Root Is Finished

"Hiroki!" The Nara Clan ninja shouted, his face filled with grief. The Ino-Shika-Cho Trio usually operated together, so these two were clearly teammates.

However, while his voice was full of sorrow, he fled quickly. The Nara Clan had always been known for their calmness and intelligence. Even the Akimichi Clan, strongest in direct combat, had already been defeated. He naturally knew that rushing in would only get himself killed.

"No Yamanaka Clan members? Their mind secret techniques are pretty troublesome." Yota looked slightly puzzled, but did not dwell on it. With a casual wave, he sent out a vast cloud of black mist. Though the Nara Clan ninja fled quickly, the Dark-Dark Fruit possessed an immense pulling force. He felt the Chakra within his body fall into disorder before the powerful suction dragged him into the black mist. A moment later, the mist spat out the unconscious Nara Clan ninja.

Meanwhile, a Yamanaka Clan ninja hiding in a corner wore an expression of pain and terror. "What kind of monster is this guy? His entire mind is like a black hole! Damn it, my mental energy was torn to pieces just now!"

Yota did not know that the Yamanaka Clan had actually attacked him long ago, only for his body, altered by the Dark-Dark Fruit, to automatically tear their mental energy apart. He merely felt as though his spirits had become slightly more invigorated.

By now, he had drained an unknown number of ninjas, and the Chakra within him had been constantly growing. He did not even notice the boost brought by the Yamanaka Clan’s mental energy.

After taking down those two ninjas, Yota could still sense several hidden ninjas with Observation Haki, but he ignored them and headed straight for Root.

After all, time was short, and he did not want to waste it. Once the battle with the Nine-Tails was over, Konoha would probably come after him.

Yota was not afraid of a real fight, but avoiding unnecessary trouble was naturally best.

Just as Yota was about to reach Root, a swishing sound rang out. A group of masked ninjas with lifeless auras blocked his path.

At the same time, Observation Haki detected a large group of ninjas pursuing him from behind. At their head was a man with bandages wrapped around his eyes and arm—the infamous Scourge of Konoha… ahem, the Darkness of Konoha, Root’s Leader, Danzo.

Wasn’t this guy supposed to be blocking those Uchiha? Why did he come running back? Yota grumbled inwardly. Then again, he had already charged all the way to their headquarters. How could Danzo possibly sit still?

Danzo had gone to block the Uchiha clan’s entrance precisely to avoid fighting the Nine-Tails while also throwing more dirt on the Uchiha. But if Yota overturned his nest, the losses would likely be worse than fighting the Nine-Tails!

More importantly, if Yota failed to clear everything out and exposed Root’s human experiments and the like, Danzo would have only two options left: defect or commit seppuku. Under such circumstances, who gave a damn about the Uchiha? He had to hurry back and defend his own base!

Yota frowned. Seeing the Root ninjas ahead rush toward him, he snorted coldly. The black mist swept out, rendering every ninjutsu, kunai, and shuriken useless. Amid a series of screams, the mist receded, leaving behind a field of dried corpses.

Yota showed no mercy when dealing with Root ninjas. These people had been brainwashed to the point of having almost no humanity left.

Danzo, who had been charging forward, shuddered and immediately slowed down.

Any ninja admitted into Root had to possess at least chunin-level strength, and they were the sort of chunin with distinctive abilities of their own. If those dozen or so Root ninjas had joined forces against Danzo himself, it would have taken him at least a dozen exchanges to truly defeat them.

Yet Yota had wiped them all out with a single sweep of black mist. That level of power was simply absurd. Looking across all of Konoha, there was probably no one this strong.

In this situation, Danzo, who excelled at internal strife but faltered against external enemies, naturally did not dare charge forward directly.

"Who are you, sir? What does the Nine-Tails breaking free of its seal have to do with you?" Keeping far away from Yota, Danzo cautiously tried to pin the blame on him first.

"Sorry, but I’m not taking the blame for the Nine-Tails. That was clearly the fine work of your Konoha Uchiha clan." Yota’s expression did not change as he spun the lie. The Sharingan pattern in the Nine-Tails’ eyes had already been exposed anyway, so he was not worried that Konoha’s people would disbelieve him.

Danzo fell silent for a moment before speaking again. "Then you have a grudge against Konoha? Or did you accept a bounty to come make trouble in Konoha?"

"You must be that famous bounty hunter, the Black Shadow Ninja, correct?"

They found out pretty quickly. As expected of an intelligence organization, Yota muttered inwardly. Still, he did not want to waste time talking nonsense with Danzo. In such a short time, quite a few more Root ninjas had arrived. Before long, they would probably all be here!

With that thought, Yota did not answer at all. Black energy spread from his hand, transforming into terrifying black mist that surged outward.

Danzo’s eye twitched. Knowing how terrifying the black mist was—that it could directly swallow any attack, and could only be avoided rather than resisted—he immediately leaped away.

The Root ninjas behind him had seen Yota’s earlier battle record as well. Naturally, they did not dare use ninjutsu to block him head-on again, scattering in all directions like fleas.

Yota curled his lip slightly and sneered. Raising his hand, he slammed it fiercely into the ground.

"Dark Hole!"

A dark aura instantly spread outward, growing larger and larger until it covered several kilometers of ground. From above, one could see that a tenth of Konoha had been engulfed by black mist, with the buildings atop it gradually being swallowed as well.

Fortunately, the ordinary residents of the ninja village had already gone to the shelters. Otherwise, Yota truly would not have dared use such a wide-range lethal ultimate move.

"Not good! Attack him directly!" Feeling the terrifying suction and seeing the boundless range of Dark Hole, Danzo’s face changed as he stood atop a house.

Moreover, under the Dark-Dark Fruit’s pull, even the Chakra inside those ninjas who had used every means possible to leap onto buildings began to leak out of control. Several ninjas had just begun forming hand seals to attack when their rampaging Chakra made them spray blood. They plunged headfirst down, fell into the ground, and vanished in an instant.

Only a few exceptionally powerful ninjas could still form hand seals and unleash ninjutsu under such circumstances.

However, Yota sneered. Another layer of Armament Haki covered his body, which gleamed with a metallic sheen. After the rumbling barrage of attacks ended, not even a single hair on Yota had been harmed.

By then, the vast majority of the buildings had already sunk into darkness. With nowhere left to flee, the ninjas were ultimately sucked into Dark Hole amid screams as well.

"What a pain." Yota withdrew his hand, feeling as though his body had become heavy. He knew that using Dark Hole just now to absorb too much debris had consumed too much of his stamina.

Fortunately, Root’s underground base had also been within Dark Hole’s range. It had now become a massive pit, and he had packed the entire thing away.