Stream of past

Virus in the Roots

Returning to Konoha a few days later, Sakura found the ROOT hideout in disarray. ROOT agents did not panic, so to the untrained eye it seemed to be business as usual, but Sakura could see it in the tenseness of their shoulders, in the way the younger candidates had hope in their eyes and the way Danzo was visibly missing. Making her way through the hideout, she ran into Horse who explained it to her.

"Danzo-sama has been arrested."

"Why?"

"The Hokage had caught him in a meeting with Tatsuji Seko. He is currently in interrogation. We are to proceed with Code Winter."

"Understood."

Code Winter meant hunker down and hide as you await further instructions. She completely forgot that Danzo got arrested last time during the time Sora was in the village. Sakura didn't know why Tsunade would try to interrogate Danzo again when she knew what happened last time, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. This was her chance!

The guard rotation around the ROOT hideout changes once every 12 hours during Code Winter, rather than the usual 24. It gives her a 5 minute window to get the remaining files from Danzo's office starting 11:55. It was now 11:49, show time.

...

Sakura pretended to make her way to her chambers like any good rootlet. Once she was inside she carefully undid the screws in the vent from her above her bed. Then she sent her chakra through it and deactivated the sensor seals. She crawled through the vents until reaching the hallway where Danzo's office was located. From her vantage point she watched as the guards left at 11:55 on the dot and dropped down.

Entering Danzo's office, she immediately went to the correct file cabinet. Danzo may be the scum of the earth but you had to give him credit where it's due. His organization skills were impeccable. She found what she wanted in no time at all: The file detailing the Uchiha massacre, The file where he leaked Naruto's status as a Jinchūriki, The numerous assassinations against the Sandaime and most importantly, His plans to kill Tsunade and make himself Hokage.

Just as she was about to leave she heard footsteps and hid under the desk. The door opened and a ROOT agent looked around. Sakura's heart was in her throat, she pressed a hand to her mouth and didn't even dare breathe. She cannot afford to get caught like this. She knows Danzo will never let her out of his sight if he finds out what she did. She had a 50/50 chance on who it was checking the room.  If it was some of the ROOT agents that came after she was abducted, they might be a bit sloppier as they were new at this, if it was any from before...this was the end of the line.

However, it seemed luck was on her side as the guard closed the door and resumed his post guarding the office. Sakura didn't even dare breathe a sigh of relief, lest someone hears her. That was way too close and with her only exit blocked, she did the only thing she could think of: reverse summoned herself to Shikkotsu Forest.

Sakura never tried it before as she was too weak and lacked the necessary chakra, as time passed she got strong enough but by then had already decided to stay in ROOT and bring Danzo down from the inside.

...

The trip to Shikkotsu Forest was a harrowing one and had she not had her seal, she would have never had made it. She appeared above in the sky and screamed as she fell down. Something soft and slimy cushioned her fall and Sakura lifted her head to see she was on the back of a part of Lady Katsuyu.