Chapter 3

Welcome to Root

Naruto was impressed by the Root headquarters. He had never imagined there to be an entire city under the Hokage monument! That Base was seriously huge! If a little bland. They could definitely invest in some color, with rough, grey stone walls and simple earth as floor there was not much to look at. It didn't help that it was underground, thus no sunshine finding its way in. At times, the light in the corridors was orange and very bright, other times just a lamp every few hallway intersections. Anyway, it would really take some time until he'd find his way around the maze. Way too similar looking to orientate and too big to just remember by distance.

"Sai", that was the name of the way too quiet ninja that was to deliver him to Danzo, "Say, is there a map of the place? That would be seriously helpful."

"No, of course not.", the ninja replied and sounded a little bit incredulous behind his mask. Naruto couldn't be sure, he didn't see his face after all.

"Why not?", he insisted.

"Why would a top secret base spread around their information? Do we want to make it easy for our enemies?"

"I was just asking…"

"We're here anyway."

Danzo's office was impressive. Twice the size of the Hokage office and beautiful paintings adorning the walls. Between the beautiful landscapes of the fire country, he could see that the wall was littered with swirly designs. Beautiful, black ink on the light blue tapestry. Seals, he identified the designs. 'So this is where the money for the decoration went.', he laughed inwardly.

"Danzo-sama", Sai knelt respectfully on the ground before the old man, who occupied a large piece of furniture in the center of the room. Naruto just stared at the sight: Danzo almost reminded him of a Daimyo, ruling the country on his throne. Sai aimed a kick at the back of his knees and broke him out of his musings as he, too, was suddenly kneeling.

"Sai, thank you for bringing our new trainee here. You may rejoin your squad now."

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

Sai elegantly stood and went to the back of the room, where it looked like he melted into the walls. As Naruto saw this, it became clear to him that there were more shinobi in the room with them. But somehow they remained invisible. Silently watching. Admittedly, he felt somewhat uneasy now.

"Naruto, I welcome you to Root. From now on, you are part of the most elite shinobi organization of the entire village. Or better said, you're training to become one." Naruto was in awe as he heard this. Seemed like he had hit jackpot. "I will be honest with you, your training will be quite hard. Seeing as you're older than most our recruits, it will be quite a task to get you to catch up to their level. Therefore, you need to give it your all, can you do that?"

"You bet I can, old man!"

Danzo's eyes widened for a moment. Behind Naruto, another masked figure appeared and kicked him in the side. Hard. "You will address Danzo-sama with his respect."

"Thank you Shuko, that is quite enough.", Danzo said kindly. But that grandfatherly appearance didn't fool Naruto anymore. He groaned as he rolled to his side and then got up.

"Root is quite a bit different from what you are used to. Discipline, obedience, and endurance are the traits we value the most. In time I am sure, you will learn to appreciate them as well. Sai will help explain your new home to you later and assist you in the transition from your old life into this new one. Your training will start tomorrow. Root will help you control your emotions until you no longer endanger the village. Do you have any questions?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "When will I go on missions again?" A second later he remembered the respect thing and added "Sir."

"Once you have completed the initiation. You see, every new recruit starts out as a trainee. Depending on the potential and skill of the individual, the initiation phase, essentially a survival training, is shorter or longer. At the end is an obstacle tailored to the individual, a final test of courage and loyalty and then you're good to go. So really, it depends on your own will."

Naruto was feeling mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was all fired up and halt to be given this chance. On the other hand, he wondered, just how far he was behind the other trainees and if he could complete the training phase faster than the others. He wanted to be fast to get back to his friends in the village and to bring Sasuke back in the end.

"I see you are not entirely happy with this arrangement.", Danzo began, only kindness in his voice. "I know you want to go outside and be part of the village. But at Root, we are the shadow. We protect Konoha from threats that could otherwise destroy all those we hold dear. For the village, we give it our all. I was told you were a loyal shinobi, willing to give anything for the village and your comrades."

Naruto felt flattered and blushed. "I will do anything to protect my precious people."

"Then you are on your way to becoming the perfect Root shinobi. To save others, we take care of the darkness. We are but tools to protect the innocence of the village." What he said sounded reasonable. Yet Naruto didn't like the 'tool' part. That reminded him too much of Haku and Zabuza. "I will not be a tool, but a loyal ninja nonetheless, Sir."

"In time, you will understand. Come here, young trainee. I need you to sign these scrolls and add a little blood here."

"What does the blood do?"

"It's only so that you will be able to access HQ on your own, as they are protected with blood seals. The second scroll hinders you to give up the location of our base, willingly or unwillingly." Naruto nodded, without such precaution Root wouldn't have remained secret for long.

"Now to the last part." Danzo rummaged in the drawer of his mahogany desk and finally withdrew a blue name tag brooch. He threw it at the blond. As he read the name, his brows furrowed.

"Number 27?"

"Yes, 27 was initiated just yesterday. Alas, you will take her place. That will be your name as a trainee until you prove your worth."

"With respect, Danzo, but I like my name. And it's Naruto Uzumaki!"

"While at Root, you will be known as 27. That is a fact. Dismissed."

Naruto just stared at him, outraged. What was that old man thinking? How dare he degrade him like this? He was about to tell him his piece of mind when he was violently gapped at his arm and dragged out the office. Sai had been his handler.

"What the fuck Sai?"

"Just follow me 27 and stop making so much noise. It irritates me."

"Where are you taking me?"

"I assumed you were hungry. It is dinner time in just a bit and we do not want to be late."

The dining hall was already packed, there must have been sitting over 100 shinobi all clad in the same black training gear, all eating the same meal: White rice and some kind of vegetable/ meat paste. Not the food of the heavens, unfortunately.

For once, the ninja had left their masks and Naruto could study their faces. He gasped as he looked closely. Many were incredibly young, small enough to have just started the academy. However, they didn't resemble normal academy students at all. Despite their age, they fit right in with older, more experienced shinobi. His own guide, Sai, was a little older than him, but it couldn't be by much. Naruto was glad that he wasn't assigned to a younger person, he wasn't sure if he could take them seriously. Sai followed his gaze and decided to inform him a bit more. "Approximately 150 shinobi are part of Root at all times. 30 of that are trainees. Root shinobi work in squads, usually containing four or five members. We have 20 permanent squads and the rest jump between assignments, go on solo-missions or are acting as shinobi of Konoha in the meantime. Many live here, at the base, though some stay in the village. Mostly for appearances, though. And the trainees have to be here at all times."

"How do I know if they've already been initiated or not?"

"You can kind of read it on their faces, who is a trainee and who is an actual member."

"What? How is that?!"

"Well, let's just say that the initiation really takes a lot… of effort." Apparently, that was all Sai was gonna say on that matter.

"I noticed that most Root members are quite young…"

"Well, I would answer that age is relative, 27. How old are you?"

"Don't call me that name! And I'm 13 now."

Sai smiled in a very creepy and unnerving fashion. "As you wish, dickless. And you've been a shinobi for how long? A year?"

"Yeah around that you jerk."

"Then take a look at Odachi over there", he pointed at a little black haired boy, who was silently eating. "He's been a full member of my squad for about four years now."

That caused Naruto to spit out some of the rice he had just shoved into his mouth. "What? How is this possible? He is even younger than me!"

"Age can be deceiving here. He was seven when he finished initiation."

Naruto was amazed and at the same time a little bit disgruntled. Making children do missions didn't seem that great. "Surely those weren't all D-ranks, the missions your squad took I mean."

Sai actually laughed at that. For the first time, his face showed something different than a poor attempt at a faked smile. "So you can laugh for real!" He regretted saying those words immediately but alas, he couldn't take them back. He was greeted with an emotionless silence that neither broke as they continued picking their food uncomfortably. Eventually, Sai spoke again. "In order to survive this, you learn to discard your emotions."

"Sounds tough", Naruto voiced but wasn't really connecting the information to his own fate. He stared intently at the small children all over the hall. "Where are their parents?"

"You of all people should be able to guess."

Naruto swallowed down a bitter retort. Sai and he would probably need a lot more time to warm up. That guy was even more stuck up than Sasuke! Previously he wouldn't have thought such a feat possible. 'Oh well, it can always get worse, they say… What might Sasuke be doing right now?'

His musings were interrupted when Danzo entered the room. Immediately, all of Root stood to attention. The formed rows in front of a kind of stage platform at the end of the massive hall. Naruto followed suit and joined on the rows further away from the stage. As one, they all bowed to Danzo. Sai appeared next to him. "So you do learn after all", he smirked.

"What's going on?", he hissed.

"Just a plenum, dickless. It happens every other day."

Naruto was about to retort when Danzo spoke.

"My dear Root, first of all, we have a new recruit, as I am sure you have noticed. Please help him feel right at home with us." There was no applause, no smiles as everyone turned to stare at Naruto. 'Not creepy, at all' he thought and ran a hand through his hair. "Hi everyone, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo! Nice to meet-" Just then a hand slapped on his mouth. "Quiet, 27. It's not your turn to talk." Sai's reaction seemed to please Danzo and he continued his speech.

"Unfortunately, there is yet another matter that needs to be addressed. Squad 16, step forward." As one, three shinobi stepped forward. They seemed tense and made Naruto wonder just what Danzo was up to. "Report", he simply demanded.

One figure stepped forward and bowed down deeply. "After our last mission, which was outside of the village, my squad was on their way home. Our newest member, Nagamaki, stepped away for a bit. I let her, as this was her first team mission after initiation, so I thought she deserved a little free time."

"It is not your place to think, Makibishi." Danzo's tone was cold as ice, the corners of his mouth twisted in a way befitting his anger.

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

"Continue."

"An hour later, we decided to look for Nagamaki. She was found at a playground, in contact with Konoha children."

A collective gasp went through the hall. "Bring Nagamaki", he ordered. At his command, two new shinobi arrived, one of which was a young girl, whose hands were bound behind her back. Her whole demeanor was downcast and upset. The other, her handler, was another stony-faced puppet.

"What do you have to say in your defense?"

"Please forgive me, Danzo-sama! I didn't mean to!" She was crying now.

"What were you doing, fraternizing with the enemy?"

Naruto frowned at that. So her crime was playing with other children? She couldn't have been older than six or seven. Yet she was already a squad member…

"What do you mean enemy?", he asked out loud before he could stop himself. He could practically feel Sai beside him urging to facepalm. Wasn't his problem though. What the heck was wrong with Danzo and his minions? Shocked whispers followed his question. Apparently, no one was supposed to question Danzo's words. Well, they hadn't met the great Naruto Uzumaki yet! "Why are you declaring Konoha children as enemies? And besides, what is wrong with letting a child join kids on the playground?"

"27, I see you are unfortunately following in your predecessor's footsteps. Disobedience will not be tolerated here, at Root."

"Predecessor? What are you talking about?"

"Well, Nagamaki here joined Squad 16 yesterday. Before that, she was known as 27. It doesn't bode well that you are already stepping out of line."

"I will take any punishment, Danzo-sama." The crying girl, Nagamaki, knelt before Danzo, so low she was almost kissing the ground.

"That was a great crime, and so soon after your initiation. I think, you rather need to learn your place now, before this becomes a habit." He signed to the other shinobi of squad 16. "A number eight should suffice. If you please."

Immediately, the three shinobi attacked the kneeling form from all sides. Kicking her with force. For a second, Naruto was shell-shocked. Then he reacted. In a blur he was beside the girl, shielding her and attacking the others in return. Eight bunshins appeared and formed a circle around the girl. "What the fuck is wrong with you people?", he yelled. "She is your comrade and you beat her up for having fun with some kids? While she herself is a kid?"

One by one, his clones were dispelled. But to his surprise, it wasn't squad 16 or Danzo, or any of the watching Root shinobi. No, it was the beaten, bloody girl in the middle of it all.

"I don't need you to disgrace me, 27", she spat at his original after the bunshins were dissolved. "I have failed Danzo-sama and for that, I will take my punishment!"

Naruto's world turned upside down. How? Why was she angry at him now? He had defended her from this sick show of power! Naruto turned around to face Danzo. "The way you treat your shinobi is wrong, it disgusts me!"

Danzo snapped his finger, and all of a sudden, Naruto found himself enwrapped in wood, from the shoulder down, he was unable to move. "You are one of my shinobi now, 27. And such disrespect will not be tolerated, new trainee or not. This cannot slide."

Naruto was livid. "If Tsunade-baa-chan knew about this, you'd be the one punished! How can you be so cruel towards your own people?"

"The Hokage has more important matters to attend, I assure you. Don't fret, we will take care of your unwillingness soon enough." Slowly, he approached Naruto and took out a piece of paper. He calmly pressed it against Naruto's neck, the only area, besides his head, not covered by wood. The seal sizzled as it met his skin, glowed blue and then disappeared.

"What did you do?", Naruto demanded to know. However, something was wrong. He repeated the words. Only, nothing came out, not a single tone was heard. "Hey!", he screamed, but the hall stayed quiet.

"Ah, peace and quiet. That is much better. Now, Sumi, please seal his chakra for the moment. He will not need it during the beginning of his training." As the wood around him disappeared, a red-haired teen knelt in front of him. "I'm sorry", he whispered and it seemed genuine. Naruto accepted his fate and held out his arm, which the red hair promptly drew on with black ink. 'No question where he got his name from. Sumi - ink. Well, not much worse than all these weapon names that the others have."

When Sumi was done, Naruto felt an emptiness inside him. Disconnected from a huge part of himself. Danzo saw his discomfort and smiled down at him. "This is lesson number one: Unless prompted, you will stay silent. Sai, show him to his sleeping quarters. He will not join the other trainees in the sleeping hall. Too much contact won't do him good."

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

Naruto felt humiliated and angry. Nobody had ever taken away his voice. Yes, he was a loud person and he frequently annoyed his team members with his volume. But they would be scandalized by the workings of this organization, too! Today he had acted the right way! Yet, no one supported him. The Root shinobi all found his behavior to be faulty, not the sick machinations of that old asshole. He shook his head… All he could do now was wait. As soon as he got his voice back, he would report to Tsunade. She had been suspicious of Danzo, after all. Turned out, with good reason.

They walked by a room of which the door had been removed. Inside he could make out over 20 futons. Children, the root trainees, were shuffling about, getting ready for the night. When there was talking, it was very hushed and quiet. 'Strange', Naruto thought, 'if I were with my teammates I'd be up talking with them half the night.' Sai seemed to read his thoughts. "Getting a full night of sleep is a rarity for them so they know better than to waste their time for anything else but resting." Naruto looked confused at that. "Sleep deprivation training", Sai shrugged and continued on. A few hallways across and stairs further down, the air began to change. I reeked of human waste and wails could be heard behind closed doors. Cells. Naruto didn't need to be told that. Abruptly, Sai stopped in front of one of these cell doors and drew a little blood with a kunai. He smeared the blood through a seal underneath the handle and immediately the heavy metal door swung wide open.

"Actually these cells are used for traitors and threats, or really naughty trainees. And I mean seriously naughty."

Naruto stood behind him and peeked inside. The cell was empty. That could only mean-! 'Oh shit! That ancient bastard!' Sai waited until his silent rage ebbed a bit, then gestured to the cell. Naruto snarled at him and made no move, but remained stubbornly where he stood.

"Listen, I don't know what you think of yourself, dickless, but this is not a game. You should respect Danzo or you will suffer for it."

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. He gave him a look that clearly said he didn't care.

"You're the property of Root now, 27. The sooner you realize that you're on your own, that your so-called friends won't come to the rescue, the better." Sai smiled at him, but it might as well have been a snarl. "Welcome to Root, trainee, I hope you will enjoy your stay."

With these final words, he shut the cell and Naruto was left all alone in the dark cold room. There was no furniture at all, just one big, empty bowl, which he couldn't figure out the use for. The room was quite small, but in the darkness, he couldn't see the walls anyway.

Naruto screamed in frustration. But no sound escaped his throat. No noise to distract him, no light to give him hope, no blanket to warm him. He threw himself against the door as hard as he could, but without his chakra all hat accomplished was a fat bruise building on his shoulder. Still, he didn't give up so fast. Again and again, he hit the unbudging door, to no avail.

Naruto had felt loneliness before, hell, growing up as the village pariah had isolated him from the start. But it had been a long time since he had felt so utterly helpless. All that left to him, was to curse Danzo! He yelled at him in his head. When he got out, he'd show that slimy bastard Danzo! Naruto was gonna be Hokage, such a small thing was not intimating him at all! He was Konoha's number one surprising ninja and Danzo would do better to remember that.


Meanwhile, in another underground hideout, not too different from Root, Sasuke entered into Orochimaru's study. It was packed with shelves, overflowing with scrolls and books. All undoubtedly written on different clans' secrets and even forbidden jutsu.

"So nice of you to join me, Sasuke darling." Orochimaru's voice did this creepy little hissing sound at the end, which made Sasuke's arm hairs shoot up.

"I want you to finally start training me. I did not come here to sit on my hands." Straight to the point. He needed the other to start, to hurry up and get serious.

The older man closed in on him and whispered in his ear. "Why, it will be my pleasure to teach you about these things. Don't worry dear, I will be gentle."

"I don't want you to be gentle! I want it rough!"

"Are you certain that's wise? To put such a strain on your body from the start?"

"I can take it!"

"My, such a spirited one you are. It will be my honor and I'll make sure it'll be pleasurable for you, as well." The way his eyes were trailing down his body and undressing him in the process made him seriously uncomfortable. Suddenly, it dawned on Sasuke that they both were talking about distinctly different topics. His face transformed into one of those tomatoes he liked so much. Fucking pervert making him self-conscious!

Sasuke was brimming with anger. What was his business insinuating such things? Still, he tried to calm down. The angrier he got, the stronger the curse seal reacted. At the moment he didn't need its powers, so he tried suppressing it. 'Breathe. Stay in control', his mind repeated.

When he spoke, his voice could have cut through steel. "I came here to become stronger, Orochimaru. Not to get your dick up my ass."

The snake Lord sighed and then smirked. "Then how about the other way around? I feel a bit adventurous today."

Sasuke's breath hitched as the other was too close for comfort, too close to let him smell anything but that disgustingly sweet perfume Orochimaru used. The other man utterly repelled him.

"No, I wish to train and nothing more", he bit out. "If you can't give me that, I'll just leave."

"Don't be like that my little Sasuke. I'll train you, promise." He leaned down and nibbled his earlobe gently before whispering. "But everything comes at a price. You already left your cute blond boyfriend behind for me, so what's keeping you?"

"Naruto is not my boyfriend. I'm straight, you bastard. I can see you won't train me properly today, so I'll leave. Go fuck Kabuto if you're that needy, seriously." Pissed, Sasuke stormed off to relieve some tension in the training hall. He would have to train alone yet again, it seemed.

"You're in denial!", sang the hissing voice as he ran through the corridors. Seriously the Sannin were just a bunch of perverts that made decent shinobi. He sighed. Hopefully, he would become stronger, fast. He wanted to get away from this hellhole finish off that bastard brother of his. And then… he wasn't sure what would happen after. He wanted to revive his clan but that was way in the future. He was still too young for a family. The mental picture of a mob of blond hair flashed behind his eyes. Naruto. Team 7. Kakashi. Could he even return to the village? According to Orochimaru's sources, Sasuke hadn't been declared a missing-nin yet. Peculiar. Yet strangely satisfactory.

He couldn't seriously miss the dobe now could he? Yes they had been friends. But they had never seen eye to eye. Never had truly connected over anything. Truth be told, that was mostly his fault since Naruto had really tried hard to gain his approval. And Sasuke had damaged that bond. It was just that, just that his goal was much more pressing, much greater than his own happiness. Avenging his clan was the number one priority. The Uchiha were a proud clan. As such, having a traitor unaccounted for was simply unacceptable. Not to mention the one who had been supposed to be the next clan head, being the one to slaughter them all.

'Why couldn't Itachi just wait till it was his turn to become clan head? He would have been in power, he would have been admired and adored! Why did he kill them all instead?'

Naruto was a better brother than Itachi. Not one he could look up to, admittedly. But one that would support him, share the pain. One that wouldn't double-cross him. Being confessed to was strange... He didn't want Naruto to turn into a fan girl. But likely this wouldn't happen now anyway, their bond was broken. Maybe one day Naruto would understand his hardships, even forgive him for his defection. If not, then at least he had fulfilled the duty to his clan. 'No need to regret my decision, just carry on and stay focused.'


Next: Naruto never did appreciate the quiet...

Please let me know what you think. Will Naruto be able to retain his old self? How can he escape the situation? Will he start to resent Tsunade and Sasuke?