Chapter 71: Root

(The chapter order was swapped; 71 is in the next chapter. You may start reading from the next chapter.)

Regarding the questions from that old geezer Danzō, Uchiha Feiyu's answer was simply to shrug his shoulders and speak with complete indifference:

"You're overthinking it. What 'Root of Konoha,' what 'Darkness of the Shinobi World'... isn't our Konoha just a group of ninja mercenaries working for money? Why make it sound so high and mighty?"

"I work for money and do jobs for benefits. As long as Root pays enough, I'm naturally willing to serve you. As for expecting me to be a tool or cannon fodder... old man, you'd better be careful. That old routine doesn't work anymore!"

Danzō was almost choked to death by Uchiha Feiyu's words. Even the two Root ninja standing behind him, who were said to be devoid of emotion, looked at Uchiha Feiyu with stunned expressions.

After a long while, this leader of Root finally regained his composure and struck his cane hard against the ground:

"You fellow, do you not have a shred of the Will of Fire? Are you even a ninja of Konoha?"

"With your current strength, you can be considered outstanding even in the entire Ninja World. Do you not have any dreams like achieving World Peace, becoming Hokage, or helping the world?"

Uchiha Feiyu rolled his eyes slightly:

"Heh, 'when poor, attend to one's own virtue; when prosperous, have a harem.' If someone wants to save the world, let them do it. I'm certainly not doing it!"

"You want me to join Root? As long as the pay is good and you give enough, I'll do the work for you—whether it's black work, white work, dirty work, or clean work. As for ideals and such, let's not talk about them. Talking too much hurts our relationship!"

"Summer insects cannot speak of ice!"

Shimura Danzo slammed his cane down hard, huffed a sentence, and then turned around and walked away.

Uchiha Feiyu chuckled lightly and glanced at Orochimaru beside him:

"This old man has quite the desire for control, doesn't he? He tried to feed me sweet talk and put a dog collar on me the moment I walked in!"

"Heh, old people have that little habit. But Feiyu, you really do live with a clear head."

"Can't help it. People always have to live for themselves, especially someone like me who has no parents, no family, and no attachments. I don't have the heart to shed blood for Konoha."

"Teacher Orochimaru, as one of the Legendary Sannin and even a strong candidate for the position of Hokage, tell me, do you really believe in the Will of Fire?"

Regarding the question from his student Uchiha Feiyu, Orochimaru ultimately just chuckled softly. He said nothing, yet it was as if he had said everything.

Entering the Root base of Konoha, Uchiha Feiyu looked at the expressionless ninja inside who were like robots, a faint smile on his face.

It wasn't until Orochimaru led him to a high platform in a training ground and he looked at the group of ten-year-old boy ninjas below that Uchiha Feiyu frowned slightly.

Shimura Danzo stood in the center of the high platform. Seeing Uchiha Feiyu arrive, he only gave a light huff. Uchiha Feiyu ignored him entirely and instead looked down at the bloody scene below.

These young ninjas were using Kunai and Shuriken to engage in real, lethal combat. Even more miserable was that at least half of the young ninjas had already become corpses, while the rest were still gritting their teeth and fighting each other.

"Is this the cultivation method of Root? Truly cruel enough..."

"Brat, why do you think Root is able to support the great tree that is Konoha? Let me tell you, brat, out of every ten orphans Root takes in each year, at most one or two can become true Root ninja. The others are merely stepping stones for the real Root ninja!"

"The cruel tempering that Root ninja endure is something you, a ninja who grew up playing games in the greenhouse of the Ninja Academy, cannot imagine!"

Facing Shimura Danzo's impassioned speech, Uchiha Feiyu blinked his eyes and asked softly:

"Then how many Elite Jonin does Root have? How many Shadow-level ninja? Which ninja's strength can compare to mine?"

"Cough, cough, cough, cough..."

Danzo coughed violently several times and was instantly rendered speechless.

Don't look at how cruel and seemingly efficient Root's cultivation method is; in reality...

Relying on this kind of brainwashing cultivation, it is impossible to produce true Shadow-level ninja, and even Jonin are quite difficult to achieve. At most, it raises the floor of Root to the level of Elite Chunin.

Moreover, the average talent of the orphans Danzo takes in isn't very good.

This kind of cruel cultivation method requires a huge number of orphans. Plus, following the principle of "a rabbit doesn't eat the grass by its own hole," the orphans Root takes in are certainly not Konoha orphans, but are selected from the entire Land of Fire.

Because of years of intermarriage among ninja, even ordinary civilians in Konoha have much higher ninja talent than ordinary people.

However, even after some selection, the talent of these ordinary orphans from the Land of Fire is not only incomparable to the clan ninja of Konoha, but even falls short of ordinary children in Konoha.

With insufficient talent and a cultivation method that kills their spirit, the floor of Root ninja is high, but the ceiling is extremely low. Aside from some ninja tricked or coerced from Konoha clans, the orphans Root cultivates itself are at best Special Jonin.

Uchiha Feiyu's words poked directly at Danzo's sore spot. Throughout the rest of the training, the guy kept a sullen face.

Danzo had originally wanted to use this cruel training to give Uchiha Feiyu a show of force, but unfortunately, the Uchiha before him was impervious to both soft and hard tactics and didn't care about this cruel scene at all—if he knew how many people Uchiha Feiyu had killed on the battlefield, he probably wouldn't have wasted his effort.

They were just some unknown young ninja. It wasn't as if Uchiha Feiyu hadn't cut down young people on the battlefield. He hadn't encountered any under ten, but he had killed about a dozen twelve or thirteen-year-old ninjas.

After the training ended, only about 1/3 of the young ninjas were left standing in the training ground. The other sixty or seventy ninjas had already become corpses. Orochimaru licked his lips lightly and spoke to Shimura Danzo:

"Elder Danzo, can you hand over the corpses of these ninja to me?"

"What do you want the corpses of these ninja for? They aren't exactly good materials for Human Experimentation."

Shimura Danzo asked with a frown, then waved his hand:

"It wouldn't be to feed that Summoned Beast of yours, Manda, again, would it? You are the master of the Summoned Beast; as a ninja, you should properly discipline your Summoned Beast!"

Orochimaru chuckled softly and spoke in a low voice:

"Of course not for Manda. This time, I need a large number of ordinary ninja corpses to practice a special ninjutsu!"

"I've thought it over, and only your Root, Elder Danzo, can help me. If this ninjutsu practice is successful, then the method you want to suppress cellular rejection will also be handed over by me."

(End of chapter)