"Still no results?"
Inside Konoha Village, within the Shimura clan compound.
In a dimly lit room,
Shimura Danzō, currently under house arrest, looked down coldly at the Root operative kneeling before him.
Although the Third Hokage had stripped him of his position as Hokage Advisor
and ordered that Root be placed under ANBU control,
most Root members had been personally indoctrinated and trained by Danzō.
They were utterly loyal to him.
Moreover,
each of them bore a curse mark that Danzō himself had placed upon them.
So even though Root was now nominally under ANBU command,
in reality, they still obeyed Danzō's orders.
The Uchiha clan had been destroyed.
Yet Danzō had been in a terrible mood these past few days.
Not only because of the Third Hokage's suppression—
but because someone had dared to snatch prey from the tiger's mouth.
A large number of Sharingan had been taken.
From the entire Uchiha clan,
Danzō had obtained fewer than five pairs of three-tomoe Sharingan.
The rest were merely two-tomoe or one-tomoe eyes, which were far less valuable.
How could he not be furious?
After all,
to activate the forbidden technique Izanagi,
a three-tomoe Sharingan or higher was required.
This meant the number of backup eyes he possessed was extremely limited.
"My deepest apologies, Lord Danzō…"
The Root jōnin kneeling before him wiped away cold sweat as he reported cautiously.
"So far, we have found no trace whatsoever of the mastermind behind it."
"A bunch of useless fools!"
The desk before Danzō shattered under his palm.
His fury was barely contained.
"However…"
The Root ninja continued quickly,
"after repeatedly examining the Uchiha corpses, we concluded that at least two individuals removed the Sharingan that night."
He kept his head lowered.
"Yet the Uchiha district had already been sealed off by our forces beforehand."
"We have no idea how they infiltrated."
"Additionally, besides Uchiha Itachi, there must have been another person helping him eliminate the Uchiha stationed with the police force."
During the autopsies,
they had discovered that the removed eyes showed two distinct extraction methods.
But they could not determine whether this meant two separate groups.
"So, Lord Danzō…"
The Root jōnin hesitated before speaking.
"I believe we cannot rule out the possibility that the Third Hokage or the other two elders were involved."
Within Konoha,
very few people had the ability to bypass Root's surveillance.
Outsiders could not secretly infiltrate the village's barrier unless they had been long-term spies already living in Konoha.
Yet that night,
Root had detected no abnormalities whatsoever.
"…Could it be…"
Danzō slowly touched the bandages covering his right eye.
"…that Shisui's other eye truly fell into Hiruzen's hands?"
Thinking of Uchiha Shisui's missing left eye,
Danzō felt uncertain.
Suspicion toward the Third Hokage began to grow.
His expression darkened with caution.
"If that's the case…"
"You've hidden it well, Hiruzen."
"Oh, right, Lord Danzō…"
The Root jōnin remembered something and added:
"One of the Three Legendary Sannin, Tsunade, appears to be leaving Konoha."
"Tsunade?"
Danzō snorted dismissively.
"Hmph. A weak-willed woman who will never achieve anything."
"But…"
The ninja paused.
"That Akira Ren possesses extremely astonishing talent."
According to their investigation:
At eight years old, he had already mastered Mystical Palm Technique, an A-rank medical ninjutsu.He could even perform one-handed seals.His performance at Konoha Hospital had been remarkable.
He had already earned the nickname:
"Little Medical Saint."
"His future achievements are immeasurable."
The Root ninja continued.
"We also discovered that his chakra reserves are enormous."
"Even after repeatedly using high-level medical ninjutsu in the hospital, no one has ever seen him run out of chakra."
"So the boy has perfectly inherited the Senju bloodline, huh?"
Danzō stroked the bandages covering his eye.
His gaze flickered with calculation.
Ren's terrifying talent reminded him faintly of his former teacher—
the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
A genius like that—
if recruited—
could become an invaluable subordinate once he matured.
After all,
with the Hashirama cells in his arm,
Danzō could temporarily influence others' will using Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
But to activate the true Kotoamatsukami—
the one that permanently alters someone's will—
the cost was enormous.
Even with the Wood Release power in his arm,
he was still far inferior to the First Hokage.
And he was not an Uchiha.
If he used the permanent version of Kotoamatsukami,
his eye would require several years to recover.
Furthermore,
the possibility that the other Mangekyō eye was already in Hiruzen's hands
made him even more cautious.
"Secretly monitor Akira Ren."
Danzō finally ordered.
"Do not alert him."
He decided to wait.
He needed to confirm whether Ren's talent was truly worth spending such a precious use of Kotoamatsukami.
After all,
as long as the Third Hokage remained vigilant,
Danzō would not be able to lay his hands on the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki anytime soon.
If he could instead secretly gain a genius like Ren,
that would not be a bad alternative.
Especially if Ren could truly inherit Tsunade's medical legacy—
his value would become even greater.
"Understood!"
The Root ninja bowed.
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