it had sunk into his bones.
"Iwa Kuma."
His low, hoarse voice held no emotion. Even the points of emotion above his head were faint, barely there.
Konome nodded. This was what she imagined a true Root shinobi looked like.
Much better than that fool who did not know his place.
Then she turned to the sensory-type who had, unintentionally, helped her a great deal.
"Chō."
Chō answered at once. On the surface, he was terse. In truth, he was barely suppressing the trembling in his body. His mind had been pressed on for too long by the oppressive quality of her chakra, and even his flesh had started to grow restless.
Sweat rolled down his forehead in beads.
Six years ago, during the Nine-Tails' attack, what he had felt was a vast chakra abyss: despair and helplessness.
This girl's chakra did not compare to the Nine-Tails in volume, yet it carried a danger and hunger that made his spine go cold, like a beast grinding its teeth over blood. One slip, and it would drag you into itself, swallow you whole.
The more sensitive you were to danger, the more unbearable it became to stand beside her.
He had felt her killing intent a moment ago. If the captain had not cut in fast enough, that idiot who stayed arrogant even in front of a taijutsu monster would already have been decapitated.
Konome glanced at the sweating Chō, puzzled by what he was so afraid of. She ignored the last man who seemed to be waiting for her to ask, lifted a leg, and headed toward the Root base.
Third Base, huh. That meant at least a First and Second.
Root's roots ran deep in Konoha.
Watching her walk off without another look, Arashi snorted and hurried after her.
Danzō-sama's order was to deliver Konome Taketori to the base unharmed. No matter how displeased he was, completing the mission came first.
Konome led. Arashi followed. Iwa Kuma and Chō moved quickly behind.
They sprinted along the path Iwa Kuma had indicated. Before long, Konome stopped.
The Byakugan flared.
On the surface, the forest looked ordinary. But through her sight, a pale red sealing barrier clung to the ground like a vivid field of crimson grass, cutting off her vision.
As expected, this was the entrance.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The three Root shinobi halted as well. Chō stepped forward instinctively, hands flying through seals. Arashi looked at Konome as if he wanted to say something, hesitated, then swallowed it.
Normally, a first-time entrant had their eyes covered until, after long training and earned trust, they learned the hand signs for passage.
But in Konome's case, covering her eyes would likely be pointless.
"Release."
Hummm.
The red barrier rippled. Maze-like lines appeared across its surface, then quickly dimmed. The "grass" split open, revealing a deep, dark hole.
The opening was about four meters wide. Inside was almost lightless, only the faint outline of stone steps visible. Everything beyond sank into shadow.
Konome kept her Byakugan active and looked down.
She could see only about three meters underground. After that, layers of cube-like sealing barriers blocked her vision, the same as before the seal was opened.
"Hurry," Chō urged, fingers locked in a hand sign. "This opening only lasts five seconds."
Arashi stepped to the edge and produced a lit fire starter. Konome no longer hesitated. With Iwa Kuma, she slipped into the hole by the firelight. Once everyone vanished below, Chō glanced around, then pressed his palms together.
"Seal."
The maze lines faded. Red light flashed, and the entrance disappeared.
Morning fog drifted on. Fallen leaves lay as deep as ever.
Down below, the cave lit up level by level. Orange firelight crawled along hidden grooves in the stone walls, casting four head-shaped shadows across the surfaces.
Boot heels tapped the stair edges as Konome followed Arashi downward.
The spiral staircase stretched endlessly, sometimes bending into sharp turns, sometimes splitting into forks. With her Byakugan suppressed by the layered barriers, she had no idea how many meters beneath the earth they were now.
She had counted over two hundred steps already.
Inside the base, Iwa Kuma's trio fell silent. Even Arashi, whose emotions had been the loudest, now seemed dead and still.
Before long, they passed another fork.
"Aaah…!"
"Mmm…!"
A strangled sob and a shriek leaked from the tunnel on the right. After being chewed up by layers of stone, it was faint, almost imaginary. If the four of them were not moving so quietly, they might not have heard it at all.
Konome glanced at the Root shinobi.
No one explained. Their masked faces were calm, as if this was routine.
"This way."
Arashi pointed left and quickly entered.
Konome took one more long look at the right tunnel, then followed.
Tap, tap, tap.
The moment she stepped in, a long corridor opened before her.
It was more than twice as wide as the stairwell. At the far end stood a pitch-black wooden door. Intricate patterns like tree roots spread outward from its frame, carved into the corridor's stone walls. It was far more refined than the cramped staircase.
Near the ceiling, orange wall lamps hung. Not bright, but enough to keep the place from being swallowed by darkness.
Arashi blew out his fire starter and strode forward.
He had not taken two steps when two shadows emerged from the black corners beside the door.
Konome's gaze sharpened.
Before they revealed themselves, even her Byakugan had not caught their presence.
Hummm.
Shadows clung to the walls. Two heads slowly rose from within the darkness.
The figures solidified, each wearing a half-mask.
As Konome and the others approached, they opened their eyes.
Black-red. Red-black.
Two Sharingan bloomed, one on each side. In the crimson, two tomoe rotated at opposite angles, eerie and cold.
"Konome Taketori."
Under the gaze of those Sharingan, Arashi swallowed and hurriedly said her name, stepping aside. Iwa Kuma and Chō stopped and lowered their heads slightly, clearly wary of the "ghosts" embedded in the walls.
The two Sharingan focused on Konome.
Tomoe turned.
The shadows of everyone on the wall began to twist. Invisible Yin Release seized the darkness like a tide, pouring toward Konome.
Crackle.
Restless lightning wrapped around her body. Arcs flared outward, forming a blinding Lightning Release armor. The shadow tide reached her feet, and stray arcs snapped down, sizzling white smoke from the darkness.
"What is this supposed to mean?" Konome tilted her head and demanded.
"To enter the meeting hall, you have to be searched," Chō whispered from behind. "It's Root's rule."
Konome stomped again, shattering another wave of creeping shadow under her glowing sole. Facing two crimson Sharingan, she smiled and spread her arms.
"I'm happy to follow rules. If I can't enter without being searched, then I simply won't enter. I don't actually care."
"How can you not enter? Danzō-sama is waiting inside," Arashi said, forcing his voice down as if afraid to disturb Danzō in the hall.
"That's his problem, not mine."
Her blunt words echoed through the corridor.
She had come to Root to steal Hashirama cells, not to be ordered around like a beast of burden. If they wanted to use this as some obedience test, she was not playing along.
To pull her in, Danzō had already lost several tokubetsu jōnin. He had exposed the Mangekyō, Chihaya Tōru, and even Root's base. Kotoamatsukami had entered cooldown. His sunk cost was enormous.
Her cost was nothing.
Worst case, she died, turned back into chakra, returned to the original, and then reported him to Hiruzen, who would confiscate that Mangekyō.
"If you won't let me in, then I'm leaving."
Konome turned.
"You've had enough!"
Arashi finally snapped. Unable to endure her arrogance, he yanked a short blade from his right thigh.
One second, four seals.
Hummm.
Wind Release wrapped the edge. It screamed like twin chainsaws as he lunged for her heart, killing intent flooding his eyes.
Wind beats Lightning. Against Konome's not-yet-mastered Lightning Chakra Mode, a powerful Wind Release strike like this should be impossible to block.
That was why he dared.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
The roaring wind blade tore through the air. In a blink, the edge kissed her cloak.
Dodging was too late. This strike would maim even if it did not kill.
Arashi's mouth curled. In his mind, her sentence had already been passed.
But what met him was not wild lightning.
It was explosive fire.
Whoosh!
The white cloak flared.
Sparks scattered. The instant they touched the wind blade, they ignited into a raging flame. The Wind Release chakra on the blade burned, its exquisite nature and shape control collapsing in an instant.
The blaze raced up the metal, curling toward Arashi's hand.
Before it even touched him, the heat raised a line of blisters across the back of his hand. He hissed and yanked back.
Clang!
The short blade dropped, red-hot.
"Uh…!"
Arashi froze, body locked.
He endured the pain and lowered his head.
A pale, delicate hand had somehow slipped beneath his left ribs.
"Aah!"
Wind Release-coated fingers sliced through the membrane between his ribs. The snow-white fingers curled, lightly stroking the fascia on his bone.
Agony exploded through his body. Adrenaline dulled his nerves just enough for him to stay conscious.
His eyes went bloodshot.
He did not dare move.
To Wind Release, his body was no sturdier than paper.
"Harden."
Seeing Arashi taken down in one exchange, Iwa Kuma, who had just completed his seals, surged forward. Dense iron-gray stone wrapped his entire body.
Konome kept one hand gripping Arashi's rib cage while her other hand formed a lightning-wrapped blade finger and stabbed toward Iwa Kuma's lower abdomen.
Crack!
Like a spear punching armor, the high-energy chakra stream drilled straight through the Earth Release.
A flash of ferocity crossed Iwa Kuma's eyes. Ignoring the finger already inside him, he lifted a knee and swung an elbow down, intending to smash her hand bones.
Crack!
Stone shattered at the elbow. The Lightning Armor retaliated viciously, blasting the Earth Release apart. Her glowing fingers were like diamond, terrifyingly hard.
Not only did they take no damage, they drove deeper into his abdomen.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
Steel-like fingers twisted inside. Current invaded the nerve plexus in his belly. Iwa Kuma's body seized, paralyzed.
The Sharingan grew even redder.
Shadows crawled across the stone walls. One shadow beast after another climbed and circled, wary.
Hiss, hiss, hiss!
Thick water pythons as wide as bowls uncoiled, scales scraping the wall. Their watery vertical pupils fixed coldly on the shadow beasts…
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