Chapter 60: Hunting Danzō!
Just as Inoichi Yamanaka was about to call his clan members to begin their work, two figures suddenly burst into the Yamanaka clan compound, stopping directly in front of him.
"…Root?!"
The Root ninjas' masks were highly distinctive, and Inoichi Yamanaka immediately recognized the masks with their strange patterns.
He frowned.
He grew vigilant.
"Why has Root suddenly come uninvited?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked expressionlessly. He didn't want to be associated with Root, as he was well aware of Danzō's ambition for the Hokage position.
Danzō's desire to become Hokage was as much an open secret as the Uchiha clan's desire for a coup; it was something many people could guess.
The Yamanaka clan ultimately stood with the Hokage.
They naturally felt a sense of resistance towards Danzō, who sought to usurp power.
Of course, Inoichi Yamanaka also wanted to distance himself from the Uchiha clan, who desired a coup. Unfortunately, Uchiha Ikeizumi kept having the Police Force bring corpses over daily, so even if Inoichi Yamanaka wanted to distance himself, he couldn't help but have contact with them due to the need for autopsies.
At this moment, the Root ninja standing on the left spoke in a cold tone: "Clan Head Inoichi, these eight bodies are all Root ninja. The Yamanaka clan has no right to explore the secrets within their brains."
The Root ninja standing on the right added: "You are not to touch these bodies. Our people will come to take the bodies away."
Inoichi Yamanaka's pupils contracted imperceptibly.
All eight bodies were Root ninja? Uchiha Ikeizumi had another armed conflict with Konoha Root?
"Alright."
Since Danzō was willing to clean up this mess, Inoichi Yamanaka was happy not to create trouble for himself.
...
Before long.
Indeed, more Root ninjas arrived at the Yamanaka clan compound.
And Inoichi Yamanaka noticed that the leader was none other than Shimura Danzō himself!
Danzō stood beside Inoichi Yamanaka, quietly gazing at the eight bodies covered with white cloths. As a gust of night wind gently blew past, lifting the white cloth from one of the corpses' faces, revealing a countenance that Danzō found somewhat familiar…
Danzō took a deep breath.
"U! CHI! HA! IKE! IZUMI!" The veins on the backs of his hands bulged from tightly clenched fists. Uchiha Ikeizumi's name was squeezed out from between Danzō's gritted teeth.
Inoichi Yamanaka, standing nearby, could clearly feel the immense rage bottled up within this Konoha elder.
Inoichi Yamanaka also noticed Danzō suddenly turn and glare at him.
Inoichi Yamanaka: "???"
"I haven't started examining their memories yet." He felt he was being inexplicably blamed, which also made Inoichi Yamanaka a bit annoyed, so much so that his explanation sounded quite cold.
As Inoichi Yamanaka spoke, he inadvertently glanced at Danzō's left ear, noticing that it was missing.
Danzō, in turn, gave Inoichi Yamanaka a deep look.
Once he usurped the monkey's position, every single person in the Yamanaka clan would be branded with the Tongue Sealing Curse Mark, and only then could he feel somewhat at ease with them.
They knew too much!
Of course, Danzō merely filtered these thoughts in his mind.
Watching the Root ninja he brought gradually hoist the bodies, he also walked straight out of the Yamanaka clan compound.
But just then, Danzō suddenly felt something was amiss.
"Wait!"
Danzō's brows furrowed tightly, and he immediately called out to his subordinates who were preparing to carry the bodies back to the Root base.
His sharp gaze lingered in every direction.
The Root ninjas, seeing Danzō's demeanor, also became vigilant.
Tap… tap… tap…
Faint footsteps, approaching from a distance, instantly made Danzō and his group fix their gaze on the dense, pitch-black night ahead.
The Root ninjas immediately dropped the bodies, drew the ninja blades from their waists, and clustered around Danzō.
When the owner of the footsteps gradually emerged from the dark night, and his face vaguely appeared in the moonlight, Danzō's expression instantly turned ugly.
He gritted his teeth and called out the name of the approaching figure.
"Uchiha Ikeizumi!!!"
....
"Daddy, why is it so noisy outside…?" Little Ino, wearing cute pajamas and clutching a doll, rubbed her eyes as she walked out of her bedroom with bare feet.
Inoichi Yamanaka had initially been startled by Danzō's sudden hysterical shout of "Uchiha Ikeizumi" from outside the gate.
Upon seeing his daughter awakened and coming out.
He immediately realized what was happening outside.
"Ino, hurry back to your bedroom! No, go straight and hide in the family compound's underground secret room!" Inoichi Yamanaka said sternly, "Don't come out, no matter what noises you hear!"
"…Huh?" Ino hadn't yet fully grasped what was going on.
She was then reprimanded by Inoichi Yamanaka, "Hurry up!"
Ino was startled.
Her father's stern reprimand made tears well up in her eyes, but she dared not ask more and could only rush to the underground secret room.
"Phew…"
Watching his daughter's quickly departing back, Inoichi Yamanaka breathed a partial sigh of relief while also becoming increasingly anxious, looking towards the outside of the compound.
"…What a night of troubles!" If he wasn't mistaken, Uchiha Ikeizumi must have guessed that Danzō would come to the Yamanaka clan compound with Root ninja to retrieve the bodies.
And what Uchiha Ikeizumi did was to wait outside the Yamanaka clan compound, quietly waiting for Danzō to show up!
—He was hunting Shimura Danzō!!!
Inoichi Yamanaka knew that Danzō had once had an armed conflict with Uchiha Ikeizumi.
That time, it was even the Hokage who intervened to stop the conflict between the two.
"Perhaps… in the eyes of the [Absolute Justice] that Uchiha Ikeizumi believes in, everyone in Root needs to be purged? This is bad, I need to notify the Hokage quickly."
Inoichi Yamanaka was plagued with a headache.
....
Danzō's face was as dark as stagnant water, and he felt the already healed wound on his left ear faintly throbbing again.
He remembered clearly…
It was Uchiha Ikeizumi who exposed his secret to the monkey (Hiruzen), causing him to lose several Three-Tomoe Sharingan and even forcing him to hand over some Sharingan data to the monkey.
"You inherently evil Uchiha brat! After what happened last time, you still dare to appear before this old man alone? You've gained Lava Release power and now you're arrogant, your Uchiha clan's innate arrogance truly displeases this old man!"
Killing intent was fully unleashed in Danzō's sinister eyes. As he spoke, the surrounding Root ninjas also stirred, ready for action.
Uchiha Ikeizumi's gaze met Danzō's in mid-air.
"I've been waiting for you for over two hours, 'Lord' Danzō."
Uchiha Ikeizumi's indifferent tone infuriated Danzō, making him laugh in anger.
Danzō grimly questioned, "Are you deliberately baiting this old man?"
Magma dripped from Uchiha Ikeizumi's fingertips, its orange-red glow faintly illuminating half of his face.
Uchiha Ikeizumi quietly replied, "How else could I drag a filthy rat like you out of Konoha's sewers?"
Crack—Several cracks appeared on the ground beneath Danzō's feet.
Even though he knew Hiruzen Sarutobi had warned him not to engage in any more armed conflict with Uchiha Ikeizumi.
But Danzō knew even more clearly that if he didn't kill an Uchiha with such an extreme and evil nature as Uchiha Ikeizumi…
Konoha would never have peace in the future!
And he, Danzō, wouldn't be able to sleep a wink!
"Kill him!!!"
He roared coldly.
.....
For 50 advanced chapters:
p_treon.com/Chaos_God
Thank you so much for your support and for reading