Before Fujin and the Root ninjas entered into a fight, Hiruzen along with his Anbu Guards reached the Root Headquarters. Their eyes widened as they noticed the state of the top three underground floors of the base. The walls and floors of the base had almost entirely collapsed! Hiruzen quickly sensed Danzo and flickered towards him.
He appeared behind him and asked, "Danzo, what happened here?"
Danzo was already annoyed. As soon as he left the base, he had Fu sense the attacker. Unfortunately, Fu couldn't sense anyone anymore. It was as if the attacker had disappeared in thin air. Of course, seeing the level of attack, Danzo speculated that the attacker was too good at hiding himself and managed to escape during the destruction.
On hearing Hiruzen's question, Danzo answered, "My headquarters was attacked!"
Hiruzen asked, "By whom? Did you already kill the attacker?"
Danzo said, "No. He disappeared. I can't sense his chakra signature."
Surprise appeared on Hiruzen's face. He couldn't help but say, "You mean, someone attacked the Root Headquarters while you were inside it and left before you could even see what he looked like?"
To say Hiruzen was surprised was an understatement. While some thought of Danzo as weak and a relic of the past, he knew very well how strong Danzo still was. He couldn't help but wonder if Danzo was sleeping when the attack happened. He said, "Tell me everything as it happened."
Danzo informed him about suddenly detecting the chakra signature and the massive Lightning flood that followed seconds later. Hiruzen fell silent. His expression became serious as he learnt how strong the attack was. He didn't suspect Danzo as he had felt the chakra spike as well.
He said, "This level of attack… It can only be done by a Jinchuriki. No other ninja has enough chakra to do something like this and still get away. Unless…"
Danzo completed Hiruzen's words, "Unless they have Sensei's sword."
A frown appeared on his face as he said, "But Sensei's sword is in Ame. Why would Hanzo do something like this? It makes no sense for him to provoke Konoha like this."
Hiruzen added, "Unless he has allied with some other Major Village to create trouble for us. Or if an incredible talent has appeared in Ame and Hanzo has become ambitious once again."
A frown appeared on Danzo's face as he thought of that possibility, 'Just Hanzo alone is a lot of trouble. If he gets a rank S under him, then he'll become even more troublesome to deal with. However, why is he trying to pick on me? Couldn't he just have attacked anyone else to establish prestige? Some things still don't add up.
Or could it be that Kumo sent one of their Jinchurikis and is trying to set us up against Hanzo? However, how can a Jinchuriki infiltrate Konoha completely undetected? That should be impossible.'
Slowly, more ninjas began arriving. Hiruzen passed commands to clear up the debris in the destroyed base. Danzo had already sent one of his subordinates to inform the ninjas in the Labs to seal the place and keep other ninjas away from it.
In fact, Danzo was hoping that the attacker would target his subordinate who was moving alone so that he could see who it was. Unfortunately, no one attacked.
After a few squads had appeared, Fujin appeared as well. He directly met up with Hiruzen and asked with a frown, "Someone attacked the Root headquarters?"
Hiruzen nodded. He noticed the annoyance on Fujin's face and wondered, 'Why does he look so annoyed? Is it related to this attack or something else?'
As for Danzo, he looked at Fujin once and then didn't pay any attention. He thought, 'I already have Torune keeping an eye on him. I guess my speculations were baseless. Of course, it doesn't mean that there isn't anything wrong with him. I need to keep an eye on him while pressuring his seat to see how he reacts.'
Fujin asked, "Are the attackers dead?"
Hiruzen shook his head and said, "No. There was just one and he got away."
Fujin's frown deepened as he asked, "I can understand someone attacking the Auxiliary bases, but how could any random ninja attack Root Headquarters and get away without any repercussions? Is the Root so ill-protected?"
Danzo was offended by that question. He said, "Control your tongue, Fujin. It wasn't a random ninja."
Fujin asked, "So you know who the attacker was?"
Danzo replied, "No, but we have our speculations."
Fujin replied, "That's as good as not knowing anything. Grandpa, I have something to discuss with you. But I guess it can wait until we return to your office."
There weren't any clan leaders nearby. Even the ninjas were dispatched to do the work and wouldn't hear their conversation unless Fujin deliberately made a scene. However, that would go against the personality he had created. What Fujin planned needed clan leaders around. Otherwise, destroying a good portion of the Root Headquarters and subduing 5 Root ninjas wouldn't have the same effect that he wanted.
Danzo frowned on hearing Fujin's tone but he didn't say anything as Fujin was right and there was no point in arguing. However, his eyes widened as Fujin began walking towards the debris. As he walked, Fujin said, "I'll check if anyone's hiding."
Danzo immediately said, "There is no need. We have already checked. The attacker has long fled."
Fujin turned around. He was about to say something when Hiruzen said, "He's right. I have inspected it as well. There is no need to check the base. Just keep an eye in case you notice someone acting weird."
Fujin frowned but didn't argue against Hiruzen. Hiruzen sighed in relief. Danzo was slightly relieved as well. The seals could hide the labs from normal ninjas. Against Fujin, they won't have much of a chance. And, unlike the other Grandmasters in Konoha, Fujin might not back down if a Root ninja tried to stop him from entering the labs.
If Fujin entered the labs, then he would see the most messed up things inside Konoha. Hiruzen didn't know how Fujin would react. If he blew up the matter, every ninja clearing the debris would also come to know of it. It would completely ruin Danzo's public image and raise questions about Hiruzen as well. Neither Hiruzen nor Danzo wanted to see that happen.
The clearing continued. More ninjas kept appearing, but Hiruzen just assigned them other tasks such as scouting the area around the base to check if anyone was hiding. Around half an hour later the debris was all cleared but nothing was found apart from the dead bodies of the five Root ninjas. They were in a terrible state due to having faced nearly the full force of the terrifying attack.
Guy, who had just cleared the debris in the area he was assigned, noticed Fujin standing alone while casually watching everyone. He immediately appeared next to him and said, "Fujin, you have arrived as well."
Fujin nodded and said, "Yeah, the attack is just too big to be ignored."
Guy agreed and said, "Yeah and to think they could target the Root headquarters. Do you have any idea about what is happening in the village? There were too many searches happening throughout the village for a couple of days as well."
Since there was no one else near them, Fujin said, "Yeah. Two nights ago, 15 Root ninjas were killed. We couldn't find the killers. I had thought that they escaped the village. I guess I was wrong. Don't tell it to others."
Guy's eyes widened momentarily. He said softly, "It looks like someone is targeting the Root. To think that the culprits couldn't be caught."
He looked at Fujin and said, "Thank you for letting me know. Usually, Kakashi fills me in on these things, but he has been away on a mission."
Fujin nodded and said, "No worries. Just be careful. I wasn't too concerned about the situation earlier, but the destruction here is insane. If the culprits are trying to eliminate high-level ninjas in the village, then we could be targeted as well. I doubt it would be an easy fight. Even more so if he attacks us when we have to protect others"
Guy could feel the seriousness in Fujin's voice. He said, "I'll be careful. I guess I'll need to ease up on the training for a bit. You be careful too."
Fujin nodded.
While Guy and Fujin were chatting, Danzo and Hiruzen were monitoring the search. Both were concerned as nothing was found. Needless to say, Danzo's mood was beyond terrible. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything he could do to find the attacker. Nor could he take his anger out on someone else. This was a grave threat his Root was facing and yet he was helpless and without any lead that he could pursue immediately.
Since nothing was found, Hiruzen deployed some Anbu ninjas and sent the remaining ninjas back. Fujin, the clan leaders and the elders were called to Hiruzen's office for a quick meeting. Fujin said farewell to Guy and flickered to Hiruzen's office. Once everyone arrived, Hiruzen informed everyone about the events of that night.
Hiruzen's office became silent. Everyone except Fujin, Hiruzen and Danzo had complicated expressions. The clan leaders thought about what would have happened if such an attack had been aimed at their clan compounds. They realized that their clans would have unimaginable losses! After all, even someone like Danzo wasn't able to do much other than protect himself.
Hiruzen noticed Fujin's expression but didn't find anything odd. With Fujin's strength and abilities, dodging such an attack wouldn't be a difficult task. Even if his house was sneak attacked the same way, there was a good chance that his house would actually survive the hit! While there were places in Konoha with more seals than in Fujin's house, nothing came close in terms of the density of the seals!
Seeing that no one was saying anything, Hiruzen asked, "Does anyone have any ideas on what we should do further?"
Hiruzen was hoping for Shikaku to figure something out. Unfortunately, the situation didn't make any sense to him either. It was just too peculiar. Two big attacks had happened and they didn't even know who was behind it apart from some speculations. And even the speculations were such that Konoha couldn't take action easily. He didn't say anything.
Seeing that no one was saying anything, Fujin said, "I have something that I was wondering about."
[A/N : Next Chapter - Confronting Danzo]
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