When I regained consciousness, I decided quickly that not opening my eyes would be the smart move. That was why I kept my eyes closed, but I reached out with my other senses, all the while keeping my chakra flow steady – a tedious task, but I tried to succeed. It didn't take long for me to realize my limbs were tied to the chair I was sitting on and that there were others in the room as well. Most likely, they were all watching me.
"You're finally awake, I see." my entire body became rigid. That voice… Why him?! Why did it have to be him?! "Nara Shikanai."
Shimura Danzo, the darkness of the Konoha shinobi system, the man who was known for his viciousness, the man who advised the Hokage, was talking to me. I knew about the man from my past life and my current life. I knew that he had a secret shinobi organization loyal only just to him, he was ruthless in politics, tactics, training his own men, he was… Everything I was afraid of.
I remembered the man from my younger days when my brother and I were tested by fighting an ANBU guard. Danzo's presence had been a lingering thought ever since then. Somewhere it was like I knew like I felt him watching me and there were moments where I would be paranoid, but those were deeply buried in my mind. I have never even fathomed the thought that he would capture me. Why would he? I was nothing special – except the whole reborn stuff, but he couldn't have known about that! Or was there actually a chance that he knew?
I opened my eyes, squinting slightly at the dim light in the room. He was sitting in front of me, behind a little desk, his features shadowed and illuminated by the light. He was really scary with all those wrinkles.
"My name is Shimura Danzo, I believe we've met," he spoke like he didn't mean harm, but I was slowly panicking, breathing a little bit faster than usual. "You might want to know why you are here." he began explaining, realizing I was too frozen to form words with my slightly trembling mouth. "I've heard how a genius of a child you are." of course he heard! He watched me attack Tiger when I was little! "I've heard about your mission against a certain jonin." I cursed inside of my head, of course, that mission was going to get me killed! "I've heard about your win at the exams." he sounded like he actually was in fact proud "I talked with Hiruzen and we agreed that you should be trained by me for the month." Wait, what?
"What?" I blurted out, forgetting my entire fear from moments ago and replacing it with literal shock.
"That is your Hokage's wish after all," he told me matter-of-factly.
I lowered my head. The Hokage wanted me to be trained by the most devious man in the Konoha shinobi system. That damned old Sarutobi believed so blindly in Danzo… It made me wonder just how bad of a leader he was. I had my own disagreements about the man, but he was giving me willingly to the guy who would do anything to get power. He was giving me to the wolves. And I had no choice, but to obey.
A kunoichi of the Leaf… If my Hokage wanted me to do something I would have no choice, but to be compliant. After all, I was only a tool… A confused child molded into a soldier…
"Alright," I said and I felt my hands and feet get freed from the binding, Danzo's agents cut the ropes.
The ropes fell and I stayed put, face lowered in defeat. I had no choice, I had actually no way of escaping. If I was going to bolt, it would mean I had chosen to disobey an order from my superior, I would be stripped of my rank. My family would be shamed, I would become nobody.
I had to be Danzo's little soldier because that was my order. I was never going to be the same ever again. My fate was decided by some elders and I had no choice whatsoever. Just like when I was little… I have never wanted to be a kunoichi. But nobody had asked me if I wanted to be one…
What about my family? Did they know where I was? Probably not. Father was always so collected, but he would throw a fit. Mother was always so firm, but she would cry. Shikamaru was always so calm, but he would be tactless. Would they miss me? Probably. I wanted to apologize to them. They would lose me and that would pain them, I didn't want them to feel pain.
The desk was removed and Danzo came closer, he said something about secrets that I might find out and I should not talk about them, stuff like that, so he has to give me a seal in order to be sure I'd shut my mouth if anyone would try to get them from me. Everything was so fuzzy like I was living something unreal. Like everything was just a fragment of my imagination, some kind of bad dream.
I didn't really care anymore, after all, I had no choice.
I opened my mouth as he formed a series of hand seals, he reached into my mouth, took my tongue, and pressed his thumbs on it. It burned badly and a lone tear fell from my eyes, marking my great loss…
"You will refer to me as Danzo-sama and you will obey me," he said when he finished.
"Yes, Danzo-sama," I replied, not looking up, but I could practically feel his evil smirk and dominant gaze on me.
My fate was sealed forever.
I was only a tool to be used…
…a confused child molded into a soldier…
Closing my eyes, I could practically hear Kakashi talking to me in a concerned tone – 'You sounded like an ANBU should be. That's a dark path, Shikanai.'
This chapter is shorter, but I feel like it's worth much more than the word count. I loved writing this chapter, I really wanted to show how Shikanai was having an internal conflict and how she just had to give in. Whelp, we have her finally end up in Danzo's hands, and in time we'll see how things will affect her.
I don't own Naruto.
When I wrote this chapter I noted down that I listened (on repeat) to Salvatore Lo Presti's Animals Phone Home music, you can find it on youtube, and I think it suits the chapter. It helped me write the chapter and while rereading it with the music in the background, it hit differently.
Other than that, I wanted to thank you for all the support, I'm still amazed at how many people are reading this story and how many of them like it, it's something truly amazing and unbelievable, so thank you very much!
Hope you like it, have a nice read and take care!
