Kenji stood on the rooftop, his mind working like an analytical machine. He could feel the chaos spreading through the village via his network of clones. A fire in the west. A broken barrier in the east. A poisoning in the south. Danzō was playing a deadly symphony, and he was forcing Kenji to dance to his tune.
If I try to put out all the fires, I'll exhaust myself and expose an opening, he thought. That's exactly what he wants. He doesn't actually want to destroy the village. He just wants me to reveal myself.
So the question wasn't "how to solve everything?" but "why these specific targets?" Kenji closed his eyes, a map of the Leaf Village appearing in his mind, marked with the locations of all the incidents.
The textile warehouse. The water supply. The gate guards. What did they have in common?
They were all low-level targets. Annoying, panic-inducing, but not a fatal blow to the village's security. They were significant enough to force the Anbu and the Military Police to split up and handle them, but not significant enough for the Hokage to intervene directly.
This was a smokescreen. A perfect smokescreen created to conceal another action. A much more important action taking place somewhere else, while everyone was busy.
That was the real target.
Kenji's eyes snapped open. He ignored all the disturbances. He focused his entire mind, reviewing the intelligence he had gathered over the past weeks. A report about a former member of Root, a cryptography expert, who had "retired" and was living a secluded life in an apartment complex near the Academy.
A man who knew too much. A potential loose end for Danzō.
Kenji commanded all his hidden clones to move. They didn't go to the places where chaos was erupting. They moved to the area surrounding that apartment complex, forming an invisible surveillance perimeter.
And he was right.
He saw two Root members, not participating in any of the disturbances, silently approaching the complex. They weren't there to draw attention. They were there to assassinate. To permanently silence a mouth while the entire village was looking the other way.
Kenji had found Danzō's real move.
And now it was time to make his own.
He wouldn't confront them directly. That's what Danzō would expect. He would do something the old man could never anticipate. He would turn Danzō's own trap into a weapon against him.
He created a Shadow Clone, a single one, and ordered it to go to a completely different place: the Uchiha clan's district.
That clone, in the guise of a panicked civilian, ran up to a Military Police patrol.
"Help! Help!" it screamed. "There are intruders! They're attacking the apartment complex near the Academy! I saw a symbol on their clothes... it looked like... like a closed eye!"
The old symbol of the assassination unit that Kenji had seen on the kunai. A symbol that only high-ranking members of the village would know. But for the Uchiha, who were obsessed with security and always looking for a chance to prove themselves, a report about "intruders" attacking a civilian right near their territory was something that could not be ignored.
The Uchiha patrol captain hesitated for a moment, then gave the order. "Go! We'll check it out!"
Meanwhile, the two Root agents had already broken into the former cryptographer's apartment. They were about to make their move.
But just then, they heard a noise outside. A series of footsteps and powerful chakra signatures were approaching.
"The Uchiha Military Police?! Why are they here?" one of them exclaimed in shock.
They knew their secret assassination mission had failed. The presence of the Military Police would cause attention that couldn't be covered up. They were forced to retreat.
When the Uchiha Military Police team arrived, they only found an empty apartment and the cryptographer trembling in fear. They didn't find any intruders, but they had successfully "protected" a civilian. A small victory, but enough for them to report back to Fugaku.
From a rooftop across the street, Kenji witnessed it all.
He had saved a life.
He had not revealed himself.
And most importantly, he had used Danzō's own rivals, the Uchiha clan, to ruin his plan. He had sown another seed of suspicion and confrontation between these two powers.
In his base, Danzō received the report of the failure. He said nothing, merely tightening his grip on the arm of his stone throne. The sound of cracking stone echoed in the silent cellar.
The "ghost" had not only dodged his trap. He had flipped the entire board and used Danzō's own pieces to put him in check.
This was no longer a hunt.
It had become a battle of wits.