"What did you say?" The Root Captain froze in place for a moment.
The sensory ninja could only repeat with a wry smile: "Captain, he's really getting farther and farther away from us now; that person is much faster than us. We can't catch up with him at all!"
The Root Captain's eyes widened in horror. He murmured silently to himself: "Having a powerful camouflage that even we can't detect, plus speed that even an elite Jōnin like myself can't match... Has the opponent's strength surpassed that of an elite Jōnin, reaching the Kage level?"
The Root Captain quickly made the next deployment: "I'll go to Lord Danzo first and report this. The rest of you, continue to follow this route to see if any other clues were left behind."
Everyone at the Root nodded and replied, "Yes, Captain!"
In the dark of night, Ren began running wildly the moment his identity was revealed, transforming into a black shadow. He knew his current strength wasn't enough to contend with the entire Root force. If his identity were exposed to the Root, even escaping Konoha wouldn't save him from being hunted to the ends of the earth by their ninja. That was a price he simply couldn't afford!
As he fled, Ren steadily moved the sandbags tied to his body into his storage ring. Two hundred catties, one hundred fifty catties, one hundred catties, fifty catties... As the weight lessened, Ren felt his body grow lighter and lighter, his speed accelerating like the wind beneath his feet. The cold air whistled in his ears like a blade. Ren's slender figure, sprinting through the night, was like a flash of lightning!
He held his breath, all his attention focused behind him. After shedding all the weights, even though he hadn't yet learned to open the Eight Gates Formation, his raw speed alone had reached a level comparable to, if not exceeding, a Jōnin. It would take a significant amount of time for those Root ninja to catch him. And the cooldown for his Hidden Mask was only one minute. After that minute, he could put on the mask again and completely disappear, making it impossible for the Root ninja to find him, no matter how skilled they were!
"Huh? They haven't caught up? These Root ninja are too slow." He darted away, then looked back to observe the Root ninja. He found them steadily falling farther behind, their pursuit not nearly as fast as his escape. Ren's heart eased. It turned out he had overestimated the speed of those Root ninja!
He quickly realized why he'd misjudged their speed. The only Jōnin he'd truly interacted with was Might Guy, an elite Jōnin with incredible taijutsu. Ren had subconsciously assumed all Jōnin would be as fast as Guy. But in reality, not every Jōnin was a taijutsu specialist like Might Guy. Indeed, within all of Konoha's Jōnin ranks, only Might Guy could truly match that speed! Given Ren's terrifying taijutsu prowess, capable of exchanging hundreds of blows with Might Guy, it was genuinely difficult for those Root ninja to keep pace.
[Ding! The Hidden Mask has cooled down!]
The system's alert sounded. At this point, the tension in Ren's heart completely dissipated. A slight smirk unconsciously formed on his lips as he looked back at the direction the Root ninja were pursuing him. He thought to himself: You Root idiots, I'm done playing with you!
Immediately, Ren put on the Hidden Mask. His figure and presence completely vanished into the air.
---
"How's the situation?" Shimura Danzo's face was as dark as a storm cloud. He coldly questioned the kneeling Root ninja.
Sweat poured from the temples beneath the Root ninja's mask as he struggled to suppress his fear. He quickly replied: "Lord Danzo, all the Sharingan we collected were stolen by that thief."
"What?!" Shimura Danzo roared, consumed by fury. He furiously cursed: "Are you a bunch of trash?! In front of so many people, you still let the opponent steal them!"
"It's my fault, my lord," the Root Captain said solemnly. "I truly didn't expect the opponent to dare to disguise as you and appear before us. Our ninja couldn't detect any clues at all."
"Hmph, these are all excuses for your incompetence!" Shimura Danzo snapped back, and then with cold eyes, he asked, "Do you know the consequences of your failure this time?"
The Root Captain's face under his mask turned pale. Immediately, he drew the saber from his waist and slashed at his left arm. With a wet thud, his left arm fell to the ground, blood gushing out. This was the penalty for dereliction of duty for a Root ninja, and even a captain was not exempt. The Root Captain knew well what losing an arm meant: he would soon be removed from his captain position, becoming someone who could be sacrificed at any time within the Root...
Meanwhile, Danzo had to move to another location. Although the fact that the Sharingan was stolen made him furious, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, had summoned him late at night. As the head of the Root, he couldn't refuse.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, squinting at Shimura Danzo. He slowly said, "Danzo, I know the Uchiha family's Sharingan are in your hands tonight. But these Sharingan belong to the village, so I believe you should entrust them to me, the Hokage, for safekeeping."
Is this a robbery? This is simply a robbery, right?! Shimura Danzo was so incensed he wanted to curse when he heard Hiruzen Sarutobi's words. No wonder Sarutobi had that attitude, saying his forces wouldn't interfere and that I had full authority. It turned out this old fox was actually setting a trap for him! Now he was even using his Hokage authority and the village's name to pressure him? This hypocrite!
Already boiling with anger over the stolen Sharingan, Danzo's entire face turned as gloomy as a stormy sky, black as if it could drip ink. He angrily retorted: "Sarutobi, then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Tonight's Sharingan were stolen by a thief. My Root have been searching all night, but I haven't found any trace of the culprit."
Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and his voice became a little colder, "Do you think I'd believe that excuse? Danzo, you take me too simply."
Puff--! A mouthful of old blood nearly burst from Danzo's heart! How can this be an excuse? This is absolutely true! You don't believe me? Do you think I'm making up a reason to deliberately keep the Sharingan? Wronged, I'm utterly wronged by the heavens! But Danzo couldn't find a way to explain himself. He was utterly depressed. That thief truly hadn't left a single traceable clue, and their methods were incredibly clever.
"It's fine if you don't believe me; I genuinely don't have a single Sharingan in my hand right now!" Danzo snapped.
This time, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression also turned grim. For some time, Danzo had repeatedly defied his arrangements, and now he even dared to try and pocket something as precious as the Sharingan? It seemed that it was time to let him experience the true power of the Hokage.
"Your subordinates are so incompetent that they can't even handle this small matter. Then there's no need for this organization to exist!"
The relationship between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo became completely antagonistic, growing increasingly tense...