Chapter 21: Plundering

Time passed by, second by second.

In the room, Baishi sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, with only his ears occasionally twitching, as if he were listening to something.

At a certain moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, and a glimmer of brilliance flickered in his pupils, causing his aura to undergo a dramatic transformation.

"It's time to leave this cage!"

At this moment, Baishi was no longer the lifeless shell he had been before; now he resembled the morning sun in spring—full of vitality.

Without hesitation, Baishi stood up immediately, left the room, and headed straight for the secret vault.

Of course, the secret vault he was going to was not the one where Konoha stored various forbidden jutsu, but a secret vault belonging to the roots.

As far as he knew, all the various techniques collected by Danzo were stored there. Since he planned to reap benefits, it would only make sense to target the most valuable items.

Thus, he set his sights on that location from the very beginning and prepared adequately, so it was easy for him to find his destination.

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Deep within the base.

At the entrance of a passage, as soon as Baishi arrived, two figures darted out.

Following that, two strange ninja tools resembling scythes were raised and crossed, blocking his way.

"Stop right there!" one of them shouted.

Upon hearing this, Baishi halted his steps, standing about a meter and a half away from them.

Seeing him stop, one person asked, "This is a restricted area. Do you have Lord Danzo's handseal?"

"Wait a moment!"

Baishi replied and pretended to take out the handseal from his pocket.

At the moment when the two were distracted by his actions, two thorny vines suddenly shot out from his shoulders, piercing straight into the heart of each opponent.

This wasn't the end; fearing that the two might have any back-up plans, Baishi leaped at them as soon as the vines struck.

Within moments, after the two had suffered a heavy blow, spitting out blood, they were grabbed by the neck.

Next, with a crisp snap, Baishi crushed their throats almost simultaneously.

In the blink of an eye, the two were devoid of breath.

Looking down at their corpses, Baishi murmured softly, "Ninja bodies are still too fragile."

He sensed the surroundings, confirming that no one had noticed the commotion, then quickly formed seals and channeled chakra to perform the jutsu—Doton: Dodonuma (Earth Style: Earth Swamp).

Immediately, the ground writhed and transformed into a swamp, swallowing the two corpses in an instant.

After taking care of the aftermath, Baishi wasted no time and walked straight into the passage.

There was no one else here except for those two root ninjas.

This was not due to a lack of personnel, but because it was unnecessary.

Almost all root ninjas were controlled by Danzo, only loyal to him, making the internal structure of the roots very stable.

As a result, they didn't need to waste too much manpower on internal defense, focusing more on guarding against external enemies.

For this reason, Baishi was able to slip in easily.

The passage ahead appeared to be long, but it only had two rooms, located on either side.

To the left was the archive room, containing not only documents on root ninjas but also a large number of task records and other intelligence materials.

As for the right side, that was his destination—the secret vault.

Cautiously pushing open the door, Baishi entered, and upon seeing the room filled with scrolls and books, he momentarily didn't know where to start.

"Forget it, I'll just gather all the Wood Style jutsu first, then look at the others."

With this decision made, Baishi quickly began his search.

He initially thought it would take him some time, but to his surprise, Danzo had already sorted out all the Wood Style jutsu and placed them together, saving him a lot of effort.

Quickly collecting the relevant scrolls, Baishi then looked to other areas, his steps beginning to move.

"Uh, Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique), the signature jutsu of the Uchiha, not needed for now, but I'll take it for now."

While speaking, Baishi put away one scroll, next picking up another.

Thus, as time ticked by, Baishi strolled along the bookshelf, selecting scrolls or books that he might find useful.

After a long while, looking at the pile of selected books and scrolls in front of him, Baishi found himself in a dilemma.

Although he had prepared a sealing scroll early on, the space inside it was limited, insufficient to seal all of these scrolls and books.

"Ah, I got too caught up in selecting earlier and forgot about this; guess I'll have to choose again."

Muttering to himself, Baishi began to reevaluate the scrolls in front of him.

It wasn't surprising that he was overwhelmed, as there were just too many good items. Techniques like Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Flying Thunder God Technique, Transfiguration Technique, and Four Symbols Seal—should be recorded in the Sealing Book and these were all available here.

Additionally, there were many other unique secret techniques from different clans, like the Mind Techniques from the Yamanka clan, the Shadow Techniques from the Nara clan, and the Multiplication Techniques from the Akimichi clan, all included.

Thus, added to the variety of nature transformation jutsu, it was understandable why Baishi was overwhelmed.

Staring at the books and scrolls in front of him, Baishi felt troubled, unsure of which ones to choose.

Just as he was stuck in thought, instinctively he opened the panel, intending to see what he needed.

However, at the moment he saw the panel, he suddenly realized that his foundation was always "within the system," and those jutsu were merely means to defend himself; he must not lose sight of the main goal.

Having thought this through, Baishi ceased to agonize over his choices, swiftly completed his selection, and discarded the vast majority of scrolls and books, only keeping a handful that were most useful to him, sealing them into the scroll.

Afterward, he didn't linger and quickly left the room.

In the quiet corridor, Baishi dashed forward, just as he was about to exit the passage when suddenly, a figure blocked his way.

Looking closely, he saw that the person was short and did not seem to be an adult. As he got closer, Baishi realized that the one blocking his path was Yamato.

'What is he doing here? Was he assigned by Danzo? Or is this a coincidence?'

Thoughts raced through his mind as Baishi stopped a short distance from Yamato and spoke, "Is there something you need?"

As he spoke, he had already prepared for a confrontation. Although he bore no grudge against the other person, anyone who dared to block his path today wouldn't be treated kindly.

Yamato seemed oblivious to the danger, asking in a daze, "Did you kill them?"

Following his gaze, Baishi looked over and saw the two bodies he had buried underground, which had somehow been dug up.

At that moment, Baishi's killing intent almost overflowed.

"Why?"

Seeing that Baishi didn't deny it, Yamato asked again, his tone filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"Eh~"

Baishi had intended to attack, but he noticed that Yamato didn't appear to be as numb as other root ninjas. He seemed to possess some emotions and thoughts of his own.

Thus, after a brief consideration, Baishi answered earnestly, "Freedom!"

Upon hearing this, Yamato stood there in a daze, repeatedly murmuring those two words.

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