It was deep night in Konoha.
The moon was hidden behind heavy cloud cover. Most lights had gone dark. Only a single window still glowed, isolated in the darkness.
Leaves rustled softly in the night wind.
A Root operative, codename "Owl," remained perfectly still among the branches of a tree, eyes fixed on the lit study in the distance.
Through the slats of the blinds, he could see the boy at the desk.
Hyūga Shinya.
Bent forward, writing. A notebook open beneath the lamplight.
According to intelligence, the target had maintained this habit for years.
A diary.
"…Meow."
A faint sound mixed into the insect noise.
"Owl" tensed and turned sharply.
Two shadows moved in the undergrowth. One black. One mottled. Two cats, stacked awkwardly, calling to each other.
"…Tch."
He looked away.
I'm getting jumpy, he thought. It's just a child.
But another image forced itself into his mind.
Kamaitachi.
The severed arm.
The blood.
Never underestimate anyone.
Moments later, Shinya set his pen down. He glanced at the clock, rubbed his reddened eyes, closed the notebook, and left the study.
The bedroom door closed.
The light went out.
Darkness reclaimed the compound.
"Owl" did not move.
Only after hearing steady, distant breathing did he release the sensory seal in his hand and glide down. His movement was soundless, like drifting ash.
The window slid open a fraction.
He entered.
Efficiently, he rolled the notebook into a sealing scroll. The study showed no irregularities. No traps. No anomalies.
Unlike Kamaitachi, he had no intention of assassination.
Extraction only.
Everything was restored exactly as found.
As he climbed back onto the window frame—
"Who's there!"
The shout hit like a hammer.
His pupils constricted.
A split second later, cutting wind screamed behind him.
"Wind Release: Gale Cutter."
—Too fast.
He twisted aside.
A crescent blade of compressed wind tore past his arm. Blood splattered against the wall in a jagged arc.
The line across his shoulder expanded.
Then—
His arm fell.
It struck the floor with a wet sound.
"Owl" bit back a scream, grabbed the window frame, and vanished into the dark without looking back.
He never noticed the black cat perched on a roofbeam. One pale eye followed his escape.
The cat swatted the other aside.
"Take something," a voice murmured, "leave something."
Inside the bedroom, Hyūga Shinya lowered his hands from the seal, faint amusement on his face.
He waited.
Deep underground.
"Owl" entered through a concealed rock face and descended into Root's domain. Moisture clung to stone. Moss crept along the walls. The air was heavy yet familiar.
Safe, his body insisted.
He pressed his bleeding shoulder.
"So he really was dangerous," he thought. No wonder Kamaitachi failed.
The corridor opened into a vast subterranean lab bathed in artificial light.
Observation windows.
Technicians in white coats.
Rows of cryogenic containers filled with preserved biological material.
Organs. Tissue samples. Unknown growths suspended in green solution.
At the center, before reinforced glass, stood Shimura Danzō.
His visible eye was flat and cold.
He was not watching the personnel.
He was watching the specimen.
A thumb-sized mass of pallid tissue.
First Hokage cells.
A technician turned away from the table and shook his head.
Danzō's expression darkened. His hand moved unconsciously to the bandaged arm.
"Useless," he muttered. "Without Orochimaru, you can't do anything."
The cells continued their slow corrosion.
Danzō's arm was already failing. Even the Sharingan implants were losing effectiveness.
If Kō weren't stolen by Sarutobi…
He turned as "Owl" knelt beside him, presenting the scroll with trembling hands.
"Danzō-sama."
The smell of blood reached him first.
"…Another arm?"
Danzō accepted the scroll, waved him away.
"Owl" retreated for treatment.
Danzō unsealed the notebook.
Page by page, he read.
Nothing special. Mundane entries. Routine grief. Gradual fixation on strength.
A boy reshaped by loss.
Good.
Then his eyes stopped.
[If a tree seeks light above, its roots must dig deeper into the dark below.]
The page crackled softly in the silence.
SYSTEM LOG
[Evaluation Complete][Deception Type: Rhetorical Alignment][Target: Shimura Danzō][Emotional Response: Identification][Reward Granted: 400 Units]
In a dark room aboveground, Shinya smiled faintly.
"Manifest ninjutsu," he whispered. "Lightning Release: Chakra Armor."
[Cost: 1000 Units][Manifestation Confirmed][Remaining Units: 10593]
He lay back.
Memories flooded in. Sensation patterns. Chakra distribution schemas.
Before sleep claimed him, another thought surfaced.
If techniques can be manifested… what about other systems?
Direct import was impossible. He had tested that.
Different worlds. Different rules.
But—
What if I build it from pieces that already exist?
Soul. Body. Chakra. Natural energy.
A constructed framework.
He would need a theorist.
He smiled.
"Orochimaru-sensei… work a little harder for me."