In the barren woods east of Konoha,
green leaves trembled in the forest canopy, rustling without pause, while the clouds high in the blue sky had been blown into neat stair-like layers.
Mori no Ibiki raised his collar all the way to his cheekbones, his hand braced beneath his chin, showing only the scarred upper half of his face.
Shiranui Genma, who had been leaning lazily against a pale, skinny tree trunk, had straightened fully now. The steel senbon in his mouth turned lightly, flashing with metallic light under the sun.
Anko acted like she looked down on Root shinobi, but her hand had honestly slipped into the pouch at her waist. The disgust she showed was really more of a cover for the faint fear in her heart.
Any Uchiha who had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan was at minimum jōnin level. Elite jōnin was not impossible either.
Could this boy be the chief proctor of this Chunin Exam, Yato?
Was he not a little too young?
Then again, age did not necessarily mean much where shinobi combat power was concerned.
Whether it was taijutsu training or the practice of ninjutsu and genjutsu, all of it required a sufficient chakra reserve as support. The amount of chakra one possessed was an inborn talent. It had nothing to do with later training.
Because of that, the difference age created would mostly show itself in skill with ninjutsu and taijutsu, or in nature and shape transformation.
If someone was born with monstrous chakra, and was also a heaven-defying genius, such that techniques ordinary people needed years to master were things he could understand at a glance and perfect after a little practice, then an abnormal prodigy could absolutely exist.
The Uchiha clan was one of the classic examples.
They could not compare to the Senju or Uzumaki in chakra quantity, but compared to ordinary shinobi they were vastly superior. And on top of that, the Sharingan enhanced ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu alike. They met every condition for producing genius shinobi.
That was why the clan produced so many prodigies. Any shinobi who awakened the Sharingan would be regarded as an unquestionable genius once placed outside the clan.
Uchiha Shisui had earned the name "Shisui of the Body Flicker" during the Third Great Ninja War, and he had only been in his teens then. The S-rank missing-nin Uchiha Itachi, who committed an unforgivable crime, was only thirteen when he slaughtered his clan.
Both of them were indisputably elite jōnin. If the boy before them was that kind of genius, then he absolutely had the qualifications to act as chief proctor for the Chunin Exam.
Faced with those observing Sharingan eyes, Anko's group did not dare move rashly. They could only let their thoughts race.
At the same time,
the scarlet Sharingan swept left and right, taking in the three shinobi who stood ready as if facing a mortal enemy. Sasuke kept the muscles in his legs activated with Lightning Release, clearly wary of them as well.
"Root. A special organization that hides in darkness to protect Konoha. The darkness beneath the ANBU. Official members are all tokubetsu jōnin. With your strength, you can barely reach the threshold to join."
Those had been Konome's exact words after branding him with the Tongue Eradication Seal.
Only then had he learned that the Thunder Swords were not in Konome's hands at all. They were in the mysterious organization known as Root. Only after he officially joined Root would he be able to take possession of them.
Now that he had already signed himself away, Sasuke naturally did not want anything to happen to his swords again.
The Chunin Exam was approaching. He needed time to adapt to that powerful ninja tool as well.
The sooner the better.
So after getting Root's location from Konome, he had hurried over at top speed with Lightning Release stimulating his cells. Then he arrived at the organization's gate and found these three waiting there.
He had not rashly stepped forward. Instead, he had hidden nearby and observed first.
Under the Sharingan's scrutiny, the information Konome had given him was not exaggerated at all. If anything, it was too conservative.
All three of them unquestionably had jōnin-level chakra.
It was impossible that shinobi guarding the base gate represented the top tier of the organization. Most likely they were only ordinary members.
If Konome was the ceiling of Root, then these three counted as the mid-tier. He might really only become the floor once he joined.
Only an organization this powerful could help me grow stronger quickly.
That thought eased his mood a little. Sasuke, who had sold himself into a dark organization, was now full of anticipation for Root.
Facing the three who still said nothing, Sasuke recalled the codename Konome had told him to use in Root, lifted his chin, and said softly,
"Lord Yato sent me... to take the swords."
Ibiki froze for a second.
Judging by what Sasuke said, this Uchiha prodigy with three tomoe was not the Yato they had come to find. He was only Yato's subordinate.
A three-tomoe Sharingan was practically guaranteed jōnin. Then that Yato had to be at least elite jōnin, and perhaps even...
The amount of information packed into that single line was enormous. All of Ibiki's previous assumptions were instantly overturned, and his heart grew even more cautious.
"Take the swords? What swords does Yato want to take?"
Since a senbon was wedged between his teeth, Genma's voice came out a little muffled. He did not understand what Sasuke meant. What sword did that Yato want, and what did that have to do with the Chunin Exam?
"What, do we have to hand our weapons over just to enter Root now?"
Anko had none of those twists and turns in her head. She pulled out a kunai and spun it in her hand, her face cold and openly hostile.
The Root gate? Ridiculous.
She had not been searched even when meeting the Third Hokage. Was this Yato putting on more airs than the Hokage himself?
"Little pretty boy, go back and tell Yato this. If he wants them, he can come take them himself."
The kunai spun on Anko's fingertip through its metal ring. She flatly rejected this absurd demand from a so-called Root shinobi.
This time it was Sasuke who froze.
To enter Root, he was supposed to report Konome's codename, register, and then he would receive the Thunder Swords. That was exactly what Konome had told him.
But the situation was clearly nothing like she had described.
Yato should have been Konome's codename within Root, so why was it not working?
Could it be that Konome's position in Root was not that high after all? Or did another faction within Root have a conflict with her?
Sasuke's mind spun rapidly, but without the key pieces of information, he could not grasp the whole picture.
There was only one thing he could be certain of.
These people, or rather this arrogant woman with the purple high ponytail, harbored some kind of hostility toward Konome, and were now openly provoking him.
Clang.
One hand behind his back, he pressed down on the hilt of his sword. The long blade hanging diagonally at his waist slowly slid free.
The sound of metal scraping rang sharp and clear. Sasuke's eyes grew brighter and redder, the three tomoe rotating faster and faster.
His Sharingan had only just evolved. He had been lacking a suitable opponent. These enemies of Konome's were the perfect chance to test the power of the three-tomoe Sharingan.
"Root really is exactly what I remember."
The old psychological shadow Root had left on her in childhood came surging back. Anko's hand stopped spinning the kunai and gripped it in reverse. The wildness in her brows refused to lose.
Clang.
The blade burst out of its sheath in a spray of sparks.
Lightning surged through his legs in a half-activated state. Sasuke shot forward like an arrow loosed from the bow, his speed even fiercer than before.
Anko had already been ready.
The wrist holding the kunai suddenly twisted a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Flesh, sinew, and bone contorted. It no longer looked like a human arm at all, but a white snake mimicking one.
Whoosh.
A piercing sound split the air as the kunai flew for Sasuke's right eye from a bizarre angle.
The three-tomoe Sharingan watched the weapon's trajectory with cold precision. Against the Sharingan's extreme dynamic vision, no matter how tricky the attack angle, it was no more than a toy.
His movement never stopped. Facing the incoming kunai, Sasuke tilted his head slightly.
Whoosh.
The sharp tip brushed past his temple, only slicing off a strand of hair.
Boom.
Flames wrapped around the blade, drawing an orange-red crescent through the air. With the Sharingan locking down the space around Anko, Sasuke slashed straight for her face.
Uchiha Style: Sword Leap Flame.
Anko's eyes filled with firelight. Her hands flashed through seals in front of her chest, leaving afterimages.
Tiger, Rat, Ram, Rat, Tiger.
The five seals were so practiced they had become instinct.
Secret Technique: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.
Hiss hiss.
An overwhelming mass of snakes burst from her loose sleeves, filling every scrap of space between them.
Clang.
A dazzling arc of fire split the sea of snakes apart. The stinking blood turned to ash under the fire, and the vivid snakes landed in two halves on the ground, writhing madly.
Sasuke was about to continue his slashes when he discovered that even the severed heads on the ground were still opening their jaws to bite his calves.
The Sharingan's dynamic vision was terrifyingly strong. The snakes' famed speed looked like slow motion to him. He could even see the yellow venom flowing over their fangs.
A secret technique like Shino's.
He had seen Aburame Shino fight before. This kind of combat style, relying on summoned creatures overwhelming the enemy by number, was almost identical to the Aburame clan's methods.
His own body's defensive ability was nowhere near Konome's. If one of those snakes bit his leg, he might die in seconds.
Watching the snakes keep pouring from Anko's sleeves, he instantly judged the situation. Lightning spread down to his calves.
Clang.
The blade returned to its sheath. Wrapped in crackling lightning, Sasuke leapt backward, avoiding the snake swarm. In midair, his Sharingan locked onto Anko while his hands flashed through seals.
Not good.
Alarm bells went off in Anko's mind. The torrent of snakes from her sleeves faltered. Chakra inside her body surged as she began shaping it into Earth Release.
Just as Sasuke's hand seals reached the final stage, Anko desperately tried to move her hands into position, only to find her arms sealed in place, completely unable to move.
What?
Her eyes widened in shock.
That scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan spun like a red whirlpool.
This is... Sharingan genjutsu.
"Release."
Not caring that her hands could not move, Anko shouted and forcibly disrupted the Earth Release chakra she had already shaped.
Bang.
The spinning Sharingan, the writhing serpent mass, and even the boy forming seals all froze in place.
Then cracks spread through space like shattered glass.
Everything broke apart in an instant.
Anko's vision blurred as the scene changed completely.
In the barren woods, severed scorched snakes littered the ground. Thick black chains protected her from all sides. The red-eyed boy stood before her, sword raised and wrapped in flames, stepping through crackling lightning, murderous intent blazing in his Sharingan.
"That is enough. We are willing to follow Lord Yato's rules."
Ibiki's hands were clasped together. Lines of chains divided Anko and Sasuke apart, while behind him a gigantic iron cage rose from the ground, thick chains crawling through its bars.
Summoning Technique: Interrogation House.
Sasuke looked at Anko, who was now tightly restrained and shielded by chains. Her pretty face had already gone pale with fear. The moment his Sharingan swept over her, she lowered her eyes and no longer dared meet his gaze.
She now understood exactly how she had lost.
The Sharingan naturally possessed hypnotic and illusion-based powers. Once eye contact was made, it was extremely easy to fall into illusion.
He had clearly cast the genjutsu the instant he jumped back from the snakes, pretending to be preparing a fire release technique in order to trick her into halting Hidden Shadow Snake Hands.
Then, in the instant the snakes stopped, he had rushed in with his sword.
She had been in the middle of shaping Earth Release chakra then, utterly unaware that he had already closed the distance. In the end, it was obvious that Ibiki had used chains in time to protect her. Because the chains restrained her arms, she could not raise them to complete seals, and only then did she realize she had fallen into genjutsu.
So this was the Sharingan, the Uchiha eye said to make them unbeatable in one-on-one combat.
Terrifying.
Anko's face was white. Bound tightly by iron chains, none of her previous arrogance remained.
"We can hand over our weapons."
Genma spat the senbon from between his teeth into his palm, and raised the kunai in his other hand to show his willingness to cooperate. He had never wanted to oppose Root in the first place. If Anko had not insisted, he would not even have come here.
Now that he had seen Root's methods, he was even more convinced.
If Ibiki had not intervened in time, Anko would have been killed in one exchange. If it were him, the outcome would probably have been the same.
To win against this boy, the three of them would have needed to attack together.
But the boy was obviously not some lone operative. If they kept fighting until Root reinforcements arrived, the three of them would undoubtedly be beaten to death.
And the key point was that there was no need for this.
So what if they had to hand over their weapons? Their fighting styles did not depend on ninja tools much to begin with. Why pick a fight with these lunatics from Root?
Clatter.
The iron chains scraped against each other, throwing off sparks as they withdrew into the giant cage. Ibiki dispelled the summoning technique, pulled his own tool pouch from inside his coat, and tossed it onto the ground. He spread his arms in a posture that practically screamed we understand the rules.
He could not allow Anko to keep making trouble.
He did not know who this Yato really was, but Danzo was not someone to provoke lightly. Ganging up on a Root shinobi at the entrance to Root was basically asking to die.
That was why, after summoning Interrogation House, he had not attacked Sasuke at all. Instead, he had directly restrained Anko in place. It both protected her from being cut in half and prevented them from collectively attacking the boy and stirring up a far bigger disaster.
The flaming blade swung once, sending a wave of fire through the remaining snakes and burning them into charred husks.
The blade glowed red-hot like a branding iron. Sasuke looked coldly at the three of them and, with one hand behind his back, slowly sheathed his sword.
The internal situation within Root seemed more complicated than he had thought. Before he had even officially joined, he had already chopped up someone from one of its factions. He had no idea how much pressure that would put on Konome.
Sasuke looked toward Ibiki, who had thrown his ninja tools to the ground. Was this one of the organization's internal rules? The loser had to lay all their weapons on the ground?
It seemed internal fights were common within this organization.
Clink clink.
As if confirming his guess, Anko and Genma also tossed their own tool pouches to the ground.
"We can enter Root now, yes?"
"Yes."
Sasuke maintained the cold, unapproachable posture he had adopted, waiting for the three of them to open the way into the Root base.
He was finally about to enter the mysterious Root.
His heart was full of expectation.
Anko, Ibiki, and Genma were also silently waiting.
The four of them stared at each other, their expressions gradually turning puzzled.
The forest fell into an eerie silence once more.
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