ROOT Base
Shimura Danzō sat inside the ROOT headquarters, going through documents in silence.
Though he had been stripped of power after the Uchiha clan's extermination, he still believed that one day, he would return to prominence.
After all, even having orchestrated the assassination of his old comrade Sarutobi Hiruzen, he had walked away unscathed.
He had eliminated a major threat within Konoha—so in his mind, he had done the village a service.
That's why he still kept himself informed about internal affairs, making judgments from the shadows.
"Jiraiya's back? What for? Could it be—"
A flicker of hesitation crossed his face before his expression suddenly tensed.
"Damn it… Don't tell me that guy's here to inherit the Hokage position?"
"Long time no see, Danzō."
Just then, a familiar voice reached his ears, causing Danzō's entire body to stiffen.
"Well, it has been a while since you last came here, Hiruzen."
Thankfully, his instincts as a seasoned operative kicked in. He quickly calmed himself and returned to a composed state.
"Truly rare," he said coolly, "for someone as busy as you to finally make time to visit an old friend."
"You've only reached this point because of your own actions," Hiruzen replied, taking a seat across from him, a pipe held between his lips.
With a long sigh, he continued: "You shouldn't have targeted Shisui. And you especially shouldn't have forced Itachi to carry out that mission. The Uchiha were always part of Konoha. You—"
"Enough, Hiruzen. That's quite enough."
Before he could finish, Danzō cut him off with a dismissive shake of his head.
"You know full well what Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan was capable of. Would you really have slept easy with him alive?"
"Sending Uchiha Itachi to execute that mission spared Konoha from civil war. It even saved you from having to dirty your hands. And you're still not satisfied?"
He narrowed his eye, voice sharp with conviction.
"Everything I did—I did for Konoha. I merely inherited our sensei's will!"
"You're truly beyond saving," Hiruzen muttered bitterly. "Have you forgotten about Kagami? If he were here to witness all of this, what do you think he would say?"
"Kagami was an outlier. Most Uchiha were just like Uchiha Setsuna. I simply did what needed to be done."
Hiruzen stared coldly at the man before him—neck stiff, back straight, radiating defiance like a man convinced of his own righteousness.
Anger flared in his chest.
His gaze sharpened, lips moving slightly—and Danzō immediately sensed something off.
"…Enough," Danzō said lowly. "You didn't come here just to argue, did you?"
That line—"I'm the Hokage"—hadn't even made it out of Hiruzen's mouth before Danzō cut him off.
"…"
Hiruzen rubbed his brow. After a brief silence, he finally spoke.
"What's the situation in Kirigakure? How many of ROOT's operatives are still embedded there, and how can we activate them?"
"Kirigakure?"
Danzō's eyes lit up. He finally understood why Hiruzen had come to see him.
The situation in Kirigakure was highly complicated. Infiltrating the village wasn't something just anyone could do—and his ROOT had once specialized in exactly that.
And more importantly, he realized—this was an opportunity.
"I do still have people there. But activating them… that can only be done by me."
"Danzō, don't push your luck."
Though Hiruzen had expected as much, he still frowned as he looked at him.
"I can restore some of your authority—but everything must revolve around the mission itself. The consequences of your past actions were too severe. No one's blind to that."
"Hmph. I already told you—everything I did was for Konoha. I don't care what others think."
Danzō let out a snort. He knew he'd have to claw his way back step by step, so he didn't press the matter.
"As for the mission—you can rest easy. If I couldn't handle something like this, you wouldn't have kept me around all those years to serve Konoha in the first place."
Hiruzen gave a slight nod. Danzō's operational capabilities were, admittedly, reliable.
Just as he was about to offer further warnings, an ANBU operative suddenly burst into the room in a panic.
"Hokage-sama—something's happened."
...
"That brat…"
Uchiha Obito stood within the flickering firelight, his expression dark and unpleasant.
He had originally been observing from the shadows, waiting for news from Uchiha Sasuke. But unexpectedly, Kitagawa Gen had run right into Sasuke!
Still, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He had intended to test Kitagawa Gen anyway—and now that Sasuke was there too, wasn't that perfect?
But what completely caught him off guard was that this kid—who just a moment ago had been calmly talking about Uchiha Itachi—suddenly hurled a kunai wrapped in explosive tags straight at him?
If he hadn't been maintaining his Kamui form the entire time, that attack might've actually gotten him!
To think he'd been discovered by a mere brat—and even forced to retreat first?
This complete reversal of roles was something Uchiha Obito found hard to accept!
"…But this kid's sensory perception seems rather sharp."
Obito narrowed his gaze on Kitagawa Gen. He'd only gotten slightly closer, and the boy had already noticed. That genuinely surprised him.
"You two, stay sharp. If you see an opening, get out of here immediately."
Kitagawa Gen, although guessing that the earlier explosion would've drawn attention, still whispered a warning.
"This guy is likely an accomplice of Uchiha Itachi. And there's another problem—Sasuke, that night… are you sure every Uchiha was really killed?"
"…"
Sasuke, who had still been frozen in shock from the sudden turn of events, instantly darkened at that question.
What the hell kind of question was that?
But before he could respond, the firelight revealed a figure standing amidst the flames—a faint, almost phantom-like silhouette—with a single scarlet eye shining beneath a mask. Sasuke's face went pale.
"That's… a Sharingan?"
"What's a Sharingan?"
Naruto looked completely puzzled. All he could tell was that the guy on the other side was clearly an enemy—beyond that, he had no clue.
"Huh?"
But just then, Naruto suddenly clutched his stomach and dropped to a crouch, his chakra surging wildly, a red aura beginning to spill out from his body!
"The Nine-Tails is reacting?"
Kitagawa Gen immediately understood what was happening.
The Nine-Tails must have recognized Obito's presence and hadn't forgotten that night's aura. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
A flare-up from the Nine-Tails was a massive incident for the entire village.
"The Nine-Tails… Hmph. Still just as foolish."
Obito glanced at Naruto, then spoke with complete indifference.
"Kid, not bad—you've got sharp eyes. But…"
He didn't mind revealing his Sharingan. After all, he had already assumed the identity of 'Uchiha Madara.'
He began walking forward slowly, the surrounding flames seemingly unable to touch him. In the blink of an eye, his speed surged—he suddenly appeared right in front of Gen, Sasuke, and Naruto.
"All your efforts are useless!"
"Move!"
Kitagawa Gen had been watching Obito's every move. The instant he acted, Gen shoved Sasuke and Naruto aside. At the same time, a burst of violet lightning crackled around his right hand!
Uchiha Obito's strength was absolutely absurd. That night with the Nine-Tails, he'd wiped out an entire ANBU squad in seconds and controlled the beast with just a glance.
He'd even taken a direct Rasengan hit from Namikaze Minato and survived. That alone showed how ridiculously durable he was.
But the core of his power wasn't brute strength—it was Kamui.
His basic combat ability wasn't anything special. It was that space-time ninjutsu that made him dangerous.
To stall him—or even try to fight back—you had to rely on tactics.
Fortunately, Gen knew there were three ways to counter Kamui—three!
[Buzz—!]
The violet lightning slashed across Obito's mask—but the attack passed through harmlessly, leaving no trace.
Obito immediately struck back. A metal chain appeared in his hand, and as he dodged Gen's attack, he whipped it toward him.
But Obito frowned slightly.
Kitagawa Gen had clearly anticipated the move. He lowered his body just in time, slipping under the swinging chain.
The first strike missed—and even Obito was a little surprised. Still, his hands didn't stop moving.
Kitagawa Gen flashed again, swiftly dodging Uchiha Obito's attack while pulling back to create some distance. At the same time, he began forming hand seals with both hands.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball erupted from his mouth, surging toward Uchiha Obito. But seeing this, Obito merely shook his head in disdain.
"So that useless Kakashi taught you this? It's completely pointless."
He didn't even bother to dodge. With a subtle movement of his Sharingan, several giant shuriken shot through the air at incredible speed, flying straight toward Kitagawa Gen.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
Gen raised an eyebrow slightly. He stopped holding back—in the blink of an eye, his seals were complete.
The ground trembled, and a massive wall of earth rose up, solidly blocking the incoming shuriken.
"Quick hand seals, huh."
Obito let out a cold snort, his tone dismissive.
"But if your plan is to draw attention this way, you'd better make sure you can buy enough time."
"…Actually, that's more than enough."
As the Earth-Style Wall crumbled, Kitagawa Gen's figure reappeared. He stared at Obito in the distance and deliberately spoke up.
"I can tell your condition—this isn't an illusion or a clone. You've used some special technique that lets you avoid my attacks."
"And just now, those shuriken… they appeared out of nowhere. I've heard that the Fourth Hokage had a space-time ninjutsu. Yours is probably something similar, isn't it?"
"Yes."
Obito nodded slightly—and the next instant, he vanished again. His body emerged from underground, charging straight at Gen.
"But so what if you know? Can you even hold out? Don't you know? Konoha shinobi are always late!"
[Whoosh—!]
The iron chain lashed out in a wide arc. But Gen was already airborne, leaping up, and hurled several more kunai at Obito.
Unfortunately, Obito didn't seem to be in his physical form at all—the kunai passed straight through his body.
"So boring. Against absolute power, no matter how much you resist, it's nothing but futile struggle."
Obito closed in swiftly. Just as his iron chain was about to strike Gen again, he suddenly felt something off.
[Zzzzt—!]
In that instant, Gen's body transformed into a surging current of violet lightning. The electric surge caused Obito's brow to furrow.
"A Lightning Clone? From when he cast Earth-Style Wall?"
The Sharingan's insight was beyond question—but some clones could be unbelievably deceptive. If that weren't the case, he wouldn't be tricked by Kakashi's Lightning Clone in the future, either.
Feeling the fierce lightning surging up his chain, Obito's gaze sharpened—because at almost the same moment, countless kunai came flying at him from behind!
"Tch… this damn brat…"
Obito let out a cold grunt. He leapt backward, his eyes narrowing as the space around him began to distort.
He had wanted to teleport himself away quickly—but earlier, he had actually gone on the offensive. That meant his body was in its physical state.
And with only one Mangekyō Sharingan, teleporting himself took longer than teleporting other objects.
Right now, the priority was to first teleport all the kunai away!
Space twisted violently—and in an instant, all the incoming kunai vanished without a trace.
But not far away, Gen had already distanced himself. Seeing this scene unfold, a smile crept onto his face.
This… this was the exact moment he had been waiting for.