Deep underground, the air was so cold it felt like water could be wrung from it.
Danzo Shimura, surrounded by a group of his loyal subordinates, stumbled back into the innermost secret chamber of "Root." The wound on his left shoulder was still seeping blood; it wasn't a normal Ninjutsu injury. The muscle tissue around the wound was charred, as if torn by high-speed rotation, and intense pain repeatedly assailed his taut nerves.
"Seal all exits! Activate the highest-level defensive barrier!" Danzo's voice was as sinister as the cold wind in a crypt. He leaned back in a stone chair, his face ashen.
A loyal medical Ninja immediately stepped forward, his hands glowing with a green Chakra aura, and began to treat his wound. The Ninja's movements were professional; he first cleaned out the debris from the wound, then used Chakra-fine needles to stitch the torn blood vessels and muscles.
In the secret chamber, there was only the faint "sizzling" sound of medical Ninjutsu and Danzo's heavy breathing.
Just as the medical Ninja was focused on the final bandaging, Danzo's eyes suddenly fixed on him.
"Sato Kazuma." Danzo spoke abruptly, his voice not loud, but it made the medical Ninja's hand visibly tremble.
"If I were to defect from Konoha today, would you still follow me?"
This question, like an ice-cold blade, unexpectedly pierced everyone's heart.
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Sato Kazuma's forehead, and the Chakra light in his hands momentarily wavered because of it. This was a fatal question, a question with no right answer. Follow a rogue Ninja? That would mean betraying the Village, betraying everything he had been taught since childhood. Not follow? Then right now… His lips moved, and a flicker of undisguised hesitation passed through his eyes.
It was this fatal hesitation.
"My loyalty belongs only to you, Lord Danzo, not to that already rotten Konoha!"
A voice, fervent to the point of distortion, exploded before Sato Kazuma could speak.
Zero had, at some unknown point, taken a step forward and heavily knelt on one knee before Danzo, his head bowed low. His tone was filled with unreserved, transcendent adoration and devotion to Danzo personally. This declaration, in the dead silence of the secret chamber, was perfect. It not only answered Danzo's question but also pointed out the only "correct answer" for all the wavering people present.
A satisfied, cold arc finally appeared at the corner of Danzo's mouth.
He raised his uninjured right hand and pulled out a most ordinary kunai from his Ninja tool pouch.
The next second, that kunai, at an extremely fast and utterly decisive angle, plunged deep into the neck of the still-hesitant Sato Kazuma.
"Uh…"
Sato Kazuma's eyes widened abruptly. He couldn't even let out a complete scream, only a gurgling sound like air leaking from his throat, before he fell straight backward, warm blood splattering Zero.
Danzo used the death of this subordinate as the ultimate explanation of the word "loyalty."
The air in the secret chamber instantly dropped to freezing point.
"Thump! Thump!"
All the remaining subordinates, including several Ninja who had been hesitating moments ago, were now silent as cicadas, scrambling to kneel on the ground, pressing their heads firmly against the cold stone slab.
"We swear to follow Lord Danzo to our deaths!"
Uniform declarations of loyalty echoed in the secret chamber.
Danzo watched all of this expressionlessly, as if he had merely crushed an annoying insect. He waved his hand, dismissing everyone, leaving only Zero.
"Zero, rise."
Danzo's tone, uncharacteristically, showed a hint of gentleness, even carrying a few expectations of an elder towards a junior.
"These past years, you have sacrificed a lot for 'Root,' and I have seen it all." He stood up from the stone chair, walked to Zero, and patted his blood-stained shoulder, "Once this matter is concluded, I will personally arrange for your 'protected' family to be returned to you, safe and sound. At that time, you can leave 'Root' and live the life you wish."
These words, for any Ninja bound by the darkness of "Root," were a longed-for blessing.
Zero's body began to tremble slightly from "ecstasy." He suddenly looked up, and two lines of clear tears streamed down his face, which was usually as cold as a mask.
"Lord Danzo…" His voice choked, filled with disbelieving excitement, "I…"
"No need to say more." Danzo interrupted him, a knowing smile appearing on his face, "Now, I have an incredibly important mission to entrust to you."
He placed an ancient-looking key in Zero's hand.
"Go to the 'Forbidden' secret chamber on the lowest level of the archives, and destroy all experimental data concerning my cooperation with Orochimaru, and… all scrolls about 'that arm.' Leave not a single one."
Of course, Danzo had already planned Zero's subsequent script in his mind. Once he completed the mission, a clean and swift "accident" would be arranged on his way to "visit his family" with a joyful heart. The best fate for a tool that knew too many secrets was to disappear completely.
"Yes!" Zero showed an excitement close to tears of joy. He trembled as he took the key, as if receiving the freedom and hope of his latter half of life. He kowtowed heavily, his forehead hitting the hard stone slab with a dull "thud."
"I swear, I will dedicate everything to Lord Danzo!"
With that, he abruptly stood up, turned, and quickly left. His resolute back was filled with the tragic sense of completing a final mission.
But the moment the shadows completely obscured his face, the feigned tears in his eyes had already transformed into an unruffled, icy killing intent.
Inside the secret chamber, Danzo sat back in his stone chair and began to arrange specific escape routes and plans for resurgence with his remaining trusted subordinates.
"…We will leave through emergency passage number three, which leads directly to the Land of Fire border. I have already contacted my old subordinates in the Land of Rice, and they will meet us."
"Don't worry about funds; I still have a sum saved in the Land of Grass…"
He was halfway through his sentence when the trusted subordinate with special sensory abilities suddenly frowned.
"Lord Danzo…" His voice was filled with unease and fear, "Zero… he didn't go to the archives!"
Danzo's tone also became agitated: "Then where is he?"
"His… his Chakra is just outside this secret chamber!" The sensory Ninja was almost in tears, "His Chakra is flowing at a high speed in a way… a way I've never seen before! It's like he's setting up a… a super-large barrier!"
"Setting up a barrier?" Danzo was initially stunned for a moment, then a hint of approval rose in his heart.
It seems this Zero fellow is not only quick to destroy the data but also very proactive, knowing to set up a defensive barrier outside to protect himself. Not bad, he's good material, what a pity.
However, the next second, a terrifying thought, like a black lightning bolt, split his mind without warning!
Who was supervising Naruto?
It was Zero!
Who reported to him that Naruto was just a strong but foolish brute, a harmless person?
It was Zero!
Who tested Naruto in the "Zero Room" and ultimately gave the "pass" conclusion, allowing him to be exempted from the curse mark and become a "free pawn" by his side?!
It was still Zero!
In an instant, all the clues connected.
From beginning to end, Zero was not his person at all, but Naruto's spy planted by his side!
"That little bastard…"
Danzo's face, due to extreme rage and belated fear, was completely twisted and deformed.
Just as he figured all this out—
"Boom—!!"
The entire secret chamber violently shook!
On the walls, floor, and ceiling, the surfaces made of hard rock suddenly revealed countless dense black incantations! These incantations, like living venomous snakes, spread, intertwined, and coiled madly at a visible speed, finally, within a few short seconds, completely closing into a perfect black cage, leaving not a single gap!
A suffocating, dead, life-extinguishing aura emanated from those incantations, enveloping the entire secret chamber.
The sensory subordinate, upon seeing those techniques, let out a desperate cry.
"This density of techniques… this sense of Chakra accumulation… he must have been preparing for at least a month! We… we can't get out!!"
Before his words finished, the secret chamber's heavy steel door, weighing several tons, silently slid open to one side with a spine-chilling metallic screech.
Zero stood quietly in the doorway.
His black combat uniform, stained with Sato Kazuma's blood, now looked like the ceremonial robe of some judge.
There was no longer any pretense on his face; no fanaticism, no excitement, not even indifference. It was a pure "nothingness," as if nothing in the world could ever make his heart waver again.
"Danzo."
He spoke, his voice not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of everyone in the secret chamber.
"To use Political Commissar's original words, the 'Root' you established has been rotten to its core from the very beginning. Today, I will perform the final 'disinfection' on it."
His gaze calmly swept over Danzo's completely twisted face.
"This is the tomb I have prepared for you—'Iron Coffin Seal'."
He paused, then slowly said in a factual, emotionless tone:
"And it is also my last report to you."
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