Burdened Slave

Chapter 11


Fugaku loved his village. That is why when he was given the path to the mantle of Hokage without opposition, he immediately began work on making his village stronger before he even took the hat from Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The first problem the village faced was manpower. The kyuubi attack severely crippled Konoha. Therefore, Fugaku pushed into existence a new rule that required untrained and able-bodied civilians to be trained and thus be maximally effective in warfare as much as possible despite their natural limits when it comes to Chakra. Their children, be they newborns or toddlers, would be taken care of by the academy while the adults were busy with their duties to their village.

If the civilians to be trained had businesses, they received free support of all manner from the village. Especially the businesses that heavily dealt with anything-outside the village. This way, Konoha can keep the illusion of manpower by sending shinobi out on 'missions' while also solving that very problem of manpower internally.

When Fugaku learned of Root from Hiruzen, he immediately made it so that all children in orphanages were required to attend the new programs at the academy until the time they joined it as official students. That is if they chose to become official students, of course, but Fugaku couldn't think of any reason why they would choose anything but the Academy. Especially with special graduation exceptions and exams that he put in place. He made it easy to get in and easy to get out, at the end of the road an individual will always have something of value to provide the village.

It turns out, civilian adults with limited chakra-training could become very useful, if not a bit mediocre, medics. That, and when taught, civilians can survive an engagement with fresh Genin and Genin who underestimate them. Against a team of Genin ready to become Chunin, well, a team of the really talented civilians is projected by the Research division to be able to take them down if they employ simple ANBU tactics.

Fugaku found it amazing and the Research division even had projected uses that were predicted from the data of still ongoing experiments.

Against groups of bandits, talented civilians were projected to be able to easily survive and defeat them by employing basic taijutsu and stealth techniques. With the automated weapons that the Konoha Research Division invented to compensate for the physical weakness of an adult civilian, the possibilities were truly numerous.

A project was even headed by Orochimaru himself creating a sealed stealth technique that utilised natural energy and could make a civilian invisible to all senses of a shinobi no matter how skilled or natural of a sensor they are.

The technique was quickly developed and steadily improved to levels of safe usage thanks to the civilians who willingly and almost happily volunteered. Mainly only those who lost their family and were depressed, drunks prone to violence, and who were suicidal, but who still had a sense of extra loyalty to the village, or at least love Sarutobi Hiruzen enough to 'make the old man proud', were targeted.

However, Fugaku began to grow suspicious of something happening behind his back when a few, though mediocre and unskilled, ninja of the same demographic began disappearing. When he started investigating, it stopped. Fugaku really hoped Orochimaru wasn't committing the crimes, because out of all the Sannin, he was actually useful to Konoha. Plus the other two Sannin, who could probably take down Orochimaru together or single-handedly without extra casualty besides themselves, were not even in the village to do so if Orochimaru did turn out to be a traiter. The Slug Princess deserted the village and wastes her money on Sake and gambling while Jiraya himself was on a man-hunt for the man who caused the Kyuubi attack. The enemy with a Sharingan. The self-proclaimed and utterly fake, hopefully, Uchiha Madara.

It was not enough. Besides the so-called Madara, there were enemies all around. War could start any time if the other villages thought Konoha was somehow at a weak point or if some nobles squabbled. War almost did start if not for Kumo asking for peace. War required sacrifices to be used when strategically logical. Why should such sacrifices be those of his own village? Be they shinobi or trained-civilians, he found that it was unacceptable.

That is when he decided that civilian villages and hubs, especially the capital, in the Land of Fire should have a watered-down version of the Academy. Useless, but well rounded in some knowledge and with some abilities, Genin were sent outside the village to teach both children and adults alike the 'Wonders of Chakra', 'Chakra for all', 'Figure out how Shinobi do it', and even 'Learn the Amazing Ninja Arts to compete in the Kumite where contestants fight to the death and the winner becomes a Kage'.

Every now and then, ANBU are sent to assess the talent of non-village children, the adults if they have interesting business or connections, if anyone's a spy or such, and anything else that could lead to regret if not used, wasted, or analysed and triple-checked. And for this project of training outside-civilians, Fugaku placed Shimura Danzo in charge.

Fugaku made sure everything was set in a way that Danzo could not have a long term advantage. He allowed Danzo to steal potential talent or prodigies. He'll allow Danzo to boost his Root, because Root's talent will eventually become Konoha's once Fugaku kills the old one-eyed Tobriama-sama-wannabe. He even was able to sneak some spies into Root that had prodigious talent in order to learn everything he can of Danzo's training methods and so he can have that talent be able to teach and train more talent later on.

He also found it amusing to imagine the headaches Danzo must be going through because, after Fugaku became the new Fifth Hokage, he stuck Morino Ibiki as the second head of the training of sacrifices project which happened to also be a major project for the entire Torture and Interrogation division with some help and heavy interest from the Intelligence division.

While Uchiha Fugaku was a proud man, he could not find any logical reason to prevent non-Uchiha to join the Police force. It would even remain affiliated to the Uchiha. However, he overestimated the ability of the Uchiha elders to see reason, even after explaining to them Tobirama's ploy. Although it did not go his way, he regretted explaining Tobirama's ploy as that caused a strange, but subtle, shift against the village amongst the Uchiha elders.

You win some and you lose some.

That was not enough.

Hashirama was a short sighted fool and if Tobirama kept a diary he would have surely agreed with Fugaku. Hashirama should not have spread out the Biju amongst the other villages. The only reason Konoha was so feared in the past was because of Hashirama, Madara, their prowess, and also the ties Konoha had to the Uzumaki and Maboroshi clan. With all of the Biju in Konoha's hands, the First and Second War would have never happened. The other villages are nothing more than Konoha-copycats. At that time, even though the other villages threatened war after learning of Konoha's acquisition of the Kyuubi, they could not have done anything in the face of Konoha's might. And if Hashirama kept the Biju he captured instead of giving them away, the other villages would have been nothing but a memory in dusty history scrolls. The other villages would have been a strange historical anomaly that happened right after Konoha was founded and it would have been the beginning of a great era of peace.

That was what Fugaku believed.

However Hashirama was too soft-hearted. His son, Itachi, would have probably gotten along well with him.

However, as anyone with the Will of Fire would say, the next generation will always be stronger than the last and one only hopes that they would also be better; as such, Fugaku is going to have to fix Hashirama's blunder.

Devising plans upon plans to retrieve all nine Biju was hard. The Maboroshi clan would be of the most use. Only the Uchiha have ancient records on that clan. There were even close ties between the clans at certain points in history. The Maboroshi were to the Uchiha as the Uzumaki were to the Senju.

Among the history recorded, the Maboroshi are said to be able to control the Biju. In fact, a single Maboroshi in their history had controlled three Biju at the same time. However, time has forgotten, but the Uchiha have not. The Uchiha never forget, they just blind themselves.

Because the Maboroshi had such an important role in Fugaku's plan, he now stood in his office that he just destroyed in anger right after learning that all but five of the Maboroshi had been massacred just a few hours before the rise of that day's sun.

And even worse, Uchiha Shisui just came back from a month-long extermination mission in Kiri with his team.


"I heard you're finally getting a team," Uchiha Shisui said in a toneless voice.

Uchiha Haru looked up at Shisui and an expression of regret and pain came onto the young boy's voice.

"He told you," Haru said, referring to Fugaku and the matter of Shisui's younger twin siblings.

"Everything," Shisui said and his voice cracked.

Shisui took one step forward. Haru took one step backwards, a weary and tired look coming to his face and his body preparing for a fight. No matter his feelings of guilt, he won't willingly let himself be killed.

"I understand if you hate me," Haru said calmly, though, if Haru could ever be described as having a tear-filled tone, then he would in that moment.

Tears dropped from Shisui's face and the older boy brought his arm up to cover his face.

"Don't be stupid," Shisui said. His voice cracking. "I'm not blaming you."

Shisui lowered his arm and stared into Haru's eyes. Both sets of eyes devoid of Sharingan as neither boy had activated them.

Haru relaxed and tears came to the younger boy's eyes.

"I'm sorry," Haru said.

"I said I wasn't blaming you!" Shisui loudly snapped.

Shisui slowly walked up the younger boy, crouched, and hugged Haru.

"If anything, I'm sorry my siblings were dumb enough to let words kill them. They were Genin, they should have had thicker skin," Shisui said. "It doesn't make sense, what happened. Your words had a strange wisdom to them. It's not your fault for being strange. I'm sorry I wasn't there. I should have been the one to knock sense into them instead of you,"

"I should have said nothing to them," Haru whispered.

"Whatever you say, Haru," Shisui said and tears fell down stronger.


"So!" Shisui spoke a bit too brightly and a bit too cheerfully. "Go on in and meet your team,"

Shisui had walked Haru to the academy. His team's sensei had been scheduled to meet them in a few minutes while Haru meets two recently graduated Genin.

Haru looks at Shisui and the older boy groans. "Come on dude! I'm in mourning. Spare me the deep looks and thought-provoking words and let me behave how I want in peace at least for today. Mind numbing cheerfulness. That's what I'm gonna do. Nothing will stop me. Ugh, look what you've made me do. I've gone meta."

Haru opened his mouth to say something but Shisui quickly interrupted while pointing a finger in Haru's face.

"And don't go saying 'sorry' again!" Shisui said. Then he turned on his heel and started walking away. "Good luck with D-ranks. They're gonna be a blast. Hahaha!"


When he reached a classroom he'd never been to before, Haru entered. The classroom teacher had been shuffling some papers before looking up.

"You're on time," the random teacher said. He then pointed to a man standing to the side with two Genin. "That's your team. Good luck,"

"You believe in luck?" Haru asked, sounding very intrigued.

"What?" the random teacher asked confusedly, before shaking his head not waiting for an answer. "I'm done here. Have a pleasant day and don't die anytime soon. Goodbye,"

The random teacher left as the remaining adult chuckled. He waved.

"Yo. I'm Yamashiro Aoba," the spiky-haired, red-rimmed-sunglass wearing man said.

"Yo?" Haru repeated questioningly and titled his head to the side.

"Sensei, why do we have a kid on our team?" a feral looking girl, with pupiless blue eyes and Inuzuka-like wild blonde hair, said.

"Now, now. Be nice," Aoba said calmly and pointed at Haru. "Let's introduce ourselves. Starting with you,"

"Uchiha Haru," Haru said.

"Is that it?" Aoba asked.

"Abdullah bin Abdullah," Haru said.

"Huh?" Aoba looked confused.

"I've heard of you," the feral-looking girl said. "You're that arrogant Uchiha kid that graduated in like two weeks riding off the coattails of your own Hokage,"

Haru smiled kindly at the girl. "Don't worry, I'm quite skilled, I think. I won't get you killed, I hope. I won't botch up any missions, probably. You can rely on me in the battle field. Maybe. Who knows."

Haru gave a small shrug.

A small laugh tinkled through the room from the remaining Genin. A kid with shoulder-length black hair. They, a boy or a girl, wore a blank white full-face mask. As quickly as the Genin laughed, they stopped, placing a hand on their bandage covered throat as if in pain.

The feral-looking girl just looked annoyed at Haru.

"Alright guys," Aoba said, raising his hands placatingly. "Let's try that again. Names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. Haru-kun, you're up again,"

"Do I repeat my name?" Haru asked as if confused.

"You can skip to the next part," Aoba said, amused.

"I like looking at the stars, I suppose. Something sweet every now and then is nice. I dislike dumb people who hate without thinking twice or love without thinking twice and who build temples solely for their emotions; their venerated kami that blinds them to their own selves and to others. My dream for the future? I won't sum it up as a dream. It's more of an ambition. I want to figure out why I'm on this planet,"

Aoba looked as if he was trying to decipher some verbal code to which someone threw the cipher away.

The girl looked between annoyed and offended as if something Haru said was directed her way.

The masked kid, well it looked like he was writing on a scroll. Haru thought they were taking notes, but then the kid made a hand sign and the scroll glowed. Out of it a soft and airy voice, that could have been a boy's or a girl's, spoke.

"Are you an alien?" the voice asked, sounding curious.

Haru smiled and tilted his head. "I distinctly remember being born at the old Uchiha clan grounds."

The girl snorted. "You talk too much."

Haru's smile never wavered. "Well, I'll freely admit that I'm the dumbest person among the dumb. Though, I find Shinobi to be a really thoughtful, sensitive, and educated bunch. Honestly, from what I've seen so far, I wouldn't be surprised if two enemy nins stopped in the middle of a fight to talk and share their hearts."

The girl just looked confused.

Aoba shook his head and chuckled. "Honestly. Good grief. Heh. Your turn blondie."

"I'm Yamanaka Yū. I like cats. I hate stinky dogs and I think flowers and fashion are stupid. I think the Will of Fire is also stupid just like the name sounds stupid and Senju Tusnade-sama knew it because she ain't stupid. I'll not only be the greatest medic-nin ever, but the strongest damn shinobi this world will ever know. Oh and if a random fucking Uchiha can get to be Hokage while Madara couldn't, and he founded the village, well, then I'll just be the next fricking Hokage myself and I'll do a damn good job at it."

Aoba gaped at her. "Uh. That's nice. Do we have to worry about any insubordination from you?"

"What's that?" Yū asked, clearly confused.

"Aoba-sensei's asking if you'll be anything like Senju Tsuande," the soft voice from the masked-kid's scroll filled the air.

"Hell yeah!" she replied. "I'll be even greater!"

Aoba sighed and pointed to the last Genin who immediately started writing as he spoke. "Alright, you're next."

By the time Aoba finished his sentence, the scroll glowed and an introduction was recited to everyone.

"I'm Maboroshi Dan. I like my older sister. I hate my cousins that weren't killed. My dream is to go to the moon and live there."

"The moon looks like a nice place to live," Haru said, nodding his head seriously.

Aoba pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking. "Alright brats, I'm gonna test you tomorrow. Be at the top of the Hokage mountain one-hour before sunrise."

With that, Aoba disappeared in a flash leaving his new students alone in the classroom.

"Does anyone want to go eat ramen?" Dan's scroll voiced.

"I don't like ramen," Yū said. "Let's get barbeque instead,"

Both Yū and Dan looked over at Haru to see what he had to say. Yū quickly scowled either because she remembered she wanted to hate Uchiha Haru, because he's a stuck up little prick, or because of some other unknown reason.

"I don't like either of those options. Let's eat fish instead."