Yakushi Nono was once a shinobi of Root. She had only recently severed ties.
In fact, she was the only person to ever leave Root while Danzō Shimura was still alive—and live.
From the perspective of Danzō and his lieutenant, Aburame Ryoma, letting someone like Yakushi Nono walk free wasn't necessarily a disgrace… but it was undeniably a loss.
Because a spy like Nono? You couldn't create two of her in a generation. Even Konoha's elite lacked her caliber. She was the perfect infiltration agent.
"I'm sure you're already aware, Lord Ryoma," Tsukasa Kaede said calmly, "but someone like me—an orphan born of war, lacking talent—has no choice but to fight for every second. My health has always been fragile. I've only lived this long thanks to others' help. I don't want to be a burden. I'll repay this village with all I've got."
Ryoma stared through his dark glasses.
But Kaede wasn't really there in his mind's eye.
What Ryoma saw instead was a web of motivations, a haze of spycraft, and most of all—Nono's influence. As Danzō's right hand, Ryoma had long since learned to instinctively interpret everything from the shadowed side of the coin.
To him, Kaede was insignificant—a discarded defect he himself had once rejected. Just a genin who happened to learn Dead Soul Jutsu. Nothing more.
He didn't care what Kaede was. He cared what Kaede was connected to.
Nono.
As he skimmed through Kaede's record, he stamped the boy with a series of silent labels:
Low potential (shortened lifespan)
Antisocial (actually germophobic)
Overattached to teammates (likely to repurpose comrades as battlefield resources)
And now: Nono-adjacent (with a question mark)
"You've formed bonds with the village. Good," Ryoma said coldly. "But it's not enough. If you want to repay Konoha's kindness, you'll need to do more. As for your use of that controversial jutsu under Nono's guidance… I won't pursue it."
Then his tone dropped colder.
"But I want you to report to me regularly. Any and all intel about Yakushi Nono."
Kaede's voice was low and sharp. "Why would I agree to that? Is that truly an order from the Medical Corps' deputy commander?"
"You don't have to accept," Ryoma replied, voice flat. "But if you refuse, I'll immediately terminate the village's support for war orphans. And I'll draft every last one of your fellow orphans—those who've completed training—into front-line deployment."
His words were stone.
Even in peacetime, Konoha's supply lines were thin. Building a full medical division was already a resource strain. Ryoma had full authority to cut funding for orphan programs. No one would stop him.
He watched Kaede's face shift, eyes narrowing in faint satisfaction.
Nono had the same look once.
He could manipulate that type—by twisting ideals into levers.
"If you refuse," Ryoma added, "your precious few companions will face greater risks. I doubt you want that."
Kaede's voice was quiet, bitter. "You're a deputy commander. And you say this? Do our comrades mean nothing to you?"
"Mission comes first," Ryoma said without blinking. "Clearly, the orphanage's training methods need reform. Too soft. Shinobi are weapons. That's all. Anything else is sentimentality."
There was no mask to Ryoma's cruelty. In his eyes, every Konoha shinobi could be discarded in wartime. War orphans even more so—thinking tools to be used up and replaced.
This ideology—the antithesis of Naruto's future village—is what would eventually lead to Hatake Sakumo's disgrace, and his suicide, when mission failure to save a comrade branded him as a pariah.
Later, Tsukasa Kaede walked out of the medical office, his expression heavy.
But inside?
He was laughing.
"So Ryoma thinks I'm like Nono? He thinks I inherited something from her?" Kaede mused.
The truth?
He hadn't. Not the real version, anyway.
He'd never learned true Dead Soul Jutsu from Nono. She hadn't even trained him directly—she'd only run the orphanage for half a year before Kaede was dispatched to active duty.
Historically, Danzō would later drag Ryoma and Orochimaru to confront Nono, trying to force her back into Root's fold by threatening Kabuto's life. The usual Root technique: weaponize what people already deserve, make promises with a knife behind the back.
Ryoma had once held off on cutting the orphanage's budget as a "favor." It was just classic Root—extort by pretending to be generous, while grinding down cost.
Eventually, Nono would die on a mission for Root—chewed up and discarded like every other weapon Danzō ever touched.
Nobody left Root alive.
That was the message.
Now Ryoma wanted to control Nono by exploiting Kaede.
"He can't possibly believe I'm the key," Kaede thought. "Root never bets everything on one pawn. They'll throw every piece at Nono when the time comes."
And none of that had anything to do with him.
The one who had shown Kaede real kindness had been the previous orphanage matron—long dead on the battlefield. Nono had only taken over after.
"But credit where it's due," Kaede admitted. "Ryoma's at least willing to spend money when needed."
His new posting?
Corpse Processing.
No longer just transporting corpses. Now, Kaede would oversee final processing.
It was a clear sign. Ryoma was feeding him low-value bodies to experiment on. A rare window—practice, refine, test.
For that alone, Kaede felt genuine respect.
Ryoma might use threats—but at least he paid in kind. A proper Root man: ruthless, pragmatic, and efficient. That made him dangerous, yes, but also dependable in his own twisted way.
In a few years, Uchiha Sasuke would kill Danzō, and Root would be dissolved. Ryoma would vanish with it.
Executed in secret, maybe.
Or killed in retaliation for the countless dirty deeds he'd committed in Danzō's name.
Either way—his time was running out.
"And so is mine," Kaede thought.
He would use this brief lull, this fleeting protection, to get stronger.
Once he no longer produced value?
He'd be discarded like all the rest.
Kaede returned to his crumbling little home and collapsed into rest, letting his battered body recover.
His actions—killing a Mist chūnin, saving three allies—had made no ripple in the village.
No promotions.
No commendations.
No summons.
Just Ryoma.
Because in Konoha's eyes, he was still just a tool with no name.
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300 Stones in this story = 1 Bonus chapter in every fanfic currently translated