Root (Naruto)

Root is an organization that features in Naruto.

History

Root (根, Ne, English TV: Foundation) was an organization of ninja spies who were a part of Konohagakure's Anbu training subdivision.

Danzō had Nonō Yakushi, who was regarded as an elite in the field of intelligence gathering, infiltrate Iwagakure in order to confirm intelligence they received that Iwagakure was planning to attack Konoha. Though she initially refused as she had left the organisation, she eventually accepted the mission. She successfully infiltrated the village and remained there for several years. She was critically wounded, however, after attacking Kabuto Yakushi who had also infiltrated the village as a spy.

Viewing Kabuto and Nonō as a threat to Root, after they had become "too good" of spies, Danzō schemed to have both individuals kill each other. Gradually brainwashing Nonō, by switching photos of Kabuto with pictures of a different person and saying it was him, Danzō revealed that Kabuto had joined Root for the orphanage's sake and told her that they would release him once she assassinated a certain person. Unbeknownst to her when she was carrying out this mission, she was attacking the real Kabuto. Ultimately, Nonō was cut down by Kabuto who fled after she didn't remember him. This mission culminated in Nonō's death and Kabuto allying himself with the traitorous Orochimaru, who had decided to defect from Root, but had originally claimed that he was sent to kill either Kabuto or Nonō, depending who survived the ordeal.

Danzō made an alliance with Amegakure's leader, Hanzō, to help him crush the rebel group led by Yahiko. In turn, Hanzō would help Danzō become Hokage. Although the joined forces did succeed in orchestrating the death of Yahiko, the mission ultimately failed when Nagato, enraged by Yahiko's death, killed practically all of Amegakure's and Root's shinobi present. Only Hanzō was shown to have escaped.

They were officially disbanded after the Uchiha Clan Downfall due to Danzō spearheading the tragedy but remained active as an underground organisation.

In the aftermath, the organization was disbanded though Tanuki Shigaraki intended to avenge his master Danzo and decided to implant the Gozu Tenno into his daughter. He then gave her a mission to use it against the Hidden Leaf village in the future as a final act of revenge. His daughter Sumire Shigaraki existence was then hidden as was her parentage in order to allow her to hide amongst the Leaf villagers. After the Fourth Shinobi World War, the identities of Root members was kept a secret on the orders of the Hokage in order to allow them to better integrate into society without facing suspicion or distrust from their comrades. This allowed the likes of Kido Tsumiki and Magire to integrate into the regular Anbu forces. However, as a result of the lack of investigations, Tanuki's daughter, Sumire Shigaraki, was able to infiltrate Konoha in a bid for revenge on how the village shunned Root. Sai intended to help those remnants connected to Root to break free from Danzō's dark legacy.

Overview

In appearance, the Root were a branch of Konohagakure's Anbu division who were ultimately loyal to their founder. They were said to carry out missions that their leader felt would benefit Konoha as their prime view was to be unseen so that they could support the village from the shadows.

Some of their missions were less than respectable, such as eliminating individuals that were considered potential threats simply for expressing their detestation for Konoha, despite not actually having done anything against the village. The organisation's top priority was its secrecy, and most of its missions were carried out in the dark - autonomous of Konoha's authority.

It was known that Danzō recruited Root members himself, without the Hokage's interference and tended to favour individuals from clans with special talents and abilities. Members were trained lose their emotions by growing up as brothers from a young age, only to later be made to kill each other. This was done to kill any sense of sentiment or emotional attachment. Each member had a codename; even the members themselves apparently did not know their original names. Unlike normal Anbu, they carried a tip-less tantō instead of a katana. Also unlike normal Anbu, members of Root took orders only from Danzō instead of the Kage, unless ordered to otherwise. Another specialty of the organisation was slow, long-term brainwashing.

Members had a cursed seal imprinted on the back of their tongues as a failsafe in case they were captured. When activated, it would paralyse the Root member if they ever tried to speak about Danzo or the organisation thus leaving them unable to speak or move as a result. It was said that this measure was to prevent any information from being leaked to an enemy if a Root operative was captured or interrogated. These seals were noted to had vanished upon the death of Danzo Shimura.

The organization was known to cultivate Hashirama Cells that were artificial cells from the First Hokage's DNA that granted the receiver some of the traits and even abilities of Hashirama Senju.

A secret project of the Root was the Gozu Tennō that was the development of a powerful technique involving the Nue. This was a summoning jutsu that called forth a creature not of the Earth that was able to absorb chakra. The intention was the beast to absorb a great deal of chakra until the caster detonated it with the explosion killing anyone around the beast.

Members

• Danzō Shimura : male founder and leader of the Root.
• Fū Yamanaka :
• Torune Aburame :
• Sai :
• Yamato :
• Tanuki Shigaraki : a male scientist within Root who was a fanatical follower of Danzo Shimura. After his leaders death, he placed the Gozu Tennō within his daughter Sumire and intended for her to carry out his revenge against the Hidden Leaf village for the death of his master.

Notes

• Root was created by Masashi Kishimoto where it featured in the setting of the Naruto universe.

Appearances

• Naruto:
• Boruto:

External Links

• Naruto Wiki Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.