Blocking the blow with his blade, Uchiha Toukan glanced at the kunai in Aburame Torune's hand and chuckled softly, "A custom-made glass kunai? Too bad, it's useless."
The next second, the shuriken hovering around Uchiha Toukan instantly darted toward the emerging Aburame Torune.
Aburame Torune hurriedly used an insect substitution to escape, but the moment his feet touched the ground, Uchiha Toukan's next slash arrived. Shrouded in crackling electricity, Uchiha Toukan moved at an unimaginable speed.
A relentless series of lethal slashes left Aburame Torune overwhelmed. As a bug-use expert, close combat was never his strong suit, and he could only repeatedly rely on insect substitutions to escape Uchiha Toukan's blade. However, each insect substitution meant that another batch of the insects he had raised would perish beneath Uchiha Toukan's lightning.
Within minutes, Aburame Torune had brushed with death several times. Just as Uchiha Toukan intended to end Aburame Torune's life, his vision suddenly went pitch black.
"Using that trick on an Uchiha with the Mangekyo Sharingan? You're asking to die."
Within the mental world, Uchiha Toukan's Mangekyo Sharingan flashed. Yamanaka Fu, who was hiding in the dark and attempting a sneak attack with the Mind Eye Replication Technique, let out a muffled groan and collapsed in a pool of blood.
"Go catch that one, I want him alive." While once again forcing out one of Aburame Torune's insect substitutions with a single slash, Uchiha Toukan effortlessly gave instructions to Inabi and Saido nearby.
"Little bug-playing rat, since we already have a better captive, it's over." Smiling, Uchiha Toukan drove his blade straight into Aburame Torune's back. Lightning surged instantly, and before long, nothing was left on the ground except a charred corpse.
On the other side, Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Saido had effortlessly captured Yamanaka Fu, who had completely lost the ability to resist due to the backlash of his clan's secret technique.
"Saido, take this guy back to the clan's interrogation room and give him a proper welcome, but don't let him die. Inabi, go report to the Hokage Building and tell them that during our investigation, we met with violent resistance from the remaining Root forces, forcing us to take emergency measures. All the criminals have been executed." After dealing with Aburame Torune, Uchiha Toukan turned back and instructed.
"Understood!" The two nodded in acknowledgment, then split up and hurried in two different directions according to Uchiha Toukan's orders.
As for Uchiha Toukan, he walked toward the underground Root base all by himself.
Upon entering the Root base, the remaining Root members began launching one suicidal ambush after another against Uchiha Toukan. Yet, Uchiha Toukan only ever needed a single slash to resolve the issue. Just like that, he cut his way from the entrance of the Root base all the way to its core area. In a mere ten-minute journey, dozens of ninja corpses already lay sprawled out in every direction.
Upon entering Danzo's office, the first thing Uchiha Toukan saw was a pile of ashes covering the floor. It appeared that all of Danzo's secrets had been burned to cinders. Seeing this, Uchiha Toukan smiled faintly, then unrolled a sealing scroll and pulled out a stack of documents.
"Root's efficiency is still quite high, I suppose. I thought I'd have to help them clean up the mess." Uchiha Toukan reached out and tossed the retrieved documents into the air, then ignited them with a Great Fireball Technique.
After a little less than half of the retrieved documents had burned away, Uchiha Toukan unhurriedly formed hand seals.
Water Style: Water Colliding Wave.
A massive amount of mist emerged with Uchiha Toukan at its center, condensing into droplets of water that fell upon the burning paper on the ground. Wisps of grey smoke drifted up, and only then did Uchiha Toukan pick up the partially burned documents one by one.
……
After a long while, Uchiha Inabi, who had gone to report to Sarutobi Hiruzen, finally arrived fashionably late alongside the Anbu ninja sent by the Third Hokage.
Though the leader wore an Anbu mask, his shock of white hair allowed Uchiha Toukan to easily identify his identity—the famed Copy Ninja of Konoha, Hatake Kakashi.
Walking into the Root base and seeing the corpses littering the floor, Kakashi could not help but frown. It wasn't out of pity, but rather because these Root ninjas were, at the end of the day, shinobi of the village, and there might have been a slight chance they could have turned over a new leaf after Danzo's death. Yet, at this moment, every single one of them had been killed by Uchiha Toukan.
"Kakashi-senpai, so you're the one who came." Uchiha Toukan smiled and greeted Kakashi. He wasn't surprised that the Third Hokage hadn't shown up in person; after all, under the deterrence of Kotoamatsukami, this seasoned shinobi probably preferred not to face Uchiha Toukan head-on.
Kakashi made no reply from beneath his mask. Toukan didn't mind this in the least and continued speaking on his own.
"When I arrived here, these remnants of Root were in the midst of destroying the evidence left behind by Shimura Danzo. Fortunately, I arrived in time to salvage a portion of it." Uchiha Toukan stepped closer to Kakashi and lowered his voice, "I found something rather special in these documents. I'm sure you'll find it interesting."
With that, Uchiha Toukan produced a document that had been more than half-burned and presented it before Kakashi.
The names listed near the top made Kakashi's pupils contract: Hatake Sakumo, Kishida Keisuke, Arima Kijiya, and a ninja whose surname was left as Higashiyama, though Kakashi completed the name in an instant—Higashiyama Ryota.
These were the participants in that fateful mission which had altered his father's entire life.
And right beside those names, the marker reading "silenced" made Kakashi's heart leap in shock.
"Well, now that you're here, help clean up the bodies here." Uchiha Toukan put away the document, patted Kakashi on the shoulder, and sighed, "What a pity. They were all village ninjas, yet they were brainwashed by Danzo to this extent. I didn't want to kill them either."
With that, Uchiha Toukan turned and walked outward, gesturing for Uchiha Inabi to follow.
"Wait a moment!" Kakashi suddenly called out to Uchiha Toukan, who had already reached the doorway of the office.
"Is there something you need, Kakashi-senpai?" Uchiha Toukan turned back with a warm smile on his face, "I still need to go back and sort out the rest of this evidence, as well as interrogate the captured Root remnants."
"N—nothing." Hatake Kakashi hesitated for a moment beneath his mask, suppressing the urge to press Uchiha Toukan for answers.
"Then I'll be leaving first. Give my regards to the Hokage." Uchiha Toukan said, turning to leave. After walking another step or two, as if remembering something, he turned back and said, "Oh right, Kakashi-senpai, if you have some free time, come visit the clan. Granny Miori hasn't been feeling too well lately, and she's been mentioning you."