"Last time, when the orphanage incident occurred within the Land of Fire, Root couldn't possibly have been unaware, right?"
"Since that incident, all orphanages in the Land of Fire have been jointly managed by the Daimyō's residence and Konoha Village."
"The village has a dedicated department responsible for supporting and coordinating orphanages, and coincidentally, it falls under the intelligence network."
"Root's methods are not recognized, you know."
Gekko Chizan's string of words directly declared Root's actions in this matter to be a violation.
Danzō showed no reaction to this at all. His attitude remained calm—at least, his tone was very even when he spoke.
"So what? Selecting suitable talents from orphanages and bringing them into the village is a long-standing practice of all villages."
"What I'm doing is also acquiring talent resources for the village. Even if it's against the rules, it doesn't really matter."
What he said was indeed correct. No matter what, these orphans would eventually be absorbed into the village anyway. It was for cultivating talent for the village, so there was nothing much that could be said against him.
However, once a flaw is seized upon, it would trigger even more problems down the line.
"Yes, that's right. Then I hereby announce that all orphanages under Root will now be taken over by the village."
"There shouldn't be any problem with that, right?"
"Come, come—take this list. When you get back, immediately send people to take over these orphanages."
This move caused Danzō's face to twitch slightly, but he endured it and did not erupt.
The search continued, but Danzō had always kept Root well concealed, so many things were not stored in this base.
Even after Gekko Chizan's clone turned Root inside out, the expected items were still nowhere to be found.
"It seems Root's base is quite clean. That's good—at least it'll make it easier for me to report to the Hokage-sama."
"As for the rest, I'll leave it to everyone in Root to clean up."
With the clone dispelled, Gekko Chizan already had a complete grasp of everything inside the Root base.
After all, the memories of the shadow clone were his own memories.
What he held in his hand was the only gain from this visit to Root, but he didn't care in the slightest.
He never intended to completely crush Root in one go—everything had to be done step by step.
"That's it? We're just leaving like this?"
"Otherwise? Let's go, Shinnosuke."
Gekko Chizan left Root's base just like that, swaggering out openly.
Shinnosuke and the ANBU squad could only follow behind.
After they left, the Root ninja finally couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Danzō-sama, are we really just going to let them leave like this?"
"That guy!"
Danzō raised his hand to stop his subordinate from continuing. His eyes were filled with icy light.
This move wasn't Gekko Chizan deliberately opposing him—it was the Hokage's intention.
Minato Namikaze, the newly appointed Hokage, had already begun to establish his authority.
"Pass down the order. Conduct covert operations. Destroy all experimental data, especially everything at the lake center base."
"All data there absolutely must not be left behind!"
"Also, recall all members currently on missions. Our situation is about to become difficult."
"We may need to scatter and operate independently to survive this crisis."
Danzō understood his own situation very well, so he had already prepared for the worst.
But sometimes, things don't unfold according to a person's wishes—just like right now.
Right behind Danzō and the others, one of Gekko Chizan's clones was leaning against the wall, with Transparent Release activated, listening to Danzō speak.
"Tsk tsk, as expected. This Danzō has plenty of bases."
"If I don't get information directly out of his mouth, I'll probably never find Root's hidden secrets in this lifetime."
It was precisely because Gekko Chizan knew Danzō had such cautious thoughts that he used a feint to leave behind a shadow clone for surveillance.
Relying on Transparent Release, no matter how much Danzō wracked his brain, he would never be able to detect the clone's presence.
...
On the other side, Gekko Chizan had already returned to the Hokage's office together with Shinnosuke.
He recounted everything that had just happened.
"Chizan, are you sure Danzō will make further moves?"
"Absolutely. My clone is still at the Root base. As soon as they start destroying or relocating anything, I'll be on the scene immediately."
Gekko Chizan sat on the crystal chair he had made earlier, wearing a look full of confidence.
At the same time, he handed over the orphanage list.
"This is today's gain. Root controlled several orphanages and wanted to select suitable kids from them for training."
"I estimate there are quite a few good seedlings in there. Have people take over."
"I'll continue to follow up on the rest."
He laughed. Gekko Chizan couldn't help but laugh. When it came to dealing with Danzō, he was ridiculously motivated.
"Hehehe, Shinnosuke mentioned it just now."
"You really didn't give Danzō any respect at all. Aren't you afraid he'll snap and directly keep you at the Root base?"
Minato Namikaze also smiled. Since he had already decided to dismantle Root, he naturally didn't find anything wrong with Gekko Chizan's actions.
In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he couldn't openly make a move against his own people within the village, he would really like to arrest Danzō directly.
Soon, Minato arranged personnel to take over those orphanages.
Over the next few days, Root remained very quiet, but Gekko Chizan still kept all of Root's movements within his sight.
After all, by alternating between shadow clones and Transparent Release, the Root base was like his own backyard—he could come and go whenever he pleased.
Before long, there was new movement from the Root base.
All Root members began to head out on operations—first recalling personnel stationed outside. Then, one night, a Root squad rapidly rushed toward the outskirts of Konoha Village.
Gekko Chizan's clone followed them.
This was a small lake not far outside the village, and beside the lake was a concealed base.
This Root squad had no idea that their actions had already been exposed.
When the shadow clone dispersed and Gekko Chizan received the information, he burst out laughing.
"Shadow Clone Technique."
He used the technique again—one clone went to notify Minato Namikaze, another went to notify Shinnosuke.
He himself headed straight for the lake center base.
...
The lake center base was an extremely important base of the Root organization.
Inside were large amounts of research content that could never be brought into the open, which was also why Danzō wanted to abolish this base.
The Root squad had just stepped into the base when Gekko Chizan arrived right behind them.
"Tsk tsk tsk, is your vigilance really this weak?"
"How exactly did Danzō train you?"
Just as he was about to step into the base, a strong sense of danger suddenly surged in his heart.
Without thinking, he instantly vanished from the spot with the Flying Thunder God.
"Boom!"
Almost at the exact same second, the place where he had been standing was engulfed by an explosion.