Escape From Konoha

Coming out of the torture room, Lu Jiu first looked up at the still pale moon in the night sky, and then let out a long breath, as if he wanted to release all the pressure of these days.

Since the end of October, the burden on him has basically never stopped.

During this period, he experienced various twists and turns, and even he could not help but feel physically and mentally exhausted.

However, it is not the time to rest yet.

He had gotten enough information from Danzo, including Genbe's initial plan, and he also had a detailed understanding.

The relationship between the camps of all parties in this secret wrestling has finally been smoothed out a little bit, so that it will not be like the blind man touching the elephant a few days ago, causing many things that are not good for Konoha to be prevented.

Next, maybe it’s time to get really tired.

This turmoil is far from subdued.

"Mr. Lujiu!"

Shikaku was about to return to the Hokage Building with the ANBU behind him, when suddenly a figure flashed in front of him.

He is an Anbu ninja wearing a beige windbreaker and holds the position of squad leader in the Anbu.

Anbu and ninja levels in this position basically start as special jounin.

He was the only one who rushed here without his subordinates.

"What's wrong?"

Shikaku felt a little uneasy when he heard the panicked voice of this ANBU. Could something very bad have happened in the village?

"S-Sandaime-sama...he...he died in the line of duty!"

The ANBU ninja stuttered out these words.

The air was silent for a moment.

Lu Jiu and the four Anbu behind him all had their eyes widened and their pupils dilated violently, as if they had heard something extremely absurd and shocked the scene.

"What did you say? How could Lord Hokage..."

Shikaku took a step forward, grabbing the ANBU's shoulders tightly with both hands, his eyes filled with horror.

"It's absolutely true."

The ANBU ninja's tone also became sad and sad, and he lowered his head.

"Go back. Go back immediately!"

Lu Jiu's mind was blank, he made this decision almost instinctively, and started to run in the direction of Hokage Building involuntarily with his feet, using all his strength.

The ANBU ninjas were stunned for a moment, but then they mustered up all their strength to catch up with Shikaku.

In the Hokage Building, there is a quiet room connected to the corridor. The space around the quiet room is occupied and controlled by ANBU.

In the center of the quiet room, there are two figures standing.

I moved to Koharu and Mito Menyan.

The two of them also stared at the corpse lying in front of them with unbelievable shock.

The Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen.

What killed him was a short knife.

Die with a pierced heart.

On the side, Asma sat there blankly, her eyes were empty, as if she had lost her soul, her head was lowered, and she didn't know what she was thinking.

boom!

The door to the quiet room was violently pushed open.

Shikaku burst in directly with ANBU.

Because it was an extraordinary period, the two advisors didn't care about these empty etiquettes.

"what happened?"

Shikaku's first words when he came in were questions.

"Come and see for yourself."

Turning to bed Xiaochun made way for Lu Jiu to clearly see the dead body in front of him.

With a solemn face, Lu Jiu walked forward with heavy steps, until Ri Zhan's body was clearly in sight, and his body froze.

"When we came, the breath of Sun Zhan had already been cut off."

Mito Kabuto explained at the right moment.

Lu Jiu's face was sullen, without saying anything, he continued to walk a few steps forward, squatted down, and carefully inspected Ri Zhan's body.

In the end, he fixed his eyes on the dagger that pierced Ri Zhan's heart, his eyes were horrified.

"This is...Kakashi's..."

what happened?

Why does Kakashi's white tooth dagger appear here?

And it still pierced Naruto's heart?

Didn't Danzo say that Kakashi had 'died in the line of duty'?

Turning to bed Xiaochun stood up and said: "No, that's not Kakashi's short sword. Although the style is similar, there are still slight differences. Kakashi is good at lightning escape, and his short sword is better than this one in order to ensure the ability to attack A short knife should have a narrower point, and the blade will be lighter and thinner."

When Lu Jiu heard this sentence, he locked on the dagger again, and found that it was indeed as Zhuanju Xiaochun said, the plane of the blade of this dagger should be slightly thicker, and the thickness of the blade should also be slightly thicker, which is convenient for slashing.

If this short knife focuses on slashing and is suitable for wind escape, then Kakashi's short knife is designed to adapt to thunder escape and facilitate dashing.

"Then this is..."

"Hatake Sakumo's short sword."

After sleeping, Xiaochun said this with a gloomy expression.

She can't be wrong, the appearance of this knife, even if it is nearly twenty years apart, she will not forget it, but it will be deeply imprinted in her mind.

"Hatake...Sakumo?"

This name is quite unfamiliar to today's new generation of ninjas.

Even for a jounin like Lu Jiu, the first time he heard this name, he thought for a while before recalling who it was.

Kakashi's father.

Konoha's first white teeth.

For ninjas with titles, their names are generally much less well-known than their nicknames.

"That person has been dead for many years, right? Do you want to say that he is not dead?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Shikaku's lips, very reluctantly.

Konoha White Fang was a ninja of the same generation as the Sannin. When these people became famous in the ninja world, he might have been studying in the ninja school.

After turning to bed, Koharu glanced at Asuma who was beside him in a state of despair, sighed, and said, "This is suicide."

"suicide?"

Shikaku felt even more outrageous.

"Asuma saw this with his own eyes, and there are no traces of battle around him. It is more likely to commit suicide."

Xiaochun said after turning to bed.

Shikaku frowned, still feeling a little weird.

"So, why did Hokage-sama do this? Although it is inevitable to take the blame and resign, I believe that Hokage-sama's heart will not be so fragile."

Koharu and Mito Kaden looked at each other as they went to bed, and a name came out of their mouths that Shikaku didn't expect:

"Hatake Kakashi."

"Are you...serious?"

After being startled, Shikaku squinted his eyes and looked at the two advisors.

Mito Kadoyan was about to speak, and as if he noticed something, he turned around with Koharu who was sleeping and looked towards the door.

A figure stood there panting.

Judging from the exhaustion on his face, he hadn't had a good rest for a long time.

"Jiraiya?"

"Jiraiya-sama?"

Shikaku and others looked at Jiraiya who appeared at the door in surprise.

Seeing everyone looking at him with surprised eyes, Jiraiya had a strange look on his face. He gasped and said inexplicably: "Why are you looking at me like this? Didn't the old man suddenly ask me to come back? Really? Yes, give me a little more time, and I can find Tsunade. So, why did the old man suddenly ask me to come back...?"

Jiraiya's words suddenly got stuck.

The familiar figure on the ground came into view, causing his brain to go blank and stop functioning.

…

There were only two advisors in the room, Shikaku and Jiraiya.

After Hiruzen's body was restrained by the ANBU, the four of them sat in this room without saying a word.

In the end, it was Jiraiya who broke the oppressive silence.

His fist hit the coffee table in front of him with a loud bang.

He had a ferocious look on his face, his eyes filled with almost violent anger, and the pain and annoyance that could not be concealed. He immediately asked the two consultants: "Why didn't you inform me that such a big thing happened? one time!"

He blamed and resented their inaction.

Hiruzen is dead.

The mentor is dead.

Died in front of himself.

This kind of thing was unacceptable to Jiraiya.

Regarding Jiraiya's anger, Koharu and Mito Kaden were speechless. After all, they were also implicated in this matter.

All previous actions were restricted by Danzo. Under the 24-hour surveillance of the roots, it was impossible to send intelligence to the outside world.

"Jiraiya-sama, calm down first. Things have happened, so let's think about what to do next."

Shikaku advised.

"How can I calm down about this kind of thing?"

Seeing Jiraiya still angry and unable to calm down, Shikaku still responded with a calm attitude: "If you continue like this, it will only make the situation in Konoha worse. If something like this happens to Master Hokage, Everyone feels the same sadness, but sadness can’t solve the problem.”

"hateful!"

Jiraiya stood up and hit the wall directly with his fist, immediately making a sunken hole in the front, as if he wanted to vent all the anger and sadness in his heart.

Regarding Jiraiya's venting behavior, none of Shikaku and the others stopped him.

I think venting my inner annoyance in this way is the best solution.

After Jiraiya finally calmed down, Shikaku slowly said: "Although ANBU and security team personnel can still be mobilized, many functions of the village are at a standstill. Right now, the most important thing within the village is The purpose is to get these departments up and running again and resume development. I will personally take the lead in these matters. The duties of the two advisors remain unchanged, and they are still focused on appeasing people. As for Jiraiya-sama..."

Seeing Jiraiya still trying to restrain himself, Shikaku said with a headache: "Jiraiya-sama, please take some time to understand what happened in Konoha during this period. After calming down, Let's talk about Tsunade-sama."

In Jiraiya's current state, he was really not suitable to carry out the mission.

Shikaku also did not expect that Jiraiya would return to the village at this time. He thought that this was a trick set up by Danzo in the name of ANBU, in order to prevent Jiraiya from meeting Tsunade and miss the election meeting of the Fifth Hokage. , Lu Jiu shook his head helplessly.

Danzo calculated on one of his own, but forgot that he was not the last oriole, and ended up in jail instead, leaving Shikaku really not knowing what to say.

And Kakashi...thinking of this, a hint of gloom flashed in Shikaku's eyes.

He had doubts about Danzo's testimony before, but looking at it now, I'm afraid what Danzo said was true, and Kakashi was probably really from Orochimaru's side.

Maybe, after forcing the Third Hokage to commit suicide, he himself still stayed in Konoha and did not leave.

Thinking that there was such a bomb that could explode at any time in Konoha, Shikaku felt uneasy for a while.

"Then Hiruzen, let's block the news first. There is no need to create more panic. Wait until the village stabilizes before announcing the news."

Mitomon Yan suggested.

Shikaku nodded in agreement: "Okay."

"Then how will the cause of death be announced..."

When he went to bed, Xiaochun frowned, feeling very embarrassed about the issue of announcing the cause of death.

No matter what happens, committing suicide will not only make Hiruzen lose face, but Konoha will also be embarrassed as well.

"Wait for the investigation results from the Anbu side. If Kakashi is really from the side of Orochimaru, it is said that Hokage-sama was assassinated by Orochimaru and Hatake Kakashi, and died heroically. There are too many contradictions in the village. It can be transferred to the outside world and reduce the pressure on the village.”

This method was also used by Sunagakure Village during the Third Ninja War.

From the effect point of view, Sand Hidden Village was indeed in the early stage at that time, successfully alleviating the pressure of public opinion on the mysterious disappearance of the three generations of Kazekage, transferring the internal struggle to the outside, and sharing it with Konoha.

Now Shikaku plans to use the same approach and let Orochimaru share the pressure on Konoha.

Not only the Hokage, but all the public pressure that Konoha has received these days can throw dirty water on Orochimaru.

Although Lu Jiu also thought about letting the kingdom of ghosts share the burden, but thinking of the strong style of the kingdom of ghosts, it is estimated that the dirty water has just poured over, and Konoha will face the army of the kingdom of ghosts the next day, causing very serious diplomatic problems .

Compared with the kingdom of ghosts, Orochimaru, as a traitor, has no international credibility at all, and his power is even weaker. He has no room to justify or refuse Konoha's official conviction.

What's more, this is not out of thin air. Behind these things, there are probably signs that Orochimaru is behind the scenes.

"What a headache. Fortunately, the Kingdom of Ghosts has not come to cause trouble now, otherwise..."

One Orochimaru had already made Konoha so exhausted.

If the Kingdom of Oni also comes to interfere, Shikaku really can't imagine what Konoha will become.

◎

"Well……"

Shikamaru sat up from the floor slowly in dizziness, looked at this strange place that was not his own room, then shook his head slightly, trying to think about what happened before he passed out, how could he appear in such a place.

Then, the scene emerged in his mind of Sasuke punching himself in the abdomen, being struck by lightning, and finally losing consciousness and passing out.

"Oops! Could that guy Sasuke-"

Thinking of something, Shikamaru's face changed in shock, resisting the discomfort in his body, he quickly stood up, stepped on the edge of the window, and with a bounce, he easily jumped to the roof of the opposite building, and began to head towards the Hokage Building run.

In the process of rushing to the Hokage Building, Shikamaru noticed that the sky was bright at this time, which proved that he was in a coma for at least ten hours at Sasuke's house yesterday.

"Damn it, Sasuke, don't do anything stupid!"

The series of things that happened to Konoha recently have already caused the high-level executives to be overwhelmed. If Sasuke goes to add trouble to them, some very unpleasant things may happen.

At the thought of this possibility, Shikamaru ran faster.

About ten minutes later, Shikamaru finally arrived at the Hokage Building from the Uchiha clan.

When he arrived at the Hokage Building, his shoulders were rising and falling due to excessive exertion, and he was panting.

Just as Shikamaru was about to enter, he was intercepted by the ANBU guarding the entrance.

"No unrelated people are welcome here now, please leave here!"

The ANBU ninja exuded a cold aura and stared at Shikamaru coldly.

They knew Shikamaru, the son of Konoha's Jonin squad leader, but even so, due to their duties, they would not let Shikamaru enter the Hokage Building.

"Wait a minute, I have something important to report to the higher ups!"

Having already expected this to happen, Shikamaru said with a improvised excuse.

"No. Get out of here quickly, otherwise don't blame us for using violence!"

The ANBU ninja refused coldly.

"I really have important information——"

laugh!

The kunai flew past Shikamaru's cheek, leaving a gash on his face.

Shikamaru stepped back in fear and turned pale.

These bastards Anbu!

Shikamaru cursed inwardly, but there was nothing he could do.

He knew that the Hokage Building would be heavily guarded, but he didn't expect it to be so tight.

Could it be that something extremely serious happened here while he was in a coma?

"Again, get out of here!"

The two Anbu drew their ninja swords behind them, their eyes cold.

The order given to them by their superiors is that no matter who they are, as long as they are irrelevant persons, no one is allowed to enter without a permission order.

If forced in, violent suppression can be carried out.

"Okay, I understand, don't do anything, I'll leave now... Well, I want to ask, did Uchiha Sasuke come here last night? After asking this question, I will leave."

Shikamaru raised his hands and stepped back, signaling that he was harmless.

"Uchiha Sasuke? No, he has not been here."

An ANBU said coldly.

As long as there is something wrong with Shikamaru, they will immediately take force to control him. Even the son of the Jonin squad leader is no exception.

After receiving this answer, Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief. He took one last deep look at the Hokage Building and turned to leave.

Judging from the information revealed by the Anbu, Sasuke has not taken action yet, or he is in the middle of action at this time, but he cannot enter due to the tight security of the Hokage Building.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Sasuke is hiding somewhere at this time.

Shikamaru believes that the most important thing right now is to find the trace of Sasuke.

"What, you said Sasuke-kun is missing?"

Coming to Sakura's house, Shikamaru told Sakura that Sasuke disappeared last night.

But judging from Sakura's surprised tone, Sasuke has never been here.

"Yes, I thought that Sasuke would come to stay with you when he left home. It seems that I was thinking too much."

Shikamaru felt a headache and pressed his head.

"No, since the riot yesterday afternoon, I haven't seen Sasuke-kun. I've been staying at home and researching something, and I haven't gone out."

Sakura shook her head.

Immediately, she worriedly asked: "By the way, what happened to Sasuke-kun? Why did he disappear?"

"Come with me, one more person will give you more strength. I will explain the details to you on the way, Sakura. I hope the worst will not happen."

Shikamaru made an invitation.

"good."

Sakura didn't hesitate, when it came to Sasuke, she agreed without hesitation.

With Sakura joining, Shikamaru took him to continue running in Konoha Village, and then revealed to Sakura the reason for Sasuke's disappearance on the way.

After Sakura heard this, the worry on her face deepened a bit.

The Mangekyō Sharingan...the village's senior officials...investigations...these things were connected together, and Sakura, like Shikamaru, thought of something bad.

Shikamaru's second target is Naruto.

As one of the members of the seventh class, Sasuke has the best relationship with Naruto and Sakura among the students of the same period.

If Sakura didn't find any trace of Sasuke here, then she might have gone to Naruto to hide.

Although this possibility is very small, Shikamaru does not want to let go of any doubts.

"What, it's Shikamaru and Sakura, what's the matter with you two?"

When there was a knock on the door, Naruto got up from the bed in a daze, and then opened the door in a daze. When he saw that the people looking for him were Shikamaru and Sakura, his sleepiness suddenly decreased a lot.

"Looking at you, you seem to have figured it out."

Shikamaru saw that although Naruto had dark circles on his face, his complexion was much better than yesterday.

"It can be considered... I just feel that it is a bit strange to take on the identity of the Son of Hokage, and the rest of the place is almost the same as before."

If you want to talk about the change, it is that the people in the village have gradually changed their eyes when looking at him.

The adult who used to hate him and even suggested that children of the same age bullied him strangely came to apologize to him yesterday, hoping that he would not pursue it and would be willing to make compensation.

It's just that Naruto is not interested in this.

Those things, I have already almost forgotten.

If it weren't for these people to come to him, Naruto would have almost forgotten the appearance of these adults who bullied him.

As a result, his current room was filled with apologies and gifts from others, all of which were valuables. Even if Naruto wanted to refuse, he could not withstand the insistence of these people.

Having won a lot of bonuses from the Kingdom of Ghosts, he has no difficulties in life for the time being, and it can even be said that he has a lot of money.

"Yeah?"

"Stop talking about me. Why are you coming to me so early in the morning? If you are here to mediate with me, there is no need. Iruka has comforted me many times."

Naruto looked at Shikamaru and Sakura, wanting to know what they were doing to find him at this time.

"Let me put it bluntly, Sasuke may want to cause trouble with the higher-ups because of some things. I'm here to stop him from doing stupid things, but he is missing now, so he came to try his luck with you."

Shikamaru explained concisely.

Obviously, Sasuke is not here with Naruto either.

"What? Why did Sasuke do this?"

Naruto was taken aback.

"The one from yesterday... forget it, you can join in, and I will explain to you later that the most important thing right now is to find Sasuke. So, you should understand."

Shikamaru thought that with Naruto's brain functioning ability, he might have to explain a lot before Naruto could understand.

But time is running out now, he doesn't have time to make Naruto understand with long speeches.

"Yeah, I understand, finding Sasuke is the most important thing right now!"

Naruto looked like I understood.

"That's it. Since Sasuke is not here with you and Sakura, it is almost impossible to find Sasuke by searching like a headless fly. Therefore, we need more manpower, as well as professional tracking ninjas."

Shikamaru thought for a moment and said.

"Shikamaru, what do you mean..."

Sakura understood something.

"Sakura, you and Naruto go find the people from Class 8, and I'll find the people from Class 10. We will meet at the center of the village later."

Although the area at the Hokage Building is under complete martial law, the rest of the village is still under relatively loose control.

With ANBU and security personnel, the security of the village is much safer now than before.

"I understand, Naruto, come with me. Let's go find Kiba and the others."

"oh oh!"

Although he didn't quite understand, Naruto still nodded and came down, quickly went back to the room to change into his going out clothes, and followed Sakura away.

Half an hour later.

In the center of Konoha Village, on the rooftop of an apartment building, Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino and Choji gathered here.

"What are you doing? That guy Sasuke is too crazy, isn't he? He didn't ask us to help with such an important matter. He didn't regard us as old classmates at all."

Kiba put his ninja dog Akamaru on top of his head and said with an unhappy expression.

It seemed that because of Sasuke's behavior of leaving him, he felt that he was not respected and was dissatisfied.

Akamaru lay on Yaba's head and barked twice, echoing Yaya.

"That's right, Sasuke, who is so cold and cold, is so charming. If it's an elopement, I wouldn't mind."

Ino blushed shyly and became intoxicated.

"Ino, what are you talking about? Is now the time to say such things?"

Sakura glared at Ino angrily.

"I mean, Sasuke must have had a hard time being in a group with only women with wide foreheads for the past six months."

"Do you want a fight, Inoboar?"

Sakura's fist hardened.

"Haha, I'm a lady, and only a broad forehead like yours can be keen on violence. It's really ugly."

Ino fiddled with her long hair and said in a condescending tone.

"You two, stop arguing. Sasuke is in a very bad situation right now. Before resolving the grudge between you two, we need to find Sasuke first."

Shikamaru stepped forward to dissuade him.

Ino and Sakura both snorted and turned their heads away, completely ignoring each other.

"Well, I also think this is better..."

Hinata echoed quietly.

"Indeed, according to my judgment of the situation, at the moment we should..."

Shino gently pushed the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose to express his opinion.

"That's it, Kiba, you are responsible for locating Sasuke's traces through scent. Shino, Hinata, and Ino, you use bugs, Byakugan and perception ninjutsu respectively to search for Sasuke's traces. Sasuke must be in the village now. Hidden in a certain corner, we must find him as soon as possible, once he starts contact with high-level people, it will be too late by then."

After interrupting Shino's speech, Shikamaru made a final decision and proceeded to arrange the tasks.

"yes!"

Jokes aside, everyone also roughly understood the situation Sasuke was facing at this time, and followed Shikamaru's arrangement to start searching for Sasuke's traces in the village.

◎

In the dark underground waterway.

On the side of the tooth and Akamaru on the top of the head, sniffing for some kind of smell that might be left in the surrounding air, they kept pushing forward.

Behind him, Shikamaru and the other seven followed Kiba carefully, carefully observing the surrounding environment, trying to find traces of Sasuke.

"Ichigo, are you sure Sasuke has been to this kind of place?"

Naruto couldn't help asking.

Yatou didn't look back and continued to move forward.

"It must have been here. The smell of Sasuke remains here, and the smell is very new. Sasuke must be hiding somewhere here."

His tone was very firm, and he also had strong confidence in the family's secret arts, and he didn't think his nose would make such a low-level mistake.

"However, Sasuke's Chakra is not felt here at all."

Ino kept her seal posture and walked forward. She didn't sense Sasuke's chakra within her range of perception.

"Shino, Hinata, how are you two doing?"

Shikamaru tilted his head and looked at Hinata and Shino.

Shino and Hinata shook their heads, expressing that they didn't notice Sasuke's presence.

Just when Shikamaru was about to ask another question, Kiba suddenly shouted:

"right here!"

Fang turned around and pointed at the wall next to him without gaps, attracting everyone's attention.

"here?"

The others were surprised.

"Yes, Sasuke's smell suddenly disappeared here. Judging from the freshness of the smell, it was about ten minutes ago."

"Ten minutes..." Shikamaru talked about this time, stepped forward and asked again: "Are you sure, Kiba?"

"Well, it can't be wrong."

Ya must have nodded.

Shikamaru turned his gaze to Ino, Shino and Hinata.

"Sorry, I still can't sense Sasuke's Chakra."

Ino let go of his hand and said helplessly.

Shino recalled the flying parasites, shook his head and said, "The insects didn't gain anything either."

Hinata also closed her eyes and shook her head at Shikamaru.

Her white eyes also didn't notice anything unusual.

"Ya, could it be that your induction was wrong?"

Ino asked after a moment's hesitation.

She didn't think her sensory ninjutsu would make mistakes.

"No way, Sasuke's scent disappeared here."

Ya insisted on his opinion.

When Ino was about to quarrel, Shikamaru interrupted the quarrel between the two, looked at Naruto next to him and said, "Naruto, use your move called Heliwan to hit this wall."

"Eh?"

Naruto was stunned.

The others also looked at Shikamaru, confused.

"Naruto, hurry up."

"Oh well."

Hearing Shikamaru speak again, Naruto formed a seal and summoned a shadow clone beside him.

I saw the shadow clone using both hands on the right hand of Naruto's body, stirring the chakra airflow like noodles, and quickly condensed into a fist-sized chakra ball.

"Rasengan!"

Without hesitation, Naruto aimed at the wall pointed by Kiba and pressed the chakra ball in his hand.

boom!

Cracks appeared in the wall instantly, and rubble scattered all over the floor.

"What?"

Although the wall was cracked, the area destroyed by the Rasengan was not large, which was different from what Naruto expected.

"Shikamaru, this wall..."

"Ah, there's something wrong with this wall. Naruto, don't stop, keep using Helix."

Shikamaru picked up a piece of gravel from the ground and ordered Naruto.

"good!"

Naruto was full of energy for a while, gathered a large amount of chakra, and released more than ten shadow clones in one breath.

I saw the shadow clones form a team in twos, making spiral pills in batches in their hands.

"Naruto's chakra volume, to be honest, is a bit exaggerated..."

Everyone who saw this scene could not help but twitch their eyes, and had a more intuitive understanding of Naruto's Chakra.

The main body and the shadow clone condensed spiral pills, rushed forward one after another, smashing the spiral pills in their hands to the wall.

As a result, the bombardment sounded one after another, and the ground buzzed and shook, making everyone almost unable to stand still.

However, the effect was remarkable, and an incomplete circular hole appeared in front of everyone.

This is a secret passage.

"It's so secretive that it's even hard to see through the boundaries of secret techniques and blood successors."

Shikamaru took out a small flashlight from his ninja bag and smiled.

Although the process is a bit complicated, it is finally resolved.

"Want to go in?"

Tooth asked.

"That's all. The people responsible for sensing, searching, and medical treatment stand inside, and the rest disperse outside. Naruto, use your shadow clone to open the way in front."

Everyone nodded and acted according to Shikamaru's order.

Naruto let his more than a dozen shadow clones enter the passage first, and take the danger at the forefront of the team.

The rest followed behind, pacing forward cautiously.

Although this is in the village, it does not rule out that there are unpredictable dangers in it.

When necessary, a fight may ensue.

It's just that the situation inside the passage is somewhat different from what Shikamaru predicted.

Apart from the humid environment, there were no dangers along the way.

"Look, these people are... Anbu?"

Through a long and narrow corridor, in a spacious hall-like place, four ninjas wearing ANBU costumes and masks fell in a pool of blood.

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto, who nodded and asked the Shadow Bunkers to step forward and turn over the bodies of these ANBU ninjas.

"It's not Anbe. It's Root!"

When Shikamaru saw the mask on the corpse's face, the colors were more complex and vivid compared to the ANBU mask, but the whole thing gave it an uncomfortable atmosphere. He immediately guessed something, and his expression changed drastically.

"root?"

"They are the subordinates of the man named Danzo! They are also the high-ranking officials that Sasuke wants to investigate!"

Shikamaru said in a low voice.

"The one who succeeded the Fifth Hokage..."

A gloomy and terrifying old man's face suddenly appeared in everyone's minds, and they shuddered.

Shikamaru looked worried, and he began to retreat.

He only knew something about the roots, but he also knew how huge this organization hidden in the darkness of Konoha was.

If you continue to go deeper, something unexpected may happen.

"Wait a minute, I feel Sasuke's chakra! It's right in front! And he's the only one there, no one else is there except us!"

Ino suddenly shouted in surprise.

"What did you say?"

Sasuke alone?

Shikamaru thought of something bad. Could this root stronghold...

Impossible. The lowest strength of these people is Chuunin. Maybe there are also Jonin. With Sasuke's strength, it is absolutely impossible to deal with these root ninjas alone.

"Go and have a look! Everyone must be careful. If anything goes wrong, retreat immediately!"

"good!"

It was still Naruto's shadow clone who was clearing the way ahead, responsible for testing whether there were traps ahead.

Passing through the hall and entering a deeper passage, more corpses of root ninjas were found in the passage.

This made Shikamaru even more convinced that the deaths of these people had nothing to do with Sasuke.

But why is Sasuke here? Why are you here?

These questions may only be clarified by finding Sasuke himself.

Everyone pushed forward along the passage without saying a word.

After about two minutes, they finally came to the end and came to a spacious circular room.

In this room, there are a large number of books and scrolls.

Several bookshelves had been knocked down, and the bodies of root ninjas were lying on them. Blood was splashed on the books and scrolls, which hadn't dried up yet.

Like the root ninjas out there, these are corpses.

"Sasuke!"

At the end of the room, a figure stood there, scanning with a scroll in his hand.

On the table in front of him, there were a large number of opened books and scrolls scattered around. Some scrolls even rolled to the ground, open for a long time and not rolled up.

However, facing the voice from behind, Sasuke just stared at the scroll in his hand, as if he didn't hear the voice calling himself.

Just when everyone was about to approach, a burst of laughter suddenly came from Sasuke's position, stopping everyone from moving forward.

They didn't seem to understand why Sasuke was laughing at such a time.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Sasuke looked like he had found some very funny joke, which made him unable to restrain his inner urge to laugh.

Of course, this may also be laughing wildly, crying and laughing, and laughing sadly.

"I see... this is the truth... the truth... That guy Itachi... Uchiha... Hahahahahahahaha!"

The laughter started again.

It seemed that there was a kind of madness that could not be ignored, burning with what little reason he had left.

Sasuke's eyes became redder and blood red.

In those ferocious pupils shining with crimson light, he faintly felt a stinging scorching breath, and finally, three pitch-black and deep Gouyu emerged.

A smile also broke out on Sasuke's face.

It's a twisted smile entwined with darkness, madness, and wanting to destroy everything!

Everyone looked at Sasuke's unstoppable crazily laughing back, and their hair stood on end.