Naruto: The Uchiha They Should Have Killed

That night, the moon shone brightly in a cloudless sky above Konohagakure, as if the entire world had grown a little brighter.

Konoha Elder Shimura Danzō, after losing the Hokage election, had launched a coup and was captured on the spot by the Konoha Military Police Force.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, along with the other two elders, had been gravely wounded and were currently receiving treatment at Konoha Hospital.

Although the election ceremony for the Fourth Hokage had ended in what could only be described as chaos—

most of Konoha's civilian population was left anxious and uneasy.

However, the major ninja clans and the majority of Konoha's shinobi were not particularly nervous. In fact, many of them felt strangely relieved.

This was likely because two pieces of news had already spread:

Shimura Danzō had been imprisoned.

Namikaze Minato had effectively secured the position of Fourth Hokage.

Inside one of Root's secret bases in Konoha.

After working nonstop for most of the day, Uchiha Ren and Yakushi Nono led a group of Uchiha members from the Konoha Military Police Force through a dim underground corridor.

Nono spoke as she guided them.

"This is the last Root base inside the village. Its main purpose was to cultivate various types of personnel for Root."

Earlier that morning, after handing over the remaining affairs of the Hokage election to Shikaku Nara , Ren had led the Military Police in sealing Root bases throughout the village and collecting evidence of Danzō's crimes.

Since Danzō had already been imprisoned—and most of Root's elite forces had died inside the Four Violet Flames Formation—

only a handful of members remained scattered across the bases.

Furthermore, with Yakushi Nono, a former Root operative, guiding them—and Ren carrying an official directive signed by the Hokage—

the operation faced little resistance.

One by one, they successfully took control of all of Root's secret facilities.

Of course, there had still been resistance.

Danzō's core subordinates—such as Aburame Ryōma, Yamanaka Fū, and Shigaraki Tanuki—remained fiercely loyal to him.

But Ren had no intention of showing mercy to such people.

He simply sent them ahead—

to wait for Danzō in the afterlife.

"Various types of personnel?" Ren asked with some confusion.

"Root claims to be a training ground for ANBU, a place to cultivate elite operatives. Other than creating emotionless tools for missions, what else would they train?"

Nono shook her head slightly.

"That's not entirely accurate."

"Root required many different kinds of talent—intelligence operatives, spies, researchers, interrogators, and more. Combat personnel weren't the only thing they needed."

After a brief pause, she sighed softly.

"To be honest, if Root's training methods hadn't been so cold and brutal, their system for cultivating talent would actually be quite impressive."

The reason Yakushi Nono had been known as the "Wandering Shrine Maiden", able to move between villages gathering intelligence without ever failing, wasn't solely due to her own exceptional espionage talent.

Root's training had played a major role.

Of course—

Nono would have preferred never to have experienced that training at all.

Ren nodded.

"Root's intelligence network really is powerful, and that strength comes from the efforts of its personnel."

"Nono… I know you don't like this kind of work, but if possible, I hope you can help me bring Root's intelligence network under control as soon as possible."

"You came from here. With your help, we can avoid a lot of trouble."

Truthfully, if Root's intelligence system weren't so critical, Ren would never have asked her.

In the past, Nono had nearly collapsed under the pressure of her many identities.

Only after caring for the orphans under her protection had she slowly found redemption and escaped that darkness.

Asking her to take charge of intelligence work again would inevitably force her to relive those memories.

It would certainly be painful.

But the intelligence network of Root had been built entirely by Shimura Danzō.

Now that Danzō had fallen, if they didn't quickly bring that network under control, countless undercover agents within it might defect.

Root's intelligence network and the village's official intelligence system were technically separate—but still deeply intertwined.

If Root's network collapsed, it could drag the village's intelligence operations down with it.

The resulting losses could be enormous.

Most importantly—

seizing control of an intelligence network was not something that could be done through brute force.

And Yakushi Nono, with her exceptional intelligence skills and years of experience within Root, was undoubtedly the best candidate for the task.

Nono smiled slightly.

"You're overestimating how fragile I am."

"And this task may not be as difficult as you think."

Ren looked at her curiously.

"What do you mean?"

Nono explained:

"Under Danzō's iron-fisted rule and relentless indoctrination, there are indeed many within Root who are absolutely loyal to him."

"But those people are actually the minority within the intelligence network—especially among the frontline agents."

Ren thought for a moment and quickly guessed the reason.

"Because Danzō's methods were too cold and cruel?"

Nono nodded.

"Danzō's cruelty is infamous. And because intelligence operatives deal with sensitive information, he treated them even more harshly."

"These people had access to enormous amounts of intelligence. From Danzō's perspective, they were always potential leaks."

"So he never treated them as comrades."

"He didn't even treat them as human."

"To him, they were simply tools."

"He used them when necessary, watched them constantly, and once they lost their value…"

"He discarded them."

"Silently."

She paused before continuing.

"On top of that, intelligence work is very different from normal shinobi missions. Agents have to interact with all kinds of people and adapt quickly to unpredictable situations."

"You can't train them the same way you train ordinary Root operatives—by erasing their emotions completely."

"So the people within Root's intelligence network aren't particularly loyal to Danzō."

"In fact… many of them resent him."

Ren clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"Under those circumstances, Danzō still managed to build Root's intelligence network into something nearly comparable to the village's own intelligence system."

"That's honestly impressive."

"And the fact that those people continued working for him at all is remarkable."

Nono's eyes flickered slightly.

She fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"The suffering and danger of being a spy… isn't something ordinary people can endure."

"If they were doing it for Danzō alone, they never would have lasted."

"Some of them were forced into it because Danzō held leverage over them."

"Others… did it for the village."

Her voice gradually grew quieter.

The reason she herself had served Danzō for so long—

at the beginning—

had also been for Konoha.

And later…

because Danzō had found a way to control her.

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