Chapter 199: Hostility

A hawk landed on Shisui's shoulder. Shisui checked the letter and said, "We have to drop all the captives and scientists at the Hokage building." Obviously, his target was Toshiro Yamanaka.

"We are already at Konoha, so I think you could handle things for now," Toshiro said.

Toshiro didn't want to do anything before discussing it with Danzo. Knowing he was under house arrest, he decided to go directly to him and then follow the 'orders' he had received, but...

"I don't think you have the leverage to think, Toshiro-sama. These are direct orders from Lord Third," Shisui said with an obvious smile on his face.

"I know what to do, boy. I will go there just after reporting to the person who is in charge of our organization and the person to whom we report, like always. These arrangements were also made by Lord Third," Toshiro said, his voice showing no emotion at all, like a robot speaking.

But that also meant he was back to his Root ninja attitude, and everything until now had been a calculated move to bring the best outcome for Danzo and 'KONOHA.'

"Toshiro-sama, until now, you had a numerical advantage over us, but the reason we didn't fight was that you knew we were more powerful. Oh, and you wanted to protect your boss from any further trouble. I respect that, but the thing is, you have even lost your numerical advantage too," Shisui said. As soon as Shisui said that, more than 50 ninja came out of the main gate and surrounded the caravan. There were some Jonin, many Chunin, and some Genin, but all of them were almost ready to attack.

Toshiro's eyes were now full of killing intent as he looked at Shisui. If he had the power to kill through looks, Shisui would have died many times.

"I already told you, boy, if this was a trick, you will pay," Toshiro said.

"Oh, believe me, this was not a trick. Those were the orders from Lord Third. You can ask him when you meet him soon. But I did lie about the house arrest thing. He is at the Hokage building. You will be filled in on the details by others. Now let's go. We don't have time to discuss this all day. I have many more Root bases to close," Shisui said, obviously taunting.

Both sides were ready to attack at the slightest hostility from the other side. Root ninja, both those under Shisui's genjutsu and those who were not, were ready to attack, and they would do so without any doubt.

Toshiro was weighing all the possibilities in his mind, but at the end of every possibility where he decided to fight, it resulted in the death of most of the Root ninja and the likely capture of the others.

With the tension increasing every moment, both parties were at a standstill.

"Stand down. We will follow Lord Third's order," Toshiro said.

Shisui was visibly disappointed hearing that, with the anger he was feeling from knowing about his father's death and Toshiro and his party's affiliation with his father's killer. Shisui was hoping the plan would not go this smoothly, but to his dismay, the fight he was expecting didn't happen, and everyone went to the Hokage building swiftly.

Captives and scientists were both sent to the hospital, and the rest of the ninja were asked to stay in the Anbu headquarters under strict watch. They were going to go through a very long brainwashing session with Hiruzen himself, the person who was capable of making a child a hero when the whole world was set on making him the biggest villain. And what did he use? Just words.

(A.N: When people say that Naruto's talk-no-jutsu is powerful, I think they underestimate Hiruzen a little. He was also a strong competitor, but since he was not able to make a Kage-level villain change sides with his words, I assume Naruto did have a more powerful version of that jutsu.)

Team Shadow went back to their homes as they returned from a very big mission, but Shisui and Satoshi both had to file the reports of the mission. While they were doing that, an Anbu ninja came to them and said, "Sir, you both are called to the Hokage's office."

"Right now?" Satoshi asked, as he was very close to completing his mission report. A few more minutes, and the paperwork would be done.

"Yes, sir," the Anbu ninja replied respectfully. No one in their right mind would want to offend an elite Jonin, especially someone from a powerful clan like Hyuga or Uchiha.

"Okay," Shisui replied. He was done with his paperwork anyway. Satoshi also sighed and nodded his head.

…

"Good evening, Lord Third," Shisui and Satoshi said.

"Well done, both of you. Not losing a single ninja and safely closing a potential explosion tag, which would have blown Konoha's peace to smithereens, and that too in so little time. I expect nothing less from you guys," Hiruzen said with a smile on his face.

"We only did as we were ordered, Lord Third," Satoshi replied.

"Don't be modest, Satoshi. Now here is a question. As you guys already know our situation, do you want to take another mission, or do you want to take some time off for some rest? Though let me tell you, there is no urgent danger anymore. Most of the high-danger bases are already closed, and the rest will be done with or without your help. So you guys can take some rest if you want," Hiruzen said.

"Lord Third, I would like to spend some time with my family. I will report back after two days for a mission," Satoshi said.

"No problem. You can go now, Satoshi. Your reward will be sent to your house," Hiruzen said.

"Thank you, Lord Third," Satoshi bowed a little and then left for his residence.

"What about you, Shisui?" Hiruzen asked Shisui.

"I have some urgent work. After completing that, I will take another mission, Lord Third," Shisui said.

"Kagami was both an asset to the village as well as my friend, boy. I also want to complete that urgent work of yours, but I am far too busy to do so. Here," Hiruzen threw a scroll to Shisui and continued, "This is a mission of closing a Root base at Kumogakure. The base is just 20 km away from 'that' place. You and Team Shadow are assigned to this mission for now. You will have two missions: first, close the Root base; second, retrieve the body of Kagami Uchiha," Hiruzen said.

"Yes, Lord Third," Shisui said, bowing a little and continued, "We will depart right now."

"Let those poor souls have some rest, Shisui. You will go on the mission in 12 hours. Go back to your house and have some rest," Hiruzen said.

"Yes, Lord Third," Shisui said and left for the Uchiha compound. Remaining in a continuous vigilant state for so long and not getting an ounce of sleep had taken a toll on everyone, including Shisui. That's why Hiruzen had given them half a day of rest time. Shisui directly went to Fugaku to give him the report about the mission. Even though this was an S-rank mission, it was not mandatory to keep it a secret from your clan head, since there was no way this whole situation could now be concealed from them anyway. That's why Hiruzen had not even decided to ask everyone to keep the mission secret, though spreading the details to the general public was still not allowed.

…

"So there was no fight," Fugaku said.

"Yes, the plan went well, but I don't think the same will happen to this base as well. There are only Chunin present at Kumogakure, all of them very loyal to Danzo and will not take any orders from anyone else other than him. That's why the mission is to just eliminate everyone at that base," Shisui said.

"Are you alright?" Fugaku asked.

"Yes, I am finally able to think clearly, but I will meet Danzo after this mess settles down," Shisui said.

"I know, and I am not going to say otherwise. Even though I also want to have a 'talk' with him, you will get the first chance," Fugaku said.

Both of them were angry. Fugaku was angry because of the number of Uchiha who lost their lives just because of the jealousy and foolishness of an old man, while Shisui was angry because his father faced the worst kind of death a ninja could face: a death through betrayal. Fugaku understood that Shisui had to get over this anger; otherwise, this anger would eat him from the inside.