14 Itsuki's weapon

Root Headquarters

Danzo was waiting for advanced scouts to report back on Uchiha defenses. He was already prepared for taking Root underground after this job to take inevitable blowback from Hokage. He needed to prepare for the resurgence of root after the Uchiha massacre as he would not be able to recruit more Root Anbu legally. But then again when had that ever stopped him.

Fu appeared kneeling in front of him and reported, "Scouting teams have sensed zero activity in sector 17. The entire sector is silent with no chakra signature present."

Danzo's eyes widened a little. He could not believe a 13-year-old had slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan no matter how talented. He became thoughtful for a movement.

"Prepare to move all Root assets to hidden bases. Mobilize team Delta and Gamma to scout Sector 17 and kill any survivors, and find and breach the Uchiha library." Danzo ordered. "Ready team Beta to guard me. I am going to meet the Hokage."

Moving out towards Hokage tower, an Anbu with a Crow mask appeared in front of Danzo. Danzo immediately became alert and discretely signaled his team to remain alert.

Itachi did not bow to Danzo and just stiffly spoke, "Mission accomplished. Hokage is expecting you at Uchiha sector's gate." Danzo nodded but Itachi did not move from his position.

Itachi moved near Danzo with blurring speed and before Danzo could even move, Itachi whispered in his ear "Danzo if you lay a finger on Sasuke, LeaF wILL BURN." Itachi states in a voice that chilled Danzo to the core. Danzo took Itachi's threat with utmost seriousness, after all, Itachi was Anbu captain and knew too many secrets of Leaf village. Just leaking that the Uchiha massacre was done on his orders can instigate a civil war in the village.

Saying his piece, Itachi vanished in a murder of crows.

"Thud THud thUd" Danzo looked around at the fallen dead bodies of his protection detail and for the first time since Madara, Danzo feared someone.

Unbeknown to Danzo and Itachi, one of the dead Anbu had a spiral seal under his neck skin.

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Jiraya and Itsuki both heard the conversation. Confirmation that Itachi slaughtered his clan on orders from the village unsettled Jiraya a lot. He was even starting to regret giving spying seals to Itsuki, this is not the stuff a child should've to deal with even if he is an excellent sensor, he is still a child.

Itsuki did not say anything. He was more focused on the second marked Anbu and what Danzo's next move is going to be. Hinuzen will dissolve Root but Danzo will not go down that easy. He is bound to take a few drastic steps which he could easily hide in confusion and panic brought by the Uchiha Massacre.

For a few hours, Itsuki and Jiraya got nothing but silence from Anbu before a chime suggesting gathering of all Anbu agents rang in their ears. Both immediately started to pay attention to the situation.

"For all intent and purposes, the Root is disbanded and going undercover. All of you will remain as sleeper agents in your respective assignments inside or outside the village unless called. Team omega, extract all targets with A and B level recruitment priority and place them in base 133. Dismissed.

Danzo's voice was clear even over the static. Itsuki did not take long to understand that he will be most likely among the targets. He immediately went to the drawer and took out a small scroll and left the room but not before activating all the seals for the protection of his tiny guest.

Itsuki's sensing range encompasses the whole village and beyond but he is only focused on finding strong chakra signatures with muted emotions, a trademark of Root Anbu.

"Jiraya I am moving in to intercept the Root extraction," Itsuki said to Jiraya while expanding his sensing range to find dispatched Root agents.

Jiraya understood after a movement what Itauki implied, "What? Are you mad? Those are Anbu we are talking about! You are talented but you are just an eleven-year-old child. And from what I know, you have no experience in combat. No matter how good you are, without experience, you are just a sitting duck to a single Anbu, much less an entire squad!" Jiraya bellowed.

"Do you think I do not know that?" Itsuki questioned Jiraya as if asking an idiot. Itsuki knew better than anybody how vital combat experience was to ninja. Even Itachi experienced grueling missions in Anbu to reach his current level. Itsuki in pure taijutsu combat can barely contend with Hana who is at the level of an average genin. Even his formidable skills at chakra strengthening can bring his speed and strength on par with most elite Jonin, even then he would barely be able to contend with an experienced chunin due to his own lack of experience, much less a whole squad of Anbu.

"Do you have to do it? You can just hide somewhere and let it pass." Jiraya argued.

"You and I both know that is a small term solution. Danzo would never leave me alone if I did that. Danzo already has enough interest in me, if I am the only one escaping from him now, I will be in a lot more danger next." Itsuki replied.

"Then let me handle it. Just stay hidden till I arrive."

"How long till you reach Konoha?" Itsuki asked.

"I am not far from the village. Just about an hour." Jiraya replied.

Itsuki sensed a number of presences matching the parameters of Root Anbu. He let out a sad sigh. 'I really hoped to avoid doing this.'

"Then you will be too late. Come to my office in the morning." Itsuki replied to Jiraya and cut off the communication link. He needed full focus for the task ahead.

Itsuki donned a fox mask and a dark grey hooded robe used by Anbu on long-term stealth missions and started moving at an extremely fast pace towards the Hokage monument. He did not want to engage in direct combat with Anbu before he could find a way to circumvent his lack of experience but when Danzo started to pay special attention to him, he knew this was inevitable. So for last year, he did not try to develop his taijutsu at all but instead focused on developing a special jutsu.

After reaching the Hokage rock, Itsuki directly went to the top of Froth Hokage's stone face. He placed the small scroll in front of him and opened it. A kanji for Bow was written on it and after supplying small chakra, a bow about the same height as Itsuki appeared in front of him. The entire body of the bow was entirely covered with paper seals adhered to the bow by applying varnish over them.

The bow is a weapon Ninjas rarely use and for a good reason. The reason is simple even the best bow can send arrows at about half the speed of sound which while fast is nothing to an experienced ninja. A competent Jonin can travel via shunshin at speed faster than sound. Avoiding a small arrow that is fired from a long-range is child's play. Not only that, bows are bulky, clumsy to use in combat and arrows need to be handled with care. But in the right conditions, a bow can serve as effective assassination devices.

Itsuki unfolds the scroll a little more till kanji for silent arrows appeared. Pumping chakra into the symbol, Itsuki retrieves half a dozen black metal skewer shaped featherless arrows. Each arrow had three seals; one at the tip with kanji target, another at the shaft with kanji air-less, and the last at the tail end with kanji fire and contain.

He then creates a small genjutsu to make himself invisible and lays down a sealing array around him to mute chakra fluctuations from his location.

He picked up a single arrow from the pile and mentally locked on a chakra nearing Naruto's old orphanage. Making one-handed hand seals in pattern tiger, rat, and ram while keeping the other hand above the arrow's tip. The target character at the tip of the arrow started to glow in a dull golden glow. Itsuki then knocked the arrow and expertly sent chakra through the other two seals and both began to glow too.

Pointing towards the oblivious Anbu, Itsuki nocked the arrow to the bow and pulled back with all his might, using every ounce of chakra control to strengthen his arm muscles, going as far as to activate the Strength of Hundred seal but he was only able to pull back the bowstring halfway.

'Target was about four miles from his location. This much is enough' Itsuki calculated while gritting his teeth. He reinforced the bow to his maximum capability but he is still not able to use it at its full ability.

Itsuki let loose from the taut bowstring and the arrow vanished faster than he could blink. Arrow released moved without a sound, the airless seal creates a vacuum around the arrow, letting it move through the air without any resistance with a speed five times faster than the speed of sound. The target seal homing in on the target. In a few seconds, the arrow was upon the still oblivious Anbu, piercing his body, and then brutally ripped apart his entire torso through sheer kinetic energy.

"BOOOM"

The remnant of the arrow drilled through several walls behind him and a few meters into the ground before the explosion seal at the tail end went out destroying any evidence of arrow. This happened so fast that while the torso was reduced to a pulp, the legs were still moving forward.

While the arrow was silent, the dull explosion and noise of collision probably woke half the village of trigger happy ninjas. 'I did not have much time.' Itsuki thought.

Itsuki pushed down the bile rising in his throat and picked up another arrow. Repeating the same procedure, Itsuki fired again and again and again. Every Anbu he locked onto was killed without fail. Soon entire Anbu squad lay dead.

Itsuki could not take it anymore and emptied his stomach then and there.

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Author Notes:

The Jutsu Itsuki developed locks onto a chakra signature he could sense and strike that target with extreme accuracy by using a targeting seal at the arrowhead. The detail will be explained in the next chapter.