Chapter 19 – Roots in the Dark
"Some shadows do not vanish with light. They learn to move with it."
The forest was still. The moonlight filtered through the branches like veins of silver, cutting the darkness into fragile shards.Sasuke stood alone on a cliff, the wind brushing against his cloak. His eyes—one crimson, one rippled with purple—watched the forest below.
Karin's chakra still pulsed faintly in the distance, calm and rhythmic. But what had struck him recently was its depth—vast, alive, resonating like the heartbeat of something far greater. It reminded him of the tales of the bijū, the monstrous tailed beasts of old.
That power frightened him. Not because it was dangerous—but because it stirred something he didn't want to feel.
He exhaled slowly.Sakura's face flashed through his mind—the pain in her eyes the day he'd left again, her quiet hope that maybe this time, he'd stay.
And now… he was thinking of Karin.
He clenched his fist. No. Not again. I can't…
But the thought of her—the warmth of her presence, the way her laughter broke through his silence—kept pressing against the walls he had built around himself.
Somewhere deep down, he already knew: she had become more than a memory.
Far behind him, the campfire burned low. Karin was sorting through herbs, while Jūgo rested, his breathing shallow. Suigetsu floated lazily in a nearby spring, half-dissolved, muttering about how boring things had become.
Then the wind changed.
A sound—soft, almost imperceptible—rippled through the clearing.
Jūgo's eyes opened wide. "They're here…"
Before Suigetsu could react, shadows burst from the trees. Masks, sigils, blades glinting with silver light.
The Root of Ash—a hidden faction descending from the Senju, hunters who blamed Orochimaru and all his disciples for the profanation of Hashirama's legacy.
Explosions of light and smoke swallowed the camp. Karin screamed, pushing Jūgo out of the way as kunai rained down.
Suigetsu dissolved to counterattack, but one of the Senju sealed him momentarily with a tag designed to disrupt chakra flow.
"Karin Uzumaki!" one of the attackers shouted. "Descendant of the tainted bloodline! You and the Uchiha are both the same—parasites feeding on what remains of the First Hokage's gift!"
Jūgo tried to transform, but one of the Senju slammed a palm into his chest—his Curse Mark spasmed, backfiring violently. He fell, coughing blood.
Karin turned, chakra flaring. She bit her hand, ready to fight——but a paralytic seal burst beneath her feet. Her scream echoed through the night as chains of light wrapped around her body.
Then, silence.
When Sasuke turned his head—he felt it. Her chakra, fading.Like a flame snuffed out in the distance.
By the time he reached the camp, everything was ruined.The trees were split in half, the ground cracked and burned.
Suigetsu stumbled from the wreckage, carrying Jūgo on his back, barely conscious.
"Sasuke!" he shouted, his usually lazy tone gone, panic replacing it. "They took her! A group from the Senju clan—calling themselves the Root of Ash. They said you're all guilty… of what Orochimaru did with Hashirama's cells."
Sasuke's eyes darkened.He remembered Kabuto. Edo Tensei. The corpses walking again under false life. All of it born from Orochimaru's hunger.
"All of this," Suigetsu continued, "they said they'd cleanse the world of what was made from those cells—Orochimaru, Kabuto… and anyone who worked with them. That means you. Me. Her."
He knelt, trying to stabilize Jūgo."You have to wait," he said quickly. "If you go now, you'll walk straight into a trap. Let me take care of Jūgo—he needs medical ninjutsu. You're the only one who can do it, Sasuke."
But Sasuke didn't answer.
He was staring into the darkness, where her chakra had vanished.His hand trembled—not from fear, but from something far more dangerous.
Rage.
"She's alive," he whispered.Suigetsu's eyes widened. "Sasuke, listen to me—"
But Sasuke was already gone.
The leaves scattered where he'd stood.Only the faint echo of his voice remained, low and cold, carried by the wind:
"If they've touched her… they've already sealed their fate."
And far in the distance, under the pale moonlight, the forest seemed to shiver—as if it, too, felt the storm that was coming.