The past five days passed in relative calm, the kind that made shinobi nervous. Ryosuke and Kushina, whether by instinct or unspoken agreement, kept to public spaces—markets, training grounds, the library, even the bustling mess halls. Never alone, never isolated.
But that morning, Ryosuke walked out of the Senju estate alone. No one stopped him. No one followed—not visibly, anyway. He headed toward the forest just outside Konoha's eastern border, a place he hadn't visited in weeks.
Word traveled faster than he did.
At the Foundation headquarters, Danzo's fingers twitched against the wood of his desk, his lone eye narrowing. The report had been subtle—just a single sentence embedded in a longer debriefing—but it caught his attention instantly.
"Ryosuke Uzumaki was seen leaving for the eastern woods alone."
Danzo leaned back, silent. He didn't act immediately. Instead, he let the idea settle.
Was it a coincidence? Was it carelessness? Or was it... intentional?
A test? A trap?
His mind weighed the possibilities, distrust as natural to him as breathing. Something felt off, their walking habits changed these past five days and now suddenly Ryosuke is going alone towards the forest?
Meanwhile, in the rustling quiet of the forest, Ryosuke stood still beneath the trees. The breeze pulled at his sleeves, cool and soft.
' He must be thinking something like that.'Ryosuke thought
He turned his gaze toward the sky, expression unreadable.
'But he can't help himself. The temptation's too strong. He'll strike. If not today, then soon. That's the kind of man he is.'
A faint smirk touched his lips.
"And when he does… I'll be ready."
---
Ryosuke trained from dusk till nearly dawn, the hours slipping away in silence. His movements were sharp, focused—each strike, each seal, each breath building his rhythm. He didn't hold back. There was no point.
When his body finally began to slow, he let it. The stillness of fatigue wrapped around him like a cold shawl. He dropped to the grass and sat cross-legged, sweat glistening on his brow, chest rising and falling in long, controlled breaths.
The sky bled orange and violet as the sun dipped behind the trees.
Then it happened.
The silence grew too pure. The chirping birds quieted. The rustle of insects disappeared. All that remained was the wind brushing through leaves, as if nature itself was holding its breath.
He slowly turned his head.
Surrounded.
ANBU—Root—stepped from the trees, their masks reflecting the dying light. They were in position.
Some had already closed the distance. He could sense it.
But one presence dwarfed the rest.
A thick, coiled life force—older, heavier, and steeped in suppressed violence—pressed against the edge of his awareness. Ryosuke didn't need to guess.
Danzo Shimura stepped forward, flanked by two masked elites.
"I'm afraid you'll need to come with us," Danzo said, voice cool. "You're to be questioned regarding the disappearance of two shinobi."
Ryosuke didn't move. "Do you have an order or evidence?"
Danzo's eye narrowed. "As the Hokage advisor, I have the authority to detain and interrogate in sensitive matters."
Ryosuke tilted his head. "So you're not a Hokage. And you don't have an order."
A brief silence followed.
Danzo's hands twitched behind his cloak.
That hit the mark.
He had always hated being reminded of the title he never got.
"Restrain him," Danzo snapped.
The Root agents rushed in.
The first wave—lower-tier operatives—were easily dispatched. Ryosuke's movements were a blur of precision, disabling them without killing. But then came the jonin-level specialists, striking from the shadows in hit-and-run patterns, throwing him off balance.
His breathing grew heavier.
They were trying to exhaust him. And it was working.
A few came in close, chakra-enhanced speed breaking through his defenses. He dodged narrowly, blood tracing a line along his ribs from a glancing blow.
More closed in.
Then Ryosuke moved. His hand slammed into the ground.
"Adamantine Sealing Chains."
Golden chakra flared as the chains erupted, spiraling out like divine serpents. The surrounding Root jonin leapt away—except one. He wasn't fast enough.
By a sliver, the chain wrapped around his leg. In one smooth motion, he pulled the agent forward, caught him mid-air, and drove a kunai into his throat.
The mask cracked as he fell limp.
Danzo's eye twitched. "He was an elite. It takes years to raise one."
He made a subtle hand gesture.
A squad split: some to suppress the sealing chains, the others to close in fast.
But Ryosuke was already moving—backwards. Every strike, every dodge, took him a few feet farther from the center. A slow, deliberate retreat.
He reached a subtly marked patch of soil.
Now.
A hand seal.
The ground exploded.
Dozens of paper bombs hidden beneath the earth ignited in a flash. The squad near the sealing chains were thrown into the air, flames tearing through their formation.
Smoke clouded the battlefield.
But it wasn't enough.
The remaining jonin pushed through. Stronger. Faster. And this time, they came in hard.
He willed the chains to come close, so that he can have just a bit of breathing space but it was too late and he was too overwhelmed.
One pinned his right arm.
Another struck his knee.
A third locked his left wrist, twisting it behind his back.
Ryosuke growled, chakra flaring—but too little, too late. The exhaustion, the numbers, the timing—they had planned for this.
---
Ryosuke's head hung low, limbs bound by chakra-suppressing restraints. Dirt clung to his face, blood trailing down his jaw, his robes torn and stained. He felt the seal burning into his skin—a crude attempt to break his will.
Danzo stood before him, lips curling into a satisfied smile.
"You resisted very hard," he said, tilting his head mockingly. "But it was futile. In the end… you still got captured."
Ryosuke lifted his face, his eyes glowing faintly with suppressed fury. "But not before I killed your people."
Danzo's smile faltered for a heartbeat—but then returned, colder. He stepped closer, hand glowing with the chakra for a sealing ritual.
"You will be useful," he said, as the seal began to crawl over Ryosuke's skin like ink on parchment. "Welcome to Root. Your talents will finally serve the greater good… of Konoha."
He turned and walked away, cloak rustling in the wind, his remaining subordinates falling in behind.
He had taken a powerful pawn. A perfect weapon.
But then—
A flicker.
A pulse.
An alarm inside his gut.
Danzo's eye widened as a small, dense red chakra sphere hurtled toward him—crackling, compressed, and humming with power. He leapt to the side at the last second.
It detonated.
The blast tore through the clearing, engulfing his escorts in an instant. Limbs, masks, and blood scattered into the trees.
Smoke and silence.
Danzo rolled to his feet, singed and shaken, eyes wild.
"Who dares—?!" he barked. "Show yourself!"
Then he saw her.
Floating slightly above the ground, red chakra bleeding out like a mist around her… stood Mito Uzumaki. Her face was stone. Her presence, terrifying.
She didn't say her name. She didn't need to.
Danzo felt it in his bones.
"Mito-sama…" he managed, eyes flicking to Ryosuke's broken body. "I was merely… investigating. Two shinobi went missing. I needed his statement."
Her voice was low. Cold. "Does 'investigating' involve beating a boy within an inch of his life?"
She took a step forward.
Danzo stepped back.
Another step.
He prepared to fight.
For just a moment, as the red aura crackled around her, he thought he saw someone else.
And then he did.
Beside Mito, appearing with a flicker of chakra, was Hiruzen Sarutobi, flanked by numerous ANBU. His face held no anger—only sorrow. And disappointment.
"Danzo…"
Danzo's mask cracked. He reached out. "Hiruzen! Help me!"
But Hiruzen didn't move.
Mito-sama came.
Danzo brought up his arm to defend. Her strike shattered his guard and sent him skidding across the clearing, cloak torn, blood spilling from his mouth.
He staggered upright, heart pounding, chakra spinning out of control.
But it didn't stop there, Danzo tried to use his Wind release to send Wind slashes towards Mito-sama but she brite forced her way through it, coming close in a blur towards Danzo, where she held Danzo by his chest, punched his head and then finally kicked him in the chest, sending Danzo skidding, his chest having caved in.
Hiruzen stepped forward, raising a hand. "Mito-sama, that's enough. Please, let me handle this."
She didn't stop.
The next blow came even harder.
And Hiruzen took it—intercepting the strike mid-air.
The impact sent the Hokage flying, crashing through a tree. He coughed up blood as he rose again, steadying himself. "I will… handle this, I'll make sure to give you a satisfactory answer.", he said, voice low but firm.
The ANBU behind him looked pale. Trembling. No one dared step in.
Mito's eyes narrowed. Her fury had not cooled.
"You'd better," she said, her voice sharp and cold as steel. "I'll be watching, Hokage."
But for some reason, she let them go easy.
She turned to Ryosuke, still bound and bleeding.
With a simple flick of her chakra, the chakra suppressing ropes burned away. Ryosuke collapsed, gasping, but conscious.
She caught him.
And without another word, she vanished with him into the forest, leaving behind silence and ash.