Chapter 12 — Home Invasion: The Darkness of the Ninja World
Yami left the Senju clan grounds thoroughly satisfied.
Before going, he even tossed out a casual Fire Release, burning every piece of training clothing Nawaki had left drying outside down to ashes.
Consider it a friendly reminder—
when it's windy or raining, you bring your clothes in.
Setting aside Nawaki's inevitable confusion, Konoha itself had already exploded into chaos.
Although the process differed slightly from what Yami had envisioned, the final outcome was close enough:
Konoha's ANBU were almost fully mobilized, scouring the village for the audacious "Kaguya clan" assassin.
An assassination attempt inside Konoha was rare to begin with.
But the identity of the target made the incident impossible to suppress.
That was Senju Nawaki—
the last direct heir of the Senju clan.
Even though most of the Senju had long since dispersed and merged into Konoha, as one of the village's two founding great clans, an incident involving Nawaki within the village would cause shockwaves no less than an earthquake.
Watching the ANBU deploy in near-full force, Yami knew—
The moment he'd been waiting for had finally arrived.
Avoiding the commotion, he slipped away from the crowd and once again infiltrated the outskirts of a location he had already surveyed multiple times.
"Root's base… should be right here."
Over the past few days, he had quietly investigated several suspicious sites. This one stood out the most—
the highest volume of "ANBU" traffic, each operative cold-faced and uniformly efficient, more like emotionless machines than humans.
He didn't use any known secret passages.
Instead, he entered directly via Earth Release, sinking into the ground and slipping inside.
Only after truly entering did he realize just how massive the place was.
It was like an inverted Hokage Tower embedded deep underground—
vast, complex, and impossible to fully gauge at a glance.
Even with mental preparation, Yami felt his scalp tingle.
This was Root.
The base wasn't far from the Hokage Tower—if anything, the two seemed almost symbiotic.
No wonder Danzō always managed to appear at the Hokage Tower the moment trouble stirred, ready to "discuss important matters" with Sarutobi Hiruzen.
At the center lay a bottomless vertical shaft.
Around it spread honeycomb-like corridors, winding endlessly into the darkness.
An underground structure of this scale was even more shocking than the Hokage Tower itself.
To claim it had been built without the Hokage's tacit approval would be laughable.
"Heh… so this is where you dream of becoming Hokage."
Time was short.
Yami chose a direction and began scouting. Through Kagura's Mind's Eye, Root's interior personnel count was alarmingly low.
Some had been taken to the front lines by Danzō.
Others had just been pulled out by ANBU.
At present, only two or three ninja remained, handling routine matters. Their movements were completely transparent under Yami's perception.
He slipped casually into an unoccupied sealed chamber, carefully avoiding any reckless searching that might trigger hidden seals or traps.
"Pawn."
---
[Scan complete. Unowned pawnable items detected:]
Intelligence scrolls ×51 — Value: 0
Blank scrolls ×21 — Value: 0
Yami froze.
"…Damn it."
Leaving everything in that room untouched, Yami quietly withdrew and moved on to the next chamber.
---
[Ding! Scrolls containing personnel files ×38… Estimated value: 0]
[Ding! Blank scrolls linked to explosive tags ×20… Estimated value: 0]
[Ding! Scrolls linked to sealing techniques ×10… Estimated value: 0]
"Damn it—Danzō really is rotten to the core," Yami cursed under his breath as he read the system notifications.
He had expected Root to be riddled with traps, but this level of layered deception—real mixed with fake—was downright insidious.
Worried that once the disturbance outside died down the Root operatives would return, Yami decided he couldn't afford to waste any more time.
He chose to take a risk and push deeper into the facility.
At the lowest level, two Root ninja stood guard—one in the open, one hidden. Without Kagura's Mind's Eye, they would have been nearly impossible to detect.
This had to be the core area—perhaps even Danzō's office.
The mutually supporting guard formation made a frontal assault suicidal.
Yami changed tactics, heading instead toward another room guarded by a single Root operative.
Using Transformation Technique, he took on the appearance of a Root ninja he had seen earlier, then deliberately made himself look disheveled and rushed inside, speaking rapidly:
"Something's wrong—an intruder has infiltrated the base!"
The Root ninja handling documents reacted instantly, springing to his feet to assess the situation.
Yami seized the moment, closing the distance as the man was about to reprimand him for breaking protocol.
A hand clamped over the man's mouth.
A sharp bone spike pierced straight through his heart and lungs.
Blood sprayed violently as his life drained away.
Judging by his position, this man was likely a minor commander—but years of desk duty had dulled a ninja's instincts, leaving his vigilance far below standard.
"Pawn."
---
[Ding! Dying Special Jōnin… Estimated value: 20]
[Ding! Unrecorded ninjutsu ×32… Estimated value: 5 each]
[Ding! Unrecorded high-level ninjutsu ×1… Estimated value: 10]
"Pawn the ninjutsu."
[Current Pawn Points: 2060]
"Not bad," Yami murmured, "but the real treasures should still be further down."
Rather than pawning the Root ninja—now unconscious from blood loss—Yami hoisted him up.
He changed his appearance once more and half-carried the man toward the lower level.
Before he could get close, the guards spotted him.
"Halt. Identify yourself. Show your authorization!"
"It's me," Yami replied calmly. "An enemy has infiltrated Konoha. The base has been compromised—saving people comes first."
The guard remained unmoved, coldly demanding credentials and blocking his advance—classic Root behavior, mechanical and emotionless.
Yami suddenly shoved the wounded man forward.
Even a Root operative faltered for an instant at the unexpected move, instinctively catching the blood-soaked comrade.
In that split second—when the guard's line of sight was obstructed—Yami surged forward.
The distance between the three closed to almost nothing.
The hidden Root ninja sensed something wrong first. He burst out from concealment, drawing a short blade and slashing down toward Yami's neck with murderous force.
The strike landed cleanly.
The blade tore through Yami's clothes with ease—
—and yet, something felt wrong.
There was no resistance.
No spray of blood.
The "Yami" that had been struck collapsed instantly, dissolving into a pool of clear water that splashed across the floor.
A Water Clone.
At the same moment, the real Yami rose soundlessly from the damp ground like a specter. His hand seals were already complete, and the words that left his lips were cold and final—like a whisper from the abyss:
"Lightning Release: Earth Flow."
Blinding arcs of electricity erupted, racing wildly along the water spread across the floor, instantly wrapping around the bodies of the three Root ninja.
Paralyzed by the shock, they didn't even manage a grunt before collapsing unconscious to the ground.