Kakashi hobbled into the village exhausted. He slumped against the wall of the nearest building and held up a torn piece of fabric. He thought about how the masked man got away.

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His Raikiri blasted the trunk of the tree into a shower of splinters. Yet there was no blood, no sinew nothing to indicate a body.

"You missed ANBU-san," A highly distorted voice, due north north west.

Another Raikiri burst to life on his arm as he shunshined towards the voice.

Another tree falls.

"You missed again ANBU-san."

Kakashi freezes as he feels cold steel against his throat.

"I could gut you like a fish ANBU-san. The only thing that is stopping me is my compassionate nature." The masked man joked.

Kakashi's eyes darted around looking for something to get him away from this madman.

"Don't worry ANBU-san, you aren't even talking to the real me." With that Kakashi flared his chakra to perform a substitution. The world shattered like glass.

Kakashi hit his knees breathing heavily. He looked around. Only one tree was destroyed, with a strip of cloth in the splinters of the trunk.

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Kakashi slowly climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Enter!" The voice called within.

He entered and was told to report.

"Hokage-sama, Dog reporting in. The target.. escaped. He went toward Iwa until twelve miles to the border. Then we slanted west. It was around a mile after this that I caught up. He…He caught me in a genjutsu after dodging my Raikiri, and I have no idea how he did it." Kakashi slumped on the couch under the window panting.

"Threat ranking?" The elderly Kage asked.

"S rank easily. He was fast enough and capable enough to keep me from killing him. He was also aware of what side my sharingan was in the genjustu. He positioned the kunai so I couldn't get a reflection back to even see the illusion. Also from the way he jumped, he was injured either recently, or significantly. He favors his left side when tree hopping."

"That isn't enough for a bingo book entry. We will have to put an unofficial eye out then. Dog, dismissed, you are to stay off duty pending evaluation. No arguments." Sarutobi added as he saw his subordinate about to protest. "Dismissed."

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The Kyuubi howled as he tore his arm from the chains, leaving his massive paw around Viscrag. The stump of the great limb slowly bubbled before the beginnings of a paw started to regrow.

"Hehehe, we knew you felt pain. Even the great Kyuubi-sama feels pain. If you feel pain, you know what we are. You know we are the all, and the one. We belong together…" Viscrag giggled.

"You are nothing but a beast. A feral animal that is difficult to put down. But I will. I will erase your existence and dine on your souls shade. And I will love it." The Kyuubi settled down and shut its eyes.

"We will live… we will be victorious… this is our world… and we will burn it…" Viscrag's voice slowly faded away as he fell into a deep sealed sleep.

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2 years later

Danzo walked through his underground compound. The clenched hand on his cane the only sign of his agitation to the outside world. He had just returned from a meeting with Hiruzen and once again, he proved how weak he truly was. 'He had all the information to create what was in essence jinchuuriki for nothing. Konoha needed that strength. Yet still his proposal was denied for being "too extreme". Extreme was what was needed! But fine, if Hiruzen won't do what is necessary then I shall.'

Danzo stopped before a wooden door with the number one painted on it. It opened as soon has he tapped it once with his cane.

"Danzo-sama. How may I serve?" An aged shinobi sat at a shabby desk. His brown hair was streaked with gray and his face had many wrinkles. Yet his body was still well muscled and his hand was steady as he continued his writing.

"Ezo, I want facility C upgraded to S-rank security. All faculty there are instructed to kill on sight should a breach occur. Gather any five of the lower seventy percent of recruits. They must have large reserves, and have emotions still. It's time to begin operation Shadow Force."

"My lord, you are aware that those things are basically immortal correct? In order to kill one it requires a heart piercing attack, and each one is as fast as any jonin."

"That is why you will be stationed there full time. Your only requirement is to ensure that it is both a success and that any failures are terminated before they become a threat. Understood?"

"Yes Danzo-sama."

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3 years later

Danzo stared out a window surrounded by concrete. He stared down into a pit whose walls were lined with fuinjutsu script. This was it, the culmination of years of hard work. Finally, after 55 failures he would finally have his weapon. Konoha would finally have its strength. He nodded towards the Root agent at the bottom of the pit to begin.

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The Boy in the Pit

The young boy was maybe ten. He honestly didn't remember his age. It's hard to remember a number when you are either always hungry or always cold. He did know that whatever these people were doing to him was weird and that he didn't like it. He couldn't tell them that of course, they put a rag in his mouth. At least that was clean. He thought so anyway.

The guy in front of him started doing weird finger combinations. He thinks one of the other orphan boys called them hand signs. But what is the pretty lights all around him? Is this some sort of weird ninja thing? What is going on. Wait, they are getting closer. They are so warm. They feel so good against his skin, wait what ow. Why why are they being pushed inside me. OW please stop, please please stop.
I am sorry child.. the humans are cruel creatures. They deserve to die.
'Please just make it stop. It hurts so much. It burns. My chest.. my arms. My legs. I cant feel my fingers. Oh Kami please..'
Shhhh.. soon it will be over. We promise. Soon Pain wont exist anymore..
'No pain? No more hunger? What would that be like I wonder. No, you are causing me pain. You don't belong here. '
Of course we don't belong here! WE AREN'T MEANT TO BE HERE! THESE HUMANS HAVE BROUGHT US FORTH TO CAUSE YOU PAIN. You don't matter to them!
'No, that's not right, the old man that came to me said he would take care of me. That I would matter. I matter to someone!'
HE IS LAUGHING AT YOU. Laughing as you cry in agony from his agents forcing us inside you. WE DON'T DESERVE THIS. Give in to us. We will ease all your pain, all of your suffering. We will make you matter.
The pain grew, and grew. The young boy coughed up blood before finally starting to laugh.
'I accept'

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Danzo

The multicolored lights slowly eased into the boy over the course of ten minutes. Finally, when all the lights were inside, the boy started to seize up, and foul dark nearly black chakra erupted from him. A storm of the chakra formed hiding him from view. Slowly the storm dissipated, and the boy stood. Now with a lithe build and looking closer to sixteen than ten, the boy tossed back his blood colored hair and started to laugh.

"What is your name child?" Danzo tapped the intercom button before speaking.

"Name? We are Saud. We are many." Saud tilted his head as his maroon eyes flickered toward every living thing in the pit with him.

Danzo notices the eyes easily picking his agents from around the walls of the pit. "Saud, I am Danzo. And you are what I created. You owe your existence to me. In fact, you have a seal. You can never harm me as long as it is on your body. You will obey me."

"Saud doesn't obey. Saud only does what we want. We... we want FREEDOM!" At that cry, Saud drops down into a crouch and catches the two kunai that were headed for his temples. Using those kunai he slashes the throats of another two agents that come from above. Using their bodies as platforms, he jumps toward a group of six operatives, each going through handsigns. Before they can finish them, Saud is in their midst, slashing. He kicks the final agent of that group into a wall as hard as he can. He laughs as the man chest caves in from the pressure. He laughs harder as the bodies of the rest of the group fall in a shower of blood.

"Ezo! Eliminate the threat!" Danzo barks to the shadowed corner behind him.

Ezo shunshins into the pit, and tenses. The only thing alive in the pit other than himself is Saud. In less than two seconds he had slaughtered the twelve shinobi in the pit with him. Of course each was barely Chunin level, but the losses were substantial. Ezo eases the tanto from his back and shoots forward.

Saud laughs at the blood that drips from his stolen kunai. That is when he feels it. The air changing, a slight pressure increase, mid-back right above his- he darts to the left but isn't fast enough to dodge the piercing stab through his lung. "Hehehe you missed Saud's black heart. So sad. We will enjoy killing you." Saud snaps his elbow back but before it makes contact the sword and its owner are gone.

"Ohh you are fast. We like the chase." Saud blocks a slash with one kunai effortlessly holding Ezo back with a single arm. "You aren't very strong though. We hate weaklings." Saud disappears, and reappears on the windowsill that shows Danzo through the glass. Ezo's headless torso hits the ground as Saud gleefully presses the masked head against the glass, staring into Danzo's eye.

"See we want freedom, we get freedom. We can't Kill you. We know that. We feel it. But we know.. oh we know the limits. You will die because of this. Saud promises." With that final warning, Saud slams the head through the glass and disappears, his echoing laughter ringing in Danzo's ears.

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