A minute later.
Fuu Yamanaka, the one Danzo had been boasting about just moments before, lay sprawled at Naruto's feet.
'Didn't even have to try hard,' Naruto thought. 'And you're already down.'
In truth, Fuu wasn't nearly as weak as Naruto made him out to be, he could probably have handled the current Neji, Sasuke, and Rock Lee. But against Naruto, he was still outmatched, doomed to go down in one hit.
Only a handful of people could take one of Naruto's punches, after all.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
*Puff*
A puff of white smoke, and Naruto's shadow clone stood there.
"Right, Minato," Naruto said, nodding to the clone. "I'll leave him to you.". Then he ran quickly.
Minato, controlling the clone, pressed down on Fuu's chin. With a gentle squeeze, Fuu's tongue lolled out.
A Cursed Seal marked the middle of his tongue. It looked like several horizontal lines placed together, some of the middle ones broken.
"Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal."
This was the cursed seal Danzo put on the tongues of all Root members. If they tried to talk about certain things, their whole body would seize up, leaving them paralyzed. It was a way to keep Root ninja from spilling secrets, even if they betrayed him.
But the seal did more than that, Danzo also used it to control his Root operatives. If Danzo wished, he could end the life of a Root ninja whenever he wanted. It was similar to the Hyuuga Clan's Caged Bird Seal, though not quite as restrictive.
Danzo had, of course, considered putting this seal on Naruto. Several years ago, he'd suggested to Hiruzen that Naruto be put under his training. If Hiruzen had agreed back then, Danzo would have slapped this very seal on Naruto without a second thought. He'd have molded Naruto into a top-tier living weapon, one that belonged only to him.
But now? Now he couldn't. Not because he didn't want to, but because he no longer could.
Besides, not every Root ninja had been branded with Danzo's seal. Orochimaru, one of the Sannin and an early Root member, for instance.
A moment later, Naruto reappeared, dragging several more unconscious Root ninja with him.
One, two, three, four... nine in total. Three were about Fuu's age, the other six looked closer to Naruto's. One kid, with skin as pale as paper, caught Naruto's eye. 'Sai.'
"Minato, do you have a way to deal with these cursed seals?"
Naruto glanced at the seal on Fuu's tongue, his brow furrowing. 'That pattern's pretty ugly.'
Aside from a select few, Danzo controlled his Root ninja with these cursed seals, using them to grow (during attachment phase) and erase their emotions (during elimination of attachment phase).
The upside was clear: Root ninja obeyed Danzo and Danzo alone. Even if Root was officially disbanded and its members absorbed into ANBU, a single word from Danzo would bring them flocking back to him.
But what the seals built, they could also tear down. These ninja would only obey whoever controlled the seals. If control shifted from Danzo to, say, Naruto, then they'd only listen to Naruto.
Naruto himself wasn't great with these kinds of cursed seals or complex sealing jutsu. His own sealing jutsu skills wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly good either, just average.
He definitely couldn't break Danzo's Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on his own. He was much better at solving the problem by punching the guy who made the seal in the first place.
But his own skill didn't matter much when he had a master of top-tier sealing jutsu and cursed seals living inside him.
Minato, the former Fourth Hokage, the only Hokage in history not from a prominent clan, hadn't exceptionally priorotized the Five Elemental Jutsu, Genjutsu, or Taijutsu, the usual ninja combat styles.
He'd walked a more unconventional path, excelling in the notoriously difficult and less common spatial jutsu. He also had incredible skill in sealing jutsu and cursed seals, techniques like the Eight Trigrams Seal and the Reaper Death Seal were second nature to him. He had a knack for Sage Mode too, though he didn't like the feel of it, and he'd picked up Kurama Mode in an instant.
If he hadn't died so young... a fully realized Minato, assuming those two monsters Madara and Hashirama stayed retired, would have been practically unbeatable.
Point was, Minato's sealing skills were way beyond Danzo's.
Minato, through the clone, nodded at Naruto. "This cursed seal can be broken. It can also be overwritten."
Naruto grinned at that, a sly, fox-like smile spreading across his face.
'How would Danzo react,' he wondered, 'if he became Hokage only to find out his precious Root had already fallen into my hands? His expression would be priceless.' He was actually starting to look forward to it. 'This is the real thrill!'
'What? Despicable? I'm supposedly the 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox', you know. This village has been reminding me that for my whole life here. Messing with people's heads? Comes with the territory, doesn't it? Since you started that rumor Danzo, you might as well experience me embodying this.'
'This,' Naruto thought with a evil smirk, 'this is what you call a home invasion.'
--**--**
Danzo, still clueless that Naruto had just hijacked his entire base, had only walked a short way from the Root headquarters and was heading for the Hokage's building. He glanced up at the gloomy, rain-threatening sky, a faint ache starting in his knee joints.
'Rheumatism,' he grumbled internally. His gaze fell on the Hiruzen's massive face carved into the Hokage Rock, and a cold glint flickered in his eye. 'Hmph.'
He quickened his pace and soon reached the Hokage's office. Hiruzen set down his pipe and slowly rose as Danzo entered.
"Danzo, you've been in contact with the Nine-Tails jinchuriki," Hiruzen measured voice. "I believe I warned you to stay away from him."
No matter how careful Danzo tried to be, as long as he was in Konoha, he couldn't completely hide his movements from Hiruzen.
He wasn't Naruto, he didn't have Naruto's sensory ability to anticipate and evade.
"Hiruzen... worried I'll try to turn him into one of my Root?" Danzo's voice was unusually calm, as if he'd expected this. "Don't worry. I haven't done anything to harm the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Not only have I not harmed him, I've even looked out for him a few times."
Danzo paused, letting his words settle before continuing "I've even taught him jutsu myself."
'Though the idiot only manage to learn a single one.'
Seeing the disbelief on Hiruzen's face, Danzo pressed on. "I know you don't believe it, but it doesn't matter. I just want to be like an ordinary old man. Just looking after the younger generation a little. After all, I have no children, not one, just myself."
Danzo sighed softly then, his expression turning utterly dejected as he looked outside the window. "If you don't want me to go near him, then I will stay away from him." Danzo was laying it on thick, his classic emotional gambit.
Hiruzen looked at Danzo's downcast face, recalling the Anbu reports from the last few days. He knew Danzo was putting on an act, at least partly, but the destruction of Root had clearly hit the man hard.
In the end, Hiruzen could only sigh and shake his head. "Alright, Danzo. This once. But it doesn't happen again. If I find out you're trying to get your hooks into the Jinchuriki, I absolutely will not let it slide. That is my bottom line. Remember, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is not your tool."
Danzo agreed readily enough, though inwardly he scoffed. 'Hmph. We'll see about that, Hiruzen.'
Then the two of them began to discuss the reconstruction of Root.
Hiruzen needed Danzo. Partly, it was habit, Danzo had always been the one to handle the village's shadows, the darker necessities.
Partly, it was because, despite everything, he still cared for his old friend. Who else would tolerate such an operative, one who constantly pushed boundaries, even arranging assassinations? Theirs was a truly complicated bond, woven with both loyalty and resentment.
Narrator:
In a matter of minutes, Naruto utterly dismantled the elite of Root... with the same effort most people use to swat a fly. And poor Fuu, once Danzo's prized tool, now a literal floor decoration.
But Naruto didn't stop there. No, with the help of Dad-no-jutsu, aka Minato, Naruto hijacked Danzo's 'loyalty' system: cursed tongue tattoos and emotional lobotomies.
And with nine new Root recruits knocked out and tagged for 'liberation,' Naruto is basically pulling off a hostile corporate takeover of Danzo Inc.
Meanwhile, Danzo? Still blissfully unaware. He's hobbling off to the Hokage's office, knees aching, brain deluding, ego inflating, classic prelude to a midlife betrayal crisis.
Feigning humility, he delivers the performance of a lifetime to Hiruzen. "I'm just an old man, Hiruzen... one who teaches children and respects boundaries now! I promise! I might even start an orphanage named Nono Yakushi Orphanage!"
A single tear may have fallen from Hiruzen's eye, or maybe it was just the smoke from his pipe. Either way, the guilt-trip lands.
What's next for Danzo? Will he realize he's training his replacement?
Will Naruto convince Sai and crew that sunlight and sarcasm are superior to obedience and misery?
Will Hiruzen realize he just gave permission for Naruto to psychologically reverse-engineer the next generation of assassins?
Find out next time on...
"Root Access Denied! Naruto's HR Reforms Begin!"
-------------------
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