Seiryu drew his blade to block, glanced at Torune's kunai, and chuckled, "Special glass kunai? Too bad, it's useless."
In the next instant, the suspended shuriken shot toward Torune.
He hurriedly escaped with an insect substitution, but as soon as he landed, Seiryu's next strike was already there—his electrically-charged body was impossibly fast.
Seiryu's relentless attacks left Torune scrambling, forced to use insect substitutions repeatedly, sacrificing batches of his bugs each time.
Within minutes, Torune was in peril several times. Just as Seiryu was about to end it, his vision suddenly went dark.
"Using Mind Body Switch Technique on a Mangekyō user?"
In the mental world, Seiryu's Mangekyō flared. Yamanaka Fu, hiding in the shadows to launch a sneak attack, gasped in pain, vomited blood, and collapsed.
"Go catch him alive," Seiryu instructed Inaho and Zaito as he forced Torune to use another substitution.
"Little bug-user, now that we've got a better prisoner, it's over for you," Seiryu smiled, stabbing Torune in the back. Lightning surged, and soon only a charred corpse remained.
Meanwhile, Inaho and Zaito easily captured Fu, who was left powerless by the backlash of his own clan's secret technique.
"Zaito, take him to the clan's interrogation room—don't let him die. Inaho, report to the Hokage building: say that during our investigation, we encountered violent resistance from Root remnants and had no choice but to use lethal force. All enemies have been dealt with," Seiryu ordered.
"Yes!" they replied, then set off in different directions.
Seiryu proceeded alone into the underground Root base.
Inside, the remaining Root ninja attacked him without fear of death, but Seiryu ended each one with a single strike. In just ten minutes, he cut down dozens of ninjas, from the entrance to the core of the base.
In Danzo's office, Seiryu found only ashes—Danzo's secrets had been thoroughly burned. Seiryu smiled, then pulled out a sealing scroll and retrieved a handful of documents.
"Root's efficiency isn't bad—I thought I'd have to help them clean up," he said, tossing the papers into the air and incinerating them with a Fireball Jutsu.
Once half-burned, he performed a set of hand signs.
Water Release: Wild Water Wave.
A mist formed around him, then condensed into droplets, falling to put out the burning papers. Seiryu picked up the half-burned documents.
A while later, Inaho returned with the ANBU sent by the Third Hokage.
The leader, though masked, had striking white hair—Seiryu instantly recognized the famous Leaf Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi.
Kakashi entered the base and frowned at the corpses—not out of pity, but because these were still Leaf ninjas. After Danzo's death, perhaps some could have reformed, but now all had been killed by Seiryu.
"Kakashi-senpai, it's you," Seiryu greeted him cheerfully. He wasn't surprised that the Third Hokage hadn't come himself—under threat from Kotoamatsukami, the ninja hero likely wanted to avoid facing Seiryu directly.
Kakashi made no response. Seiryu didn't mind and continued:
"When I arrived, these Root remnants were destroying Danzo's evidence. Luckily, I was in time to save some." Seiryu lowered his voice. "I found something special in these documents. I think you'll be interested."
He took out a half-burned file and showed it to Kakashi.
The names at the top made Kakashi's pupils contract—Hatake Sakumo, Kishida Keisuke, Arima Kiya, and a ninja whose surname was Higashiyama. But Kakashi immediately filled in the rest: Higashiyama Ryota.
These were the participants in the mission that changed his father's life.
After these names, the words "silenced" were marked, making Kakashi's heart race.
"Well, since you're here, help with the cleanup," Seiryu said, putting away the file and patting Kakashi's shoulder. "What a pity. They were all Leaf ninja, but Danzo brainwashed them into this. I didn't want to kill them."
With that, Seiryu left, signaling Inaho to follow.
"Wait!" Kakashi suddenly called out to Seiryu at the office door.
"What is it?" Seiryu turned back with a gentle smile. "I still need to organize the remaining evidence and interrogate the Root prisoners."
"It's... nothing," said Kakashi after a moment's hesitation.
"Then I'll be going. Give my regards to the Hokage," Seiryu said, turning to leave. After a while, as if remembering something, he turned back and said, "Oh, if you have time, come visit the clan. Granny Miori hasn't been feeling well lately—she's been asking about you."