Uchiha Dohan parried the blow with his blade, then glanced at the kunai in Aburame Ryōma's hand and chuckled.
"Custom glass-tipped kunai, huh? Shame—it's still useless."
The next second, the suspended shuriken surrounding Dohan shot toward the revealed Ryōma in a rapid flurry.
Ryōma quickly substituted himself with an insect clone and retreated, but the moment he touched down, Dohan was already there—blade crackling with lightning, moving at impossible speed.
Each strike was a fatal blow.
Ryōma, as an insect-user, was never built for close combat and could only repeatedly rely on insect substitution to avoid death. But every time he used it, a swarm of insects he had painstakingly raised was obliterated by Dohan's lightning-infused attacks.
Within minutes, Ryōma had escaped death by a hair's breadth several times. Just as Dohan moved in to end the fight for good, his vision suddenly darkened.
"You'd dare use Mind Body Switch on someone with Mangekyō Sharingan? You must have a death wish."
Within the mental plane, Dohan's Mangekyō flared to life. Hidden in the shadows, Yamanaka Fū let out a pained groan, blood spurting from his mouth as he collapsed from the backlash.
"Catch that one alive," Dohan ordered smoothly, even as another slash forced Ryōma into yet another substitution. He directed the command to Inabi and Yashiro, who had been watching the fight unfold.
"Bug-playing rodent… well, now that we've got someone better to interrogate, we can end this."
Dohan smiled faintly—and thrust his blade into Ryōma's back.
A surge of lightning exploded from the impact, and moments later, all that remained on the ground was a charred corpse.
Elsewhere, Inabi and Yashiro had little difficulty capturing the dazed and mentally ravaged Yamanaka Fū, who had lost all will to resist under the backlash of his failed jutsu.
"Yashiro, take him back to the clan's interrogation chamber. Make sure he stays alive. Inabi, head to the Hokage's office and report that we encountered violent resistance from surviving Root operatives during our investigation. We had no choice but to use force. The insurgents have all been put down."
Dohan issued orders calmly, without breaking stride.
"Yes, sir!"
The two men nodded and quickly departed in opposite directions.
Meanwhile, Dohan advanced alone into Root's underground base.
Though the remaining Root operatives attacked fearlessly, he struck each of them down with a single blow. From the entrance to the heart of the facility, the path was painted with corpses. In just ten minutes, Dohan had carved his way through dozens of defenders.
Inside Danzō's office, the first thing he saw was ash scattered across the floor. It was clear—everything had been torched. All evidence gone.
Dohan smiled faintly.
Then, he opened a sealing scroll and retrieved a bundle of documents.
"Root's efficiency isn't bad at all. I thought I'd have to help them clean up," he said, tossing the files into the air and releasing a massive Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique to burn them midair.
Once a third of the documents were scorched, he formed a new seal:
Water Style: Wild Water Wave.
A mist burst forth around him, forming beads of water that gently fell across the burning papers. As the smoke curled upward, Dohan stepped forward to collect the half-burned documents one by one.
---
A while later, Inabi finally arrived with ANBU reinforcements sent by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The masked operative leading them had snow-white hair—making his identity instantly clear to Dohan.
Hatake Kakashi. The Copy Ninja. The famed technician of Konoha.
Kakashi entered the Root base and paused when he saw the corpses strewn everywhere. He didn't show sympathy—but he frowned slightly. These were, after all, Konoha ninjas. With Danzō gone, some of them might have been redeemed. Now, all of them were dead—cut down by Uchiha Dohan.
"Ah, so it's you, Kakashi-senpai," Dohan greeted him with a polite smile. He wasn't surprised that the Hokage hadn't come in person. After all, with Kotoamatsukami hanging over his head, the old man likely didn't want a direct confrontation.
Kakashi said nothing from behind his mask.
Dohan didn't mind the silence.
"I arrived just in time to stop them from destroying what was left of Danzō's legacy," he said conversationally, lowering his voice. "And among those documents… I found something that might interest you."
He pulled out a half-burned file and unfolded it for Kakashi to see.
The names at the top made Kakashi's pupils contract:
Hatake Sakumo. Kishida Keisuke. Arima Kiya. And one with only the surname Higashiyama—but Kakashi instantly filled in the missing part: Higashiyama Ryota.
These were the people involved in the mission that had ruined his father's life.
And next to each name, a note in cold ink: Silenced.
Kakashi's heart skipped a beat.
"Well then, now that you're here," Dohan said, rolling the file back up and patting Kakashi on the shoulder, "help clean up the corpses, would you?"
He turned to leave, sighing theatrically.
"What a shame. They were all shinobi of the village… but Danzō twisted them beyond recognition. I didn't want to kill them."
He beckoned for Inabi to follow and headed out.
"Wait."
Kakashi called out just as Dohan reached the doorway.
"Yes, Kakashi-senpai?"
Dohan turned back with a warm smile.
"I still have to go organize the remaining evidence and interrogate the prisoner we caught."
"…It's nothing."
Kakashi hesitated, then held his tongue. He let the question die in his throat.
"In that case, I'll take my leave. Be sure to give my regards to Lord Hokage."
Dohan turned again to go—but after a few steps, as though remembering something, he glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh, and Kakashi-senpai? Come visit the clan compound sometime. Granny Meori's health has been poor lately. She still talks about you, you know."