WebNovels

Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: Roots Exposed in the Council's Shadow

The heavy silence that followed Naruto's declaration in the Hokage's office was thicker than the lingering rain clouds. Tsunade's fist remained clenched on the desk, knuckles white, her gaze locked onto Naruto's Rinnegan with a mixture of profound shock and dawning, terrible understanding. Kakashi stood rigid beside her, his visible eye wide behind the hitai-ate, the Sharingan subtly active, scanning, analyzing the impossible reality before him. Shizune hovered near the door, her face pale, hands trembling slightly where they clutched a medical chart, forgotten.

Naruto felt the weight of their stares, the disbelief, the burgeoning fear. He felt the Rinnegan's gnawing hunger intensify, feeding on the volatile emotional energy in the room. The journey, the confrontation at the gate, the strain of maintaining control – it had pushed him to the precipice. He swayed almost imperceptibly, the world tilting at the edges of his vision, the cold drain in his core deepening. He needed to land the blow before he collapsed.

"Blind?" Tsunade finally found her voice, low and dangerous, a tremor beneath the steel. "You storm in here wearing the eyes of the man who destroyed this village, spouting prophecies of doom, and call *us* blind?" She slammed her fist down again, a crack spiderwebbing across the polished wood. "Explain yourself, Uzumaki! And it better be good, or by the Sage, I'll have you restrained until you make sense!"

Naruto didn't flinch. He met her furious gaze, the swirling purple voids unwavering. "The explanation," he rasped, his voice scraping raw, "is walking these very halls. Right now. Plotting how to bury this truth." He deliberately shifted his gaze past Tsunade, past Kakashi, towards the heavy, ornate doors leading to the council chambers. "Call them. Call *him*. Danzō Shimura. And the elders who pull his strings. Let them hear what I saw. Let them explain why they kept the *real* enemy hidden while Konoha bled."

A ripple of shock passed through the room. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed sharply. "Danzō? Naruto, what does the Foundation have to do with—"

"Everything," Naruto cut him off, his voice gaining a sliver of strength fueled by cold fury. "They knew. They've *always* known. About the threat beyond the stars. About the Otsutsuki. And they did nothing. Worse than nothing. They hoarded knowledge. They sabotaged alliances. They fostered division, all for their own grasp on power, while the true storm gathered." He took a shuddering breath, the effort visible. "Nagato was a puppet. A broken tool manipulated by Obito Uchiha… who was *himself* a pawn of Madara… who served Kaguya's will. A chain of manipulation stretching back centuries, all leading to the harvest Danzō and his ilk *knew* was coming but chose to ignore. Because they thought *they* could control it. Or profit from it."

Tsunade's fury momentarily eclipsed by stunned disbelief. "Kaguya? The Rabbit Goddess? That's a myth, a—"

"She walked the earth," Naruto interrupted, his voice dropping to a chilling whisper. The phantom image of that perfect, indifferent face, the Rinne-Sharingan glowing coldly, flashed before his inner eye. "She tore Konoha apart. She killed them all. And she is *not* alone. Others come. Stronger. Hungrier. Danzō knew. His Root agents scoured ancient ruins, stole forbidden scrolls. They *knew* the signs. They tracked Obito's movements, they knew Madara's return wasn't just a ghost story. And they did *nothing* to prepare the village. They let Pain attack. They let Konoha burn. Because chaos weakens the Hokage's seat. Because in the ashes, *Root* grows stronger."

The accusation hung in the air, monstrous, almost too large to grasp. Kakashi's Sharingan spun faster, processing, cross-referencing fragmented intelligence reports, Danzō's known maneuvers, the sheer, chilling conviction in Naruto's ravaged voice. It fit. Horrifyingly well.

"Proof," Tsunade demanded, her voice tight. Her fists were still clenched, but the fury was now mixed with a dawning, sickening dread. "You make an accusation that could tear this village apart, Uzumaki. Where is your proof?"

Naruto's lips twisted in a grim approximation of a smile. "Proof is buried deep. In Root's vaults. In Danzō's arm. In the minds of his brainwashed agents." He paused, the Rinnegan pulsing faintly. "But there is one piece even he cannot hide completely. Ask him… about the Uchiha massacre." He locked eyes with Kakashi. "Ask him why Itachi Uchiha, the perfect spy, the loyal Konoha shinobi who slaughtered his clan on *orders*, was driven to become a missing nin. Ask him what role Root played in stoking the flames of Uchiha resentment. Ask him… what *eye* he gained from Shisui Uchiha's corpse."

Kakashi went utterly still. The name 'Shisui' struck him like a physical blow. The Kotoamatsukami. The ultimate genjutsu. Danzō… possessing it? The implications were staggering, monstrous.

"Enough!" The voice, cold, authoritative, cut through the tension like a blade. The heavy council doors swung open. Danzō Shimura stood there, leaning heavily on his cane, flanked by the two elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado. Their faces were masks of stern disapproval, but Danzō's single visible eye was fixed on Naruto with an intensity that bordered on predatory. "This is treasonous rambling! The ravings of a boy clearly traumatized and corrupted by the enemy's power!"

"Corrupted?" Naruto turned slowly, deliberately, to face Danzō. The Rinnegan seemed to blaze as they locked onto the old war hawk. The drain intensified, a sharp stab of pain behind his eyes, but he forced himself upright. "Says the man who wears stolen eyes like trophies. The man who sowed discord within Konoha's own walls while preaching unity. The man who knew the Otsutsuki were coming… and built his private army instead of warning the village."

Danzō's eye narrowed. "Preposterous lies! Hokage-sama," he turned to Tsunade, his voice dripping with feigned concern, "this boy is dangerous. The Rinnegan has clearly driven him mad. He must be contained immediately, for his own safety and the village's! His connection to the Nine-Tails makes him an unacceptable risk!"

"Contained?" Tsunade's voice was dangerously low. Her gaze flickered between Naruto's chilling certainty and Danzō's practiced outrage. The pieces Naruto offered, however outlandish, resonated with her own deep-seated distrust of the Council elder. "Like you contained the truth about the Uchiha, Danzō? Like you contained Root's activities outside the Hokage's authority?" She stood tall, her chakra flaring subtly, a warning. "Uzumaki Naruto stands accused of nothing but speaking uncomfortable truths. You, however… you will answer his charges. Now. Before this council."

Homura Mitokado cleared his throat, his voice reedy. "Tsunade, this is highly irregular. The word of a traumatized genin, bearing the enemy's eyes, against a respected elder and war hero…"

"Respected?" Naruto's laugh was a dry, humorless rasp. It sent a fresh wave of dizziness through him, but he pressed on. "Respected for what? For sacrificing Konoha shinobi like pawns? For letting children die in his 'experiments'? For hoarding power while the village burned?" He took a step towards the council members, his Rinnegan sweeping over their aged faces. "You sat in comfort while Nagato rained destruction. You whispered in shadows while Danzō poisoned Konoha from within. Your 'wisdom' is stagnation. Your 'caution' is cowardice. And your blindness… will get everyone killed."

Koharu Utatane's lips thinned. "You overstep, boy. Your… condition… does not give you license for such disrespect."

"Disrespect?" Naruto's voice dropped to a near whisper, yet it carried with chilling clarity. "You mistake clarity for disrespect. I see the rot. I see the roots strangling this village. And I see the storm on the horizon that will wash it all away if the rot isn't burned out." He turned his gaze back to Danzō, the swirling purple rings seeming to pin the old man in place. "Starting with him."

Danzō's eye flashed with cold fury, quickly masked. "Hokage-sama! I demand this slanderous attack cease! His possession of the Rinnegan is an existential threat! He must be subdued and the eyes secured for Konoha's safety!" He subtly shifted his weight, his cane tapping the floor. A signal.

Shadows detached themselves from the corners of the room, from behind tapestries – Root ANBU, their masks blank, their movements silent and lethal. Four of them, forming a loose circle around Naruto, kunai drawn, chakra thrumming with deadly intent. Kakashi instantly shifted, placing himself partially between Tsunade and the Root agents, his Sharingan spinning rapidly, hand hovering near his kunai pouch. Yamato materialized near the door, wooden tendrils subtly snaking from his sleeves.

The office, already tense, snapped into a hair-trigger standoff. Tsunade's face was granite. "Stand down, Root! This is the Hokage's office! You move without *my* authority!"

"Apologies, Hokage-sama," Danzō said, his voice smooth as oil. "But the threat posed by the Jinchūriki and the Rinnegan supersedes protocol. We act to preserve Konoha."

Naruto watched the Root agents, his Rinnegan dissecting their stances, their chakra flows. Predators. Tools. He felt no fear, only a cold calculation. He was exhausted, the Rinnegan's drain a constant agony, his reserves critically low. Fighting them here, now, was suicide. But surrender was worse. It meant trusting Danzō's 'containment'. It meant losing his only weapon.

He locked eyes with Danzō again. The old man's gaze held a flicker of triumph, quickly hidden. He thought he had won. He thought the cornered beast would lash out blindly, giving him the justification he needed.

Naruto's lips curved into the faintest, coldest smile. Not of defiance, but of chilling certainty.

"You want the eyes, Danzō?" Naruto rasped, his voice barely above a whisper, yet cutting through the silent tension. He raised a hand, not in aggression, but slowly, deliberately, towards his own face, his fingertips brushing just below the swirling purple rings. The Root agents tensed, kunai poised. Danzō's eye narrowed, watching intently.

"Come and take them," Naruto breathed, the challenge hanging in the electrified air. "If you dare face what they've seen. If you dare look into the future I walked through. If you think your stolen eyes and your shadow games can stand against what's coming."

He lowered his hand slowly. He didn't break eye contact. He stood, a lone, battered figure encircled by silent killers, facing down the entrenched power of Konoha's shadows, radiating a chilling promise of fire and blood that made even the battle-hardened Root agents hesitate for a fraction of a second. The storm hadn't reached Konoha yet, but its dark herald stood in the Hokage's office, exposing the rot at its core, and daring the roots to try and bury him. The battle for Konoha's soul, and its future, had just begun, not on a battlefield, but in the heart of its power, amidst accusations, ancient secrets, and the chilling gaze of the Rinnegan.

More Chapters