Danzo sat on the stone throne, his knuckles tapping rhythmically on the armrest.
As the stone door of the "Zero Chamber" slowly rose, he saw Zero's figure, but not the boy in the orange jacket.
His single eye narrowed slightly.
A moment later, Zero walked into the stone chamber, knelt on one knee, his head deeply bowed. His breathing was unsteady, and his body trembled slightly.
"The result?" Danzo's voice was devoid of any warmth.
"He... passed." Zero's voice was a bit hoarse, as if he had just been pulled back from the brink of drowning.
Danzo's knuckles stopped tapping. "How long did he take?"
"Three minutes."
"Three minutes?" Danzo leaned forward slightly, the scrutiny in his single eye intensifying. "Zero, your genjutsu is enough to break a Jonin's mind. Tell me, what happened in there?"
Zero's body trembled again. He recalled the cold, steel starry sky, the judgment of "You are humiliating me," and the real, icy touch on his neck.
Fear and hope battled within his heart.
He couldn't tell the truth. If he did, he would die, and his family's last refuge would disappear. And that boy... that existence who claimed he could grant "true order" was his only way out of this predicament.
"Reporting, Lord Danzo." Zero raised his head, his eyes beneath the mask filled with fanaticism and lingering fear. "This subordinate... is incompetent. My genjutsu had no effect on him."
"His... his will is an unshakeable steel. No, he simply has no 'emotional trauma' to exploit. He is like... like a born Root, even purer than all of us."
"He wasn't resisting the genjutsu, but rather... analyzing its structure. He told me that my methods were inefficient, crude, and a waste of Chakra."
These words, half-truths, precisely hit Danzo's sweet spot.
A monster unfettered by emotions, viewing everything as a tool, pursuing extreme efficiency? Wasn't this the perfect successor he had always dreamed of?
"His psychological fortitude is extremely strong; he is the most perfect candidate to join Root." Zero concluded his report with a perfect summary, burying Uzumaki Naruto's intention to win him over deep in his heart.
Danzo fell silent. He felt like a gambler who had bet his entire fortune at the card table, and now, he seemed to hear the goddess of fate's smile.
He had gambled correctly.
"Very good." Danzo leaned back into the stone throne, resuming his composed and strategic posture. "Then, from today onwards, Uzumaki Naruto will become a provisional member of Root, codenamed 'White Crow,' and will not need to receive the Tongue-Binding Curse Seal."
...That night, at Uzumaki Naruto's apartment.
The window was gently tapped three times from outside, two long and one short, the agreed-upon signal.
Uzumaki Naruto pulled back the curtains, and Zero's figure glided in like a ghost, without making a sound.
He took off his mask, revealing a pale but well-defined face. Unlike his composure in front of Danzo, his breathing was rapid now, and his eyes surged with years of suppressed excitement and struggle.
"I..." He opened his mouth, seemingly having a thousand words, but not knowing where to begin.
Finally, he simply took out a small scroll from his Pregnant and handed it to Uzumaki Naruto with both hands.
"This is the 'Crow' communication key and control authority. Besides me, only you can activate it."
Uzumaki Naruto calmly took the scroll, not opening it immediately.
"From the moment you handed it over, you have no retreat."
"I was already at a dead end." Zero's body trembled slightly. "It was you who gave me the possibility of seeing another path. My life, my loyalty, from now on, belong only to the 'system' you describe."
He knelt on one knee once again; this time, it was a willing submission.
"Very good." Uzumaki Naruto nodded and helped him up. "But we are in this together now, and you doing this puts a lot of pressure on me."
An ill-timed joke momentarily stunned Zero's tense nerves.
Uzumaki Naruto patted his shoulder, his expression turning serious again.
"Remember, don't come to me directly anymore. Any direct contact increases the risk of exposure." He handed Zero a bottle of his homemade Chakra ink. "Use this to contact me. Also, what you need to do now is not show loyalty to me, but to Danzo."
Zero was startled.
"Show him your value." Uzumaki Naruto looked directly into his eyes. "What kind of energy will an instrument that has been suppressed for too long and is now finally appreciated unleash? What kind of 'out-of-line' actions will a subordinate who yearns to prove himself and gain greater power take?"
A flicker of understanding passed through Zero's eyes.
"I understand. I will become the sharpest and most 'ambitious' blade in his hand."
"Yes." Uzumaki Naruto slowly nodded, indicating acceptance and approval. "Go, use your 'loyalty' to lay the first cornerstone for our blueprint."
Late the next night, on the windowsill of Uzumaki Naruto's apartment, a night owl perched there.
This was one of the ways Root internally transmitted urgent information.
Uzumaki Naruto didn't even lift his head. He took out a blank scroll and wrote seemingly random symbols on it with special Chakra ink, then tapped his fingers on the table three times in a long-short-short rhythm.
The night owl flapped its wings and flew away, disappearing into the night.
The first batch of instructions had been issued. Under the guise of "optimizing Root's operational efficiency," information sorting began.
Inside the scroll was a "proposal for optimization" passed to Zero.
[Preliminary Rectification Plan for Redundant Daily Duties in Root]
[1. Intelligence Collection Process Optimization: Recommend eliminating tertiary and quaternary reporting nodes, allowing frontline personnel to directly report repetitive surveillance mission intelligence to regional supervisors, which can improve efficiency by approximately 15%.]
[2. Personnel Configuration Rationalization: C-3 and C-5 squads have overlapping surveillance targets; recommend merging them and reallocating the saved manpower to new information screening tasks.]
[3. Proposal for Electronic Management of Mission Archives...]
Zero's execution ability was beyond imagination.
Or rather, talent that had been suppressed for too long, upon finding a truly worthy target to serve, erupted with astonishing energy.
The next day, deep within Root's underground facility.
A Ninja responsible for transmitting intelligence was about to proceed to the A-3 archive room as usual when he was stopped by Zero.
"This intelligence is to be sent directly to the analysis team; the archiving work for A-3 has already been merged with B-5. Don't waste time." Zero's tone brooked no argument.
On the other side, two reconnaissance squads responsible for monitoring the same area were forcibly reorganized by Zero.
"Target overlap exceeds fifty percent; personnel are redundant. Squad B will handle the periphery, and Squad C will be reassigned to mobile support. All intelligence will be consolidated and reported to me, and then I will report it."
Under Zero's "rationalization" adjustments, intelligence that previously required layered transmission began to have its path significantly shortened; repetitive surveillance tasks were integrated; and some cumbersome paperwork was simplified.
The entire operation of Root, like a rusty machine injected with lubricant, began to run with unprecedented smoothness.
Danzo quickly noticed this change.
The number of scrolls presented on his desk daily decreased by a third, but the accuracy and timeliness of the information doubled. Some cold case files that had accumulated for years were even re-organized, categorized, and given processing recommendations within a few days.
He felt satisfied, a sense of satisfaction from having everything under control.
But then, a hint of displeasure followed.
Zero, his most convenient tool, actually dared to act on his own initiative.
"Have him come see me." Danzo ordered from the shadows.
Inside the stone chamber, the atmosphere was more oppressive than usual.
"Your recent actions have been significant, Zero." Danzo's voice was like ice.
Zero fell to his knees with a thud, his body prostrated extremely low. "Lord Danzo, this subordinate admits his guilt!"
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