In this extravagant, bustling, and chaotic city, the Uchiha also had their own secret outposts.
Uchiha Fūyō, carrying the human witness, evaded most of the surveillance and quickly darted into the contact point.
Upon arriving at the secret room, the Uchiha Clan Member on duty were about to act when a seal was thrust before their eyes.
"Quick, gather everyone west of Kusunagi City to provide support along the way. The goods are already in hand."
"That's great."
The Clan Member immediately pulled out Ninjutsu tools and began forming hand signs, while channeling Chakra and asking for the specific plan: "Sir, when do you plan to depart?"
"In fifteen minutes."
Uchiha Fūyō unfurled a sealing scroll and wrapped Shimura Rō into a stiff "mummy," which would make it easier to transport him during a rush or battle.
He had a premonition that this journey would not be too smooth...
"Sir."
A figure abruptly appeared before the one-eyed, cane-wielding old man, bowing respectfully on one knee and delivering a message in a stiff voice: "Today, we did not receive Shimura Rō's timely report."
"Hmm."
The old man opened his only remaining eye, a sinister glint flashing in his expression.
"The time has come. Go deal with him."
"Yes."
His subordinate vanished instantly. Danzo stood up, leaning on his cane, and slowly walked to the door, looking at the dim and dilapidated Root base that was gradually being repaired and restored.
Sakumo Hatake had decimated Root, and when Danzo awoke and took inventory, he found only a few useful subordinates remaining, along with those who had been on missions outside and had not returned, thus escaping the massacre.
Losing military strength was equivalent to losing power.
Fortunately, he had a chance to regain power and return to being a figure of real influence.
Shimura Rō's successful assassination of Uchiha Naraku, while catching him off guard, also meant he had to deal with the aftermath. He remained the head of Root, and his request for additional personnel was supported by Hiruzen Sarutobi, who assigned him thirty Ninja.
However, it was still far from enough.
So he went to the various Ninja Clans for more people, and under threats and inducements, he finally managed to gather about half the number Root used to have.
To fully return to its former strength would likely take some more time.
Danzo couldn't help but sneer as he recalled how, in the past two months, Uchiha Fugaku, relying solely on the hope of catching a human witness, had stubbornly argued at the Konoha High Council meetings.
When the Uchiha Clan learns that Shimura Rō and the escorts have died at the hands of "Anbu," and several young, talented children have gone missing in the Village, they will likely riot collectively, won't they?
At that point, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have no choice: either Konoha would fight a civil war, or he would preemptively eliminate the Uchiha's fighting force, crushing the crisis in its infancy.
As long as he wasn't foolish, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew what to choose.
As for whether he would be held accountable afterward?
The matter had already occurred; what good would accountability do?
Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no one to use for many tasks and didn't want to get his hands dirty, so he could only leave them to me, Danzo Shimura!
He couldn't do without me, so he couldn't do anything to me...
A team of Uchiha moved through the dense forest, advancing in alternating shifts, every one of them on high alert, ready to face any potential enemies.
Suddenly, the Clan Member at the front heard the sound of a projectile cutting through the air, swiftly drew a Kunai, and blocked it against his chest, deflecting a shuriken flying from his front-left.
"Alert!"
Shortly after he issued the warning, a dozen or so hired Ninja, disguised as rogue Ninja, emerged from all directions, launching a barrage of various Ninjutsu and exploding tags.
Half of the Uchiha in the squad had activated their Sharingan, easily handling attacks of this intensity. However, they needed to protect the human witness and dared not stray too far from the team, leaving them somewhat passive and constrained.
The enemy had precisely targeted this vulnerability, directing all their attacks towards Uchiha Fūyō in the center, forcing them to contract their defensive line and gather in the middle of the battlefield.
Uchiha Fūyō, with his Two-Tomoe Sharingan active, searched for a breakthrough point.
The second wave of supporting Clan Member hadn't arrived yet. If this dragged on, the situation would become very unfavorable. He had to break through and shake off the pursuers as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, all Clan Member in this squad—including himself—would be exhausted and killed here.
His lips moved, uttering a secret code only Uchiha understood.
[There's an opening in the northeast corner.]
The other Clan Member understood immediately, each unleashing their widest-range Ninjutsu. Lightning Release and Fire Release intertwined to form a large net, repelling another wave of enemy assaults.
He seized the opportunity to approach the opening. Even with a person on his back, it didn't hinder his agile movements. He swiftly eliminated an enemy and broke out of the encirclement.
The Clan Member would hold off the majority of the pursuers for him. His most urgent task now was to quickly rendezvous with the second support team.
As for the few fellow Clan Member covering the rear, whether they survived was up to fate.
Uchiha Fūyō kept moving, twisting and turning through the dense ancient trees, and successively killed two more pursuing Ninja. One of the Ninja even used a Secret Technique from his clan at the last moment.
He clearly remembered that there would be no more bloodline of that clan outside of Konoha.
This meant that not all of the enemies were rogue Ninja; there were also Ninja from their own Village mixed in.
--Good, Konoha isn't even pretending anymore; they dare to openly intercept and kill us!
Just as he secretly gritted his teeth, he noticed several more enemies gradually encircling him, and they were much stronger than the rogue Ninja from before.
He had already anticipated that the opening he used to break through was actually a trap, but he had no choice but to take the risk.
Sheathing his sword and forming hand signs, a Great Fireball Jutsu blasted forth, forcing two enemies to retreat and dodge. Simultaneously, he threw dozens of shuriken, making the other few stop to defend.
Uchiha Fūyō seized the chance, pulled out a Kunai, turned, and lunged, plunging it fiercely into the chest of the nearest attacker.
Blood splattered on his face, making his crimson Sharingan appear even more eerie, faintly glowing with a bloody light.
Another person had circled behind him. He pushed off the corpse impaled by the Kunai, using the momentum to leap into the air, flip, and land in the opponent's blind spot.
Lightning Release: Lightning Stab!
A lightning spear glowing with an ethereal blue light instantly formed in his hand, transforming into an arc of light that shot out, piercing the enemy's back and abdomen below.
In the instant he was airborne and unable to gain leverage, five or six sharp earth spikes rapidly grew from the ground, stabbing at his vital points from different directions.
The tomoe spun rapidly in his iris. He used a Kunai to block the first spike, used the leverage to flash to the left, and narrowly turned his body to let the second and third spikes graze past his ribs.
This downward trajectory had deviated too much, preventing him from returning to the more advantageous position on the treetops for combat, and he fell straight to the ground.
The moment he landed, a wide-area mud swamp had already formed. Even though he activated Lightning Release upon contact, he was still grazed on his waist by the enemy who had been waiting in ambush.