The Root Ten—Root's strongest elite—were a ten-man assassination unit led by three of Root's top shinobi: Aburame Torune, Aburame Ryōma, and Yamanaka Fū. Legend said that if the ten struck together, they could wipe out a small village in a single night.
If Root was Konoha's darkness, then the Root Ten were that darkness's mightiest executors!
At a single command from Danzō, the Root Ten were already in motion, each taking position.
Around the Uzumaki compound, Root's eyes and ears were everywhere.
At the compound gate, a wooden-faced child poked ants with a twig. Look closer—the twig in his hand had a tiny fresh bud sprouting at its tip.
Inside the courtyard, Night Maple lay in bed, staring at his status panel.
[Name: Night Maple]
[Power: Ordinary jōnin]
[Rank: Genin]
[Character Card: SSS-rank Hashirama Senju (Fusion 5.79%)]
[Kekkei Genkai: God-tier Wood Release (from character card)]
[Ninjutsu: Flying Thunder God Technique Lv3, Impure World Reincarnation Lv3, Lightning Release: Chidori Lv1]
"The Hashirama Senju character card is too strong—at just 5% fusion, I'm already at elite jōnin level."
But on second thought, that was only natural—Hashirama was the God of Shinobi, a peer to Uchiha Madara.
At his peak, Madara had soloed the Five Kage; that means 20% of his power exceeded a single Kage-class.
So 5% of Hashirama being comparable to an ordinary jōnin wasn't unreasonable.
On top of that, Night Maple had inherited all of Hashirama's ninjutsu.
His combat experience had been fully replicated as well.
The system rated him an ordinary jōnin based on his current chakra reserves and skill levels.
In reality, Night Maple felt that even elite jōnin wouldn't be his match.
"Originally it would've taken a year to go from 5% fusion to 100%. Now, at twenty times the speed, that's eighteen days?"
"That pace is fine—pretty nice, actually."
Just then, there was a knock at the door.
"Night Maple."
It was Kushina.
The door opened; Kushina had changed clothes—a blue dress, red hair that made her skin look especially fair.
"All set? It's still early—how about we go see Minato? He was hurt the other night."
"Uh, how bad is it—do I need to pay damages?"
Kushina blinked, then giggled. "It's not that you beat him up—well, you did—but after that, I heard the Raikage came to extract the Cloud sleepers, and tried to capture Minato's team."
"There was something like that?"
"Yeah. Luckily, Lord Orochimaru arrived in time and pulled Minato and the others from the Raikage."
"I heard Lord Orochimaru was injured too, but this morning he didn't seem worse for wear…"
Only then did Night Maple realize Orochimaru had been hurt last night—no wonder he'd seemed weak.
Looked at that way, Orochimaru's strength was still there.
But by the time Orochimaru healed up, Night Maple's fusion would be nearly complete.
Even with just a week, he could push past 30%—handling Orochimaru would be easy.
"Night Maple, let's visit Minato and Senior Sakumo. They were saving me, after all."
[Ding, please make your choice!]
[Option One: Happily go to the hospital to visit Minato and gain his friendship! Reward: C-rank ninjutsu—Senbon Like Raindrops.]
[Option Two: Refuse outright and send Kushina away! Reward: Kushina Affection −10; B-rank Summoning—Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique.]
[Option Three: Go another day. I, Night Maple, am staying home to be a salted fish today! Reward: Hashirama Senju card fusion speed ×10; B-rank taijutsu—Front Lotus.]
Looks like the system wants me to keep being a salted fish…
Night Maple glanced at Kushina and lay right back down.
"I'm a little sleepy today. We'll go another time—Minato won't be discharged that fast."
Kushina planted her fists on her hips, fuming. "Night Maple, why are you so lazy!"
"C'mon, I'm sleepy!"
Stomping her foot in anger, Kushina marched out.
Hearing Kushina say Night Maple was sleeping again, Uzumaki Mito shook her head—she'd truly never seen anyone so lazy.
Then a thought struck her. "Kushina, do you think Night Maple might be unwell after awakening his kekkei genkai?"
Kushina had been furious, but at those words she started to worry. "Granny Mito, what should we do?"
Uzumaki Mito pondered. "Let's have Shizune take a look—she's just gotten back."
Tsunade wasn't in Konoha, and Shizune—her granddaughter Tsunade's direct disciple—was the one Mito trusted most now.
...
In the room.
Night Maple lay in bed—even sleeping leveled up his skills.
Such is the dull, flavorless life of a salted fish.
Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.
"Who is it?"
He opened it to see the old lady and Kushina—and a little loli—standing there.
"This is…"
"Night Maple, you didn't look well to me, so I brought someone to examine you."
"This is Lady Tsunade's disciple, Shizune."
Shizune?
Tsunade's disciple?
This little loli?
So cute!
Night Maple had a faint impression now.
Shizune nodded, eyeing Night Maple with curiosity.
She'd been about to leave Konoha—every few months she returned to gather the latest news, and while she was at it to fetch some funds for her master.
This time, she'd come back just in time to hear about the Cloud sleepers kidnapping Kushina and the Raikage and Eight-Tails slipping into the Land of Fire.
Naturally, she'd also heard of Night Maple.
When Shizune learned Night Maple might be injured, or otherwise unwell, she rushed over without hesitation.
Her first words on seeing him were: "Night Maple-kun, take off your clothes and let me have a look…"