Part Time Employee in Konoha

Outside of Konoha Village.

Gaara and his group were still on the run.

Due to the failure of the Konoha Crush Plan, Jonin Baki ordered them to leave Konoha immediately, so the three siblings fled from the village.

Uchiha Sasuke...

actually did not chase very far.

Sasuke still needed to monitor the ongoing situation inside.

However, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura rushed forward, running straight into the angry Gaara. Gaara decisively put himself into a deep sleep, awakening the One-Tail Shukaku inside him. Haruno Sakura was unsurprisingly sent flying in an instant...

This instantly enraged Uzumaki Naruto!

What Sasuke could never have expected was that the reckless blond boy used the summoning technique he had just learned to call forth Gamabunta, launching an attack on the rampaging Shukaku. He even managed to wake Gaara, causing Shukaku to retreat. After the bizarre fight, Gaara surprisingly became less irritable and even wanted to learn from Naruto...

seemed a bit odd, didn't it?

As Sasuke continued to fend off the invading Sand and Sound ninjas and rescue endangered villagers, he observed the fight between Naruto and Gaara...

No...

How could Gaara have been convinced?

That bumbling idiot teammate of his, who often offends others, even dared to offend Akihara Kagura—how could anyone listen to him?

In any case...

Naruto and Sakura's crisis was over.

Similarly,

Konoha's crisis ended as well.

With the Third Hokage using the Reaper Death Seal to seal the reanimated bodies of the First and Second Hokage, and also sealing Orochimaru's arms, he ultimately died in battle. The powerless Orochimaru could only flee with his subordinates, and the Sand ninjas chose to surrender.

However...

The real trouble was just beginning.

Konoha had lost its Hokage, and Jiraiya, who had just arrived, refused to take the position, plunging the village into chaos.

Advisors Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado ordered everyone to stay vigilant against external espionage and demanded Jiraiya quickly bring back a suitable successor to avoid a prolonged lack of leadership.

In addition...

With manpower shortages in the village, the two advisors finally enlisted their old friend Shimura Danzo, hoping he and his Root organization would help protect Konoha.

Naturally,

Danzo immediately made his own demands, wanting Uchiha Sasuke under his command, which quickly got Homura Mitokado's approval.

That kid is a ticking time bomb!

Koharu and Homura could not handle Sasuke and hoped Danzo could control this unstable factor.

Even Hatake Kakashi had no authority to prevent Sasuke from joining Root because it was a compulsory order from the advisors, despite the Third Hokage's instructions to train Sasuke well. They even hoped Kakashi would leave Team 7 and join the Anbu.

Team 7...

was on the verge of disbandment.

Jiraiya left with Naruto to find Tsunade, the suitable Hokage successor; Sasuke was assigned to Root, leaving only Sakura behind.

Haruno Sakura's combat abilities...

did not warrant maintaining Team 7.

Konoha Village.

Training Ground Three.

Hatake Kakashi looked at Sasuke in his Anbu attire, feeling somewhat uneasy, his expression complicated. "Are you going to Root?"

Kakashi knew well the darkness within Root. He once saved a friend from there, only to now watch his student fall into that darkness.

"It's the advisors' orders."

Sasuke smiled lightly at Kakashi's complex expression. "Don't look like that, Kakashi-sensei. It's not just their orders; Danzo himself talked to me. I volunteered to go..."

"Why?"

Kakashi frowned, his voice deep with concern. "Sasuke, you don't understand Root's situation. For you, Root is..."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The black-haired boy interrupted Kakashi, his tone resolute and unquestionable. "I need to avenge my clan. I can't find Uchiha Itachi alone. I must use Root's resources to track him down!"

After speaking, Sasuke's expression softened as if not wanting Kakashi to worry. "Don't worry, Danzo promised me that if I help him with one thing, he'll make me the head of Root, and all its ninjas will follow my command to hunt down Itachi..."

"Danzo will never give up his position as head of Root."

Kakashi shook his head, knowing Danzo's nature. "He is dangerous and ambitious. No matter what you do for him, you'll just be his tool, Sasuke..."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Sasuke interrupted again, his voice somber. "I need my revenge! I must quickly rise to the top of the village. Joining Root is the only way..."

Kakashi pulled out a report, reluctantly trying to persuade him. "Sasuke, you and Shikamaru are the only ones to pass the Chunin Exam this year. Your Jonin promotion has been approved. A Jonin at twelve is..."

"Sensei."

Sasuke glanced at the Jonin promotion report, cutting him off for the third time. "Even as a Jonin, nothing changes..."

The boy's eyes were like a wounded beast, his voice unnaturally calm and suppressed. "Teacher, have you forgotten? You were also a genius Jonin at twelve. My father praised you..."

"But..."

"A twelve-year-old genius Jonin can do nothing."

Sasuke's smile was cold and cruel, seemingly mocking Kakashi and himself. "You can't even decide your own student's fate, just following orders from above..."

"....."

Kakashi fell silent.

Indeed...

What can a genius Jonin at twelve do?

Kakashi's fingers tightened around the Jonin promotion report, pain spreading through his heart, bringing back a long-forgotten sense of helplessness, a feeling he hadn't had since Rin's death...

"Teacher."

"No matter how strong we are, our fate is just a game for those above. To escape this fate, we must become those above..."

Sasuke seemed to see through the world's essence, continuing indifferently, "Danzo promised me a chance. If I become the head of Root, I'll rise to the top of the village..."

"As for the darkness of Root..."

"Where there's light, there will always be shadows..."

Sasuke's voice grew gentle. "Naruto wants to be Hokage, and someone must guard the darkness for him. Let me, his comrade, do that."

"If you want to help me, teacher..."

"In the future, help me ensure Danzo keeps his promise. Once I'm the head of Root, I won't be under his control anymore, and you won't have to worry about me..."

"....."

Kakashi felt himself being persuaded.

No...

Something was wrong...

Getting close to Danzo was dangerous!

Kakashi remembered how Danzo once tried to lure him in and later sent people to kill him for his Sharingan.

Clearly...

Danzo always coveted the Sharingan!

Given Sasuke's high-level Sharingan, Danzo would definitely covet it!

"Sasuke..."

"Danzo only wants your Sharingan..."

Kakashi could only reveal this secret, recalling his past. "I had contact with Root before. They tried to kill me for my eye. You must understand the darkness there..."

"Thank you, teacher."

Sasuke nodded, speaking softly. "But the Mangekyo Sharingan is beyond his reach. I can protect myself..."

"Alright."

"Let's end this here..."

Sasuke pulled out a scroll, handing it to Kakashi. "Sensei, this is a gift. Danzo knew of my space-time talent and gave me the Flying Thunder God technique. I need a copy of the Fourth Hokage's notes..."

"....."

Kakashi instinctively caught the scroll.

"Don't let me surpass you too much, teacher."

Uchiha Sasuke tossed a kunai with a fan emblem engraved on it to Hatake Kakashi, then turned and walked into the depths of the forest. His voice echoed in Kakashi's ears: "Teacher, Team 7, I will always remember."

"..."

Hatake Kakashi watched his student walking into the forest, feeling like he was watching a child leaving home to seek their future, making him feel particularly helpless as a teacher.

Kakashi felt his eyes warm up and instinctively touched them. It was Obito's Sharingan that he had given to him... Suddenly, a blade of grass on the ground broke.

The stem was twisted by some mysterious spatial force.

"What is this..."

Kakashi's pupils widened. He finally realized the mysterious power contained within the eye that Obito had left him! This is...

The power of the Mangekyo Sharingan!

Meanwhile,

In the dark Root base.

Shimura Danzo had also regained the power to rebuild Root. This dark underground base could finally be illuminated again without worrying about spying from the Anbu.

However,

This did not mean that Root had lost its crises.

In fact...

Root's crisis was just beginning.

A black-haired boy carrying a ninja sword, dressed in a gray Anbu uniform, stood expressionlessly in the gathering place of Root. This was the newly joined Uchiha Sasuke.

"Why aren't you wearing a mask?"

A Root ninja saw Uchiha Sasuke and wanted to remind him: "Root must hide their identi..."

Crack!

The Root ninja's neck was directly twisted!

Uchiha Sasuke never hesitated to kill Shimura Danzo's henchmen!

"He was just kindly reminding you..."

A tall Root ninja couldn't help but show a trace of anger, and scolded Uchiha Sasuke: "You actually just..."

Clang!

The sound of the ninja sword unsheathing was clear!

A thin line of blood splashed from the tall Root ninja's neck!

"Do not provoke Sasuke-kun..."

Twelve-year-old Sai only dared to cautiously calm his furious and terrified companions, his face looking particularly pale, as if he was afraid of suffering the same fate: "We can't possibly be a match for Sasuke-kun..."

"Do you want to win people's hearts?"

Uchiha Sasuke glanced coldly at Sai, mocking contemptuously: "A group of weaklings coming together to challenge me? The future leader of Root will definitely be me!"

"..."

A group of Root ninjas looked at Sai in unison.

No way...

Was Danzo-sama going to retire and choose a successor between Sai and Uchiha Sasuke? They never expected this!

"It's not like that..."

Sai noticed the looks from his teammates and wanted to explain.

"Move!"

Uchiha Sasuke walked over and interrupted him, rudely shoving Sai aside, and walked straight to Shimura Danzo's office.

This rude behavior obviously made the Root ninjas even more angry. Each one stared intently at Sasuke's back, the sound of gritting teeth rising and falling...

Unfortunately...

Everyone was angry but did not dare to speak out.

After all, Uchiha Sasuke's reputation for killing at the slightest provocation was well-known. Everyone knew he dared to kill even in front of Danzo-sama!

"Sai."

A Root ninja came over, patted Sai on the shoulder, and said in a deep voice: "Compete with that kid, we support you to become the leader of Root!"

"But Danzo-sama won't easily choose Sai, right?"

"Our opinion doesn't matter..."

"Still, we must support Sai!"

"Enough."

Another Root ninja interrupted the noise, also focusing on Sai: "Sai, since Danzo-sama has intentions for you to succeed, you must achieve it. Once you become the leader of Root, we will all follow your orders!"

"Wait..."

Sai frowned, hoping everyone would recognize the situation and not place their hopes on him: "Danzo-sama never said I would succeed as leader of Root..."

"He probably said it to that kid!"

"Danzo-sama wants you to compete with him..."

"Sai, you grew up in the training class, don't lose to him!"

"That's true, but that kid's strength is very strong..."

"Root isn't just about strength, it's about who completes more missions! How long has that kid been in Root?"

"Exactly..."

"Sai has completed quite a few missions!"

"The Third Hokage is dead, and Danzo-sama will soon retire. We must seize the time. We will help you complete all your missions, Sai..."

A group of Root ninjas began to chatter, quickly assuming one fact: their superior, Shimura Danzo, was about to retire, and the future leader of Root would be chosen between Sai and Uchiha Sasuke.

No matter what...

No one wanted their superior to be Uchiha Sasuke, who was unpredictable and killed at the slightest provocation. They would much rather support Sai!

"..."

Under everyone's expectations, Sai felt great pressure.

For Sai, working in Root was extremely difficult. Their superior, Shimura Danzo, treated them as killing tools, training them to kill each other from a young age...

After Sai finally made it, his older brother, who grew up with him, chose to die, letting him survive, finally freeing him from the dangerous and brutal training to become a full member. Now, a new colleague, Uchiha Sasuke, came to shake up the workplace...

Now...

Root faced internal promotion pressure again.

All his colleagues were expecting him to be promoted, but why should he become the leader of Root? Danzo-sama never mentioned this to him, most likely just using him as a competitor for Uchiha Sasuke...

Danzo-sama was probably about to retire, and he, who was once used by Danzo-sama to hone Uchiha Sasuke, would have to figure out what to do if Sasuke succeeded Danzo as leader. Would his future superior tolerate him?

It was too difficult...

Life in Root was too tough.

Young Sai looked at the base of Root, like an abyss, and thoughts swirled in his mind. He wondered when he could escape this hell...

Luckily...

Uchiha Sasuke would only stay with them for a while.

Uchiha Sasuke had just joined Root and became Shimura Danzo's guard ninja, so he wouldn't act together with the regular ninjas. This was a huge relief, at least they didn't have to worry about being randomly killed by the new colleague.

By comparison...

Uchiha Sasuke's life was much easier.

Since Shimura Danzo never personally took risks, having just regained power, he naturally wanted to show his presence among the village's high officials. Uchiha Sasuke only needed to follow him around the village and attend meetings at the Hokage building during the day.

On the first day.

Uchiha Sasuke saw the opportunity for his plan to succeed because he saw Shimura Danzo's ambition, which did not match his abilities.

Because with the death of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, the old man, was back in power. Perhaps because he had Uchiha Sasuke as a trump card, he almost made no effort to hide his ambition for the Hokage position!

"The situation in the village is urgent..."

Shimura Danzo looked at Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, bluntly proposing his idea, sharply revealing his intent: "Why not let me temporarily assume the role of Hokage..."

"..."

Not only did the two Hokage advisors frown, even Uchiha Sasuke found Danzo's political maneuvering skills rather foolish.

At this time...

How was the situation in the village urgent?

The ninja of Sand Village had already surrendered to Konoha, and the large ninja villages had only sent small groups of ninjas to infiltrate. The situation in the village was gradually stabilizing, and there were no signs of anyone trying to rebel and seize the Hokage position. How could it be considered urgent?

At the very least, someone should first cause some trouble in the village to create the appearance of an urgent situation!

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