CHAPTER 6 : Shadows Beneath the Leaves
The autumn sun was bright but cool, spilling golden over the Academy training field. Fallen leaves crunched under the feet of the gathered students as Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei stood at the front, clipboards in hand. Wooden practice dummies were lined up along one side; on the other, a stack of padded mats waited for sparring practice.
"Alright, everyone, form two lines!" Iruka called out. "We're starting with basic Taijutsu drills. Remember — proper stance, guard up, and control. No one is here to get hurt."
The students shuffled into place, their chatter fading into the crisp air.
Naruto stood in the left line, rocking on his heels, his bright blue eyes locked on the wooden dummy ahead of him. Across from him, Sasuke adjusted his footing with quiet precision, glancing only briefly at his opponent before settling into stance.
"Begin!" Mizuki called.
Naruto launched forward, fists snapping out in rapid bursts. His strikes were fast — faster than most of the class — but his balance wavered between blows, forcing him to hop to keep from tipping forward.
Sasuke's turn was next, and his form was textbook. Each strike landed solidly with minimal movement wasted, drawing a quiet nod of approval from Mizuki.
Naruto frowned as he stepped back into line, muttering under his breath. "Bet I hit harder though…"
After the drills, Iruka gestured for the class to follow him toward a grassy clearing near the trees. "Alright," he said once they'd gathered in a loose circle. "We're moving on to chakra control exercises. This is the leaf-sticking technique — a foundation for all sorts of future skills."
He pulled a leaf from a nearby branch and set it gently against his forehead. "Channel your chakra to a single point, keep it steady, and maintain it without crushing the leaf or letting it fall.
Mizuki-sensei called out, clapping his hands to get the class's attention. "Everyone grab a leaf from the pile. Your goal is to channel your chakra just right so it sticks to your forehead without falling."
The pile of broad green leaves rustled as the students grabbed their pieces. Naruto picked one and slapped it onto his forehead with a grin. Easy.
It blasted off immediately.
"Pfft—" Kiba snorted from the next mat over. "Nice try, Naruto."
Naruto scowled and stuck it back on, this time squeezing his eyes shut and forcing chakra forward. The leaf trembled, then shot off his head like it had been launched.
Sakura giggled from across the circle. "You're using too much chakra."
"Am not!" Naruto shot back, though even he could tell he'd overdone it. He tried again. And again. Every attempt either had the leaf sliding away instantly or blasting off into the grass.
Nearby, Hinata was sitting perfectly still, her leaf unmoving as if glued in place. She caught Naruto looking and gave him a small, encouraging smile.
"You're… pushing too much," she said softly. "Try to… feel the leaf first, then add only enough to hold it there."
Naruto grinned at her. "Thanks, Hinata! I'll—"
Plop. The leaf fell off mid-sentence.
By the time Mizuki called for them to wrap up, Naruto was red-faced from trying, hair full of stray leaves. Sasuke had his balanced perfectly after only two tries. Shino's had been steady from the beginning. Even Kiba had managed to get his to stay for more than a few seconds.
Naruto kicked at the dirt on his way home. This is stupid. the dumb leaf won't stay on my forehead
That frustration still clung to him when he pushed open the door to the Namikaze household.
"You're back early," Minato called from the living room, glancing up from a set of scrolls.
Kushina emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands. "You look like you fought a tree and lost, sochi."
Naruto dropped his bag with a thud and flopped onto the floor cushions. "It's that stupid leaf-sticking thing. I can't do it. Every time I try, the leaf goes flying like it's on a rocket."
Kushina set her knife down, leaning her elbows on the counter. "Too much chakra output?"
"Iruka-sensei said that," Naruto muttered. "But I was trying to make it less! I just… I dunno, it's like the second I push a little, it blasts off."
Footsteps sounded from the hallway, and Minato appeared, scroll in one hand. He glanced between Kushina and Naruto, then sat down opposite his son. "Show me."
Naruto pulled a leaf from the bunch Kushina kept in a bowl on the table — she'd always said they made good garnish for noodles. He pressed it to his forehead, screwed his eyes shut, and focused.
The leaf shot straight up, smacking the ceiling before fluttering down.
Kushina snorted. "Yup. That's you, alright."
Minato tapped his chin, thinking. "Your chakra reserves are unusually high for your age, Naruto. Between your mother's heritage and…" He glanced briefly at Kushina, "…other factors, you have a lot more energy than your classmates. Fine control will be harder for you."
Naruto's brows knit together. "So I just… can't do it?"
"No," Minato said firmly. "It just means we start somewhere else."
Kushina's grin sharpened. "Tree-walking."
"Usually you lear it after mastering the leaf sticking exercises ," Minato agreed. "because tree-walking forces you to adjust your chakra output more dynamically. If you can master that, the leaf exercise will be easier."
A half hour later, they were at the training ground behind the house. The tall trees swayed slightly in the evening breeze, their trunks bathed in the last streaks of sunset.
Kushina demonstrated first, stepping up to a tree and walking vertically until she was several feet off the ground, then backflipping down with a satisfied hum. "You keep your chakra output steady enough to stick, but adjust for each step. Too much, and you'll blast the bark away. Too little, and you'll fall."
Naruto stepped up to the tree, placed his foot against the trunk, and tried to push chakra into it. The result was a sharp crack as a chunk of bark splintered under his foot, sending him tumbling backward into the grass.
Kushina laughed. Minato crouched to offer Naruto a hand. "Good first try. Now again — smaller steps, smaller bursts."
For the next hour, Naruto alternated between sticking for one or two steps and blasting himself off the tree entirely. His shirt was streaked with dirt, but his grin only grew wider.
"I'm gonna get it," he said breathlessly after one run. "And then I'll beat Sasuke at everything."
Kushina tousled his hair. "One step at a time, sochi-chan."
Minato smiled faintly, but his gaze lingered on the treeline for a moment longer than usual, thoughts clearly drifting elsewhere.
The meeting room of the Hokage Tower was quiet except for the low hum of chakra coming from the layered security seals woven into the walls. Minato sat at the head of the table, fingers steepled, the faint light of late afternoon casting long shadows across the floor.
Around him sat Fugaku Uchiha, Hiashi Hyūga, Shikaku Nara, and Inoichi Yamanaka. The air was heavy — not with open hostility, but the wary weight of leaders trying to read each other before speaking.
Fugaku broke the silence first.
"These whispers… I've heard them in the market streets and among my patrols. Claims that the Uchiha are planning to… overthrow the Hokage."
His eyes were sharp, but Minato could tell the anger was not aimed at him — it was at the fact that the rumors existed at all.
Shikaku gave a slow, measured nod. "Same on my end. It's always vague — no source, just 'a friend of a friend' heard it. Classic disinformation tactic. You don't need to prove it's true, just keep it in the air long enough for people to start wondering."
Inoichi leaned forward. "And whoever's spreading this is smart. They aren't letting it trace back to them. It's layered — low-ranking shinobi hear it from merchants, merchants hear it from 'travelers,' travelers don't exist when you try to follow the trail."
Minato's voice was calm, but the edge beneath it was unmistakable.
"This isn't random gossip. Someone is planting it deliberately. And I think we all know who benefits from sowing distrust between the Hokage and one of the strongest clans in the village."
Fugaku's jaw tightened. "Danzo."
Hiashi exhaled slowly. "Root's been quiet since the war ended, but quiet for Danzo doesn't mean inactive. He thrives in shadows."
Minato rose from his seat, walking to the window. Below, the rooftops of Konoha spread out in a patchwork of slate and tile, the faint hum of the barrier seals in the air.
"I've tolerated his… methods in the past because we were at war. I don't have that excuse anymore. If Root is moving without orders, it's a threat to every clan here."
Fugaku leaned back, studying him. "What do you propose?"
"I want to know where these rumors started and how far they've spread. Shikaku — discreetly use your network. Fugaku — I want the Uchiha to stay visible. Not defensive, not aggressive. Just present. If Danzo's trying to paint you as a threat, we're going to show the opposite."
Inoichi's eyes narrowed. "And when we find proof?"
Minato's gaze was steady. "Then we'll cut out the root before it spreads further."
The room was silent for a moment. Then Fugaku gave a short nod. "The Uchiha will cooperate fully."
Hiashi followed. "The Hyūga will do the same."
One by one, they agreed — the quiet kind of agreement that meant when the time came, there would be no hesitation.
As they stood to leave, Shikaku paused at the door.
"You know if this is Danzo, he won't stop with words. He'll make his move when he's cornered."
Minato didn't look away from the window. "Then we'll make sure he doesn't get the chance."
The forest outside Konoha was quiet, save for the wind whispering through late autumn leaves.
Kakashi moved silently along the branch line, one gloved hand resting on the hilt of a kunai. The mission scroll had been vague — investigate missing ANBU operative in the western perimeter sector. Vague missions usually meant trouble.
He'd already found signs: broken twigs at shin-level, a smudge of chakra on the bark from recent wall-walking, faint but fresh. The tracks were deliberate — someone trying to hide their passage, but not quite perfect.
He was halfway through recalculating their likely direction when movement flickered at the edge of his vision.
A lone figure moved through the undergrowth below. Small. Fast. Masked.
The porcelain mask was wrong. Not Konoha ANBU standard — no animal motif, just plain white with a single vertical slit.
Root.
Kakashi stilled, letting the figure pass beneath him. A second later, the boy's hand flicked outward and roots — actual living wood — burst from the ground to pin a struggling man against a tree.
Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. Wood Release? That was impossible.
The boy stepped forward, kunai drawn, the blade gleaming with poison lacquer. The bound man — older, wearing the flak vest of a retired sensor-nin — was shouting protests, but the boy didn't react.
Kakashi dropped from the branch. He landed between them, a hand on the kunai's hilt before it could fall.
"That's enough," he said.
The boy looked up sharply. Beneath the mask, Kakashi could feel the cold, flat stare drilled into him — the kind of look Danzo trained into his operatives. "This is a sanctioned mission," the boy said evenly. "Stand down."
"Funny," Kakashi replied, not moving his hand. "The Hokage's desk doesn't have this mission on record. And I justcame from it."
The boy didn't answer. Instead, he pulled back sharply, Wood Release vines rising to push Kakashi away. Kakashi cut through them with a single slash.
"Name," Kakashi demanded.
Silence. The boy's stance shifted — attack-ready.
Two more Root operatives dropped into the clearing, their movements sharp and predatory. One spoke, voice muffled behind his mask. "Kinoe. Fall back."
Kinoe — so that's his name — hesitated, clearly torn between orders and the kunai still hovering in Kakashi's grip.
Kakashi's patience ended. In one smooth movement, he struck the nearest operative in the throat with the blunt end of his kunai, kicked the other's legs out, and knocked Kinoe flat with a lightning-fast chop to the side of the neck. The boy went limp.
When the other two operatives recovered, Kakashi was already gone — Kinoe slung over his shoulder, body flicker carrying them both through the treeline.
By the time they reached Konoha's walls, the ANBU guards at the gate barely had time to register him before he was sprinting for the Hokage Tower.
Inside the Hokage's Office
Minato looked up from a sealed report as Kakashi entered without knocking, the unconscious boy at his feet.
"Explain," Minato said quietly.
Kakashi set Kinoe down and straightened. "Found him using Wood Release to try and execute a retired Konoha sensor-nin. Wore a Root mask. He's young, but trained — and not on any active mission roster."
Minato's gaze sharpened. "Wood Release…?"
Kakashi nodded. "I thought it was extinct too. But this one…" He tapped Kinoe's mask. "…is one of Danzo's."
For a long moment, Minato said nothing. Then he stood, sealing the office doors with a quick pattern of hand signs. "We're going to find out exactly what he's doing — and what Danzo thinks he's building."
The Hokage's office was quiet, the pale glow of the evening sky spilling in through the wide window. Minato sat at his desk, going over reports from the clan heads, but his mind kept drifting back to the odd encounter earlier with the quiet, dark-haired ANBU operative the others had called Kinoe
There had been something in the boy's eyes — not fear exactly, but a blankness. As if part of him wasn't allowed to react.
Minato's fingers drummed once on the desk. Then he stood and crossed the room to where the ANBU mask and gloves the boy had set aside earlier were resting on a side table. There, just under the seam of the glove, he'd caught a flicker of something before — faint, but familiar to him.
Chakra residue.
He drew a small detection tag from the desk drawer, pressing it lightly against the back of Tenzo's wrist. The paper flared with a faint red glow, outlining a thin spiral etched into the skin — not ink, but a complex, invisible seal. A suppression array… no, more than that. It was designed to bind memory and loyalty, locking them away from conscious thought unless forcibly removed.
Minato's expression hardened.
He called softly, "Kushina."
She appeared in the doorway moments later, wiping her hands on a towel. "You found something?"
He nodded toward Tenzo's arm. "Root sealwork. Advanced — they've masked it under multiple layers, but the core function is clear. It keeps him from speaking certain truths, probably under pain of neural backlash."
Kushina's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Danzo."
"Danzo," Minato confirmed. "I can dismantle some of the surface layers, but if I force it too quickly, the feedback might injure him. I'll need you to help me unravel it cleanly."
Kushina stepped closer, already pulling a sealing brush from her pouch. "Alright, we'll do it together. You anchor the chakra pathways, I'll destabilize the key nodes. On my count."
The two worked in perfect tandem — Minato weaving fine threads of chakra into the seal's framework, Kushina sliding the brush in precise arcs to disrupt the bind points. Each stroke made the hidden lines glow faintly before unraveling into harmless motes.
It took nearly twenty minutes before the central lock loosened with a sharp, almost audible snap. Tenzo swayed where he sat, one hand coming up to his temple.
Minato crouched in front of him. "You're alright. Just breathe."
The boy's eyes flickered, confusion and dawning awareness chasing away the earlier blankness.
"Inoichi," Minato called, and the Yamanaka clan head stepped in from the adjacent room where he'd been waiting.
"Are we clear to proceed?" Inoichi asked, gaze flicking to the now-fading seal marks.
Minato nodded. "No more compulsion. He can speak freely now."
Inoichi knelt in front of Tenzo, placing two fingers gently against his temple. "I'm just going to help you bring the memories to the surface."
Kinoe's voice was halting at first, but once the mental locks crumbled, the words began to spill. He spoke of recruitment as a child, of shadow missions without oversight, of orders given in Danzo's name that bypassed every chain of command. He described hidden compounds beneath Konoha's abandoned sectors, training halls, holding cells, and weapons caches.
Minato's jaw tightened with every word. By the time Tenzo fell silent, the air in the office felt heavier.
"That's enough," Minato said quietly. "You've done more than enough."
Tenzo looked up at him, hesitant. "What will you do now?"
Minato's expression left no room for doubt. "We take Root out — completely. No more shadows in this village that answer to anyone but the Hokage."
Kushina's hand settled on his shoulder, her tone dark but steady. "Then we'll do it right. One strike. No survivors to scatter and rebuild."
Inoichi's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Then we'll need to map every site, every operative, and hit them all at once."
Minato gave a short nod. "Anbu Get Shikaku, Fugaku, Hiashi discretely. This just became a priority mission for every clan in the village."
The preparations for war against Konoha's own shadows had begun.