~10~

Danzo exercised every means possible to hide the reason why the orphanage changed its policy. No one had ever escaped Root's training grounds until a 12-year old managed to slip through with a self-developed jutsu. He ran back to the orphanage he vaguely remembered coming from and attempted to tell of the harsh conditions inside the Foundation. But he went straight into paralysis as soon as he opened his mouth causing a great commotion within the facility.

Danzo had to come and meet with the administrators himself to recover the boy. The officials refused to hand him over. Danzo then explained that the boy had requested leave from Root that day to visit the orphanage. It was unfortunate, he said, that he had met with such accident. He would then do what he could to help find out what medical condition he had that caused the paralysis and possibly treat him. With that, the orphanage granted Danzo permission to retrieve the boy and take him back to Root for observation.

Under Danzo's control, the cursed seal placed on his tongue was removed. *This seal was placed on every shinobi in Root from the time they are taken in so that they will be prevented from ever speaking of Danzo and Root's secret activities. The seal would only disappear at the time of Danzo's death^ or if it was removed by Danzo himself.

Danzo took the boy to Konoha hospital later expressing deep regret to the orphanage administrators that he could not do anything to help treat him. The boy remained comatose with no explanation from resident doctors other than natural genetic malfunction. He never recovered. With the cursed seal gone, there was no evidence of foul-play.

The incident even merited some advantage for Danzo-Root had not had a runaway since. But the orphanage officials were not happy. In truth, they could not identify who the boy was. Most of their wards chosen by Root's recruitment committee were only 5 or 6 years of age at the time. The boy lying in the hospital was already around 12 or 13 and he went into paralysis even before he said his name.

Past management freely allowed passing off these orphans because Root Foundation had donated much needed financial support to their institution. Aside from this, the village experienced large-scale wars that produced an overwhelming number of parentless children they could not afford to accommodate. The foundation offered to rear these young ones for special ninja training. Those who were in charge then were glad to rid themselves of the extra burden.

Konoha had since experienced a relatively longer period of peace. There was less number of orphans, more time and resources to look after each of them. Even though the incident with the 12-year old was settled quietly, the orphanage finally decided it was time to cut its ties with the mysterious Danzo and his Root Foundation.

Sai was one out of the last batch *taken in at the age of 6, trained to repress his emotions and prepared to die quietly, fearlessly and in anonymity for the protection of the Fire Country.^

~11~

Sai was relieved that he was not pressed hard for failing in his mission. They didn't tell him what the assignment was and he dared not ask. He was merely told that it had taken him a year with ineffective outcome. He couldn't help but be curious as to what kind of mission would take that long but he knew he would get no answers.

He was ordered to keep the room he woke up in as his quarters for an indefinite period of time. That was easy enough; his old room was no bigger except it had a larger window and it wasn't as narrow. But all was well and he was now on his way to another mission. He wondered if it was possible his picture book was in his old room. Never mind, 'a root doesn't own a picture book.'

oOoOoOoOo

It was 8AM on a Tuesday, exactly two weeks after Sai's unceremonious departure. Shizune, Tsunade's assistant was standing beside her boss. Across Tsunade's desk stood Danzo in his usual garb: *A gray robe that concealed his entire right arm and almost entirely covered his white kimono. His walking stick was firmly held with his left hand, his head half covered in white bandage.^ Farther behind near the exit was Hatake Kakashi, Team 7's mentor and celebrated jounin quite well-known throughout the shinobi world.

"Danzo-san", Tsunade began, "would it be possible for Sai to come just once so his former teammates can bid their good-byes?" Tsunade asked trying as best she could to sound cordial despite her thoughts. "I hate his guts."

"Certainly, I will have Sai report to you as soon as he returns from an important mission."

"Thank you."

"Well then, if that is all you wanted to ask, I will take my leave."

As Danzo was about to exit, he stopped by the door. "I'm surprised there seems to be an interest in my subordinate now. Certain people were against his assignment to your team not long ago, if I remember correctly."

Kakashi didn't speak. Tsunade raised an eyebrow. Danzo had his back turned. "Well, you know kids", Tsunade said. "They fight one minute and play together the next."

"I wasn't talking about the children." With that, Danzo left.

"Tsk!" Tsunade clicked while muttering under her breath. "I hate his guts."

She faced Kakashi and said dryly "Well, you heard him. We'll just have to wait for a while."

Kakashi nodded. "There's no telling when that 'important' mission will be over though."

"That's true, but there's no use asking him either. We'll just have to give it some time and follow it up again in a week or so."

"Understood."

Kakashi knew he had to use his influence as a former Anbu to move forward with this problem. "But it's still a long shot," he thought. Even when he was an active Anbu operative, he never crossed paths with anyone from Root. His missions were mostly defensive in nature while theirs were on the offensive, therein lay one of the biggest differences between Root and the rest of the secret operative branch. Then of course, there's the mysterious training that have long been speculated on in whispers even among the regular Anbu unit. Kakashi realized his own Anbu connections might not suffice at all.

Continue to Part 12