Chapter 432: Sasuke
In the days after Haruno Sakura left, although it seemed like something was missing, life had to go on.
Just like in the early morning in Konoha, without Haruno Sakura running in the morning, Sasuke and Hinata would still wake up on time and do morning exercises; occasionally, the two dojutsu experts would bump into each other, exchange a plain greeting, run a few laps together, or even have a couple of sparring sessions.
Recently, the two of them in the Anbu had been extremely busy.
This was because after Haruno Sakura caused a huge commotion at the meeting, Danzo completely fell from power, Root was taken over by Tsunade, and the Anbu began the massive task of screening Root ninja. Under the pressure of heavy tasks, Sasuke and Hinata were busy almost every day, working from dawn to dusk, wishing they could make their home in the Anbu building and work overtime until dawn every day.
At this time, the culprit who caused all this, the Anbu ninja Haruno Sakura, had run to the other side of the world, Shikkotsu Forest, to cultivate Senjutsu carefree, completely disregarding the huge workload she created for her colleagues.
—Especially Sasuke and Kakashi.
These two, the only two Konoha ninja possessing Sharingan, played an extremely important role in this screening mission: because apart from the Yamanaka clan's spiritual secret techniques, Sharingan genjutsu was the best means to interrogate Root ninja.
Root ninja were almost all placed under restrictions and brainwashed by Danzo, keeping their mouths shut about Root matters. They were as smelly and hard as rocks in a latrine pit. Ordinary interrogation methods really couldn't pry their mouths open. Too drastic methods were not suitable for them, after all, not every Root ninja was as guilty as Danzo; some could even be called heroes who had eliminated threats for Konoha. If it weren't for the three-tomoe Sharingan showing its power, it would take a lot of effort to make these people talk.
—Conversely, Sasuke also witnessed many frenzied things Root had done.
Sometimes he even heard remarks about the Uchiha from their mouths.
"Lord Danzo never trusted the Uchiha clan from the beginning, especially after the Nine-Tails incident, our Root has been secretly monitoring the Uchiha..."
"Uchiha are born rebellious; it has been like this since Madara Uchiha defected from Konoha..."
"Even if Itachi Uchiha didn't act, the Uchiha clan would have been wiped out by Root..."
Powerful Sharingan genjutsu could make even the most stubborn Root ninja spill their hearts out. In the mouths of these ninja, the Uchiha clan seemed to have become a family organization even uglier and more evil than Root; the first time Sasuke heard such words, he trembled all over with anger and almost punched the interrogated person.
But hearing it too much, he became numb and mentally and physically exhausted.
He even began to doubt himself.
"The Uchiha clan..."
"What exactly is it?"
Family, parents, brother, village... many concepts that were once clear became blurred in Sasuke's mind.
The more he thought, the more confused he became, and the more mentally exhausted he felt.
"Sasuke! What are you thinking about?"
Kakashi's appearance interrupted Sasuke's wandering thoughts.
The white-haired young man's hand suddenly patted Sasuke's shoulder. The latter shuddered and returned to the real world from his fruitless thinking—
He was sitting in the Anbu's internal cafeteria, unconsciously stirring the tomato soup in his lunch box with a spoon. Because he was thinking too deeply, the tomato soup and bonito rice balls had long gone cold.
Sasuke sighed, put down the spoon. The tray obviously contained his favorite food, yet he felt it was tasteless and had no appetite at all, so he simply pushed the tray away.
"Not thinking about anything..." The boy rubbed his temples, his tone unable to hide his fatigue.
Kakashi looked at the preoccupied Sasuke, wanting to say something but stopped.
"What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei?"
The boy picked up the tray and walked towards the leftover disposal area.
"Is there a problem with that Sai interrogated last time? He is relatively young and hasn't been brainwashed as much, so there shouldn't be any problems..."
He asked while pouring out the untouched lunch.
"No, it has nothing to do with him, Sasuke."
Kakashi looked at the heavy dark circles under Sasuke's eyes, hesitated for a moment, but still sighed: "There is an important mission that requires you to execute..."
"Another mission?" Sasuke said calmly, "Alright, I understand."
The plain answer made Kakashi even more ashamed. He hesitated and advised: "If you are too tired, forget it. It doesn't matter if I find someone else. Don't push yourself too hard!"
"It doesn't matter, I can hold on." Sasuke forced a smile and rejected Kakashi's kindness.
He followed Kakashi away—strangely, the destination was not the Anbu interrogation room, but an operating room in Konoha Hospital.
Anbu Captain Hotaru Hyuga, Hinata, Haku, and a few unknown medical ninja had been waiting there for a long time.
"Operating room?" Sasuke frowned slightly, wondering why this mission was to be carried out in an operating room, when he saw a person lying on the floor out of the corner of his eye.
An old man restricted by powerful sealing bans, unable to move at all.
"Danzo Shimura..."
These words jumped out coldly from between Sasuke's lips and teeth.
He didn't like this person in the first place. After knowing a lot of things during this period, Sasuke hated him even more.
"That's right... the mission this time is to perform surgery on Danzo Shimura and remove the superfluous things from his body." Kakashi patted his shoulder and said lightly.
"Superfluous things?"
Sasuke was stunned.
"Let's stop the chatting here." Hotaru Hyuga walked over, interrupted their conversation, and said seriously, "I am the captain of this mission, Hotaru Hyuga. Let me introduce everyone's tasks in this surgery—"
"Haku and her medical team are responsible for all matters of the surgery."
"We will lift the ban during the surgery. At that time, Danzo might make a move. Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha, you two are responsible for staring at Danzo and stopping all his actions. If there are any problems, report to me immediately!"
"I am responsible for observing the chakra flow of you two. Once there is an abnormality, I will intervene in the surgery immediately. If I can't handle it, I will issue a warning to Hinata."
"Hinata, you stand outside the operating room, close the door, and don't come in again. You only need to stare at my chakra flow. If I issue an alarm or if you find my chakra flow abnormal, turn around and leave immediately, ignore us, and report the situation directly to Tsunade-sama! Unless my chakra flow is normal and I open the door personally, no one is allowed to open the door!"
"Understood?"
Hotaru Hyuga's arrangement for the mission was unusually cautious.
Cautious to the point of making a mountain out of a molehill.
Sasuke and Hinata looked at each other, both somewhat confused about Hotaru Hyuga. But since she gave the order, they could only do as told.
At this time, Danzo, who was lying on the floor and bound like a dumpling, suddenly sneered, almost startling everyone who thought he was in a coma.
"Is it Hotaru Hyuga?" The old man's voice was hoarser than ever, rough like sandpaper rubbing against a table.
Hotaru Hyuga pursed her lips, looking at Danzo coldly, not answering.
Danzo didn't mind her silence, struggled to sit up, and continued: "And Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, Haku Minazuki... and that little girl is Hinata Hyuga, right? I recognize you!"
"Hehe, Hotaru Hyuga, to deal with an old man like me who has completely failed, you really put up a big formation!" The corner of the mouth under Danzo's eye patch pulled up into a cold smile, "I know what you are afraid of... unfortunately, you guessed wrong, I don't have that thing in my hand!"
"Besides, you dragged Sasuke Uchiha into this mission, aren't you afraid he will be stimulated?" The old man continued to talk to himself, "Don't blame this old man for not reminding you, Uchiha people are not trustworthy!"
"Shut up, old thing!"
Hotaru Hyuga shouted coldly, interrupting Danzo's words.
She walked over, leaned close to the old man's ear, and said lightly, almost whispering: "Pretending to be a good person now, do you think it's still in time? Let me tell you the truth, you won't have a chance to make a comeback..."
"Just wait for death honestly, old fool!"
Danzo's face remained as unmoved as a rock. The exposed eye looked at the woman coldly and said: "Not listening to my advice, you will regret it!"
The Byakugan woman sneered.
She ignored what Danzo said completely, and a Gentle Fist strike directly hit his chest, knocking him unconscious with one punch.
"Everyone take your positions, mission start!"
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