Pov: Kenzo
"Alright, I have to go train so you eat dinner by yourself, I should be back ter than normal" I tell Naruto who is tired from all the running around we did today.
He nods to me and falls onto his bed, I stretch before leaving my apartment and heading down the streets of Konoha to the cliff wall where Danzo is waiting.
"You missed yesterday" He says.
"Yeah- did you get the note?" I ask.
"I saw it. What changed?" He asks coldly.
"Sorry...?" I reply.
"All reports on you state that your body changes right after you meditate- a coincidence? Not likely" Danzo lowers his gaze.
"Well... I was just meditating so no new changes..." I say.
He sighs and raises his cane before smming it down into the floor.
*Sizzle*
I drop to the floor as the mark on my tongue burns and grips the chakra around it, threating to end my life.
Haaa- Haaa- Haaa-
I take heavy breaths and see past the pain.
"So Oorochimaru reported correct, you are quite used to torture" Danzo mutters.
It sizzles and burns my tongue, nothing like the mana injection, I stare back at him in anger.
"So ferocious. Hold your emotions back, they disgust me- lets change todays training a bit" He clicks his fingers and a root agent pces weights on my arms and legs, so heavy I can just move them, the agent then cuts the webbing in-between my fingers and crushes both my ankles.
"Climb. And that pain wont stop until you do" Danzo orders and walks away... leaving me alone.
This area is usually only booked for twenty minutes so I can see, I need to get as far as possible without falling so I don't bother anyone... I need to go fast as well as passing by the traps.
I crawl to the wall and lift my arm with struggle... this wont bring me strength, this wont grant me better skills in climbing- that's the difference between Danzo and the helper.
I grab one of the stones in the wall and grip, pulling myself upwards- I raise my other arm and grip above.
He measured my strength and found the weight that would drag me down just enough to annoy me... my fingers ache and my ankles dangle my feet.
I am gd I have experience doing bullshit like this, I drag my dangling body up... a few metres take multiple minutes... and thirty minutes ter I feel someone staring at me from afar.
I don't recognise the stare from any of the root or Danzo, I have to put my blindfold on... I grip with my left hand and put my right hand down to my pocket, trembling slowly I bring my blindfold up and pce it on my eyes, than I grip the cliff face again and stabilize myself before letting go and tying up my blindfold slowly.
...
There is an odd stare from time to time, lucky that this is a ninja vilge and this type of training can be seen everywhere... and that my injuries are not visible.
I drag my body up the cliff... the cuts between my fingers threatens to split my hand in multiple pces... the blood drips and I keep on going.
What was the quote? One must imagine Sisyphus happy? As long as I can prove to Danzo that these wounds and weights do not affect me and that I do not care I will be happy.
...
*Scrape*
...
*Drag*
...
*Pull*
...
*Tug*
I hope Gramps decides to randomly start watching...
...
*Scrape*
...
If Danzo isn't there distracting him that is.
...
*thunk!*
A ninja wire trips and the rock I was gripping slips and falls, my body follows and I start to fall... *Catch* a root ninja catches me and pces me upon the fall.
He pces a note in my hand and I raise it to my face.
'No healing till you complete the climb'
Good thing there is a hospital near here, and lucky that I don't have to follow this old guys orders.
I start to crawl away but the root ninja picks me up and walks me over to the cliff face again.
...
*Flicker*
"You don't leave until you do this" Danzo suddenly appears and I look up.
"Then I will stay still and wait for someone to notice me gone" I decre.
"You do that" Danzo replies nonchantly before flickering away again.
...
-midnight-
Stupid! Compulsion! To! Complete! Climb!
I am halfway up and its freezing, every so often I get the urge to use my burst breath but I am sure Danzo is watching and listening... he is certainly in the know about my staring sense considering I couldn't sense the Root that caught me.
Why don't I give Danzo the information he wants? Because it wouldn't be helpful to him or me, especially me due to my now weird blood and heart.
*Flicker*
"What now?" I ask in annoyance as I delicately pce my hand over the ninja wire and attempt to disarm it.
"Are you alright?" I hear a voice that is not Root or Danzo at all, like an adult man who speaks with confidence and calm.
"Just perfect" I reply.
*Flicker*
Someone else flickers next to me.
"Please do not interrupt his training" A robotic Root voice calls out.
So not looking at me causes them to let someone slip by...
"That does not look like training to me- he clearly has too much weight on" The man decres.
"Its not weight training, please refrain from interrupting the training" The Root Ninja says.
*Click*
I accidentally trip the trap and my arm falls with the loose stone, but someone catches my leg and I dangle downwards alongside my jacket and shirt which reveal my horrific torso scars.
"That's... I think he needs to get to a hospital, doesn't matter what training your doing I cannot just ignore this!" The man tells the root ninja and I sigh.
"Just let us train, if you have any compints go shit talk to Danzo Shimura" I tell him and I hear the Root ninja stiffen.
I am pced on the wall and I grip it again.
"Fine. But I will follow up on this" the man says before leaving.
...
I start to climb.
"You... gave away Lord Danzo-sama's name? How" The root ninja asks.
"Using vocal cords, my tongue, lips and a little bit of cheek" I smile at my joke and climb higher.
"This is not a joke. That is specifically prevented with the mark on your tongue, show me it" The root ninja pulls my chin and prys it open, looking at my tongue.
He closes it and lets go.
"Your interrupting my training" I say and rub my jaw before gripping the wall again and ascending.
"The mark is on and untampered. How did you disclose Lord Danzo-sama's name to that ninja" He asks.
I do my best low evil ugh, something like a chuckle that evolves into a heavy ugh.
"Because I can. And I have juicy secrets that you will never find out" I reply and hear the Root ninja flicker away.
Hope that annoys him for a while, how can he know that I ate a truthful heart and was capable of telling the truth no matter what.
Sometimes skills like that do come in handy, I definitely need to start levelling up everything, I will try to stop getting more skills for a while and maybe evolve two more above A-rank if possible.
I climb.
-early next morning-
I sit at the cliff edge and dangle my feet off of it.
*flicker*
"The pain will continue if you do not tell me your secrets" Danzo announces.
"My secret is that I am part dragon... I ate a heart bigger than the vilge once and I have walked on the moon" I reply in a sarcastic tone.
"Very well, the pain will stay until you decide to be truthful" Danzo announces and a Root ninja flickers in to take my weights alongside healing my ankle and hands.
That sizzle along my tongue hurts as it wraps and coils my chakra, my fragile chakra that I have a limited amount of... nothing above a D-rank genjutsu until this stops I guess.
I let out a yawn and cause sparks to form... Danzo doesn't notice and my theory is correct, Chakra and Mana is incompatible- meaning that chakra detection techniques cannot make out Mana as a thing to be detected.
"We will be training-" Danzo begins and I cut him off.
"I wont be training with you ever again, you waste my time and worse- punish me for being a ninja with secrets, you tell me something as important and maybe I will tell you my secret, other than that I don't want to see you" I scold him and stare at him... damnit, he has gotten used to my stare and this blindfold tones it down a lot.
"That is not your decision. You weren't here for training at all- you were here to see if Oorochimaru made you his spy, and I have the final word" Danzo spits out.
"Too bad. If you kill me you admit that your pathetic and cant get a child to talk, so what are you going to threaten me with? Pain? That doesn't work" I stand up and tall.
"How about that brother of yours? Would be a shame for his body to match yours" Danzo decres and I grit my teeth as I seethe with rage.
"Your stare is nothing but that, a stare. What? You thought you could intimidate me? Your anger is useless, chuck it away. Your training will be held at a more private spot tomorrow- come to the bottom of this cliff and I will guide you to your new training grounds" Danzo decres before walking away and I struggle to calm down... threatening my brother!? Oh.. that little- Haaa- I am going to tear his head off.
I pace around and take many breaths, it takes me an hour to stop breathing heavy and stop staring through my blindfold in anger.
I go to the edge of the cliff and climb down to the streets of Konoha, much easier when I have my ankles intact.
My eyes twitch as I keep remembering his mocking voice.
Danzo Shimura.
I need to keep Naruto safe so I will py your stupid game, no training could get to my head anyway.
...
Or I could go and tell Gramps.
What is Danzo going to do? Whine that he cant torture another child to him? Then again... maybe gramps is like that too, he did put that man in charge of me... no he wouldn't... would he?
...
I furrow my brows and I shake my head.
Lets just py his game.
Lets win this game.
------
Complete: do not yield.
Reward: Statistic scroll.
------
I think about my status, focusing on my skills, titles and stats.
------Titles:
Knowledge Taker: E-rank.
Occupied: D-rank.
Skills:
Unyielding Stare: E×D×C×B×A×S×K×
Burst Breathing: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?
Word- Truth: E×D×C×B?A?S?K?
Eternal Walk: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?
Genjutsu Snap: E×D×C×B×A?S?K?
Lockpicking: E×D?C?B?A?S?K?
Juggling: E×D?C?B?A?S?K?
Hearing: E×D×C?B?A?S?K?
Dragons breath: E×D×C×B×A×S?K?
Statistics:
Genjutsu Affinity +4
Strength +2
Hearing +1
Lightning Mana +1
------
So I need lightning mana... then I suppose I should get that now, I accept the statistic scroll and focus on 'Lightning Mana'.
The pain is immediate and I snarl in pain as I drop to the floor.
A few moments ter I get up and push through the pain, walking home to sleep... and get up for school in another three hours.
I open my apartment door and close it silently, before entering the bathroom and grabbing a clean pair of my clothes- I change clothes and brush my teeth, washing my hands of blood and then drop my dirty clothes in the washing basket.
I head to my bed to sleep. Lets hope Naruto is keen on sleeping in today...
---
Pov: Hiruzen
"I had a ninja tell me about your current training activities Danzo. Tell me how putting the child through anything like that would be a good idea" I say coldly and Danzo turns his chin upwards.
"He is keeping secrets Hiruzen, actively taunted me about them- if he wanted to stop he would have walked away" Danzo replies.
"His ankles where broken Danzo" I grip my chair arm.
"Cleanly, enough to get fixed with some basic medical ninjutsu- he asked me to be harsher for better results" He defends himself.
"Listen to yourself! He wanted better results not weights that would impede his growth and broken ankles!" I yell.
"He is under investigation Hiruzen, sometimes we have to-" He starts to defend himself but I sm my desk.
"I've summoned him here. Today. I thought I could trust you to do one simple thing but it seems that you are stuck in war times Danzo- Let him in" I command the Anbu who opens the door and enters Kenzo who was waiting just outside.
"Hey gramps, thanks for letting me skip school today- Oto-sensei wouldn't of liked me sleeping through css" Kenzo greets with a smile as if nothing happened and I turn to Danzo.
"Remove his mark" I command and Danzo gets up begrudgingly.
"Wait. What?" Kenzo asks and Danzo moves over to him.
"I am removing you from Danzo's training program" I decre.
"Don't I get a say in this?" Kenzo asks and I freeze.
"Sorry? Kenzo he is mistreating you- you are not training under Danzo when he does something like st night" I say calmly and clearly.
Danzo lowers his eyes at the boy, it seems he too is surprised by this.
"Well... the training? I don't appreciate the inefficient bullshit he put on me, but I would like to continue please" Kenzo bows and Danzo lowers his gaze even more.
"Why" He commands.
"Secret~" Kenzo gres at Danzo and mocks him, Danzo twitches... is the blindfold not working?
"Kenzo, you must understand that it isn't healthy for a child to do any of Danzo's training" I insist.
"Its fine, not like anything he does is affecting me at all- well I do require sleep so maybe change your training to let me get rest" Kenzo shrugs his shoulders and smirks evilly at Danzo who holds back annoyance.
Kenzo knows how to get under Danzo's skin it seems... but why would he want to stay? Ineffective training and horrible pain?
"Danzo please wait outside" I order and he walks away in a huff- perhaps his presence is scaring Kenzo into staying.
"Kenzo... does he have something over you? Anything forcing you to stay with that mark?" I ask sternly.
Kenzo looks up to me and I feel his stare... from beneath his blindfold a pure unyielding spirit stirs.
"He taunted me. Wants me to break. That is a challenge I will take- he will fail and I will beat his game, do bot think me incompetent due to my age, I am well aware of his bad behaviour- I just wish to show him that he cant do anything to me" His unyielding eyes... they stare into my soul and lights my will of fire... that stare is dangerous- but if Kenzo wishes to stay there is nothing I can do...
I take a big breath and shake my head.
"Anytime you want out- come to me immediately, no matter what understood" I ask of him and he nods.
"You are dismissed Kenzo, take today off from school... and stay safe" I tell him and he bows before leaving my office... Danzo comes back in.
...
Damnit Danzo.
---
-One week ter-
Pov: Kenzo
New training ground Danzo showed me is underground and covered in darkness, barely capable of seeing down there.
We have begun a torturous routine of learning every bone, muscle and required medical knowledge about myself and other humans- that means breaking and healing that area until I remember it off by heart.
Naruto has been hanging out with me a lot more now and toned down his pranking, I think he stopped trying to gain random strangers attention which is nice- we usually go have fun on the weekends and lucky that I established that I meditate sometimes or else I would have had to keep making excuses.
I haven't gotten another scroll and I am itching to get that genin challenge done, just wish I had confidence in beating them- Dragon breath was supposed to be a good combat skill but having no lightning mana kind of bumped it down, a bad side to upgrading Lightning mana is having to get other lightning mana skills so I don't invest for nothing.
So my skills will be split into three really, Mana based, Chakra based and just straight up weird- like staring, breathing and walking compared to Finger snap or dragons breath.
At least I know now about the different stuff I can do with my skill scrolls and that I should choose the upgrade before having the skill reach a mortal limit.
I am currently climbing the cliff face again, this time trying for a better time- Danzo skipped over anymore training in public and I wanted to see how much better I could get.
...
Basically I have two hours after school to get some more training in before I go spend some time running with lee and train with Naruto- I then eat dinner with Naruto and sometimes Lee comes along.
School is as normal, my grades have been going up with all this extra focus on training and I have made sure to keep up in my studies so I am within top five of the css at least.
I get to the top of the cliff and dangle my feet from its edge as I sit down and rex.
New personal best it seems- though I swear I heard a ninja running by me up the wall the other day and I am going to be pissed if I cannot learn that skill ter on.
Then again maybe my eternal walk will be able to do that... but only a walk... maybe I should have started out with something more fantasy in the beginning, I have stuff like juggling to level up now.
I y down on the earth and soak up some sunlight.
Thanks for reading :)
