Overnight, Danzō and his Root were wiped out, and all of Konoha's leadership was shaken. No matter how much they disliked Danzō or looked down on his character, they still acknowledged the Root he had built with his own hands and his personal strength.
For it to happen in a single night—the impact was no less than the Uchiha clan's extermination as the outside world told it. It was even greater, since Danzō's Root had been much stronger than the Uchiha back then.
But the Root shinobi all died within Uchiha territory, including Danzō himself, which was undeniably intriguing.
Publicly, the Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Musashi, declared that for unknown reasons Danzō suddenly led Root shinobi in a nighttime assault on the Uchiha, and the Uchiha only fought back in self-defense.
With almost all of Root dead anyway, there was nothing anyone could do about whatever the Uchiha said now. After all, Danzō and Root did die inside Uchiha territory, and on-site investigation did confirm signs of battle.
You couldn't very well claim the Uchiha lured Danzō and Root into their own heartland just to start a fight, could you? Danzō must have had a scheme. No one expected that the nearly annihilated Uchiha could wipe them out instead. That forced the remaining Konoha clans to reassess the Uchiha and once again treat them as Konoha's mightiest noble house of old.
Destroying Danzō and Root was something even the Fifth Hokage Tsunade and the Hyuga clan could not do. Purely a matter of power—Tsunade and the Hyuga couldn't pull it off either, unless Root committed some outrageously treasonous act that compelled the entire village to eradicate them.
Yet they were wiped out by the Uchiha, who had only recently rejoined Konoha. How powerful were the Uchiha now? And how terrifying must Itachi Uchiha have been, who had once almost exterminated the Uchiha himself? After all, few knew the truth behind the clan's massacre.
The ones most afraid in Konoha were likely Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. They were tangentially connected to the Uchiha extermination plan; though they hadn't taken part, they still feared the Uchiha might now vent their anger on them.
Hadn't they seen the mastermind Danzō already taken out?
The Hyuga made no public statements and maintained a wait-and-see stance. In name they were still Konoha's foremost house, but they were deeply wary of the Uchiha's current strength.
The other mid-sized and small clans hurried to befriend the Uchiha. There was nothing to lose, and the current Uchiha head was unlike before—a gentle, courteous youth.
That was also thanks to Uchiha Musashi's good public face. Think back to that night, though—Musashi reeked of blood. If those small clans had seen that, their legs would probably be shaking whenever they saw him afterward.
The Fifth Hokage Tsunade had a fiery temper. She despised Danzō, but she didn't have much fondness for the Uchiha either, once bitter enemies of her Senju clan.
Besides, though hot-headed, Tsunade wasn't a fool. That widely gossiped "rumor" in the village, combined with Danzō and Root's moves—no matter how she looked at it, it was all entangled with the Uchiha.
But with Root already annihilated, she had even less reason to act against the Uchiha. They insisted Root attacked them and claimed not to know why. She really had no way to deal with them. Besides, even if they admitted it had been their plot, what could she do? Konoha couldn't afford that kind of conflict now.
Whoever could wipe out Root—if Konoha went all out to crush them, how much strength would Konoha have left? She wasn't the little girl she once was; she was the Hokage now.
She couldn't act on impulse.
As a result, the desk and door of the Hokage's office had been replaced who knows how many times.
Danzō and Root were, after all, Konoha's black-ops unit, and much of the information couldn't be made public. So the matter could only be handled in secret. That said, the secrecy only hid it from Konoha's ordinary civilians.
After all, it was a major incident, and any halfway capable ninja would find out—at least a chunin or above—so in effect they were only snowing the common folk.
Compared with Konoha, Root's destruction had an even bigger impact outside—not on the other four great villages, but on secret organizations or powerhouses who knew Root existed.
For example, Orochimaru and the Sound Village he had built, or Obito, or certain Akatsuki members such as Itachi.
"We still have almost three years. There's room for our strength to grow." Kisame sighed, whether to Itachi or to himself.
As one of the Akatsuki who lived very long in the original storyline, he seemed to know many secrets.
"Konoha's Root is gone. No one in the village will target the Uchiha without cause anymore. Let Musashi develop well in Konoha, and try to secure real clout there by the time Akatsuki moves on the tailed beasts. By the way, should we snatch the Hokage title for fun?" In a newly built ornate palace in Kirigakure in the Land of Water, Meruem murmured to himself as he toyed with Pitou in his arms.
"Meow!" No sooner had he finished than Meruem's lips were sealed by Pitou's. Ever since that kiss, Pitou had become addicted to that electric jolt of a feeling.
As time passed, Meruem's power had nearly recovered to eight-tenths, and in two years it would be fully restored.
All that was left was to become even stronger!
To surpass those so-called lofty gods!
"Yahoo! I haven't been out in so long, I'm seriously excited (≧▽≦)/~~ The King finally sent me out this time—I'm going to have a real good time! I'm so happy—so hyped!" Located in the borderlands among the five great hidden villages, at some unknown border point between the Land of Springs and the Land of Rivers, a youth with sallow skin and a few whiskers was bouncing with exuberant energy.
"Jidu! Do you have a death wish? We're not out here to play—the first priority is to finish what the King ordered." The reply came from a long-haired, icily serious, flamboyantly dressed youth as skinny as a bamboo pole.
Of course, several burly men who looked almost identical followed behind them. Strictly speaking, they had such generic faces you would forget them moments after a glance.
These were Jidu, a Chimera Ant squadron leader, and Naru, an elite among the Chimera Ant cyborgs. In short, both were formidable Chimera Ant fighters.
They were currently presenting human forms—this was a new Chimera Ant ability mentioned before, developed to better blend into human society. Compared with original-type Chimera Ants like Jidu, whose human forms always had some inhuman traits—Jidu's skin was sallow and his face bore many leopard-like whisker markings—Chimera Ant cyborgs like Naru looked almost indistinguishable from normal humans, since they had originally been human.
Though few Chimera Ant cyborgs had the talent to reach the same level as squadron leaders, Naru was one of the exceptions.
His strength even surpassed some squadron leaders. In any case, the cyborgs were already the main force of the Chimera Ants now, so it wasn't unusual.
After all, there were only a handful of original Chimera Ant squadron leaders. Relations were generally amicable, and many cyborgs held the original Chimera Ant corps in high esteem, believing their bodies were closer to the King's. Keep in mind most Chimera Ant cyborgs were cultists, fervent in their faith.
But there were exceptions—such as Naru's attitude toward Jidu.
Jidu was fun-loving by nature and thick-skinned, as his words just now showed. Naru, by contrast, was all discipline aside from combat prowess—especially regarding the King's orders, which to him were of paramount importance.
Yet Jidu only thought about playing, so of course Naru had no patience for him.
So it was no surprise Naru found Jidu hard to stomach.
As for the identical-looking men behind them, they were ordinary Chimera Ant cyborg soldiers. That was just their human appearance; some cyborg soldiers preferred not to revert to their original human looks and opted for this generic face instead.
It was a matter of personal preference and no big deal.
"Yeah, yeah," Jidu answered perfunctorily, saying one thing and meaning another.
"Milord, up ahead is Yugakure." One of the generic-faced brutes spoke up then. He was dragonfly-modified, so his daytime vision was excellent.
Yugakure was a village whose fighting strength had dwindled as wars faded, yet rich in natural resources, lauded as the "village that forgot war."
Yet such a village produced a cultist of the Evil God who reveled in bloody violence.
The Chimera Ants' target was precisely that man—the Jashinist in the Naruto world reputed to be immortal, with eerily strange abilities.
Hidan.
Hidan didn't join Akatsuki very early; by the time the hunt for the tailed beasts began, he actually hadn't been in the organization long.
Moreover, according to Meruem's intel, Yugakure still existed now, so it was safe to conclude Hidan was still in Yugakure.
Meruem had taken a liking to Hidan's bizarre ability, so he dispatched two powerful squadron-leader-level experts and several battle members of captain rank and above.
Of course, that seemed like overkill for dealing with a single Hidan, but just in case—who knew when other Akatsuki members might invite Hidan to join.
(End of Chapter)
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