While the village was tense, not many people in Konoha were actually aware of what was happening. Only the ninjas having authority were aware of the death of Root ninjas. The others were only following orders and weren't provided any information. Even someone like Guy had no clue of what was actually happening in the village. After all, the Root was supposed to be disbanded. Besides, releasing such news could cause panic to spread in the village.
Of course, not being aware made everyone tense as well. However, since they hadn't found anyone in the long search, the village had relaxed slightly. Most ninjas felt that it was just an exercise in case anything happened. The village was sleeping peacefully. Suddenly, several ninjas sensed a massive chakra spike despite not having any chakra fields activated. At the same time, a tremor was felt in a part of the village!
After all, Root headquarters was created underground. When Fujin's clone destroyed three underground floors in a single attack, it caused a mini earthquake in the nearby area.
Sleeping in his room, Hiruzen's eyes snapped open. He immediately flickered and appeared on top of his roof. Moments later, four Anbu Guards appeared behind him. He looked towards Root headquarters in confusion and wondered, 'What the hell is happening there? Such a massive chakra signature. For a moment I thought that the Nine Tails had broken loose again. Fortunately, the chakra is much smaller. Still, what is happening?'
He immediately began moving towards the Root headquarters. Similar scenes happened all around the village. Every Clan Leader woke up. Unlike Hiruzen, they didn't move themselves and instead sent a couple of Jounin squads to check out what was happening and reinforce Hiruzen. Several civilian ninjas, including Guy, were making their way towards the source of the explosion. Memories of the Nine Tails assault resurfaced in the minds of several people.
And just like everyone, Fujin's eyes snapped open in his bedroom as well. In moments, he was on top of his house. In fact, he was even faster than Hiruzen, but unlike Hiruzen he merely watched towards the Root headquarters. He looked in that direction with an expression that said he was wondering what was happening while spreading his chakra field towards the location.
Needless to say, Fujin wasn't the only one looking towards the Root Headquarters. The 5 Root ninjas looked towards the source of the explosion as well. Their eyes widened as they realized that the Root Headquarters had been hit! And sensing how strong the explosion was, they couldn't help being worried.
All 5 decided that the mission to watch over Fujin could be postponed. In a moment, all 5 began moving towards the Root Headquarters. However, the moment they decided to do so, Fujin could sense their chakra!
A frown appeared on his face as 5 Shadow Clones appeared next to him. All 5 flickered and threw a kunai each, blocking the paths of the 5 Root ninjas. They stopped as Fujin's clones stood in their paths.
Aburame Torune shouted angrily, "Suzuki Fujin, why are you attacking us and blocking our path? The village is under attack!"
Fujin flickered a few meters behind Torune and said, "That's what I want to ask. The village is under threat and the 5 of you are surrounding my house instead of looking for the culprit? What is the meaning of this?"
Torune and the Root ninjas immediately understood why Fujin had blocked them. Torune immediately turned around and said, "It was just a coincidence. This isn't the time to argue about this. We need to reinforce Lord Danzo."
Fujin snorted and asked with a hint of anger, "So it was a coincidence that 5 of you were strategically surrounding my house during the night right when the attack happened? I wonder what your intentions are. Lord Hokage and Elder Danzo speculated that this incident was caused by someone inside the village. Seeing how suspicious you five are, I can only assume that you are working with the culprit!"
Fujin's accusation stunned them. They couldn't even imagine how Fujin reached that conclusion. One of the Root ninjas cursed, "Bastard! Stop your meaningless accusation. Get out of the way! Otherwise, we will assume that you are the one working with the culprit."
Fujin replied, "Oh. You are accusing a Council Member of working with an enemy? Good. Very good! I hope you have proof to back your claim up. Seeing how you were spying on a Council Member, I have no choice but to arrest you five right now. Don't resist or I won't hold back."
Immediately, all 5 Shadow Clones prepared for a battle. A sword appeared in their right hand. The 5 Root ninjas immediately became tense. They had heard about how strong Fujin was. Torune said, "Don't do anything crazy, Fujin. We were just on a mission."
Fujin chuckled and said, "A mission to spy on a Council Member? Good luck explaining that to Lord Hokage and the Council. As for doing anything crazy, it depends on whether you'll be obedient or resist."
Fujin's words left little room for discussion. He had been overbearing from the start. It was as if he was looking for trouble. However, considering the situation, the Root ninjas didn't find it odd. Anyone else in power would react the same way if they were being spied on. Not too long ago, an entire clan was about to revolt due to this factor.
The Root ninjas exchanged eye glances. Without any command, all 5 attacked at the same time. Four moved to attack the clones while Torune moved backwards to attack Fujin. His hands turned purple as he extended his arm towards Fujin, aiming to touch him.
In response, Fujin raised his right arm and extended two fingers. Wind began flowing around the fingers.
'Wind Release: Blades of Wind jutsu'
Immediately, a few Wind blades formed and moved towards Torune whose eyes widened. He gritted his teeth and moved to dodge the wind blades. Unfortunately, the distance was too small to dodge all of them. However, he still weaved through the wind blades, dodging most of them and only getting hit by the blades that wouldn't critically injure him so that he could continue moving forward.
Several deep cuts opened up on his body. However, he gritted his teeth and continued moving forward while thinking, 'From what Lord Danzo said, I won't be able to defeat him from a distance. His Wind jutsus will have too much of an advantage. The only way to defeat him is by touching him.'
Through great determination, he reached just 1 meter from Fujin and punched him. Fujin casually raised his arm and caught his punch. At the same time, Fujin's left palm slammed into Torune's stomach, causing him to vomit blood. However, Torune was extremely pleased. Fujin could feel that he was smiling even though Torune was wearing a mask.
Fujin's arm began turning purple as Torune said, "This is my speciality. Since you touched me, you will be poisoned. Let us go, otherwise, you'll meet your end here, Suzuki Fujin."
He thought, 'Though he is strong, he is still too green. In a battle, it doesn't matter who is stronger. All that matters is who wins. If he had stuck to his strengths and stayed at a distance, I wouldn't have had an easy time against him. Now, he'll lose due to his arrogance.'
Suddenly, Torune realized something… He couldn't use his chakra! Fujin's left hand had applied the Self-Cursing Seal on him! And, despite being poisoned, there was no fear on Fujin's face.
He heard a voice from behind him say, "The Aburame clan, huh? What a unique method of using bugs. This is the first time I've seen something like this. Unfortunately for you, it is useless against a Shadow Clone."
Torune immediately turned his head and saw Fujin standing a safe distance away. Slightly behind him, the remaining 4 Root ninjas were already dealt with. All had the Self-Cursing Seal and were knocked out cold. He thought, 'I attacked a Shadow Clone? He sent a Shadow Clone to sneak up on me? No wonder he was this fearless. I thought he was just arrogant. That said, is this one a clone or the real body?'
Torune wasn't sure. Fujin said, "Stop resisting. If your bugs attack after you are unconscious, then I'll have no choice but to kill all of them."
Torune said, "I hope you know what you are doing, Suzuki Fujin."
A large number of minute-sized bugs began exiting his body. However, Torune received no response, other than a punch in his gut from the clone he had poisoned. The punch was enhanced with chakra and strong enough to immediately knock him out.
At the same time, a couple of clones flickered next to Torune and activated a barrier, sealing Torune, his bugs and Fujin's clone inside. The clone sealed inside immediately applied a few more seals on Torune before being dispelled due to being attacked by the bugs.
Fujin left his 5 Shadow Clones there to keep an eye on the Root ninjas and flickered towards the Root Headquarters. He thought, 'Step 2 completed. Now, time for step three. Unfortunately, unlike the first two steps, I will have very little control over the outcome. If things go perfectly, then Root will no longer exist! If they don't then the status quo will be maintained. Regardless, it will heavily restrict Danzo while I won't have any loss.'
Though the expression on his face still showed that he was annoyed and angry, internally, he was very indifferent the whole time. Even the emotions he displayed while arguing against Torune were fake. He only had them to make his actions look more convincing.
The Root headquarters were currently in chaos as no one knew who the attacker was and why the Root was attacked. If Danzo knew that the only reason his headquarters was targeted was so that his subordinates spying on Fujin would expose themselves, who knows how he would have reacted.
