110. NANI!?

Today things had gone as usual. Danzo had a meeting with the elders, and discussed with the Hokague on some measures to keep the clans in check. Everything seems to be normal and going according to his plans. However, he couldn’t get rid of that odd feeling. 

“I have already checked everything twice over, what could I be missing?” Danzo trusted his instincts and they were telling him that something was wrong. His body felt tense and ready for combat, as if something or someone nearby was ready to take his life.

However, that thought seemed irrational. Currently he is within his Root headquarters. No one aside from those he controls should know of this place and therefore no one should be able to threaten him here. Of course he is not naive enough to believe his hideout is perfect and yet, despite his efforts to make sure nothing is amiss his nerves wouldn’t ease.

“Lord Danzo, I have a report to make.” Even while lost in thought Danzo paid attention to his surroundings and so he noticed the root member long before he spoke. 

“Speak.” Despite the usefulness of his puppets Danzo had a single complaint. They required his attention constantly. After all, without will his puppets couldn’t make their own decisions. This was both the reason behind his like and dislike of the technique.

Since the puppets didn’t have a will, they couldn’t make their own decisions and as such they couldn’t go against his will. On the other hand, since they couldn’t make decisions of their own he needed to micromanage everything which was tedious. In the end he had long goten used to it. 

“How does it feel betraying those who gave you their trust?” The puppet spoke without a shred of emotion in it. However, the words it spoke surprised Danzo, not that it showed in his face. Before he could even begin to formulate an answer another root puppet appeared and spoke.   

“Was it worth it? To kill so many for a meaningless dream?” Now Danzo was thoroughly confused. He may not be a sensor-nin but even he could tell that his puppets weren’t under genjutsu. He couldn’t understand what was going on, however he could tell without a shadow of a doubt that something was wrong. 

“Kai.” Danzo moved his hands in an attempt to dispel the genjutsu he believed he had fallen into, however, nothing happened. 

“This is reality Danzo, and Karma has come to claim your debt.” This time the voice came from all around him making it impossible for him to pinpoint its origin.

Danzo didn’t answer, instead opting to get ready for battle. From the previous interaction he could tell that his root had been infiltrated. Now it was of the utmost priority for him to get rid of whoever was responsible for this, that or to flee. 

“Tell me, Danzo, has your little arm experiment worked?” Hearing this Danzo felt a ting of worry. No one should know about his arm, no, Orochimaru would know. Could it be that the snake was responsible for this? 

“If I am not mistaken you should have ten eyes on that arm of yours. Each gives you around a minute of Izanagi. In other words, I have a whole ten minutes to play with you however I like.” Now Danzo was truly worried. Whoever this was knew too much. However, they had wasted time by letting him prepare.  

“I believe I have given you enough time to prepare. What? You thought I didn’t notice? No, no, it wouldn’t do for me to kill you without making you suffer. I want to see you struggle, fight with all your might and see how you despair once everything proves to be useless. Now, let's play.” Hearing this Danzo couldn’t help but shudder.

All around the underground compound pink glowing eyes stared at the old eye thief. Some as small as a grain of sand. Others the size of a human being. There were hundreds of eyes looking at him. All of them were staring at him with a laser focus. That’s when he realized he couldn’t escape. 

“Omae wa mou shindeiru.”