Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 27: Cursed

He walked her through the many corridors that the Foundation had, but that no one knew about. Kakashi had told her many times about how intricate the design of the structure was, but she didn't realize how dark and difficult to navigate it would be. She didn't really keep track of the way she had gone through. Her mind was preoccupied by other issues. On one hand, she was worried about Sasuke and his sudden decision to leave the village. On the other hand, she was worried about the 5 shinobis that had gone off after Sasuke. Although she didn't know what kind of danger awaited them nor if there was going to be some kind of danger, she felt very uneasy about the whole situation. It was also the first time they had gone off on a mission without a jounin supervising them. If she had a third hand, she was also uneasy about how things were left off between her and Neji. It seemed that their friendship, at least in her mind, came to an end as he left for the mission and she left for hers. It felt like that connection that they had built over the years got stretched out to the point of breakage. Her heart broke a little at that thought. It was always very hard for her to bond with others.

"And here is where we gather to meet Danzo-sama." the ANBU told her as they got to a large room under the eyes of hundreds of others.

She gave him a nod of acknowledgement before going back to thinking about the others once again. The ANBU didn't seem to care much about her lack of interest in him. If he did, he didn't show much on his face. Despite her mind wandering off constantly, she still noticed that none of them really showed much emotions on their faces. She could tell and hear that people talked about her as she joined the crowd, but their faces just remained passive.

"He's here." the ANBU whispered into her ear.

"We have a newcomer. I hope she will feel welcomed. You two will become a team." Danzo said as he pointed to Yuki and the ANBU that had been guiding her. "Teach her well."

"Yes, Danzo-sama."

Yuki smirked and glared at Danzo who was standing on a higher ground than all of them. He noticed her piercing look and whispered into one of the masked ANBU by his side. Along with another, that masked ANBU walked towards Yuki and her now teammate.

"Come with us. Danzo-sama wishes to speak with you privately."

They then turned to Yuki's partner and gave him a nod. He then gently pushed Yuki in the back to make her get going. She didn't resist. She simply walked with them. Her guards were, however, up. It didn't seem like they were going to harm her at moment, seeing how Danzo announced her presence among the rest of them. However, being escorted in such manners was never necessarily a good sign. They lead her into this dark room where only two wooden chairs and a table were present. Danzo was sitting in one of them. He waved at Yuki, signalling for her to come join him.

"You must be so sad about your adopter grandfather's passing." he said, trying to be compassionate.

Yuki took a seat. The only light came from this tiny hole, or rather crack, in the ceiling. It was shining on Danzo's face in an eerie manner that gave Yuki goosebumps. The others were still present in the room, but she couldn't see where they were standing.

"The Root is a place where the lost souls find home. They are among others who do not know where to go either. I give them the opportunity to be more than what they would've been. Child, I feel like you are lost."

She remained silent. She didn't think she was lost. Actually the passing of the Third helped her understand the concept of home even more so than before. Danzo was wrong. She might have lost a family member, but she didn't lose herself. She found home in the village and the people she encountered along the way.

"You are one of us now. I'll take you under my wing, train you, teach you... I'll make you greater than what the Third has made of you. I see such great potential, yet none of it has been put to good use... The Third always wasted such great talent for the sake of happiness and mercy."

"Don't you speak of him like he was a disillusioned old man. If anything, he saw things that we couldn't see or that we decided not to disregard."

"Here, we do not lose our temper."

"I'm not one of you."

Yuki stood up. Two hands then pushed her back down onto the chair and slammed her against the table. She tried to fight back, but she was overpowered by them. Danzo remained calm through it all. His face was stone cold. She tried to weave a sign to teleport herself in an open area where she could move, but whoever was holding her down stopped her from doing so.

"You don't have a choice."

"I always have the choice."

"Perhaps... but only if that choice is death." said Danzo with a smile.

Yuki could feel chills down her spine. She witnessed countless of killing, gory scenes and yet, his simple smile was enough to make her fearful.

"Why don't you open your mouth now?"

Yuki shook her head and clenched her teeth together. She feared what was going to come next. Before she could think of what to do next, someone grabbed onto her face and tried to get her jaw to loosen. Despite fighting back, he eventually succeeded. She looked up and, as his face came to light, she could see that it was her teammate. He put his hand in her mouth and pulled out her tongue.

"I told you, you will become one of us whether you like it or not." said Danzo.

As he finished those words, she felt a burning sensation on her tongue. To be exact, it felt like hot needles were going through her tongue in a specific pattern. The few seconds that she felt the pain felt like hours. As soon as it ended, her teammate let go and disappeared back into the dark shadows once again. The hands that held her down also let go of her. She was coughing from the pain and dryness that ran through her throat.

"I know Tsunade wouldn't have sent you here without ulterior motives. Let her know, when you see her next, that the Root in an independent organization and she has no affairs in it. Say anymore, I can ensure you that you've chosen your death."

Yuki kicked the table towards him. He didn't even move. One of the masked ANBU blocked it and sent it back towards Yuki. She broke it in anger as it flew to her face. Danzo, somehow, appeared right in front of her and grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground:

"I'll forgive you this once. I'll take it as you are not in your right mind now. You'll learn not to disobey. You'll learn to respect my person, my orders... There will be no second reminder."

Yuki was brought to a house in the middle of the forest where most of Root always trained at. It was always off access to everybody else in the village. Her teammate was the one to bring her there. They were silent during the whole entire way there. Yuki's mouth still felt dry from whatever that had happened in the dark room. She didn't want to ask her partner what it was as she felt he might not be willing or able to answer it. She would rather check it out herself once she settled into the new place. The house was simple. The things that were available were very minimal. There were two beds in two separate rooms, a table with two chairs, a small kitchen with only a sink, but no oven, a few shelves and a tiny bathroom in the back.

"Someone's staying here with me?" she asked him.

"This is my place. I grew up here with my brother." he answered as he took off his shoes and walked into the kitchen.

He grabbed an empty glass and filled in up with water from the sink. He then gave the glass to Yuki. She gratefully accepted it. She looked into the glass and looked at her reflection in it. One side of her cheek was red from being slammed onto the table. She opened her mouth and looked at her tongue. There was a black pattern on it.

"It's a cursed seal. It's to prevent you from speaking about Danzo-sama or the Root to anybody outside of the organization." he told her.

"That's disgusting." said Yuki as she took a sip of water.

"It is mostly to protect information about the village and its functions in case we get captured during a mission."

"In my case, it's to prevent the village in knowing what goes on within itself."

"It's for the best."

Yuki decided to ignore that comment. She looked around the house. It was very clean despite it being all made of wood.

"So, you grew up here with your brother, you said? Where is he now?"

"He died."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Yuki said as she turned around to look at her teammate's face. It was expressionless. He wasn't sad at the thought of having lost his brother. "Were you close?"

"We did everything together. We trained together and then..."

"You weren't blood brothers?"

"No, we just grew up together. We were brought up by Danzo-sama as we were both orphans."

"And then..."

"He just died."

"Do you miss him?"

"Miss him?" he asked her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean do you miss him?" she said as she thought it was obvious what she was asking. It was then that she realized what he meant when he said that his brother died. She was aware that the Root had ruthless methods of training their shinobis, but to be asked to kill...

"I remember reading about the word miss. It's about noticing one's absence, isn't it? What was it again? Yes, it is noticing the loss of something or someone in your heart and mind."

"Are you reciting a dictionary for me, right now?"

"I'm sorry. I don't understand emotions, the heart or feelings very well. I only know that they lead to hate and hate leads to conflict and conflict brings war. Suppressing them allow for conflict to come an end when we get involved. Therefore, we prevent war."

"Have you been brainwashed?"

"No. It is the rule we abide to in order to prevent violence."

"It's a violence against self to prevent emotions from being felt."

"I've read about you." he then said. "I've heard of your success as an ANBU when you were younger. You were, how do they describe that again... ah yes... you were quite cold from my understanding."

"I didn't know better and that's why I am telling you that it is wrong to live that way."

"Life is only about mission. You either succeed at your mission or fail. Obviously, when you didn't emotions, you did very well in life."

"That's not what life is all about."

"That's what I know of life."

"That's a cursed life."

"We are cursed, after all." he said pointing at his tongue. "You do understand after all."

He smiled, eyes still unchanged and emotionless. Yuki only really understood then how fearful the Root was. They were killing machines who didn't care about themselves. They just had missions in mind. They didn't know what's right and what's wrong. They didn't care. As long as Danzo said that it will bring good, they would execute. He wasn't wrong. The lack of empathy really allowed for better soldiers. They were nothing, but pawns. They would never lead. They would never be humans. They were just machines.

End of Chapter 27

Hope you enjoyed!

xox

Krystal