Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Harry Potter

Posted: Friday, 11 December 2009

Root Academy Division

Chapter 4

•◊ΰ◊•

If anyone were to stumble upon the small room that was locked from the outside, unmonitored and containing a five year-old boy at this moment, they would no doubt be confused as to why said child was not panicking.

The aforementioned child was spreadeagled on his back and it was glaringly obvious that he was exhausted – his limbs were shaking from exertion and his breath came in short gasps as his chest heaved in an effort to take in more air.

But there was a triumphant grin on the child's face.

This child's name was Shimizu Kai.

Almost luminous green eyes slid open, gazing unseeingly up at the ceiling.

Really, it felt like he had just lifted the weight of the world off his chest – he'd finally managed to do what The Scroll said about chakra manipulation which quite literally meant he had avoided the noose that had been tightening since all those weeks ago when he had been kidnapped by shinobi.

He clenched his fist, easily ignoring the small throbbing in his hands.

He had worked obsessively ever since he had suffered his own personal 'burning' – that was the only description he could give to the overwhelming pain that he had forcibly experienced from the release of his chakra – and could now use it with some reliability.

Actually, Kai suspected that the pain he had felt was his blocked-up chakra burning and stretching his coils or 'chakra system' to allow for the sudden increase. When he read one of the scrolls that had been left at the door explaining the delicacy and fragility of the Chakra System had had blanched – basically, there had been a very real possibility that the influx would kill him as even the smallest altering of coils could be potentially debilitating or deadly.

It was an extremely unpleasant discovery, to say the least.

But this had been mostly discarded because he had survived it and the clock was ticking.

He quickly got the hang of fluctuating, condensing and regulating the 'flow' of his chakra to the different areas of his body – he found this part easy as his chakra was naturally fluid and once he found out how it was simple to direct it. The Scroll had said that chakra was 'steady' and when starting out very hard to make it thin out or thicken in areas of the body – apparently it liked to keep everything constant and disliked the instability of being stretched, condensed and redirected consciously. Kai ignored The Scroll – he figured that since it hadn't told him anything about going into his mindscape or organising his mind in order to access his chakra, this part was just added in to confuse him.

The next part was much harder.

The Scroll detailed an exercise for chakra control that it referred to as the 'leaf exercise.' To perform this, the goal was to make a leaf stick to your head by applying a steady amount of chakra to your forehead – reason being that apparently it was easiest to focus chakra there.

Unfortunately there were no leaves in the room, but this was easily solved by ripping off a bit of paper from one of the blank notebooks that had been left in the room to take notes or 'practise writing' on because apparently he had to learn how – he easily avoided the scrolls dedicated to the correct formation of kanji and the other alphabets. After all, he had no need for that.

Taking the paper in one hand, he half-closed his eyes and focused on pulling a small ribbon of chakra to his forehead.

When he felt the cool sensation, he placed the paper over it.

It didn't stick for a second.

It had just fluttered to the floor.

That was the point at which his high from his recent success went down the drain and reality kicked in once more – this was the last thing he had to be able to do with his chakra, and he only had a day or two.

And so began the intense training.

Really, the only reason he stopped to take care of his basic needs were that they distracted him from the task at hand – that and he needed to eat to refill his chakra.

So here he was – hours of continuous practise had finally turned up results.

He had found that you had to get the point of sticking as small as possible – it was about the size of the tip of his smallest finger. The hard bit was keeping up a continuous, steady output because of the sinuous and slippery nature of his chakra.

But he had managed it.

The trick of it got easier and he was now able to do it with the barest of thoughts – just like The Scroll had described.

By his (admittedly bad) estimate of the time that had passed, Kai thought that the shinobi would turn up in about a day.

His head lolled lazily to the side and caught sight of the stack of scrolls that had gathered in one corner of the room.

One other good thing about organising his mind was that he found it ridiculously easy to remember things – it didn't have to be writing; it could be a conversation, the certain smell of something… all he had to do was focus on pulling it up and out of 'storage' and he could see and remember what he needed to do with that particular memory – it was a good day when he discovered that he didn't necessarily have to go into his forest to manipulate his mind.

But back to his success – now that he was (hopefully) not in danger of being 'disposed of' his mind had started to conjure pictures of what 'shinobi training' may entail. Those thoughts put him on edge, so he painfully pushed himself up and looked around the room for anything that might take his mind off what might happen after he was let out of the room.

Kai started pacing, by now completely bored. He caught sight of the small piece of paper he had ripped off for the 'leaf exercise' (even if they provided no bloody leaves) and bent down to pick it up.

He looked at it thoughtfully, and then grinned.

He just might have found something to pass the time and to advance his control of chakra.

•◊ΰ◊•

Since he had no idea of how much time had passed since the beginning of his imprisonment, nor whether he was being watched (although he guessed he wasn't, apart from the second it took for someone to slip in and drop off a meal) he had no idea when someone was supposed to come in and get him out of the cage – he never allowed himself the horrifying notion that he would be confined to such a small space for however long his training took – after all, ninja needed endurance, and he hadn't been given any weapons to practise that with, so it was logical that they would take him somewhere else to train him.

Or at least that was what he kept telling himself.

He had received four scrolls since he had finally been able to do the 'leaf exercise' and none of them were on chakra manipulation – they were all on the 'Shinobi Guidelines' – that was stuff about how shinobi had no feelings and were tools designed to do their jobs – they were Brain Washing tools if he had ever seen them. He read them before promptly locking them away somewhere in the dark door titled 'Shinobi Stuff' in his mind. Well, he didn't actually make the sign, but that's what he called it.

The only thing that stopped him from mentally snapping from the monotonous, claustrophobic surroundings and lack of human company was constantly working – he did the stretches and exercises detailed on the scrolls, he tested his chakra and took up his mind with an adjusted version of the 'leaf exercise' – he just added another piece of paper to a different part of the body once maintaining the previous amount got too easy.

That chakra exercise was really the best thing – chakra manipulation was really hard, not to mention that he didn't have all that much of it when it came down to it, which meant that it required single-minded focus and continued to require an enormous amount of concentration because each time he managed all the leaves simultaneously he just added another.

He was up to six leaves; one on his forehead, two on the back of his hands, one on his stomach and another two stuck to the bottom of his feet. His feet were the absolute hardest place to channel the chakra, and he was happy that it took so much time to raise his ability to manipulate chakra at that many points.

It was an exercise in frustration, but at least it kept him occupied.

Kai couldn't believe that he had misjudged the time so badly, but it was still the morning – maybe today was the day?

•◊ΰ◊•

"Show me what you have learnt."

After so much time, Kai had almost been happy to see the guy – even if it was the robot-man shinobi that had put him in this situation in the first place – and had turned around to see the blank-faced ninja standing behind him, gazing at him steadily. The man didn't say hello; no, just asking about what he was supposedly kidnapped for.

The man had shoved a piece of paper in his hands and forced Kai to write down answers to questions – which Kai grudgingly did, but purposefully only answered enough correctly so that he would pass – the ninja said he had to get half of it right.

The test paper had been ripped from his hands the moment he had finished the last question and now Kai stared in his best impression of 'stupidly' up at the man-drone shinobi, blinking innocently as he did so and pretending to be uncomprehending of what the guy had said. He just stayed on the floor – no need to make it easy for the emotionless bastard, after all.

The shinobi presented a solid expressionless front but allowed his eyes to glitter sadistically.

That got Kai up quick.

The shinobi then told Kai to perform the various exercises, designating the amount that he would have to complete. It left Kai gasping for air, although some of it was put on – he guessed that the shinobi was mostly testing to see what 'potential' he would have, and he wanted to be the worst because they may yet decide that it wasn't worth teaching him – hell, he was able to have a dream even if he acknowledged the impossibility of it.

When they were finished, the shinobi told Kai to jump and touch the ceiling, using chakra to allow it happen.

Kai hadn't actually tried jumping up to the ceiling and was more than a bit nervous. He bent his legs and crossed his fingers where the shinobi couldn't see before condensing a bit of the chakra in his legs.

He jumped and was pleasantly surprised to find himself go much further than he had been able to without the use of chakra.

It wasn't difficult to tap the ceiling and land, and he found he instinctively used a bit of chakra at the bottom of his feet to cushion the landing.

Inside, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The ninja produced a leaf from somewhere and handed it to Kai. "Now, stick that leaf to your forehead."

Kai plucked the leaf from the shinobi's fingers and carefully placed it on his forehead, checking that the output was the same for an actual leaf before releasing it.

He grinned at the stone-faced shinobi and said, "Eh, piece of cake, stone-san."

Kai could have sworn he saw the man twitch, but had to admit that it could have been a trick of the light.

The shinobi did not give any inkling of his emotions as he said simply, "Come."

Kai was relieved to finally escape his prison and happily followed the ghost-man's silent steps out of the small room and down the hallway.

He didn't bother to hide his curiosity as his head swung from side-to-side, searching for signs of other people as they walked. He noticed that they seemed to be underground, judging by the lack of windows. Kai also noticed that the corridors seemed to lead in weird directions, and he was getting twisted around, already unsure of the direction from which he came.

The robot-man was now leading him down a long hall – Kai thought it could be a tunnel – and he had to jog slightly to keep up. Kai noticed that the tunnel was sloping upwards.

They turned a sharp corner and Kai was relieved to see a door.

The shinobi opened it by putting his hand on a certain spot before he pushed it open.

Kai got his first glimpse of sunlight in about a month, and it lifted his spirits slightly – maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he thought it was going to be.

But he wouldn't hold his breath.

They had emerged in a kind of courtyard – there were a few benches to rest on and Kai could see a large grassy field – he would guess that that was where they went to train. He was cheered slightly to see a few kids practising throwing kunai – at least he wouldn't be alone wherever he was.

The shinobi bypassed the training area and led him into the large building that stood in the middle of the cleared out area. Actually, now that he was looking, it looked like this place was in one of Konoha's infamous forests – he could see the massive trees looming just past where the fences were, and the forest was dense and dark.

The stiff shinobi glanced sharply around and signalled over an older boy – Kai guessed that he was about three years older than him and the boy had red hair and brown eyes. The drone-man that had been leading Kai around made a few weird hand gestures – none like the hand signs used for jutsu that had been in one of those scrolls – but the boy nodded seriously and the robot-man disappeared.

Kai shifted uncertainly under the gaze of the taller boy, extremely aware that he was accustomed to being in that terrible cage and seeing that particular shinobi, so now he found learning a new place and rules unnerving. He inwardly scowled – that was probably the reason that they isolated their recruits – they can strip any independence away from them and make them dependant on the people who kidnapped them.

He stopped fidgeting, using those handy mind techniques to pull a veil over his unwanted feelings and relaxed.

The boy's eyes seemed to glint in interest and he introduced himself, "Ohayo, Kai-san. My name is Taiki and I've been assigned to show you around."

Kai was relieved that the boy was nice – he'd been half expecting someone who wouldn't tell him anything. "Ohayo, Taiki-sempai."

The older boy didn't smile, but Kai got the feeling that he was smiling on the inside. It seemed that Taiki had been conditioned to keep his face blank, just like that other shinobi.

Taiki gestured for Kai to follow him, and Kai was close behind as the older boy slid open the door to the complex and motioned for him to go inside.

Kai repressed a shiver – it was pretty cold inside the building compared to the burning day outside. Kai was startled out of his examining of the hall when Taiki asked a question that sounded more like a statement, "I guess no one told you anything about what's happening, huh."

Kai nodded and added flatly, "I don't want to be here."

Taiki grabbed his wrist, forcing Kai to look in his eyes. His smooth voice was in a harsh whisper that contrasted greatly from the edging on congenial tone before, "Gaki, don't say anything like that here. I'll warn you now – there is no way out. There is no hope of getting out and even if you did, they'd hunt you down, torture you and put you back in the program."

Kai flinched back from the fierce scowl that Taiki directed at him, even as his eyes widened in shock.

Taiki was still lowly hissing out a whisper as he said, "This is the warning, kid. You'd do well to heed it. Hell, if you had said that to the wrong person, they would have you strung up from that post in the courtyard as a 'deterrent'." Taiki's hard gaze was levelled at Kai, and he could only nod wordlessly in reply.

A second later, Taiki was a reasonable distance away and continued as if the hissed conversation had never happened. "Well, let me be the first to say 'Welcome to the Root Academy Division.' It's called the RAD for convenience. You could be here for six weeks or four years, considering what type of shinobi they train you to be and how much of a prodigy you are. Remember this though; if you ever get above your station, there are a lot of sadistic bastards here that would delight in knocking you down in the most painful ways imaginable."

Kai grimaced – just the way that Taiki said 'most painful ways imaginable' was enough to give him a good idea of what might happen – or at least to know that he didn't want to know.

Taiki continued as if he hadn't seen the expression, "You'll find out that the currency here is information and your competency in the Shinobi Arts."

Taiki suddenly started moving, leading Kai further into the complex. He started indicating doors as they passed them, starting up an explanation, "That there is the food hall; make sure that you're there on time or you won't eat. That door on the right is the library – there are books there on a lot of helpful subjects, you just have to look for yourself. Across the hall from the library is the indoor training centre – some of the instructors prefer to work inside on certain things."

Taiki walked past those and opened the door at the end of the hall and led Kai into what looked like some kind of communal area – there were a lot of seats scattered around and there was even more shelves of books around the room and it felt almost comfortable. Taiki explained, "Here's the commons; it's good for sitting around and reading when it's too dark to do so outside. Do you see the doors over there in the corner of the room? Well, that's where you sleep. You've got the left door, the girls have the right."

Taiki then turned around and waved Kai back out of the room. The trip back was at a slower pace and Taiki spoke up again. "This complex is separated into three sections. This is the first – Level One – and the students that are on this level have been affectionately dubbed the 'Daisies'. The way that you advance is through a list of rankings – you'll see it pinned up in the food hall. The top three at the end of the week can choose to take a competency test and fight the three lowest ranked in the next level up. How they do on both coupled with the sensei's recommendations determines if they're elevated to the next level."

Kai nodded. That was good information. "Ano, is there anything else I should know?"

Taiki scratched his cheek, "Hai. Your name won't be used while you're still in RAD. They'll call you by numbers – I think you are going to be Shichi (seven). So, you might wanna keep that in mind. Oh, you'll also want to get a head start on languages – all the sensei speak different languages on a monthly basis because it's 'advantageous for shinobi to communicate in ways that the enemy will not understand and it helps with de-coding and coding secret documents' but everyone knows they're just sadists and enjoy fucking with us."

Kai was wide-eyed and said weakly, "Different… languages?"

Taiki's lips twitched upwards and he patted Kai on the back, "Hai. The Bastards. Well, I've got stuff to do. Oh, if you see me again, you better call me Juu (ten) – the sensei use numbers to try to wipe out our humanity but there ain't no way it would work on us, ne?" Taiki grinned slightly before adding, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, ya might wanna get a head start on sign language." And then he disappeared, leaving a shell-shocked Kai alone and confused.

Kai slowly turned around to head into the building, knowing that he couldn't disregard the tip about languages, even if he knew he wouldn't get anywhere fast with it any time soon.

From what Taiki had said – that bit about humanity – Kai half-grinned. He might just have an ally in the RAD, and it was good to know that there was at least one person there who would warn him when he was going to do something outside the rules.

…Or at least he hoped that was what 'Juu' had meant.

After all, the robot-shinobi had ordered Juu to show him around, so this might be some kind of trick on their part – how was he supposed to know?

In that moment, Kai resolved not to say any of the things he wouldn't want known by those shinobi – how was he supposed to know if someone was watching him or not? He knew shinobi were masters of stealth and concealment, so it was quite possible.

He slid open the door to the library and his eyes widened at the sheer amount of books and scrolls that it contained.

Kai sighed.

It seemed his first day at RAD was going to be worse than he thought.

•◊ΰ◊•

Hours later and some kind of loud bell rang out across the compound.

Kai rubbed his eyes wearily – he had practically dug himself into a corner of the library, commandeering a TV to play a lot of video tapes that showed sign language and started on the basics of it. What he really needed was to practise the handsigns – it was simply impossible to do it without hours of practise, but fortunately he thought the he'd be able to identify instructions and such – he decided to thank kami for the day that he had stumbled upon his mindscape and in turn improved his ability to take in information dramatically.

He quickly packed away the scrolls and put everything back as he found it before trailing out of the library and making his way to the mess hall.

He thought nothing of entering, but when he looked up and saw twelve faces glaring at him he started to feel decidedly uncomfortable.

He was able to ignore their gazes and make his way to where a woman was handing out food, carefully keeping one eye on the other students. He was able to notice that there were more in the region of eight to twelve years, but there were a few who were around his age.

He managed to collect his food, although when he turned around he noticed that the others were obviously not allowing him near their tables, even though there were a few seats. He slowly started towards a table that only contained one chair and was practically placed in the exact middle of the room – an extremely vulnerable position, he knew.

He slunk into his seat and wondered idly if this was the welcome afforded every new student as he dug into his meal and muttered a soft "Itadakimasu" more through habit than courtesy.

It seemed that was the signal for the other students to start their meal, but no one was talking, although he could see a few hand movements that were probably part of sign language. Kai grimaced as he realised that he didn't recognise them – yet another effective tactic to upset and gain advantage over your opponent.

He blocked it all out – after all, there was no way that he could understand it anyway, and ate in silence.

It was just about the longest meal of his short life.

He got up and deposited his plate, then started walking out of the hall.

It was not to be a graceful exit, however, as he apparently misjudged the door frame and crashed into it, falling to the ground. In the corner of his eye, he saw a black-haired boy holding his hands on the ram sign and smirking openly at him.

Genjutsu.

Kai didn't allow any of the anger on his face, he merely nodded at the boy and carefully stepped out of the room.

He made the decision to find out how to identify and stop genjutsu then and there – there was no way he'd be a sitting duck.

The laughter from the hall rang behind him and hardened his determination.

Even if he had to learn to be a damn shinobi, he wouldn't allow them the satisfaction.

He wouldn't lose, nor would he give up.

They would get theirs.

Kai wearily trudged back to the library, this time to find out about genjutsu.

•◊ΰ◊•

Well well, the start of Kai's training.

I'll say now that Kai's reluctance to be a shinobi has nothing to do with being part of Danzo's Root – he wouldn't want to be one for the Hokage either; it's something that he has had a… bad experience with, but you'll find that out later.

Will we see Juu again? How will Kai do in training? What kind of training does he have to go through? All questions that will be answered in either the next chapter or in the consequent ones.

I hope you enjoyed this.

Skyflyte12