Ch2
Hiruzen glanced at Danzou as he watched the other man sit down.
"Report."
Danzou straightened his back, as if he were stretching, before answering.
"Operatives are doing well, as usual. Our numbers are low, as is necessary. Recently, a certain man has been rendered eternally silent for his crimes. But we both know that isn't what you meant, Hiruzen."
The old man chuckled, "Indeed. How is she?"
"Unstable."
Frowning, Hiruzen pressed on, "Explain."
Danzou stood up.
"The emotional desensitization went wrong. Currently, her emotions are locked away. In order to do this, she created a split personality, the mask, the guard, and the defender, all one and the same. It's the one she currently uses, if only because it's the only one that she can use. Inside her are three beings, and one day, they will fight to the death and only one of them will survive. If left untreated, it will be the end of both her and, potentially, Konoha."
Hiruzen glared, "How could you let this happen?!"
Danzou scoffed. "You know that Root is not the place for children to grow up in. You knew that. Yet, despite this, you gave her to me to train. This is of your own doing."
Sighing, Hiruzen rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"You're right. I just hope that we have enough time to fix this."
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Already, Sasuke hated his new teammate.
Aside from the first day that he met Shizu, his new teammate had been non compliant in talking. They wouldn't give so much as a greeting, even to Kakashi. Granted, Shizu pulled their weight, and was arguably stronger than he himself, but they were just so irritating.
Shizu lacked basic understanding of human emotions and interaction. They seemed to be emotionless, too.
Although…
Sasuke recalled the time how Shizu had staggered around, clutching their head and whispering to themselves hurriedly, when Sakura broke her arm during training and had let out a scream of pain. Shizu did not react well to screams of pain, apparently. Or any screams, for that matter.
Yet, somehow, Shizu was stronger than he was.
He hated both the truth and Shizu at the same time.
He couldn't deny that Shizu was useful, both through the first and second exams of the Chuunin Exams, although he wished that Shizu would do more than the bare minimum.
In the second exam, all Shizu did was make sure that they didn't lose their scroll and that nobody in the team had died. It appeared that Shizu didn't care if their teammates were injured so long as Sasuke and Sakura could keep going. Every time Shizu glanced over, it felt like Sasuke was being accused and judged for countless imperfections.
It had really pissed him off when Shizu just stood by and watched Sasuke fight Orochimaru. The silent child was making anger bubble up in him, far faster than it should've. He could even feel it slowly manifesting, almost as if he was gaining power. But at the same time, he kept seeing pictures in his mind, flashbacks to the massacre before imagining the same thing happening to Shizu.
He had won his fight against Yoroi Akado in the prelims, yet he could still feel the accusing gaze, judging his inefficient victory.
So, in return, he decided to judge Shizu's match against Kiba Inuzuka.
Kiba had made a few snarky and crude remarks just before the match started. However, as soon as it started, he was quickly put on the defensive.
He barely ducked in time to avoid a sickle-shaped sword aimed at his neck. Kiba slashed forwards with his claws, trying to cut his strange opponent. Just before his claws could connect with Shizu's torso, the masked child leaned backwards while lowering themselves, so that their knees were barely off the ground and with their back held up an inch off the ground.
One of Shizu's legs shot forwards and caught Kiba in the chin. He could feel the force behind the kick, attempting to throw him off his feet, but instead he backed up and watched as Shizu stood up straight. Waiting, Kiba tried to think of a battle plan.
He himself was a close combat specialist with Jounin-level taijutsu skills, but Shizu seemed to be both far faster and stronger than he was. Plus Shizu had better reflexes. He could tell that Shizu had a large amount of chakra, but couldn't tell how much exactly.
Shizu flashed through a few hand-signs and a wave of white flowed over Shizu quickly, just a split second before they vanished.
What happened after that, Kiba wouldn't ever know. As soon as Shizu flashed white, he knew no more.
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Sasuke watched with great discomfort has he watched Shizu literally cut Kiba to pieces. He knew then and there that if anybody was ever caught in that particular technique, they would never live to see the light of day again. There was just no way to block hundreds upon thousands of attacks from all around you in mere seconds.
Shizu stopped their attack after several seconds with their afterimages slowly vanishing. They flicked their blade towards the ground, flinging the blood off it. Glancing back at the bloody splatters and sliced clothes that used to be Kiba, Shizu put their sword away.
Glancing over, Sasuke looked at the rest of Kiba's teammates, who each had a horrified expression. He noticed the look of pure rage on Yuhi's face.
He could tell that Shizu felt no remorse for what they had done.
Then he questioned if Shizu could feel anything at all.