Yakushi Nonō's tone was full of worry and anxiety.
"Do you know where the 7 children from the orphanage went?"
Hearing her question, Yōkō said: "Of course I know. They are receiving training in Root."
"I can't enter Root. Can you tell me what kind of training they are undergoing there?"
"What kind of training can Root offer? Nothing more than some general training." Yōkō continued:
"For example, regular corpse dissection, regular mutual killing, regular emotional suppression, and the like.
It's a pity they have no parents, otherwise they'd be trained to go home and wipe out their own families."
Yōkō added in his heart, just like Uchiha Itachi.
Yakushi Nonō's heart tightened abruptly.
In the eyes of Fox from the Anbu, these were all regular training, but to a normal person, which one of these trainings wasn't utterly inhumane?
They were only four-year-old children.
Yakushi Nonō felt dizzy.
She asked again: "Root training has an elimination rate. Out of my 7 children, how many will Root finally accept?"
Yōkō said: "Root has 10 official ninja slots. Orochimaru occupies one, leaving 9 slots.
From what I gathered from Hei, 5 slots will go to adult ninja, and 4 slots will go to ninja trained in Root from childhood.
This batch is training 20 children, and ultimately 4 will remain.
The remaining 16 will serve as the final blood-spilling opponents for those 4.
Training together for years builds some bonds. Killing their companions completes the final step of Root training, completely erasing their own emotions."
Yōkō remembered that in the original story, Sai underwent years of Root training and finally killed his brother Shin, becoming a qualified Root ninja.
"So, out of the 7 children your orphanage contributed, 1.4 will survive." Yōkō paused and said:
"It might be 1 plus 0.4, or maybe 0.9 plus 0.5. Disabled ninja can sometimes have surprising effects, don't you think?"
Yakushi Nonō knew Fox was fierce and terrifying, but she didn't expect him to state the children's tragic situation so nakedly.
"I want to save those children."
Not everyone was Tsunade. Yakushi Nonō did not have Tsunade's privileges.
"Haha." Yōkō laughed: "Wandering Miko, I admit your spy skills are decent, but your combat power is lacking.
What, are you going to disguise yourself as Danzo, enter Root, and release those children?
Forget about you, even I have to lie low in Root.
Unless..."
Yakushi Nonō grasped at this last straw: "Unless what?"
"For those children to survive, we must continue to weaken Root."
"How do we weaken Root?"
Yakushi Nonō hated Root intensely, but her strength was insufficient to oppose Danzo. She could only repeatedly trade intelligence for Danzo leaving the orphanage alone.
Yōkō said: "Yakushi Nonō, secretly opposing Root means risking death by Danzo's hand at any moment. How can I trust you?"
Several plans flashed through Yakushi Nonō's mind. Her intuition told her she should appeal to sympathy now.
She always felt that Fox's surface ferocity was a disguise for surviving in the Anbu. She said:
"I know you are opposing Danzo for Vice-Chief Yellow Dog, competing with Danzo for power within the Anbu.
You have formidable strength and the support of the Hokage and the Anbu Vice-Chief.
I have nothing. I just want the orphanage to take in more children, I just want the children in the orphanage to grow up safely.
I just want to raise more children like Kurumi.
I have nothing at all. Doesn't that make me trustworthy?"
Sure enough, after Yakushi Nonō finished speaking, Fox did not press further.
Yōkō said: "I want intelligence on all the ninja of the Shimura clan, especially the Jonin."
Yakushi Nonō said straightforwardly: "Come back here in five days."
Five days passed quickly, and Yakushi Nonō indeed brought intelligence on the Shimura clan's Jonin.
Yōkō said: "Go back and wait for news. Lord Yellow Dog will continue to weaken Danzo until he can no longer control Root and can no longer serve as Head of the Anbu."
Yōkō went to the izakaya's basement and reviewed the intelligence.
The Shimura clan currently had 15 Jonin.
Among them, about 8 were true to their name Jonin, while the strength of the remaining 7 was questionable.
These 7 had no impressive battle records to show; they were all rapidly promoted to Jonin after some lucky S-rank mission.
Fake Jonin, very fake, not necessarily even top-tier among Tokubetsu Jonin.
After their promotion, these 7 Jonin had low mission completion rates and were gradually assigned by the higher-ups to important administrative posts.
Various departments in the Hokage Building, Guardian Ninja, etc., were all positions with low risk and significant power.
It was the same in any world; administrative positions were filled with connections.
The workers toiled exhaustively, suffering from clients and leaders, and when dealing with administration and finance, they also had to endure the attitudes of those with connections. Infuriating, isn't it?
Yōkō looked at two specific names.
These two were Jonin Guardian Ninja for the Daimyō of the Land of Grass: Shimura Kōhi and Shimura Ryo.
Good luck, Shimura Ryo was one of the fake Jonin.
A few days later, in the middle of the night, Yōkō received a notification via contract chakra.
He quickly went to the underground training ground and summoned Hakuji and Hakuyū.
Hakuji and Hakuyū were now very proficient.
After Hakuyū performed a reverse summoning next to Yuka, Yōkō appeared on the grassland.
Kappa Demon, Grudge Demon, and Sorrow Demon were waiting for White Ghost.
Yuka said: "We found the migrating Kusagakure Capital.
Tonight, the Daimyō of the Land of Grass has temporarily set up camp not far from here.
This kind of temporary camp during migration has weaker defenses compared to a settled capital. It's the best opportunity for a surprise attack."
At the same time, Yuka handed over a diagram.
The diagram showed the layout of the temporary camp, the Daimyō's tent, and the positions of the Guardian Ninja.
Yuka continued: "The Daimyō of the Land of Grass has 12 Guardian Ninja. Among them, 8 are Konoha ninja, and 4 are the Daimyō's personally recruited confidants.
Of the 8 Konoha ninja, there are 2 Shimura clan Jonin, 2 Shimura clan Tokubetsu Jonin, 1 Hyūga clan ninja, and 3 other ninja.
The troublesome one is that Hyūga ninja."
Uzumaki Yuka's investigation was solid; she had obtained the tent layout and personnel composition.
Now, what was needed was for Yōkō to deliver the final blow and kill these four Shimura clan ninja.
"Indeed troublesome." Yōkō said: "But it's not without a solution.
The Byakugan of the Hyūga branch family has blind spots.
We can use the Byakugan's blind spots to design a diversionary tactic."
No one understood the Hyūga clan's Byakugan better than Yōkō; his Byakugan was a main family Byakugan without the Caged Bird Seal.
After looking at the map, Yōkō said: "This time I need your help. I cannot carry out the ambush alone."
Uzumaki Kaichō said: "We have long been prepared for battle and revenge, White Ghost. Please tell us your battle plan."
***
Dive deeper into the story with 50+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!
(Chapter End)