Zander
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Chapter 71 – “Roots in the Mud”
🕑 Added 2025-07-03 04:23:41 +0000 UTCChapter 71 – “Roots in the Mud”
The forest near the Land of Waves was still. The trees whispered only faintly in the night breeze, and the moonlight filtered through the thick branches, casting scattered silver patterns across the soft dirt. All was quiet. But Hajime was already moving.
He had felt it, an unnatural shift in the air. Faint but distinct. A ripple of killing intent, masked but not well enough. To most it would have gone unnoticed, but Hajime wasn’t most. Even without looking, he sensed it: six presences slinking through the outskirts of the forest, chakra nearly erased, their movements clinical, practiced. Root operatives.
He didn’t need a report or a name. He could already guess what they were doing.
Grandma Kiko’s small wooden house sat at the edge of the trees, lanterns glowing gently in the windows. She was alone, as always, her back likely bent over an old kettle, brewing late-night tea with the same ease she always had. She had no family, no blood relatives, only neighbors and villagers who respected her.
And somewhere not far from her, Root agents stalked through the underbrush with silent, mechanical steps.
Hajime teleported, not through smoke or show, but with a blink of thought.
One moment he stood atop a tree miles away.
The next, he was beside one of the Root.
The man didn’t even have time to blink before Hajime’s fist struck his side with a sound like thunder wrapped in velvet. Controlled. Precision. The Root agent flew sideways and crashed into a tree, collapsing unconscious before his body even hit the ground.
Another Root turned in alarm, blade halfway drawn. Hajime stepped forward, palm open, and struck his solar plexus with the side of his hand. Air rushed from the ninja’s lungs as he crumpled, stunned but alive.
A third tried to disappear into the shadows. Hajime’s hand caught the man by the ankle mid-flicker and swung him upward like a sack of rice. The Root slammed into a tree branch, dazed.
Three left.
They reacted faster, formation, retreat, defense.
Didn’t matter.
Hajime appeared behind one, wrapped a strong arm around his neck, and with a short breath, knocked him unconscious. Another lunged with a kunai. Hajime caught it with two fingers and twisted the man’s arm, disarming him in one movement.
The last tried to flee toward the cliff’s edge. Hajime let him run.
Just long enough for the fear to register.
Then reappeared in front of him.
The Root stopped.
But only for a heartbeat.
Then Hajime’s fist met his chest, lightly, just enough to knock the wind out of him.
All six agents were down, alive, and disarmed. None of them knew what hit them.
Hajime stood in the middle of the clearing, his breath steady. No wounds. No wasted movement and the roots ninja weren't even able to cast a ninjutsu.
He walked over to the first man he struck, the one still barely conscious, and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up until his feet dangled several inches off the forest floor. The man struggled, but Hajime’s grip didn’t waver.
With his other hand, Hajime reached out and placed it over the man’s head.
His palm easily covered the Root's upper skull, fingers like iron clamps pressing across the scalp. The ninja’s eyes widened as he tried to resist as he thought of mind reading techniques, tried to resist but can't escape from the palm on his head. Even tried eating the poison on their teeth to commit suicide. But it was too late.
Hajime’s psychic senses pierced into his mind.
He saw flashes.
Mission orders. Black ink on gray paper. A list of names.
Kiko.
Koji.
Maru.
Rin.
Not targets. Hostages.
The plan was clear. Kidnap one or two, lure Hajime out, observe his reaction. If possible, take samples of his body. If not, force him into submission through the people he once saved.
Hajime’s grip tightened slightly.
He read more. The orders came from a shadowed chamber beneath Konoha. Danzo’s signature. Cold. Efficient. Just another experiment to him. Just another asset to control.
Hajime lowered the Root agent back to the ground and let go. The man collapsed in a daze.
So this is how they work, he thought. Cowards cloaked in darkness. Poison in the veins of Konoha.
He looked down at the six unconscious bodies scattered around the clearing.
He could kill them all now. Nobody would know.
But he didn’t.
Killing them would be easy.
Useful, though? No.
Then hajime sealed their chakra so they won't struggle.
The Roots ninja failed.
The mission had failed. They hadn’t reached Grandma Kiko’s house. They hadn’t harmed a single child. Not this time.
But they would try again.
Unless something changed.
Unless someone tore out the rot from the roots.
He turned back toward the village path. Toward the old wooden house glowing faintly in the trees.
Grandma Kiko was still inside, unaware.
Good.
Let her tea finish boiling.
He walked away quietly, shadows shifting behind him.
This wasn’t over.
But it had begun.
Danzo had declared himself the hidden cancer of Konoha.
Then it was time for Tsunade to operate.
And Hajime would be her scalpel.
End of Chapter 71 – “Roots in the Mud”
