17. New Root

Hiroshi sat in the control room of Root Headquarters, a place that now belonged to him after sealing Danzo's loyalty—dismantling the older man's ambitions.

The control room was surrounded by various screens—products combining countless sealing techniques—recreating modern technology!

Nova's voice echoed in his mind. "What's next, Hiroshi?"

"Let's start with something big. Show me the footage from the seals I placed on Jiraiya and Minato in the Ramen shop."

On one of the screens, he saw Jiraiya, wearing only a towel that barely covered his waist, running on the streets of Konoha like a madman?!

"what happened? Is the seal functioning correctly?"

"Come back here, you perverted toad!" An angry blond was following him with her fist covered in chakra; it was Tsunade.

Jiraiya twisted his head to look back, "It was research, Purely!"

Tsunade picked up a wooden plank from a nearby shop and threw it, but she narrowly missed Jiraiya's head. "Your 'research' ends today!"

"Rewind it a bit," Hiroshi said, gesturing toward the screen.

The footage rewound to a few minutes earlier, where Jiraiya, disguised as a rather poorly dressed woman, slipped into the women's bathhouse.

"Is that supposed to be a kimono?" Hiroshi raised an eyebrow.

As soon as Jiraiya entered, he caught Tsunade's reaction.

She turned slowly narrowing her eyes. "Jiraiya," she growled.

Jiraiya froze mid-step, and his transformation jutsu started flickering before vanishing completely.

"Oh, Tsunade! Good to see you here—"

Before Toad Sage completes his words, a fist connects with his face, sending him flying through the bathhouse wall.

As the screen returned to the chase, Hiroshi laughed. "At least Minato has some dignity. I don't need to worry about him pulling off stunts like this."

"Are you sure about that?" Nova said,

Curious, Hiroshi nodded. "You know something, don't you ...Go ahead."

The screen switched to Minato's home, where the Fourth Hokage sat tied to a chair–naked.

Kushina, in a dominatrix outfit that shows all things that need to be covered–wielded a whip with an air of authority.

"Didn't I tell you to get home earlier?" she smacked the whip against the floor.

"Kushina, I swear, I was working late!" Minato protested, his voice tinged with nervous laughter.

"You'll be working late in—" Kushina declared, raising the whip.

He hurriedly waved his hand. "Okay, stop, stop! It's enough!."

Nova closed the footage. "These people are running a village…" Hiroshi muttered scratching his head

"Just delete that footage and search for keywords: intelligence, spy, war. I need to see what's relevant from the past 24 hours."

Nova worked quickly, the screens flickering through various scenes before landing in Hokage's office.

…

Hokage's Office a few hours ago,

Minato stood behind his desk, his usual calm demeanor replaced with a faint frown. Jiraiya leaned against the wall, while Kakashi stood beside him.

"The information from the spy in Grass is concerning," Minato said, tapping a scroll on the desk. "If other villages are working together and Grass is providing them shelter, we're facing a dangerous alliance."

Jiraiya nodded. "I've seen the signs of unrest in Grass for a while now. If we don't act soon, they'll have a foothold right on our doorstep."

Minato's eyes narrowed. "We need to confirm their exact plans before making any large moves. Jiraiya-sensei, I want you to go to Grass and investigate further.

Kakashi, you'll go with him. Gather as much intel as possible and return immediately."

Kakashi nodded. "Understood, Lord Hokage."

Jiraiya smirked. "I'll bring my notebook. You never know what kind of 'research' I might come across."

"Sensei," Minato said warningly.

"Fine, fine," Jiraiya said, waving his hand. "I'll focus on the mission."

…

Hiroshi leaned back with a smirk. "Looks like they are moving. This is going to be interesting."

"What's your next move? Do you want to interfere, or let them handle it?"

"Neither," Hiroshi said, standing up. "I'll let them do the groundwork for now. Their actions will create the distractions I need."

He leaves the room, his mind already racing with plans. "Besides, I've got my little projects to work on."

Hiroshi gives the Root shinobi beside him a scroll and asks him to deliver it to Itachi. He walked toward the outer part of Root, near the forest.

As he got there, he saw countless chakra beasts inside the cage; all of them were unconscious because of the poison used on them.

"We were able to capture 50 mid-rank and 10 high-rank chakra beasts," A root shinobi said as he bowed his head.

"Well, it's enough." Hiroshi said, "You can go now," Root shinobi used the body flicker technique and disappeared.

"That beast will give us a good boost of EP," Nova said.

"Good," Hiroshi muttered. He summoned his dagger and started draining the chakra beast's energy into his system core, converting it into EP.

Once the process was complete, he used the newly acquired EP to finalize the skill he had been working on for weeks,

'Total Restoration'—a powerful jutsu designed to heal even the rarest and deadliest conditions by using the stem cell of the target and removing all limiters from it to regenerate the body into its peak state.

A small notification appeared in Hiroshi's mind as Nova spoke. "Skill creation complete. You're ready."

Hiroshi nodded. Just then, a Root operative entered and bowed deeply. "Sir, Itachi Uchiha has arrived."

"Perfect timing. Bring him in,"

…

Itachi's POV

Itachi stepped into the Root Headquarters, his dark eyes scanning the facility. He had seen much in his young life, but this... this was something entirely different!

The sleek corridors were lined with strange glowing panels–displays showing various numbers and graphs, even highly sensitive maps,

Operatives moved with precision, carrying devices that seemed like tools from a different world.

"This is Root?" Itachi thought. He had heard rumors of Danzo's secretive organization, but nothing could have prepared him for this.

Hiroshi, wearing an oni mask, greeted him in the main hall. "Itachi, Did you bring that?"

Itachi nodded, handing him over a storage scroll,

"Follow me."

...