Naruto: The Outsider's Resolve: CH_392

Rui was on the road for longer than he had initially expected. Things had changed since he was stationed at Inahara and had limited access to information. Being ousted from the Hidden Leaf had changed ROOT's situation drastically. After he conveyed his messages and asked to be brought back in, he was called to a base he didn't know existed in a region far from his current position, even when he knew the existence of bases closer to him. He could only deduce that the organisation had abandoned much of the infrastructure that could be potentially found and tracked by ANBU.

He travelled to a region deep in the countryside just off the Fire-Cascade border and found himself on a less-travelled trade route, standing beside a yellow stone marker. He was given a map of the region, but the base's location wasn't marked for security. He wouldn't lead them to the base even if he were followed or the map was stolen.

Someone was supposed to confirm his identity and lead him to the actual location of the base.

He waited an hour and a half until a masked man appeared before him.

"I need to verify your identity," said the cloaked and hooded man.

"The pass phrase, please," Rui asked.

"Strong roots will keep digging until they reach water for a stronger foundation."

Rui nodded. Due to the verification process, he needed to hear a secret phrase to ensure he had the right person, because the verification could also be used to kill him. That's why it was imperative that he could trust the man he was about to expose a vulnerability to.

"Confirmed," he nodded.

Both revealed death-seals in the shape of a tree root motif on their upper arms. ANBU operatives weren't the only ones branded with death-seals. They touched each other's seals and began funnelling chakra into them while monitoring that the other did the same. Around five tense seconds later, both forcefully removed the other's hands from their seals and jumped away. By funnelling chakra in a specific manner, they could verify the authenticity of the seal that was only put on ROOT agents, thus verifying their identities. However, with a couple of seconds more, someone could also trigger the seal and kill; therefore, every verification was a tense ordeal for an agent.

"Let's go," said the masked man.

Half an hour later, Rui found himself in a small village embedded in a valley. He expected the base to be deep in a forest or in the middle of a wasteland—anywhere away from civilisation—so he was surprised to see real civilians tending to their fields, herding their animals, and refining their local produce.

They didn't enter the village but passed beside it. One of the villagers saw them from a distance and smiled at them.

"This..."

"This place was struggling when we arrived. We offered them help in exchange for allowing us to use their village as our base," the masked man replied.

"Isn't this unnecessary risk? What do we gain from them?" Rui asked with a frown, unable to understand the logic. If the villagers talked about them with outsiders, it could reach the ears of the Hidden Leaf. He had just escaped from a team of ANBU and knew how risky and difficult every moment was; this simply invited a repeat of that.

"Without the Hidden Leaf's support, we must establish ourselves again. This village is among the candidates for our future base of operations. We will develop this village and help it grow, and then sow our roots here and operate in this new tree's shadow. We will help them expand their fields so they grow what we want for them. We will develop their trade to do business in their name. We will train them, not to be shinobi, but in various trades—they will eventually forge our weapons, braid our rope, stitch our clothes, grow our poison. As long as they're subservient, they will see their lives improve."

Rui looked over the village and understood the logic. Right now, the village was providing cover in their perilous time, but eventually, it would change to serve their needs solely. They were investing in their future by securing a workforce that supported them while they focused on their jobs.

The village itself was situated in a valley, far from other settlements. He guessed, whatever the villagers needed was bought in by the people who went out to sell produce. From a strategic perspective, it was a perfect location for someone like them. They could silently grow away from prying eyes.

"Smart," Rui commented.

"Of course. It's Lord's vision after all."

"Is... Is he here?" asked Rui. He had only met their glorious leader a handful of times, the last being a week before he left for Inahara three years ago.

"Yes. He's waiting for you."

———
.

A humble house stood on the edge of the village with a small produce garden in the backyard. It looked no different from the others, except it was only built last year. It was smaller than the village chief's house, yet the man who had only lived in the house for less than a year held more power in the village than anyone else.

Rui knelt on the sitting room floor with his eyes glued to the ground. He was fairly calm even when he was running away from a team of ANBU operatives, but he couldn't help but feel nervous before the person who was the reason behind who he was today.

"Lord Danzo," he uttered.

"Look up, my son."

Some people he knew would cream themselves upon hearing their leader call them such, but it didn't do much for him. He respected and admired Lord Danzo from the bottom of his heart and believed in their mission—there was a time he wanted to be like him—but he didn't feel the reverence that many of his fellow brothers and sisters felt for their leader, whom they almost saw as an object of worship.

Rui looked up and was surprised. Lord Danzo hadn't changed much since the last time he had seen him, except that he naturally looked older. He still had shaggy black hair, the cross-shaped scar on his chin, and wore the same serene expression, but now he had a bandage around his right eye.

"I hear ANBU found your team. What happened?" asked Danzo in his deep and stable voice.

Rui earnestly recalled the events without sparing any details.

Even though it had only been five days since he was forced to abandon the life he had spent three years building, all of it seemed far away. The people on his team were all dead, and he didn't really have a strong sense of materialistic belonging, so there wasn't anything he particularly missed.

"Aburame, Yamanaka, and a child, you say," Danzo said while in thought.

"Assuming the youngest didn't cooperate willingly," Rui replied. Their youngest teammate, who was captured on his trip to the laboratory, was the source of information.

"Do you think he would?" asked Danzo.

"No, I don't think so... not that fast."

"I see. What do you think about the child?"

"He was persistent," Rui said after a moment of thought. The kid was after him the longest, thus had the highest chance of catching him, but also made the most mistakes, leading to his escape. Combat power wasn't a problem, but in his opinion, the kid wasn't using the tools he had to the best of his ability.

"That's all?"

"I'll frame my thoughts better in my report."

"Do so. You did well to escape, Rui. You've earned yourself a well-deserved rest. Is there something you would like?" asked Danzo.

Rui considered it before answering, "I would like another assignment."

His life at Inahara was mundane and monotone, but he had come to enjoy playing a character. As much as he liked the idea of staying near Lord Danzo and learn from him, he thought going places as part of missions felt more interesting. If he stayed at a base, he would have to live among other agents, and he didn't find them particularly interesting people. He had lived with four others in Inahara but barely hung out with them outside the mill. Normal people were much more interesting, and he liked observing them. They possessed something 'normal' that he would never. Perhaps it was his attempt at living through them vicariously.

"If that's your wish, it'll be granted."

"I'm yours to command," Rui said, kneeling.

———
.

"I must say, as impressive as this is, I'd like to live in a place with some natural sunlight," Rui said to the agent, showing him his living situation.

ROOT had built an underground network of tunnels in one of the valley slopes. The rooms and chambers in the tunnels were well crafted, connected to the electric grid and even had running water, which he thought was impressive. He guessed many agents must've spent months setting everything up as part of their duties.

His attempt to break the ice failed, and they stood there awkwardly before Rui said he was fine with his living quarters. After being left alone, Rui checked every nook and cranny of his room and found it clean of any fūinjutsu.

Even though he had bravely escaped and brought information back to the organisation, he knew he would be observed for at least a few days to remove doubt and suspicion. The truth was that the rest of his team was captured, and the laboratory was also found. He was the only one who escaped, mostly uninjured, too. It was natural to find that suspicious. If he were in their position, he would be suspicious as well. He didn't plan to do anything about alleviating their suspicion and let time do its work, except for preparing his mission report to the best of his ability.

After bathing in a communal bathroom, he began exploring the tunnels. If he had to escape for whatever reason, he needed to have his surroundings mapped out in his mind. Such preparation was the reason he was able to escape from Inahara without being severely injured in the process.

The tunnel system was complex, with numerous corridors and corners without a single signboard to help with navigation. Even the rooms themselves didn't have any signs.

He guessed it was by design to limit the flow of information.

As he was roaming the tunnels to memorise the routes, he heard a displeased voice,

"Is that you, Rui?"

He turned to see a middle-aged man with dark brown, almost black hair dressed in a full-body cloak. He had a frown between his brows, noticeable bags under his harsh eyes, and an unhealthy pale skin.

"Oh, Kon," Rui smiled brightly and spoke in the most jovial tone he could muster, like he was truly happy to see the man. "You look absolutely terrible! I would love to know how this happened. Tell me all about it!"

Kon viciously glared at him as though he wanted to rip his throat out. They had worked together for a year or so when they were younger. They had a five-year age difference, with Kon being older. Back then, Kon was in a higher position and was his leader. Simply put, they didn't get along, and both of them had tried to make each other's lives difficult. Of course, Rui only did so in retaliation. An incident had caused Kon to be embarrassed in front of the jōnin agents, and they had been at odds since.

"I heard you blew your cover and caused your whole team to die," Kon sneered maliciously.

Rui noticed that one of Kon's arms looked awkward, unnatural, and out of place, and only one of his hands was gloved. He immediately realised that Kon had lost his hand, and he would've genuinely expressed his apologies because losing an arm almost always meant ruin for a shinobi, but Kon had immediately picked a fight with him.

"Hey, I'm still new here and need some help moving furniture. Give me a hand, will you? Oops!" Rui raised his hands in front of him and moved all ten of his fingers, rotating his wrists, bending his elbows. "Must be rough. But, hey! 25% off shirts, not as good as half price pants, but it's still a bonus!"

"You—!" Kon all but snarled and stepped up to him threateningly.

"What are you going to do about it? Spar with me like you did all those years ago?" Rui was shorter than him, so he had to look up. "I'm not a combat specialist, but I'm pretty sure I can entertain you all day, old man. Wanna see if it's true?"

Kon wanted to say something, but seemed to understand that if they fought right now, he had no chance at winning. He sneered in anger before turning away, his cloak bellowing behind him.

Rui watched the man disappear before continuing his exploration, though it was no longer as enjoyable because with Kon here, he had another reason he didn't want to live here and immediately leave on a preferably long-term assignment.

"I wonder what it'll be~" he hummed as he walked deeper into the system.