"Captain," a hushed voice reported through the trees, "the Uchiha compound is showing activity."
Flickering firelight briefly illuminated the Uchiha district before plunging it back into shadow. Hidden nearby, concealed within the dense forest, were figures clad in black, their faces obscured by animal masks.
One hundred and thirty-five shinobi lay in wait.
Each one pulsed with chakra levels easily matching an Elite Chunin. In any other village, or even within Konoha's clans, a single one of them would be hailed as a talented. As many of them were talented shinobi's of clans taken by Danzo. Most shinobi's don't rise above Genin's, even fewer rise above Chunin becoming Elite Chunin, on verge of becoming Tokubetsu Jonin.
They were the elite. Danzo's Root.
Their orders were stark: annihilate the Uchiha clan. Should Itachi Uchiha falter, these Root operatives were the blade meant to finish the task. Danzo had clearly spared no expense, mobilizing nearly the entirety of Root to ensure the Uchiha's extermination.
The restrictions placed on him by the Third Hokage had been lifted years ago, granting him the freedom to deploy such a force. These hundred-plus shinobi represented the peak of the strength he had grown since taking command of Root, and perhaps his most vital asset in his ambition to claim the Hokage title. Had it not been for the losses sustained in Amegakure some years back, their numbers might have doubled.
"Ignore it. That's part of Danzo-sama's plan," the Root ninja wearing an owl mask instructed, his voice flat, devoid of inflection. "Maintain high alert."
"Status on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"
"Asleep. At home," another operative replied, their tone just as lifeless. It was the defining trait of Root shinobi.
"Good." The owl-masked leader nodded curtly. "Effective immediately, seal off the entire Uchiha district. No one gets out."
He paused, his next words carrying lethal finality. "If you encounter any survivors... kill on sight."
The Root ninja fixed their gazes on the Uchiha compound, waiting. Waiting for the final verdict on the clan's fate. They were like hyenas circling a dying lion, anticipating the moment they could tear into the remains.
Silver moonlight filtered through the canopy, dappling the dark forest floor. The gaunt trees lining the path dripped with dew, catching the light.
*Drip... drip... drip.*
Liquid slid from the leaves, pattering softly onto the earth below. It wasn't dew.
It was blood.
The owl-masked Captain suddenly stiffened, his gaze snapping away from the distant compound. He scanned the immediate surroundings, A slight frown creased beneath his mask.
The forest was too quiet. Utterly silent. Even the usual chirping of insects had vanished. An autumn wind rustled through the leaves, sharp and cold, feeling like it could pull the soul right out of your body. Branches swayed restlessly, painting countless dancing shadows in the moonlight.
Dark clouds drifted across the moon, plunging the world into deeper darkness. The forest, which had seemed menacing moments before, now felt steeped in a deathly stillness, utterly limp and powerless.
A faint, coppery scent tainted the air.
"Enem-" The word died in his throat. A sharp *crack* echoed through the unnatural quiet.
The sound jolted every Root operative. They snapped their heads towards the source, only to see a hooded figure standing where their owl-masked Captain had been just a second ago. The Captain himself now hung limply from a nearby branch, his neck twisted, hanging limp. Dead.
"Night Owl, report! What just happened?!" a Root ninja hissed, the trained lack of emotion in his voice fraying, revealing an edge of fear. As despite being trained to suppress emotions, emotions are fundamental part of human mind.
The owl-masked ninja had been their commander for this mission, the strongest among them. To be taken out so silently, so instantly...
A chilling realization spread through their ranks. It wasn't just their captain. Nearly half of the one hundred and thirty-five Root elites were unaccounted for, their presence having simply vanished without a sound. These weren't mere recruits, they were Root's finest.
Hence, while they suppressing emotions was one thing, primal fear was something else entirely.
The ninja known as Night Owl, their designated sensor for this operation, pointed a trembling finger towards the newcomer. "That position... I can't sense any chakra."
'No chakra?!'
The words hung in the air, terrifying in their implication. Since the Sage of Six Paths had shared his gift, every living being in the world possessed chakra, however faint. To have none...
No chakra meant... not living?
If not a living being, then what is their enemy?
As shock rippled through the remaining Root ninja, a strange, grating voice echoed from beneath the hood, it didn't sound entirely human.
"Looks lively over there. No reason you should stand around doing nothing. Why don't we all..."
The figure tilted its head.
"Come play?"
Before the last syllable fully formed, the hooded figure vanished and reappeared beside a Root ninja. A sphere of pure white light bloomed in its hand, engulfing the ninja.
*Pop.*
The operative dissolved into fine dust, scattering instantly on the wind.
Just as a slaughter had begun in the Uchiha compound, another had started here. Only this time, Root, so often the butchers, were now the ones being carved apart.
Over a hundred elite Root ninjas were as helpless before this hooded figure as newborn infants, much like the Uchiha were proving against Obito.
Their ninjutsu, their secret techniques, dissipated harmlessly before reaching the figure. Yet, the slightest touch from those white spheres of light meant instant oblivion or crippling injury.
Ninjas, for all their skill, were fragile. Against an opponent faster and overwhelmingly more powerful, the result was simple: annihilation.
It was a massacre.
Even so, the remaining Root ninja held their ground. Their orders were clear: eliminate the Uchiha. Retreat without a command from Danzo-sama was unthinkable, even facing certain death. Their emotionless conditioning was both their strength and their fatal flaw.
Finally, the relentless slaughter proved too much. A few operatives, their minds shattering under the pressure, broke ranks by mentally justifying their reasoning.
Risking mission failure, risking the Cursed Seal that would kill them, they sprinted desperately towards the village.
The hooded figure didn't pursue. It merely watched them go.
Just as the fleeing ninja reached the edge of the forest, nearing Konoha's outer boundary, there was a brilliant white flash.
Suddenly, they were back. Back where the nightmare began. Back beside the hooded demon.
'Spatial Ninjutsu?!' The thought flashed through the mind of the last conscious Root ninja before a white sphere enveloped him, turning him to dust that drifted away on the cold night air.
"Naruto," a calm voice observed as a figure shimmered into existence beside the hooded youth, the former Fourth Hokage.
The white flash that had returned the fleeing Root ninja, that had been the Minato's Flying Thunder God. "That power of yours is quite remarkable. A Kekkei Genkai you developed?"
"Still got a ways to go compared to you, Fourth," Naruto replied, not answering directly. He pulled down his hood, revealing his face briefly before replacing it with a blank mask. "You took out fifty Jonin in an instant back then. Shook the whole world."
He looked towards the distant, dying fires of the Uchiha compound. "Me? I'm just following examples. Nothing special."
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