Treading the Shadows
Chapter 2: In the Beginning
David didn't kill Goliath because he set out to slay giants. He set out to give sandwhiches to his brothers, and Goliath got in the way.
-Richard Mullins on knowing God's will for your life
The door to hokage residence was opened as a young blonde walked through. There was a red haired woman and a young blonde child sitting on the floor seemingly playing with each other.
The grown woman noticed the intruder, her eyes alert at first, but then softening as she saw her son enter their home. "Naru-chan?"
"Yo." Naruto replied absentmindedly. He's been home almost every other week so returning home is nothing new to him. He had been a very different trainee from the rest. He did the same training every day, but on his days off, yes, ROOT agents had days off, he was allowed to leave the training facility and go home to show his face. The other agents generally stayed within the compound since there were all sorts of entertainment present anyways.
"You've come home, Naru-chan, when are you leaving again?"
Naruto shook his head, "I'm done, I'll have two weeks rest before active service starts."
"ANBU training that hard? Your father was ANBU you know." Kushina nodded sagely, "He breezed through his training, well, he is one of the strongest shinobis anyways."
"Indeed, I have some down time before team assignments in two weeks, I'll rest a bit I guess."
"That's nice, can you keep your sister company a bit, I want to go find Mikoto and maybe bring their daughter over, I can't go anywhere if I'm the only one available when taking care of Tsubaki-chan you know."
"Why not leave it to one of the helpers?" Naruto asked.
Kushina shook her head and frowned, "I wouldn't trust my flesh and blood to another, I raised you like this, so I'll raise Tsubaki-chan the same way, and that's final."
Naruto nodded as he too sat down and started playing with the young blonde girl in front of him, the little girl kept screaming, "Naru-chan, Naru-chan."
When his mother was finally out of earshot having left to harass her friend, he sighed deeply.
Minato Namikaze sat in his office as he waited for his 'guests' to arrive. Over the last two weeks he had contemplated hard on which team to place his son in, and the decision was hard. On one hand his son had strength, Danzo's reports always described Naruto as strong, powerful, talented, always showing him in a positive light. So he was good, and Minato was sure that his son would want to fight in active battles thus it would be unwise to place him in a team that only primarily did border patrol. On the other hand the hokage wasn't ready to place his only son in active duty, being only twelve years old, no matter how talented or how powerful Naruto is.
So this only left one logical choice, he'd place the new ANBU initiate into a team that did active missions and were presumed the strongest active ANBU unit as of recent times. After he made his decision all that's left was to inform the ANBUs on the new roster change, and thus he had called them in.
"Inu, Itachi, Neko, Tenzo" he called out as four mask clad figures was let through the doors of his office. The four were of similar build, Inu, or dog, was tall and lanky, with distinctive silver white hair spiking from his hair. Itachi, or weasel, was shorter, but equally lanky, with dark hair diligently tamed running from the sides of his head reaching his shoulders. Neko, the female of the group was slightly shorter than Itachi, with flowing purple hair running down to her back, the distinctive feature being the long katana she had strapped on her back as opposed to the other's short tantos. Tenzo, the last of the team was the only man with no mask, his eyes emotionless, wearing a headband that was more similar to a helmet then a simple band.
"Hai hokage-sama." The four called in practiced unity and stood in attention. "Team Ro, reporting for duty, sir."
"At ease, Team Ro, I have a new addition to your team."
The four were puzzled, it's uncommon for new additions to be added into Team Ro since they're team often ran suicide missions and only the edge of the blade would be assigned into Team Ro. Team Ro had always been a four-men cell, a new addition would be a change to traditions, however, no one voiced their opinions.
"Karasu, come in." In response to his order another ANBU masked individual walked in. He was noticeably shorter than everyone else present, nearly a head shorter than Minato, with the same shade of blonde, but instead of it being spiky it was tamed much like Itachi. His mask however, was vastly different than the others, it was shaped like an animal, a crow to be exact, however, it was pitch black compared to everyone's white mask.
"This is Karasu, he will be the newest addition to Team Ro."
"Yo. How's it going." The new ANBU was casual as he greeted his new teammates with a slight nod. "Nice meeting ya, name's Karasu, please take care of me." A standard greeting without the normal honorifics one would use to address an elder.
Any other senpai might have been offended, but they were ANBU, such quirks were, to be honest, accepted, as long as he did his job well.
"I'm Inu."
"I'm Neko."
"Itachi."
"Tenzo."
The four gave their names as an introduction, they were ANBU, they didn't need to know each other well, they just needed to work well together.
"Karasu, you are now part of Team Ro, effective immediately. Are there any questions?"
Karasu shook his head, "No sir, your wish is my command." There was a slight twinge of sarcasm in his reply but if anyone caught it, they did nothing to respond.
"Good, you've all had your rest time, I have a mission for you. Inu, would you kindly?"
At the implied order Inu stepped out of the line made by the five, Minato gave him a scroll, then continued. "Lately, there have been reports of Iwa-nin trespassing into our territories. It seems to only be recon parties, what they're looking nobody knows as of now. Your mission is travel to Outpost 23 near the border and investigate these Iwa-nin's goals. Our outpost had been left unharassed as of now, however, unannounced trespassing is clearly against our treaty. If you meet any Iwa-nin within our borders and I stress, our borders, you have permission to engage. Lethal or nonlethal is up to your discretion, however, a prisoner would be beneficial to our attempts at uncovering their motives. Is the mission perimeters clear?"
The five nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama."
The hokage nodded, "Good. You are dismissed."
The five walked out of the room orderly, then disappeared in a burst of speed right outside the door.
Before the last man walked out, Minato spoke. "Naruto."
Karasu paused before he slowly turned to face his father.
"Good luck and stay safe, your mother would be devastated if anything happened to you."
There was a slight chuckle, "I guess. But don't you worry, I'll be fine, I'm strong now, after all, I've already been to hell and back."
After his short response he followed the rest of his team and disappeared outside the office.
Alone, Minato sighed. He already knew, he already knew he'd lost his son.
"Fuck. Tenzo, cover us."
"On it captain." There was a loud explosion lighting up the forests of Hi no Kuni.
The mission a had gone well at first, they've arrived at Outpost 23 with no difficulties. The surrounding forest had allowed good cover as the team of five did several recon missions over the last week. They've caught signs of enemy intrusion but haven't managed to confirm them yet, so they have stayed and continued watch for another week.
That was until today, the day were planning to leave, that's the day all hell broke lose.
It was early morning when Team Ro was still within the confines of the outpost, a small settlement raised by wooden fence covered by stones. It was a small yet important outpost since it was the closest fort to Iwa, less than a kilometer away from the border. The guard station held more than twenty chunnins and two special jounins, all regularly shuffled around with a jounin who stayed semi-permanently as the leader of the camp. Despite it's size it's actually considered a large encampment due to the amount of manpower it houses, it's an instant reaction platoon ready to go to action the moment an emergency arise.
And an emergency did come.
The sun barely rose, still on the horizon, then the peace and serenity was shattered by an explosion rocking the seal enhanced walls of Outpost 23.
Alarms were sounded, shinobis hastily got ready for action, but by the time they had an idea of what's going on the main gate had already been bombarded and more than five guards killed.
Walking in brazenly, without worries, without concern was perhaps probably their worst nightmare.
In walked Deidara, one of the most renowned explosion corps member, a pupil of the Tsukikage, considered one of the current aces of Iwagakure. By the time the five ANBU were ready, the outpost had been overrun by six other Iwa-nin under the cover of Deidara's explosions.
The survivors and ran into the cover of the forest surrounding them, trying their best to escape and return to their village to report their findings.
Thus they were in their situation now, hunted in the forest, trying their best to dash back to their home, intent of telling their hokage the transgressions of Iwagakure.
Another explosion resonated throughout the tree filled region, the five ANBU frantically trying to find a way to solve their problems.
"Inu-taichou" Karasu asked as he sped up to match his captain's pace. Inu looked at him.
"What is it Karasu."
"I have a plan," the black masked man nodded sagely as if he had the best idea in the world.
Kakashi just looked at him then nodded, "Speak."
"You guys go, I'll hold them back."
"Denied." Karasu's request was instantly rejected.
There was a light sigh, "Go, I can hold them back, then escape, you guys need to run to Konoha, we have to tell Hokage-sama of Iwa's actions, someone has to survive."
"We're a team. A dear friend of mine once told me, 'while those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash', I won't be worse than trash. The decision is final Karasu, we work as a team."
Another sigh, "That's a great sentiment taichou, but we can't make it, be realistic here, I'll hold them back, I can survive, don't worry 'bout me, I got this."
"No, we work together."
"The we gotta fight, we can't keep this up forever, if we tire ourselves like this and get caught, we stand no chance, we gotta fight them well we still have the energy."
Inu knew that was the truth, the enemy is gaining on them, if they continued wasting energy like this, if they do get caught up, they'd lose for sure, mounting a counter when the enemy didn't expect it was definitely a wise idea.
So he signaled, and the five converged.
"Taichou?" Itachi asked. The other three team members remained quiet.
Inu spoke, "We need to mount an offensive here, we can't keep running." The others nodded. "The main enemy is Deidara, he's classified as S-rank, he's definitely the most dangerous of their strike group. From previous accounts they have seven ninjas, amongst them at least three exhibit skills befitting of jounin-class. We're outnumbered, but not necessarily outgunned, we're Team Ro, one of the top teams within ANBU, we will strike, and we will win."
"Hai." The four responded.
He continued, "We well strike them now, turn around and attack, delta formation, I'll take point."
Having not trained enough with them Karasu asked, "What's delta formation?"
Inu sighed, he wished he had a few days to at least drill their team formations into this young ANBU's head, well, at least he knew the hand signals. "Karasu, just do whatever, and don't die."
No one could see the grin underneath Naruto's black mask, but he was happy, 'time to hunt.'
The four others made a diamond-like formation with Inu at the front, and then they jumped in formation, determined to pierce the enemy's formation and strike them down. Karasu just snickered and disappeared in a burst of speed.
"Fuck. Tenzo, cover us."
"On it captain." There was a loud explosion lighting up the forests of Hi no Kuni. He planted his hand into one of the many trees surrounding them and the tree morphed into a gigantic shield. His shield was just in time as an explosion rocked against it but didn't penetrate the chakra enhanced wooden shield.
"Shield down in 3, 2, 1." Inu commanded, at 1 Tenzo split opened his shield and Itachi was right there.
"Fire release, great fireball technique." With a heave he spat a fireball in the general direction of the enemy but didn't bother to watch it as Tenzo reclosed their shield.
Inu readied a kunai as Neko drew her katana, then he asked suddenly in alarm, "Where's Karasu."
The other three looked at him, "Shit, we lost him, where's Karasu. Did he run?"
Just as Inu asked his team they heard a cry, "Raiton, false darkness." Tenzo hastily opened a whole in the shield, just in time to see a streak of light burst from the tree behind them, obliterating everything in its path including an Iwa-nin too slow to dodge.
They saw Karasu dash forward towards the six remaining ninjas and made several complicated hand seals, "Lightning release, thunder god's wrath." When he finished his seals, the chakra around him condensed forming a ring of drums with three tomoe marked on the flat of each instrument. They hovered behind the young ANBU glowing blue for a moment before the whole area was bathed in white light.
The result was no less than extreme, an area of twenty meters from the epicenter was simply annihilated, however, Deidara successfully dodged the technique with two Iwa-nins behind him.
"Konoha scum."
Karasu up at the bomber who stood on a branch with two allies beside him. Then he disappeared in a flash of white light, appearing behind the three enemy shinobis. They turned in response, but Naruto already had his hand extended covering two of them in the face, not even speaking as as he generated several thousand volts of electricity into his adversary, frying their organs and charring their skins black beyond recognition.
He simply let the two bodies fall the the ground without a word.
Deidara looked at him and jumped trying to escape.
But Karasu was faster. Deciding to make a gamble Deidara aimed a jutsu at his opponent's teammates hoping he'd go save them first, and true to his predictions the Konoha-nin grunted and intercepted the clay bird with a slice of his tanto, but by the time he turned, Deidara had already escaped.
"What was that?" Neko asked, astonished at the newcomer's strength. No one could respond. They simply waited as the blonde slowly walked towards them, an oppressive aura around him.
They head back towards the outpost seeing if there are any survivors. Tenzo thought as they walked towards the base, 'ROOT, definitely ROOT, why is there a ROOT in ANBU, hokage-sama seems to know as well.'
"Mission was a success hokage-sama." Inu reported, his team had been dismissed since he thought they deserved a rest, therefore the responsibility fell on him to make the final report.
Minato nodded, skimming through the documents given to him, Team Ro had spent an additional day at Outpost 23, which thankfully still stood, nearly half of the original inhabitants had been killed, but on the bright side nearly half had survived the skirmish.
Kakashi had spent the last day writing his report so he wouldn't have to suffer through it later, the others had simply lazed around, Karasu didn't stay to talk to his team, choosing to have some alone time. The blonde wasn't happy, and Kakashi knew why. It was his team's fault that Deidara had gotten away, Karasu was clearly in an advantageous position to defeat Deidara, if it wasn't the rest of Team Ro's presence, Deidara would have been dead. Karasu didn't speak of it, but the rest of Team Ro understood his displeasure, it isn't every day you get to fight a S-rank and he wasn't able to obtain a trophy for having bested one.
Kakashi continued, "We were engaged upon by the Iwa-nin including Deidara, who raided our outpost, they killed more than ten shinobis, we would all have died if not for Karasu."
Minato nodded, "Indeed, he's strong isn't he."
The ANBU nodded in confirmation. "Very much so, hokage-sama, who was he?"
"He is Karasu, your new kouhai."
"No hokage-sama, I meant, who is he, where did he come from, someone of his caliber is unheard of, he's private, normally during off time we take off our masks, but he, Karasu, he's either not there with us, or he has his mask on."
"He, Kakashi, Karasu, he, is my son."
"Your son?"
"Yes, Naruto, you remember him before? He was in the academy, you've met him."
Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, Naruto, I remember him, but I didn't know he was so strong. And he's just turning thirteen isn't he? He used a jutsu, that one's definitely borderline S-rank if not outright a S-rank, and he's fast, almost as fast as…"
He was cut off by Minato, "Lightning, yes, I know. He's strong, he's fast, I saw his technique before. But that's not all he can do, it's just a part of what he's capable of. After the Kyuubi outbreak I sent him to train, and train he did. He soaked up jutsu, his massive reserves allowed him to continuously train and use high caliber jutsus. Did you know, he learned my rasengan in a week, a week. And from what his teacher told me he already improved it, he took my technique and made it his own. I'm proud of him."
"Why don't you tell him that Minato-sensei?"
"I have no right to, I gave him away in a moment of weakness, I should have been the one to teach him his jutsus, to help him become a ninja, but I outsourced, I failed as a father. I was given a solution, and it blinded me, and it haunts me still."
"Was it Jiraiya-sama that trained him? If so, I'm sure he was in good hands."
Minato chuckled, "No, Raiya, nah, he hasn't been back in the village for more than a week in the last several years, what I did to my son was worse, much worse."
"Mina-sensei, what did you do?"
Namikaze Naruto had been a lackluster shinobi. He had the reserves, he had the genes, he had the talent, but he didn't have the drive. Being borne by two exceptionally powerful shinobis, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, he was born with latent talents other people his age just didn't have. He had an enormous reserve thanks to his mother, a reserve comparable to an adult shinobi, and he was born with brains thanks to his father, a prodigy in the ninja arts. But Namikaze Naruto just lacked the drive.
In the academy he was an average student, had friends, albeit not many, and got along with everyone else. He was slightly above average in grades, he was one of the betters in practical skills, he was all in all, a very average student despite everyone having high hopes for him. He was good, but only good for an academy student, he was smart, but only when he applied himself, he strived to be normal despite his abnormal parents.
But all that was changed the year Namikaze Naruto was ten, when he received his younger sister, the day Konoha suffered immense losses. The day Namikaze Naruto changed was October tenth, the night of the Kyuubi attack.
It wasn't exactly an instantaneous change, it gave him a reason to change, to become stronger. You see, Naruto loved his family very much. Despite his parents being somewhat disappointed at him most of the time for being so 'normal', Naruto always loved his parents. He's known he will be having a sister for a long time now, known that his mother was pregnant, and he was glad there will be a new family member that he could love.
Except everything horribly wrong the night his sister was to be born. The Kyuubi was released, his parents nearly died, if it wasn't for the valiant sacrifice of his surrogate grandfather then his parents would have surely died.
The only bright side of the whole Kyuubi ordeal was birth of his new sister, the one they called Namikaze Tsubaki.
Naruto loves his family, so he will strive to protect them, sacrificing everything for that power, to become strong enough so his family will be endangered no longer. It became his drive, is resolve, his motivation to move beyond average.
"What did you say Shimura-san? Did I just hear you correctly?" Minato asked with an edge in his voice. The two were currently situated alone in the Hokage's office, a heated discussion slowly blooming between the two.
"Did I stutter, Hokage-sama? I do believe you heard me correctly." Danzo Shimura answered nonchalantly without losing his cool.
Minato was not happy, not happy being an understatement to what he's feeling right now. "You want me, Namikaze Minato, who treasures his family above all else, to give you my newborn daughter Namikaze Tsubaki, so you can turn her into a weapon for Konoha?" He accentuated every name, showing his displeasure. "You dare."
"I do Hokage-sama, after Kyuubi's outbreak and resealing into young Tsubaki, it is essential that our village reacquires assets to make ourselves as strong as possible within the lowest timeframe. I believe by allowing me to train young Tsubaki, we can create the sharpest weapon that is only beneficial to Konoha."
"You, not we. You don't want me to interfere if I agree with this."
Danzo nodded, "That goes without saying. It is essential that the new jinchuuriki of Konoha has her loyalties tightly established and her edges sharpened, then we can point it at the enemies of Konoha and reestablish ourselves as the strongest hidden village in the Elemental Nations."
"No. I cannot, no, I will not condemn my daughter to this fate. Remember Danzo, I let your organization continue because I find your ninjas useful, and I cannot disband you at this time because the boost in manpower within ANBU and normal forces is appreciated. Don't let my willingness to let you continue be seen as a sign of weakness. I do not agree with what you do to your forces. I do not condone your actions, and I sure as hell will not give you my daughter."
Danzo nodded again. "Acceptable, your emotions are a weakness Namikaze-sama, if you put more rational thoughts into this debacle you will only see the advantages. I am an old man Hokage-sama, I need a successor, who better than the flesh and blood of the Hokage himself? If you give me your daughter, I can make her into a weapon, then into a leader, she can help you lead your country from the shadows. You do not agree with my actions, I can live with that, wouldn't you feel more at ease if it is your own family that takes the crown when I leave this mortal plane?"
Minato thought about it for a while, then nodded with a hint of sadness in his eyes. "Your words have merit Shimura-san, but I cannot condemn my newborn daughter to your cruel measures. You must understand, she's barely a week old and you want me to place them in your hands? It's impossible, and that's final."
Danzo nodded again, "Acceptable, sound reasoning, then I ask this of you, Hokage-sama, what about your son?"
"What about Naruto?"
"He is young, he is promising. He has the chakra reserve rivaling most adult shinobis, he has a sharp mind, the Uzumaki lifeforce. He has the potential to be strong, if only he didn't waste it on lazing around in class and pretending to be normal."
"Be careful of your words Danzo, it is my son you're talking about."
Danzo nodded yet again, "I mean no disrespect Hokage-sama, it just pains me to see such potential dwindle away through bad decisions. There's one more thing that makes him perhaps more advantageous in the future."
Minato asked, "What's that?"
Danzo smiled, his grin almost sinister, "He is the jinchuuriki's brother. Jinchuurikis throughout history have always been hard to control, young Naruto is her brother, if you can control Naruto, then you can most definitely control his sister. The familial bonds will only work in our advantage. A normal shinobi is easier to keep anyways, more manageable than a jinchuuriki at any rate."
"I get where you're coming from, but I don't wish to condemn my son to your machinations either."
"Why don't we ask him ourselves? If he agrees, he comes with me, if he disagrees, I won't pester you no longer. But allow me to ask him the question."
Minato nodded, "I guess, if it's his choice, then I have no right to complain."
"Yes, yes, let us go find young Naruto, a new legend within Konoha is about to begin."
"I am Shimura Danzo, the leader of a special faction within ANBU known as ROOT. Young Naruto, do you want to be stronger?"
Naruto nodded, his eyes cold with resolve. "Yes sir."
"The training will be harsh, you might want to quit, are you sure, young boy?"
Naruto nodded again, "I will persevere, I will not fail, I will protect everyone."
Danzo nodded. "That you will, now come with me young boy, we have a long day in front of us." The old man put an arm around Naruto's neck, bringing him along, urging him to follow.
Meanwhile Minato looked at the pair, tears filling his eyes, he knew at that moment that he had sacrificed his son for the village. He had condemned his son to unimaginable hardships so his village could be stronger. He had put his village above his family again, and he vowed never to do it again.
"This is your final test Namikaze Naruto. If you choose to complete it, you will become one of the many ROOTs of Konoha. You will become the FOUNDATION of our glorious village, doing your job in the darkness. The root supports the tree from the darkness, the root grants strength to the tree, we are the same, we live to fight for our village."
"Yes sir." Naruto nodded, his eyes hardened and cold. "I will complete the final assignment."
"I know you will. Your partner has also chosen to participate."
'Partner?' Naruto asked himself.
He was lead out of the room, into a small rectangular arena. In front of him stood 'him'. 'He' had been his partner for two years, the two had been friends, supporting each other in the times of need. Shinobi of Ne were discouraged from making friends outside of their partners. 'He' stood before him. They trained together, learned together, did missions together, they had thought they would be in the same two-men cell forever. But the harsh reality was in front of them.
"Now fight, to the death, the victor will become a true FOUNDATION to our great tree, the loser will be cast to the shadows."
Naruto swallowed. 'He' looked at him impassively. Then 'He' spoke. "I wish it hadn't come to this Namikaze-san. I didn't want to fight you."
"I don't want to either." It was the only thing Naruto could reply with.
'He' drew his kunai, and Naruto drew his own. There was no weakness, their eyes once gazing at each other warmly were now cold as ice. ROOT is not for the faint of heart, this they've both known a long time ago.
They both charged, by then the victor was already decided. 'He' laid on the ground, blood streaming from his neck. The cut wasn't deep enough to slice through his windpipe, but it was deep enough for the bleeding to be nigh unstoppable.
'He' looked up at Naruto. "Don't be sad, Naru-chan, don't be sad. You're so strong now, to be honest the moment I knew my opponent was you I knew I couldn't win. Not against you. Not against the strongest amongst the new recruits, no, not just the recruits, the strongest operative in ROOT. You live now, not just for yourself Naru-chan, you live for the both of us."
Naruto looked down, tears trailing down his blinking eyes, unsure of what he had just done. "No, don't die, this wasn't what's supposed to happen. He looked at Danzo who stood impassively outside the arena fence. "Danzo, why, why did you do this to me. Why?"
There was no response.
Naruto looked down again, by that time his only friend had already bled out and died. He stabbed his kunai into the heart of his only friend. "I swear, I will become even stronger, I will become the strongest, so that we are no longer needed, so that no one has to be sacrificed again. I swear I will become stronger, become stronger than anyone else." And there was a pause as tears continued to stream down his azure blue pupils, "And I never break my promises."
Danzo Shimura walked towards Naruto ever so slowly, on guard just in case the blonde decided to retaliate the source of his recent misfortunes. "You have completed your training Namikaze Naruto. You have passed your last task."
"I really wish I didn't. Tell me Danzo, why, why did I have to do this."
Danzo sighed, "It had to be done, trust me, young ROOT, this will only make you stronger in the long run. You are no stranger to death having killed many times, this should be no different."
"But he was my friend, my only friend for two years, Danzo, why did you make me kill him?"
"That is the purpose of the exercise. To kill your target is your mission. Who the mark is shouldn't matter. And you have shown excellence in your training, I was sure you would have passed."
Naruto sighed, unable to stop the flow of salty water trailing his cheeks. "I wish I never took you up on your offer."
"No, Naruto, I've told you many times, your father entrusted you to me, I polished you up, you have become strong, stronger than most jounin, definitely as strong as many of the ANBU under your father's employment. It's only been two years and you have grown so far."
"This strength, this strength I gained, tell me Danzo-sama, is it really worth it?"
Danzo smiled at his young protege and answered with a question, "Do you wish to protect your village?"
Naruto nodded, his tears finally seizing to fall. "Yes."
Danzo nodded and pet the young boy's head, "Then it is most definitely worth the price."
There was a moment of silence between the two before Danzo started again. "You have two weeks of rest, then you will be integrated with several other ROOT members into ANBU. You will raise your ranks to the best of your abilities. From now on you are ROOT, but you are also not ROOT. You have our training, you have our ideology, but your place is in the light, and we will be your shadow. You will report to Hokage tower in two weeks time, a message will be sent to you as notification. Godspeed Namikaze Naruto."
With that Danzo Shimura left the boy to his own devices, reintegration into ANBU and regular forces is what Minato had wanted. The Hokage had been keeping tabs on his son's progress and had already prepared a place within the ANBU for his oldest son. Danzo smiled and said to himself, "You will be great Naruto, greater than anyone this tree has spawned. Be great Naruto, and the ROOT will support you as their tree."
Minato chuckled again, looking at his former student with eyes that seemed to have aged a decade within a minute, his laugh was sad, a dry sound with no sense of humor. "I sold him to root.
JUTSUS:
Lightning Release: Thundergod's Wrath
A+/S Rank
Anti Army
Forms a ring of drums which saturates themselves with energy, then releases the stored energy obliterating everything in a pillar of light. The jutsu originates from the god Raijin, or Thunder God, who was depicted as a deity with demonic visage and a defining trait of o a ring of drums hanging behind him.
A/N:
The formatting is kind of messed up, so the itallicized regions are flashbacks, it's kinda obvious but yeah watever
Anyways, I will slowly build up his back story, the first part of the story will end next chapter, but the speed will slow down drastically next chapter since I'm not revealing his whole back story to why he's so fucked up all in one go, he's head is kinda messy thanks to danzo, but the conditioning didn't really stick, like he is a good shinobi, but he can think too, kinda like Kenchi's Sealed Kunai
The chapter's kinda rough around the edges with grammar/spelling mistakes in spades. I'm just rapidly updating hoping I'd attract enough people and someone will be willing to beta for me... :_
Anyways, hope people liked it, I know not many read it, but wtvr, i was just bored, anyhow, leave a review, i like'em and i respond to most of them :)
Peace out
-Wiltheavatar