Summary:
In a universe where chakra allows for almost everything to be possible, this story is a concept exploration of the ultimate extreme of personal power. Watch the harsh realities of ninja life push a young orphan on the path to becoming the true God of Shinobi.
X-X
"Agent 15, Report."
"The mission was accomplished successfully, Lord Danzo. The subject has been sedated and moved to unit 37 for initiation."
"Dismissed."
One hour later…
"Agent 7, Diagnosis?"
"Agent 37 shows no significant deviations in his chakra network. Physical development matches standard milestones as of three to four years of development. Agent 37 has been observed to be capable of basic speech and language processing capabilities prior to acquisition. No injuries or other deformities observed. Overall evaluation confirms an acceptable framework for development as a Root agent."
"Ensure that Agent 37 is kept in good health. Order Fuu to begin his evaluation and initial desensitisation training on Agents 32 to 37. Confirmation code AX33J. You are responsible for seeing to their basic needs. Dismissed."
Danzo watched Agent 7 leave dispassionately. Kyuubi's attack on Konoha had just ended, with enormous loss of life. But even as the leaves of the tree fall, they nourish the root and keep the tree strong.
X-X
Sarutobi Hiruzen reflected on yet another long day as the Hokage of Konoha. He had happily handed over the future to Minato, but now, that shining beacon of a shinobi had perished.
He felt the slightest bit of relief at the sight of his old friend Shimura. "What is the status?"
"Initial estimates are 849 shinobi dead, with more bodies being discovered as the rubble is cleared. Of those, only 12 are the result of direct combat with the Kyuubi, all of them High Ninja. The one Tailed Beast Bomb that Minato failed to deflect claimed most of the other casualties. 726 Low Ninja and 111 Mid ones as of now."
"Civilian deaths?"
"Roughly 9500. Almost all of them are adults."
"Almost? The Konoha Military Police Force was tasked with the immediate evacuation of all children, at your orders."
"You place too much trust in the Uchiha, Hiruzen. I placed them in charge of that because I did not trust them not to try and take control of the Kyuubi for their own purposes. The fact that they could not carry out such a simple task perfectly shows how little they care about this village."
"Enough. You have always been irrational about the Uchiha ever since Kagami was chosen to lead your genin team after our escape from Lightning's Golden Horn Force."
Danzo's one visible eye narrowed. "Hiruzen, you show your lack of focus when you confuse me with my childhood past. Despite the Uchiha's so-called best efforts, 28 children of Konoha lost their lives today. In contrast, my agents have rescued four civilian children from dying alongside their families."
"Root has no authority in that regard. You will be releasing those children to my custody immediately."
"You are being foolishly sentimental, Hiruzen. These children have no one left to care about them. Their lives will be wasted in the orphanages. I, however, can train them to be useful to Konoha."
The Hokage carefully kept his temper in control. "Konoha has no need for the kind of mindless automatons it would get if children are left to your care. I know the kind of ideals you follow, Shimura. Root will continue to recruit only from the ANBU."
"Very well, Lord Hokage. The children will be released to your custody by tomorrow."
X-X
Danzo carefully hid his irritation as he made his way back to the Root base the next morning. Despite knowing Hiruzen's weak and sentimental nature, he had hoped that this time his old friend would have accepted his reasoning as sound.
"Fuu, report."
"Yes, Lord Danzo. Agents 32 to 37 have been subject to initial desensitisation training. Agents 32, 34, 35 and 36 show average responsiveness. Agent 33 successfully suppressed obvious pain responses after six hours but has made no attempt to hide her fear and dismay."
Danzo frowned. He had not expected the lone female child, at five years old, to show more potential than the four older male children earlier mentioned. However, he had a bigger concern. "Agent Fuu, I have not ordered you to stop."
Fuu paused for a few more seconds before continuing. "Agent 37 shows peculiar behaviour. Till the five hour mark, he showed excessive emotional response and made no attempt to restrain himself, as expected. Afterwards, he exhibited something of a mental break. I could not sense any further fear or distress and his verbal responses were nothing further than involuntary whimpers."
"Take me to him."
X-X
He was numb. Mommy and Daddy had fallen down after that big boom and a huge stone from a broken house had fallen on them. He remembered screaming and crying for them to come to him.
Then, BAD men had come and taken him away. He thought he was going to the doctor. When he asked why Mommy and Daddy weren't coming with them, someone had hit him on his head. Mommy had shouted at him so much when he had hit that boy in the head. At the park.
Then, he woke up in a very dark room. A scary man was looking at him. He had that cold look in his eyes. His Daddy looked at him like that sometimes when he refused to eat the yucky vegetables. So he ate that smelly goop fully. Even though it tasted very nasty. The water was chilly, but he liked drinking it. He rinsed his mouth and swallowed the last of that goop. Just like Mommy had taught him. He was a good boy.
Then, the scary man had left, after telling him to sleep. He thought these men were ninjas. Daddy told him they were very scary but also told him to listen to whatever a Ninja says. So he hummed that tune he liked and went to sleep.
Then, there was another man shaking him awake. He didn't look so scary, with nice brown hair and yellow eyes. But he looked very strict.
"I want my Mommy and Daddy!"
The strict man shook his head. "Your parents are dead."
"Dead?"
"They are gone. They're never coming back. You will be staying here from now on."
He looked around. There was an old, dirty bed, a small desk with those box things his Daddy had stored important papers in and a bar with hangers like those he'd seen for hanging clothes from.
"I don't like this room. It's too dark and dirty and old! I want my Mommy and Daddy!"
Fuu slapped the child before he started screaming and crying. He observed carefully as tears welled up in the boy's eyes, making sure to look very stern.
The boy didn't allow the tears to fall. "You can't hit me! Who are you?"
Fuu stepped forward and firmly gripped the boy's shoulders. "I am a Ninja of Konoha. From today, you will also start to train to become a Ninja, like me."
The boy shook his head as the tears started to fall. "No! No! You're mean! I don't want to be a Ninja!"
Fuu raised his hand and the boy immediately stopped talking, looking at his hand with fear. "Good. Don't talk back to me. Your Mommy and Daddy aren't coming back. Their shop was destroyed today. You can't go anywhere else. Do your best to obey my orders and we'll take care of you now."
"Okay. Okay. I'll be a good boy."
"Very good. Now, the first rule of Ninja is that they don't cry. You have to be a strong boy to become a Ninja. Promise me you won't cry from now on."
"I promise."
"Good. Now, if you go out of this room and to the end of the hall, there's a bathroom where you can relieve yourself. Do you know how?"
The boy nodded his head. "Yeah. Daddy taught me how. He said I was a big boy now that I can go to the bathroom by myself. Mommy taught me how to bath, too!"
"Very good. Now go to the bathroom and then come back here. We will begin Ninja training as soon as you come back."
Fuu watched the boy leave. 'Children of his age are very resilient and eager to please their elders.' He also let a small bit of his chakra into the boy's mind, increasing his acceptance of the new situation. That only worked on very young children, but that wouldn't matter much once Agent 37 was taught to obey.
The boy came back after a few minutes. Fuu looked him over and decided he did know to take care of his needs and wasn't simply lying to please him or avoid possible punishment. 'Well, he is probably not even aware of the concept of deception yet.'
"Now, the most important thing you will learn today. From now on, you are Agent 37. I and the other Ninjas who will teach you will call you that, and you must respond. You will think of yourself only as Agent 37. Is that understood?"
"But my name is- OW!"
Fuu made sure to look stern as he held the long, thin stick he had taken from inside his sleeve where it was visible in the boy's line of sight. "You are not allowed to speak that name any more. You will refer to yourself ONLY as Agent 37."
"But- but- my best friend from next door…"
"No! You live here now. Everyone who you will talk to from now on will only call you Agent 37."
The boy shook his head. "No! No! You're mean and lying! My name is- AUGH!" Fuu had smacked him on the other thigh before he could complete the sentence.
"You are to obey my instructions. What are you called?"
The boy held back tears as he rubbed his thighs to soothe the stinging. "Agent 37?"
"Good. Ninja who disobey the rules of their superiors will be punished."
X-X
The Root agent had finally left.
The last few hours were a blur to him. Not because he couldn't recall what had happened, but because, somehow, how he thought of those events had changed.
First, he had been told to hold out his hand, to receive ten lashes for trying to speak his old name. He remembered crying and pleading that it hurt, but the man didn't stop.
Then, he had been told to look at the man and do what he did. The man had done a lot of stretches, none of which he could do properly. Every time, the man had pointed out which part of his body was in the worst position, with a sharp smack of the part in question.
After hours of trying and getting hit, accumulating bruises on bruises, they had moved on. Every time he cried, he got hit more, but he couldn't stop crying. Everything hurt and he had been so scared.
The man had looked at him as he huddled on the floor. "Agent 37, you have done well. Learn to control your tears. Remember that this pain is because you were a bad boy and failed to obey me. I will hit you less if you cry out less. Understood?"
He remembered nodding his head, even as he continued bawling. Then, the scary man from before had come with more smelly goop. He ate everything without complaint, somehow finally stopping his crying as he finished.
Then, came the worst part. He had been told to stand. "This is the final part of today's training. All Ninja do something called Techniques which you will learn about later. The most important thing for doing Techniques is to have nimble fingers. Hold out your hands."
He had almost refused before remembering the pain. The man looked at him seriously. "Now, I am going to bend your fingers as much as they can, and then some. It is going to hurt, but you are not being punished. This is merely training to be a good Ninja. All of us do this training. So do your best not to cry too much, alright?"
Then came the pain. Each of his fingers were bent and twisted one by one, then held in that position. It felt like his hands were burning.
He tried, but couldn't hold back his screams. He tried to pull his hands away. To his surprise, the man let go. But he looked disappointed. "Agent 37, you have to do this training. Try not to scream. You promised me, remember? If you try to pull away, I'll let you go, but then we'll start again from the beginning."
He was horrified. He moved back into a corner, trying to protect himself, but the man came and pulled him away. He tried to hide his hands behind his back, but he was beaten with the stick and his cries were ignored. It only stopped when he showed his hands.
The bending pain was the worst. It burned him, more and more. He gave up two more times and was forced to start again.
The next time, something happened. He had screwed his eyes shut and was biting his lips hard to avoid crying out and suddenly, his head was filled with warm whiteness.
He didn't know how long that lasted, but when he came out of that whiteness, he was different. He understood. Death. Abduction. Desensitisation training. Ninja. Chakra. Root. Words he didn't know where he knew them from, but knew all the same.
The most important realisation was that he now knew what he had to do to survive in this place.
X-X
He was given his next meal and then told to sleep. He wasn't told, but he knew that his training would continue soon after he woke up.
He lay on the bed, drew the thin, coarse sheet over himself and thought. He was different now. These people were not his friends. Not his allies. But they weren't his enemies yet. They wanted to teach him things. They had a use for him, for now. He understood a lot, but one thing he didn't understand was chakra. Wherever his knowledge came from, chakra somehow didn't exist there. It was a concept which was now his reality. It would be his greatest weapon, capable of anything and everything.
Somehow, he knew things about himself he didn't fully understand before. His parents were dead. Now he knew what that truly meant. There was no one to save him from this place. He would have to do it himself. Though he had gained a lot, he had also lost a lot. He didn't remember his parents' faces properly. Couldn't recall what they did, their names. He only remembered them as Mummy and Daddy. The worst thing, though, was that he didn't remember the name they gave him anymore. He was, truly, only Agent 37 now.
X-X
Danzo addressed his agent as they made their way to Unit 37. "Fuu, describe Agent 37's mental break."
"It occurred during the fourth iteration of finger dexterity training. Agent 37 failed at concealing his pain and attempted to disengage three times. During the fourth attempt, I sensed him retreating into his own mind to escape. A few seconds later, there was a mental break. Immediately, all verbal expressions of pain stopped and he also stopped trying to pull away."
"Did you read his mind to understand the new state?"
"Yes, Lord Danzo. Previously, I had stated that the pain during this training was not a punishment, but a necessity towards Technique training. Before the break, he could not accept that and only attempted to mentally flee. Afterwards, I sensed that he was successfully internalising that knowledge. Thereafter, his efforts were focused towards stoically bearing the training. This mentality is expected after weeks or maybe months of desensitisation, but apparently, the mental break has helped him make the jump early."
"It seems to be a sudden increase in mental maturity, indeed. What about his loyalty?"
"Before the break, his thoughts towards me and this situation were mostly fear and bewilderment. Afterwards, he seemed to think of me as more of a trainer. I did not detect any particular loyalty, but neither was there any thoughts of escape. Not much can be gleaned from this superficial usage of the Mind Scan, but his thought process was geared towards understanding and some internal justification. I predict that he will develop obedience naturally. Loyalty should soon follow with the right positive reinforcement."
"Hmmm. Agent 37 seems to be a very promising candidate. What about Agent 33?"
"Her responses were as expected. She stopped using her name after a few beatings. She continued calling out for her parents and elder sister but she didn't use any names. Further training should push those memories out of conscious recall soon. She failed to complete finger dexterity training, so, after ten failures, I stopped repeating earlier steps and successfully finished two rounds of adaptation. Agent 33 continued showing significant distress but quieted down after the training was completed."
"The others?"
"Their responses were substandard even compared to Agent 33 and could not contain their responses until sleep. Further training is expected to make up for their lack of progress."
"Then I have decided. Erase the training from Agent 32, 34, 35 and 36's minds and transfer them to Sub-level 1. Have Agent 33 moved next to 37 after making sure she is asleep. I will meet her immediately after this."
Danzo was in thought as Agent Fuu signalled his orders to the assigned observers. 'That report from T and I submitted last month detailing the failed interrogation on a captured Mist High Ninja was interesting. The analysis speculated that a lack of emotional triggers allowed the Kunoichi to resist all forms of interrogation, including Mind Scan, to such an extent that we could extract almost nothing useful beyond her graduation ceremony. It suggests some intriguing training methods.'
'Hiruzen foolishly refused to test those ideas, but now there is a chance to use that knowledge to strengthen the roots of Konoha. Just as promised, four children will be delivered into Hiruzen's custody. Meanwhile, Agent 33 or, more likely, 37 will provide working proof of my ideas in due time.'
X-X
Agent 37 quickly roused himself from his slumber. He couldn't tell exactly why, except for a feeling that darkness was creeping up to his door.
His instincts were vindicated when his trainer returned, along with a Ninja with extensive bandages on his face and one arm. Somehow, the overall impression he gave was far from weak.
Danzo watched as Agent 37 quickly stood at attention as he entered the room. He kept his eyes on Agent Fuu and did not attempt to speak. 'He is learning quickly, picking up unconscious cues. I will have to see if he shows any potential as a Sensor.'
"Agent 37, welcome to your new home."
"Okay."
Danzo allowed himself to show some anger. "You will always address me as Lord Danzo. All future disrespect will be punished harshly."
"Sorry, Lord Danzo. I won't do it again."
Danzo nodded imperiously. "This is Agent Fuu. He will be responsible for any one on one training that is necessary. He will now take you to meet your fellow Agents and begin learning your letters and from there, all knowledge necessary to faithfully serve as an Agent of Konoha."
The boy nodded his head. "Can I ask something, Lord Danzo?"
"You may."
"I thought people went to school or something to become Ninja? Father said something about an Academy, I remember…" He quickly trailed off as Agent Fuu approached.
"Agent 37, there is to be no mention of your former situation in any respect."
The boy's eyes widened as Fuu brought out his stick. "But- you only told me not to use my- I mean, that name!"
Agent Fuu slowly walked behind the boy. As he turned to look, Danzo issued a sharp command. "Stay still and keep facing me, Agent 37."
The boy froze. He didn't say anything but let out a cry as the first lash landed on his back.
"Why are you being punished, Agent 37?" Three more lashes landed in this duration. Though the boy screwed his eyes shut, he did not cry out. Danzo decided to allow him his one weakness, this time.
"I didn't follow your rules, Agent Fuu." He remained silent till his punishment ended.
Danzo kept his approval in check as Fuu came to stand next to him. "Pain is only a teacher, Agent 37. None of your teachers will inflict any pain on you that they themselves have not experienced and learned lessons from. In the end, it will only make you a stronger Shinobi. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Lord Danzo."
"To answer your question, you have been chosen for a special, secret branch of Konoha Ninja called Root. Your existence must be kept a secret to protect your fellow agents. You will learn everything required and everything necessary for your growth will be provided in this base."
Agent Fuu walked to the boy's side and laid a hand gently on his shoulder in a calculated show of gentleness.
"Agent Fuu will show you around the base. Try and remember everything he tells you and prepare yourself to serve Konoha well."
"I'll do my best, Lord Danzo."
X-X
He had been provided a calendar to keep track of the days. His personal possessions had expanded to include four changes of clothes, a roll of bandages, a jar of medical grade ointment, and five notebooks to use in class along with both pencils and brushes to practice writing.
There was also a mask and a big grey cloak. Agent Fuu had instructed him to always wear those out of his room unless otherwise instructed. There was something in the masks that made his voice sound different and for some reason, he immediately thought 'seals' though he couldn't say why and didn't understand why that word fit.
Every day now started with what he could only think of as regular classes. There was a room with a blackboard and everything, where he and the other young agents were taught basic reading, writing and mathematics. Of course, the three other students had their masks and cloaks on and the only thing he could see was that two of them were quite bigger than him. The third was only slightly bigger. He concluded that he himself was the youngest agent.
Then the four apparent juniors joined six others for lessons on Konoha's history, its Ninja hierarchy and various classifications and more lessons on the major buildings, clans and other important sections of Konoha. He noticed that any information given about the rest of the world was both rare and carefully tailored. No questions were permitted in these classes and the students were expected to write down as much of what they were hearing as possible. He noted that Root wasn't mentioned in the official hierarchy of Konoha Ninja.
The final set of lessons were the most interesting. Here, they were managed by five teachers, one for every two students. They were not the same five each time and some were present more often than others. Agent 37 thought that these were the agents who were considered fully trained and capable of carrying out missions.
What they learned here was everything to do with Ninja combat. Techniques classified as Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu were described, though they weren't taught any actual techniques. There were also discussions on what chakra was and how it is actually used by Ninja. Most importantly, this class was where they were allowed to ask questions.
He was always paired with Agent 33, who he assumed was the next youngest. Their instructor, too, was almost always Agent Fuu. Only once had an Agent Torune substituted for him.
Agent 33 was interested in what chakra was and how to use it and he did make note of the explanations given but decided not to ask questions about this till they were taught to sense their chakra first. He had that unique feeling that told him what he thought about his chakra was way more important than what other people told him he could and couldn't do.
His questions were in a different direction. "Teacher Fuu, we were taught that Konoha has a lot more civilians than Ninja. Why isn't everyone a Ninja?" He had been instructed to refer to his teachers by that title when there were lessons.
"That is because most people do not have much ability to use chakra consciously."
"But don't they have chakra? Like, the full pathways and pressure points and everything? So why can't they use it properly?"
"The pathway and pressure points serve the main function of producing chakra from food and oxygen and regulating it through all the organs and every part of the body that uses it to keep a person healthy and alive. It is true that everyone can do this, civilian or ninja."
"But, the main difference between civilians and ninja is that the latter can actually interact with other chakra. Their system is more active to chakra stimulus and the basic test for this is that if you push chakra into a ninja's pathways, it is naturally diverted to the few active pressure points, mainly in the hands and feet, and expelled to maintain the balance inside the body."
Agent 33 piped up. "So what happens when you push chakra into a civilian?"
"They are incapable of expelling it, so their body compensates by producing less chakra until the excess is used by their body."
He had to ask. "So, Teacher Fuu, how do you know that we can do it? I mean, I can't sense my chakra yet."
"Do you remember the finger dexterity exercises?" He saw Agent 33 flinch in his peripheral vision. He didn't really have an involuntary reaction to memories of pain anymore.
Agent Fuu looked disapprovingly at Agent 33 for a few seconds before continuing his explanation. "During those exercises, I also channelled chakra to your hands and noted that your pathways naturally expelled them. In fact, the rate of expulsion has more than doubled for both of you. More training will make it easier for you to perform techniques, up to a point."
"Understood, Teacher Fuu." He wasn't going to pass up a chance to seem more integrated to this barbaric cult, after all. Trust is a key requirement before successful betrayal is possible.
After this class, which he privately thought of as Ninja theory, he was given the third meal of the day. Meals were now taken at a common mess hall, though everyone was still masked and cloaked and there was no conversation. The first two, given after each class, was usually some sort of porridge with a ration bar also given sometimes. He saw the senior agents and adopted their technique of breaking the bar apart and mixing it with the porridge to make it easier to eat. 'My first real Ninja Technique' he thought to himself, finding it funny enough that he had to take care not to laugh.
The third meal wasn't the last, but it was mostly fruits and other light fare that he had learned gave a lot of instant use of energy for physical exertion and chakra production. This was very much intentional.
The final 'class' of the day was two on one training with Teacher Fuu and Agent 33. More stretches, more finger training and a lot of running in place and hanging from a bar and other activities collectively called Endurance Training. These sessions inevitably ended with bruises, sweat and sometimes micro-torn muscles and ligaments. Agent 33 also contributed extra with her screams and loud crying, though she was starting to do it less after watching him.
Then, the two were rewarded for their turmoil with the final meal of the day. A proper one consisting of actual rice, fish or meat, eggs and vegetables. There was even barley tea.
Agent 37 knew that Agent 33 looked forward to dinner every day and was happy to relish it. However, he knew this was just more indoctrination. Though he made sure to outwardly show eagerness, he did not feel excited. The first time the agents gathered to eat, there was a surprise when he realised that there was some kind of Mass Illusion Technique in the hall that made sure no faces could be seen even with the mask removed. The mask appeared to still be worn and the food just passed through.
He made sure to show the right facial expressions nonetheless. It could be possible that the whole setup was some combination of Genjutsu and seals that allowed exceptions to be keyed in.
Then finally, after six days of this routine, Agent 37 was given a day of rest.
X-X
His instructions for the free day was a schedule of light stretches and lots of rest. He was also given books to read to bring up his general knowledge. A copy of the Shinobi Code of Conduct was particularly important, with all ten trainee Agents working on memorising them as soon as possible. He definitely had a feeling that the book was tailored for specific root indoctrination.
As he sat on the floor with a book about important areas of the Elemental Nations on his lap, he thought about his short and long term goals.
After some deliberation, he had decided not to completely hide his intelligence. He would note the general levels of his peers and show something more. He didn't think there were any child prodigies and he wouldn't have to go all out.
He had also decided that none of the others had his sort of advantage. From his observations, not even the six senior trainees seemed to pick things up as fast as he did. They learned things fast, but most of it was simple concepts and rote memorisation and they didn't seem to do much analysis or look for possible connections based on other knowledge. It saddened him to know that the rest were actual kids put through this hell, while he was something more.
He had tried meditating to try and sense his chakra, but though he felt myriad sensations beneath his steady pulse, he couldn't figure out which of them were relevant to his pathways. It looked like he would just have to wait to be taught. 'I hope figuring things out on my own is viable later.'
His long term goal, of course, was to escape from this confined existence. There was a whole world out there. He would become strong enough to make his existence absolute.
X-X
