Aburame Ryoma's target wasn't Simu, but Hanzo, who was barely clinging to life.
As long as Hanzo's brain was destroyed, no one would be able to prove the connection between Root and Hanzo.
Lord Danzo would avoid being charged with betraying the village by trying to assassinate a hero.
With this in mind, Aburame Ryoma's gaze hardened with resolve.
For Root operatives, Lord Danzo was everything.
"You want to destroy the evidence?"
Simu raised his mace in one hand, and Conqueror's Haki erupted in a surge of dark red lightning.
"Overlord's Wrath!"
A terrifying thunder pillar shot out, devouring all the necrotic insects in an instant.
Under such terrifying energy, the insects were reduced to ash in less than a second.
But the thunder didn't stop—it continued to roar through the air and blasted straight toward Aburame Ryoma.
In an instant, a dozen Root ninjas appeared at Ryoma's side.
Countless earthen walls rose up, barely managing to block Simu's casual blow.
"If you all want to cover up the truth, then don't blame me for being ruthless."
As the words fell, Simu vanished from view.
"So fast!"
Aburame Ryoma's pupils contracted sharply.
Simu reappeared in the middle of the Root formation.
The mace in his hand crackled with thunder as it came crashing down.
Boom!
The ground shattered instantly, and the shockwave blasted all the Root ninjas away.
Aburame Ryoma released countless bugs from his body to shield himself, barely stabilizing his stance.
But the next second, Simu was in front of him.
With a flash of light, Simu's foot came crashing down.
Ryoma's iron beetles shifted forward like a shield, trying to block the blow.
These insects, nourished on iron ore, had incredibly tough bodies—strong enough to withstand ordinary attacks.
But against Simu, they were useless.
That terrifying speed carried unstoppable force.
Simu's golden kick pierced straight through the beetle shield like a divine spear, stomping Aburame Ryoma deep into the earth.
The other Root ninjas rushed forward to help, but Jiraiya was faster.
As Simu's teacher, Jiraiya trusted him completely.
Not to mention, he had no fondness for the Root division to begin with.
"Root operatives, if you don't want Danzo's name to be utterly disgraced, then back down now!"
Jiraiya warned sternly.
As the current commander of the Konoha army, his words held significant weight.
However, Aburame Ryoma clearly had no intention of surrendering.
If Hanzo was brought back to Konoha alive, the consequences for Danzo could be catastrophic.
Root itself might even face annihilation.
But Ryoma knew he couldn't defeat both Simu and Jiraiya.
There was only one option left.
"I accept the order—eliminate Hanzo at all costs!"
With that, he tore off his clothes.
His upper body revealed five sealing marks—four on the sides, and one in the center of his chest.
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed sharply. With his knowledge of sealing techniques, he immediately recognized it.
The Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique!
A forbidden seal comparable to the Reaper Death Seal—only activated upon the user's death.
People always said Root ninjas were insane. Now, it was undeniably true.
Blood trickled from Ryoma's mouth as his body began to swell unnaturally.
Then—boom!
His body exploded violently.
The hexagram seals left his body and etched themselves into the air.
The boundless resentment within his body condensed into pure darkness and surged outward.
"Run!!" Jiraiya shouted in alarm.
Simu didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Jiraiya by the shoulders and disappeared in a flash of light.
The ink-like darkness rapidly devoured everything around it—
Ground. Air. Stone...
Everything was swallowed by the corrosive darkness.
A pitch-black sphere expanded outward, reaching over ten meters in diameter.
Anyone within that radius would be completely sealed away from the world.
Rather than a sealing jutsu, it was more like a catastrophic suicide technique.
Simu reappeared in the distance with Jiraiya.
"That was too close… almost died there."
Simu exhaled deeply and patted his chest, still shaken.
Jiraiya rolled his eyes and said angrily,
"With your speed, even if the range of the Lisixiang seal expanded fivefold, it still wouldn't be able to catch your silver tail."
Rei scratched his head.
"Let's clean up the rest of these Root ninjas first."
His gaze turned sharp and dangerous.
Knowing the situation was hopeless, the Root ninjas quickly fled toward the surrounding forest.
After all, if even their deputy commander Aburame Ryoma's Lisixiang sealing technique couldn't do anything to Rei, then staying would only mean throwing away their lives. Better to stay alive and return to serve Danzo-sama.
Some made desperate charges toward Katsuyu, hoping to kill half of the slug clone in a last-ditch effort.
Unfortunately, none of it mattered under Rei's Observation Haki.
Laser-like beams pierced the air—
Like a sniper, they struck each ninja in the head, one after another.
In the end, only five were left alive.
The three students inside the cage exchanged glances, terror gripping their hearts.
If we weren't Jiraiya-sensei's students… would we have been killed just like those ninjas?
"Rei, don't worry. I'll definitely report this to Lord Third and demand justice!"
Jiraiya looked at his student with a complicated expression.
As a teacher, watching his students suffer such injustice… he couldn't just let it go.
Rei simply shrugged indifferently.
That old man Hiruzen never gave him much confidence.
With that guy's personality, at most he'd give Danzo a verbal warning. Maybe not even strip his authority over Root.
Counting on the Third Hokage?
Better to rely on himself.
As for the Revolutionary Army… it wasn't the time to fight them yet.
First, the internal affairs of Konoha had to be handled.
The fierce battle vanished like a dream.
Jiraiya's once-menacing squad returned to the village.
Meanwhile, deep within the Hidden Leaf…
Danzo was furious.
He hadn't lost his temper like this in years—not since founding Root.
"Hanzo and Ōnoki! Those two old fossils! Over ten thousand ninjas between them—plus the two of them—and they still couldn't kill a mere Hanyu Rei!"
He slammed his cane against the floor with a sharp crack.
The sheer force snapped it in half.
Leaning back in his seat, his face twisted in fury.
"Killing him is one thing, but Hanzo actually allowed himself to fall into Rei's hands!"
As the leader of Rain Shinobi, Hanzo didn't even have a cursed seal placed on him.
If he were captured and interrogated by the Yamanaka Clan, the plot between Danzo and the Rain Village to assassinate a Konoha war hero would be exposed.
And that's not even the worst of it.
Even the truth about Danzo abducting civilians from the Land of Rain for human experimentation could be revealed.
Once Anbu began digging deeper, more secrets might come to light.
Danzo's chest heaved as he tried to suppress his anger.
But years of political maneuvering had taught him how to stay calm under pressure.
Rage wouldn't fix anything.
Sitting down, he tapped the armrest of his chair slowly.
"Inform Orochimaru. Tell him... if one of us falls, the other falls with him."
He slowly stood, replaced his broken cane with a new one, and began walking toward the Hokage Office.
His orders were swift. The Root ninja disappeared into the shadows.
In Orochimaru's laboratory…
After hearing the report from the Root ninja, Orochimaru narrowed his golden snake-like eyes.
The air grew cold with his rising bloodlust.
Even the Root ninja—trained to face death—felt a shiver of fear.
"I understand. You may leave."
After the ninja departed, Orochimaru let out a low hiss, snake-like.
"So… Danzo wants to drag me down with him?"
He stood and began packing up the lab with practiced speed.
Important research notes were sealed into scrolls.
As for his more valuable experiments—they had long been transferred to his secondary base outside of Konoha.
"It's finally happening… Though not ideal, the timing is acceptable."
He stood atop the laboratory roof, gazing out over Konoha and the Hokage Monument in the distance.
This was the village he had grown up in.
Once, he too had been a believer in the Will of Fire.
He had dreamed of becoming Hokage like his teacher, Sarutobi.
He had once dedicated himself wholly to Konoha.
But that was long ago.
With age—and through countless missions and battlefield experience—he had seen the world's true nature.
The so-called Will of Fire? Nothing more than empty rhetoric.
The Hokage title? A tool of political compromise.
This world was dark.
Life… far too fragile.
That's why Orochimaru had chosen the path of no return.
The path of human experimentation.
He sought the truth of ninjutsu.
The truth of the world.
But human bodies were too weak.
They barely lived past seventy or eighty years.
That wasn't enough time.
So Orochimaru turned to immortality.
Only by living forever could he continue his research.
Only then could he reach the pinnacle of all ninjutsu.
He let out a sigh.
"It's time to leave."
Yes, Konoha had protected him.
But it also chained him.
To pursue immortality, human experimentation was necessary.
And his teacher, the Third Hokage, had explicitly banned such practices.
So, he had no choice.
Only by leaving Konoha could he finally be free—
Free to advance his research without restraint.
Danzo's crisis had simply handed him the perfect excuse.
"Still… before I leave, I'll need to take a few things with me."
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