56

Near the stream, the wonderful smell of flowers and dirt came again into blindfolded Shisui's nostrils. The mist lay like gauze over all things, softening into a paleness even that of the trees — the boy smiled as he listen to the flute song by his teacher sitting up on the tree.

It was this song that Ghost plays ever so often— Shisui listens to the song with a sort of awe. Even after hearing it hundreds of times, he can not get enough of such beautiful melodies...

A flute that can take life can be so beautiful...

"Sensei, you sound happy today", Shisui said

Ghost put down the flute from his lips, "It's because today's the day, a dead man will tell his tale"

Then, his fingers pluck at the keys of the flute once more, and the sweet notes begin to fill the air again. Shisui felt as if he was floating in the air with the flute melody. He leaned his face on the trunk of the tree, enjoying the rare moments of peace.

It was how this day started.

...

"Alright squad 5, we have a mission on our hands, but please note that this should be considered an S rank due to the danger of it. However, you shall not be going alone", A masked Anbu said while standing in front of a team of two shinobis, both of them equally capable of fighting a strong opponent.

"What's the mission sir?", Anbu Tenzō of the Wood Release asked and the second Anbu of the team added on, "And just who are we teaming up with for this one?"

The third member of the team looked at them in silence for a brief moment before telling them of their assignment, "Your mission, is to Purge Konoha of Root, every and all members must be either captured or killed"

They gasped in shock at this, "R-Root... are you sure?!", The second Anbu asked, still shaken by the mission details.

"Yes, the mission came straight from Hokage sama. You shall be teaming up with Team Reaper and Tracker team 6, along with the full team of the assassination squad, accompanied by the Uchiha Police Force and Inazuka clan"

"That serious?! Holy crap just what exactly did Danzo do?!", The Anbu exclaimed in surprise as this is a very serious lineup, and it includes the entire team of the deadly assassination squad - a group so feared that nobody ever knew who was really inside the mask of the black ninja.

"Apparently, He ordered the mass genocide in the village in a grand plan to dethrone Hokage sama", The third member of the team sighed as he gave the order for other groups standing by to enter the office.

When Team Reaper entered the office, the situation got intense. The six members of the team were all wearing full body armor with masks over their faces with only a single eye visible from underneath the eye slit.

They had full kunai with throwing stars on the belt while carrying short and long swords in sheaths on their waist, as well as twin katanas sheathed on their back.

Each of them looked like an assassin from ancient times. Their eyes seemed to glow under the dim light of the room, looking at Anbus in the room with a cold gaze, making them shiver in fear.

Then they saw the leader of the tracker team six, Inuzuka Tsume enters with Kurenai Yuhi and Yūgao Uzuki wearing normal clothes as they approached Team Reaper.

Both teams bowed politely as Tsume approached, "Tsume sama"

Tsume nodded, "Where is the assassination squad?!"

"We are here, Tsume sama", A voice came from behind Team Reaper's backs.

They turned to see the entire squad of assassination team entering the room. They all appeared to be wearing animal masks with hoods covering their head.

"Ghost..?...!"

"Leader won't be joining us I am afraid"

Tsume nods her head, it doesn't matter anyway, this mission does not require someone like Ghost to participate, and then she saw Fugaku and a few members of the police force enter the building.

"Tsume"

"Fugaku"

She nods at him and then looked at everyone, "Since everyone is here, let's start with the preparation, we will first raid the only location we are aware of, their underground headquarters, Kakashi might have found another secret hideout outside the village but we are not sure of the exact situation, a team is currently investigating the site"

"Team reaper, you will lead with your specialty and charge straight ahead to clear the first level of Root"

The leader of the reaper team nods her head. Agreeing with her role.

"Once the reaper team is done doing the initial screening. The assassination squad will follow up on their lead, with their main purpose to either kill or capture Danzo and eliminate anyone who gets in the way, there is a good chance that elder Danzo is not present in his base but you have to try"

"Yes"

"Fugaku, Uchiha clan will work with squad 5 to search and eliminate Root in general"

Fugaku and everyone within the police force nod as well, they just got reinstated, and their patriarch told them more than once to keep their attitude in check for the time being.

"Tracker team will work with the Inazuka clan to find the hidden bases within the village. Once we clear them from inside, we will focus on finding their bases outside in a one km radius including Orochimaru's abandoned lab, is everyone clear?!"

"Crystal", A loud unified reply echoed throughout the room.

"Then let's get this over with..."

...

The teams set off in the direction of Root's secret base. They were all aware of the danger they faced. As they were nearing the secret base, they could see Root's underground entrance in front of them.

They move to the area around the entrance to the underground base, where most of the Shadow shinobis from Root are located, and wait for an opportunity to attack. they know what to expect, but they are still cautious. After some time of waiting, a group of Root shinobis emerged out of the darkness, "Let us begin!", The leader of the team reaper said while licking her blade.

With a blur, a root shinobi had his neck sliced by a hidden blade, another one had his blood splatter shot from the back of his head. And with graceful and skilled movements, the leader of the team reaper managed to kill the group of Root shinobis without any effort.

But they seemed to have entered the beast's cave. As a kunai flew towards her but it was blocked by a shuriken that appeared from within the shadows, and another shinobi appeared out of nowhere, killing another root agent.

It was the start of the shadow battle, both sides were skilled in hiding, using shadows against each other.

One of the Anbu from team reaper made a wind current move forward with his hands. The root shinobi seemed to have noticed it and blocked the attack with a water shield.

While another root shinobi used a shock wave to send two shinobis flying but another team reaper member appeared with a blur and pierced the root shinobi's heart from the back.

However, the foundations of the root are not to be underestimated either, soon after that initial ambush attack, another group appeared. Thereafter another one appeared, and then another one, each one taking its turn at fighting the intruders.

Jutsus after Jutsus flew, destroying the area and trapping everyone within, but the fighting did not stop.

"Assassination squad, Go!", Leader of the team reaper ordered and a few Shadows blurred and moved forward at incredible speed.

A root agent appeared from within the shadows, making a thrust with a dagger toward the leader of the team reaper. The heart of this battle. And in the same second, she threw a shuriken into the enemy shinobi's chest, killing him.

Shadows appeared again, and so on, and so forth, the battle was like a never-ending stream of surprises.

...

As the rays of the rising sun shined bright through the leaves of the forest of death and gave life to flowers, a slight breeze picked up as well.

The three renowned shinobi stand in a stalemate, and the first to speak was Kauzu, "You two are really a fearsome duo. Damn if I knew it was gonna happen, I wouldn't have taken this job. How about it, let me go and I will give you the information you want from me for the right price"

"No need..!!", Gai said which shocked Kakuzu. He wasn't sure he'd heard correctly, so he asked, "Are you saying that?"

Kakashi gathered lightning in his hand, his eyes glaring at Kakuzu, "We already have the information we want, Kakuzu of Takigakure"

Kakuzu took a step back with the news, his eyes trembled with fear, "Damn that old man", He cursed loudly, "I knew I shouldn't have taken this job when that one-eyed freak ordered his men to bring me to his sewer base"

Kakashi and Gai looked at each other, is this guy an idiot..?! He just indirectly gave Danzo's name, after confirming the target they just charged at Kakuzu.

Watching these two charging at him, Kakuzu had already begun to accumulate chakra in his stomach. Weaving through his hand signs, Kakuzu spits out a tsunami of flames that engulfed both Kakashi and Gai, however, the flames were not hot enough to burn them as expected.

Gai punched in the air, and a huge blast of wind dissipate the flames and blew back at Kakuzu's face, sending him flying back before Kakashi landed on top of him, slamming down on the flying bounty hunter from the air with his knees on top of his chest, his hand was already covered in lightning.

"Chidori", Kakashi yelled

Shifting his body to the side a bit, the lightning struck Kakuzu's shoulder as blood and flesh flew from the wound.

Kakuzu took advantage of the distraction and kicked Kakashi to the side, Separating from Kakashi, Kakuzu stood up and cough up blood.

"Give up, you can't win", Gai said, Kakuzu cursed again and looked at Kakashi at his back, he is trapped between these two powerful ninjas.

"I guess that's a good thing that I don't have to..."

"what-

Kakuzu weaved a series of hand signs as a set of massive walls appear, cutting off Gai from Kakashi and vice versa.

Trapped within the walls, Gai made his hands into a fist, and then punched the wall, making a hole in it, but still unable to get through.

Kakuzu smiled, "Goodbye", He turned around and fled away, even though he has no place left to run, he ran without hesitation because Ghost is paving his way to get out of this village. His job is done.

From the looks of it, both of them were convinced that it was Danzo Shimura who ordered the massacre.

After this is over, he will surely get an invitation to join Akatsuki, right..?! Ghost planned this entire thing off with Kakuzu just to have him in their ranks as his spy. That was what Kakuzu was hired for...! To become an Akatsuki member.

"Damn", Gai said as he looked at Kakashi who jumped from the top of the earth's walls, Kakuzu's footsteps got farther and farther until there was no sound of his breathing, only silence.

Both Kakashi and Gai looked at each other and shook their heads. This is Konoha where could Kakuzu run off to? But the problem here is what he said during the fight!! Wasting no time they chase after Kakuzu once again.

...

After Kakuzu escaped, he hid in the corner of a basement of a house, he crouched down and used the secret passage that leads straight to the jungle outside Konoha.

He could many eyes within the secret passage, all eyeing him, but doing nothing. Kakuzu managed to pass through the many layers of security without any trouble when he saw Ghost standing atop a tree branch, nodding his head and then disappearing once again.

...

" I have got this one", Tenzo pointed at a root shinobi.

Leaping at the unsuspecting guard, Tenzo hit him in the stomach with a wood spike before stabbing him multiple times.

The other root shinobi could not help his teammate because Itachi materialized in front of him and flashed his Sharingan. The root shinobi trembled and fell to the floor unconscious, due to the genjutsu.

'He's really good', Tenzo thought as he looked at the 12-year-old beside him; his self-esteem took a great hit at first when Uchiha Fugaku assigned Itachi to be his partner, but apparently, the youngster beside him is already so capable that it's frightening.

'I didn't even blink and he was out, is that the power of an Uchiha?', he continued to think to himself as he just stared at Itachi. "Let's get moving...", Itachi says as he moves, Tenzo's eyes twitched, "I am the senior between us", Tenzo said.

"Hn", Itachi simply replied, causing Tenzo to almost pull out his hair, 'This is so unprofessional', He had to restrain himself from saying anything more.

Itachi and Tenzo moved through the dark woods taking root shinobis down as they moved forward based on Itachi's enhanced vision. Suddenly, Itachi raised his hand, "Halt. Let's hide"

Tenzo had his face twitched yet again, 'I am the senior here. You should not be ordering me around like this', he thought to himself as he hid atop the tree.

In front of them appeared a bunch of shinobis where Itachi and Tenzo hid in silence.

"They can't appear in such a large number all of a sudden. I think we have found a hidden base. Let's follow them"

"Good", Tenzo said, "Let's go"

There were four routes leading out of the forest, but Itachi decided to move along the shortest path as they followed the shinobis in their tracks. Eventually, the trees thinned out and left the pair exposed to the bright sky.

"We're here", Itachi said as he stopped. They continued following the shinobis until they reached a small clearing surrounded by thick shrubs.

"I am pretty sure that Hokage sama is not aware of such a location inside the village", Tenzo said

Itachi nodded, "Let's go back and report our finding"

Tenzo grits his teeth, as he glared at the 12-year-old, "Itachi, I am the leader between us. You should be following my order and not the other way round"

Itachi nods, "I know, so, can we now go back and report our findings?!"

Tenzo growled and tried to argue with his younger partner, "No! What if there are more hidden bases ahead?"

"But it was already so hard to find just this one, do you really think there are gonna be more nearby..?!", Itachi said calmly with his big black eyes, "I think we should go back and report our findings"

Tenzo stared at his partner, "Fine, but not because you ordered me to. But because I have seen things that I don't want to happen. I am the senior and the leader here, and I give orders. Understood?!"

"Yes", Itachi said and just moved ahead of Tenzo as if expecting him to follow from behind. Tenzo growled once again and just followed the other's back for now.

...

In the Hokage's office, the old man didn't get a wink of sleep the last night, as his subordinates declare their findings.

"In the 49th year of Konoha, a shinobi from the Shimura clan took the credit of a Hyuga as his own and reported to the village to get rewards", Tsume read from the scrolls given to her by her comrades.

In the office stood all the members that were sent to purge root(s) under Hokage's orders. In mere 7 hours, these elites of Konoha had turned the village upside down.

They work so hard and tedious that by noon when the sun had already reached its peak, they had succeeded in killing every living root member in the village they could find to the best of their abilities and had already searched for any hidden scrolls or information they could find.

"In the 46th year of Konoha, a root shinobi arbitrarily misappropriated mission funds for his own use, resulting in mission failure", Tsume continued reading through the scrolls, they already have enough evidence to support the claims made against elder Danzo now.

"In Konoha's 47th year, a ninja of the Shimura clan embezzled the village public funds and was discovered by Fourth Hokage. Though no punishment was given to the perpetrator"

"..."

Everyone looked at each other speechlessly. Was elder Danzo an elder or a terrorist?!

They also know that the ninjas of the Sarutobi clan and Shimura clan have long since become more sophisticated. However, they can never imagine it being this much..!!

"Absurd! Are you forging documents to frame Danzo?!", Elder Homura yelled and stood up!!

His partner elder Koharu shivered angrily, "Sarutobi, why are you letting them spout these follies"

Shikaku Nara intervened before Hokage could say anything, "Kakashi, Gai, did you find anything from the bounty hunter?!"

Kakashi nods his head, "The bounty hunter managed to get away, but during the fight, we almost confirmed that Danzo sama and root shinobis brought him to meet the elder"

"What do you mean almost?"

"Sir, we can never be 100% sure in this field, maybe they lied, maybe they did not...", Kakashi answered frankly, "there are too many variables to count in a battle, and the fact that we are striking blindly does not help either..."

"You and Gai keep working on him, and next time give me an exact answer", Hokage said

"Yes", Gai and Kakashi said simultaneously

"What about the rest of the evidence?", Hokage asked.

Tsume looked at Kakashi for a bit and hesitated to speak.

"What is it?! You have already tried to frame an elder to such a degree, what else could you possibly have more", Elder Koharu spoke.

Watching Tsume hesitating to speak, Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward, "We have found evidence regarding the death of Hatake Sakumo"