Chapter 5: "The Shadows Move First"
Even before the meeting ended, Root had caught the scent.
A pair of masked operatives were spotted near the Inuzuka compound. One disappeared near the Hyuga training grounds. A whisper in the wind told Danzō everything he needed to know.
He stood in his private chamber, cold fingers resting on the cane that doubled as a blade.
"They're moving."
He turned to the silent figure kneeling before him — a half-modified Root agent, his Sharingan hidden behind a blank mask.
"Begin Operation Silence. I want Tsunade dead. The stranger, captured. And if the clans resist... remind them of what happens when they step out of line."
Location: ROOT Underground Facility – Sector Black
It was silent. Too silent.
The corridors were damp with rot and chakra suppressors lined the walls. No sunlight ever reached here — just the cold hum of artificial seals and stone.
But tonight… something unseen slipped through the shadows.
Galen Anthony moved like smoke.
Wrapped in the Force Cloak, his body shimmered slightly in the dark, bending light and sound. No chakra signature. No footsteps. Even the pressure-sensitive floors remained still beneath him — the Force lifting his body inches off the surface.
Guards passed by him unknowingly.
Sentries didn't blink twice.
The only thing more silent than the chamber itself was the storm he carried within.
He reached the core chamber — a massive vault door marked with the Root sigil. Inside, Danzō.
Galen exhaled, and the cloak fell as he dropped into a meditative stance.
With a flick of his fingers, he extended his senses inward — every guard, every hallway, every sealed compartment — frozen in place with temporary stasis. Not pain. Not death.
Just stillness.
Then, the door opened.
Danzō stood at the center of the room, arm bare, glowing with forbidden Sharingan and ancient stolen power. He turned just as Galen stepped inside, calm and glowing like a sun made of shadowless light.
"So," Danzō muttered. "The outsider finally reveals himself."
Galen didn't respond. He simply reached out with one hand…
And Danzō froze.
His entire body halted mid-motion — mouth open, mid-blink, mid-thought. Locked in perfect Force Stasis.
The chakra in the air twisted as seals tried to respond — alarms failed to trigger. Even the curse mark embedded in Danzō's tongue flickered, then shut down like a candle in a hurricane.
"I didn't come to kill you," Galen said softly, walking toward him. "I came for the truth. And proof."
He extended his hand again.
Danzō's arm lifted without resistance — suspended in air like a puppet.
With surgical focus, Galen ignited his lightsaber, the soft snap-hiss echoing across the stone.
A smooth, precise cut.
Danzō's Sharingan-infested arm separated cleanly at the shoulder. Then, just as carefully, Galen deactivated the seals on his eye — and removed the Sharingan as if plucking a lie from a corpse.
No blood spilled.
He placed the arm and the eye into a sealed Force-locked case.
"These aren't trophies," Galen said, looking down at the man still suspended in mid-thought. "They're your confession."
Then, for just a moment, Galen reached deeper — into Danzō's memories. The Force swirled with visions: the moment he authorized the Uchiha purge, the orders given to Root agents to sabotage Senju defenses, the manipulation of Itachi, the silence of the Elders.
"Now the world will know."
And just like that — Galen vanished.