Pov: Kenzo
I arrive at home and shakily enter the shower... taking off my clothes I note that my scarred flesh has red spots all over it?
When did they...?
Oh- they are my chakra points, why are my chakra points causing my skin to hurt like that? I understand the actual nerves and points hurting but my skin?
I turn around and look in the mirror.
My back too.. arms, legs and everywhere on me red spots are made.
*Spurt*
My arm aches as one of the spots suddenly spurt out dark, dark blood... it smells horrible and dries extremely fast.
I immediately enter the shower as more and more of the spots start spurting that horrid stuff- I wash myself and the spots go away five minutes after they spurt.
Scrubbing hard and my body shaking with soreness I eventually clean myself entirely.
After hopping out of the shower and drying myself I walk to the mirror and make sure there is no more red spots... I then get dressed and walk out to my apartment.
There is two notes I passed by on my way in, I look at the first note- which is very obviously written by Naruto.
'Come to Ichiraku's! Ino invited you to celebrate!'
Hmm? Guess he went ahead to spend all his spare change- though I do wonder if they have been waiting since school ended or if he got fed up waiting for me at home and left.
I look to the next note... very ominous.
'Genin Kenzo. Under the Tree'
Referring to Root obviously, does he want me to come to him today? He did say 'Genin Kenzo' so it must be something to do with my promotion.
------
Quest! Choose: Naruto or Danzo.
Reward: B-ranked scroll or Statistic scrolls
---
Scrolls? With an S? Doesn't matter anyway, I got rid of my mark thanks to the old man and I don't want it back, Naruto is my priority.
I trash the notes and walk outside of my apartment, heading for Ichiraku.
...
Eventually I arrive and hear Ino, Naruto and Sakura together, eating some Ramen, I sit on a stool and smile at them.
"Hello, I found your note" I greet them.
"Kenzo-kun~ ramen is on me, eat as much as you want! Congratutions for your graduation!" Ino squeals at me.
"Thank you very much Ino, quite generous of you" I reply, I need the money so I will take all I can get.
"Kenzo" Sakura greets and I nod my head.
"I ordered ahead for you! Here have this one it just arrived- can I see your forehead protector! How cool is it being a ninja? Have you done anything yet? Where did you go after school!" Naruto bombards me with questions as he messes with my new armband and hands me fresh hot ramen.
"Thank you. Yes. Pretty cool. Not really. Secret ninja business" I reply before starting to eat my ramen... great as always, I wonder what Teuchi-san does to the noodles that makes it so divine?
"Cool!" Naruto says excitedly before pcing my new armband back onto my arm and turning to his second bowl of ramen.
"You didn't offer to pay for him did you?" I ask out of concern.
"And empty my pockets? Absolutely not" Ino chuckles.
"That's a relief" I respond.
"Oi!" Naruto protests.
We ugh and continue to eat our food, the three ask me various questions, Sakura eventually leaves saying she needs to get home and the three of us who remain decide its a good Idea to have a graduation prank.
"So, what are we thinking?" Naruto rubs his hands together with a chuckle.
"Something unique, no paint?" I ask.
"How about throwing toilet paper at the academy?" Ino asks.
"Nah, they pced more night guard's when I repced all the ink with dyed water st time" Naruto informs.
Hmm... nice.
"Lets not mess with the teachers, it was fair py when they could give me detention, now it isn't" I tell them.
"We could mess with your cssmates?" Ino suggests.
"Nah, I don't know them that well... apart from Lee who I am almost certain is still on an afternoon run" I reply.
"How about your new sensei?" Naruto asks with glee.
"Nope. I want to remain alive" I shut that down quickly.
"Lets... do something harmless and less permanent then- how about something confusing? Like repcing salt with sugar, or maybe paint someone's kunai bright pink?" Naruto chuckles.
"Don't mess with food- and never, ever mess with someone else's equipment, I mean it Naruto, that could get someone hurt or worse" I sp the top of his head and he nods with a weak smile.
"What about cleaning everything then? I did that to someone and they couldn't comprehend how the wn was trimmed and garden well taken after for no reason" Naruto smiles.
???
I mean... that's funny... but also just volunteer work.
"How are we meant to do a prank if you deny everyone on the list" Ino frowns.
"I... just don't want to py unfair" I respond.
"Well then, you have to pick one, if you don't I will spread rumour to every customer that you fell in love with your new sensei... she is older than 25 right?" Ino smiles mischievously.
"Don't. You. Dare- fine I will pick the teachers... they can punish Naruto instead, and thank you for your complete silence" I reply with a cold tone.
"Psh- what about the night watch?" Naruto says.
...
"Want to make a diversion for me Naruto?" I ask.
He smiles and nods his head.
"How long?" He asks.
"Twenty minutes should do" I respond and we start making our way to the academy.
"So what's the pn?" Ino skips beside me.
"I think... we should set up a fake treasure hunt with no end- write on the chalkboards and everything, get some sticky notes and pce them in all the weirdest pces- also write numbers in wrong order, so they accidentally find clue #12 when they are on clue #2, and never have the numbers in-between" I suggest.
"Ooo- I haven't done that before..." Naruto chuckles.
"Should do it with animals, release a few chickens that have the numbers 1 and 2 on them- though we don't have the time for that today" I mention and the two nod mischievously, especially Naruto who is almost definitely going to try that tomorrow.
"Alright- Ill distract them, go in five and out in twenty" Naruto says and dashes off.
...
*Cng!*
A loud noise startles us and we watch as a few ninja flicker in Naruto's direction.
"You mess with the first floor and I will do the second- start at #20 and upwards" I tell Ino and we both run through the shadows into the Academy, I parkour my way up a wall and climb onto the second story window... a lot more effort than some other ninja.
Wiggling open a cssroom window I sneak in and start to write clues all over the room, one leads to the bckboard and the bckboard leads to under a table, eventually I go to other cssrooms and start to 'skip' clues and numbers entirely.
It takes me about fifteen minutes to finish and I chuckle- some time to spare, lets leave before someone sees me.
I dot my st sentence on the st cssroom board and pce the chalk on the podium- three eyes stare at me and I turn around... those stares, they are the three root ninja who trained with me, my three sparring partners.
"Trying to make a core memory with my brother and friend here..." I chuckle sarcastically and slowly walk to the window.
"Lord Danzo summoned you" they say when I slide the window open.
"Old guy is in no position to command me" I retort.
I raise my foot to hop out the window and one of them flickers to me and grips my ankle.
"Last chance to come without force" The ninja says.
I raise my eyebrow and sigh... a public pce with many guards- cannot use my stares unfortunately, but they cannot create noise to avoid being spotted... a silent fight with no fshy jutsu, mostly taijutsu and genjutsu.
I can win under those conditions... and I have wanted to kill my three tormentors.
I crack a smile.
"Let me tell you the secret that Danzo wanted so much... I might be a tad, tiny, little bit mad, with power of course" I say in a matter of fact way.
"Oh- and I can do this, but that's way less interesting" I mumble quickly.
And before they can reply I breathe out three times- *Sm!* faster than they thought I could move I sucker punch the one holding me in the mouth.
He lets go and blinks as if in shock.
*Snap!~*
A simple snap of my fingers and my body blurs, two other sets of myself just inches away from the original me, making it much harder to distinguish where I am and where to aim.
*Woosh!*
I rush up to the root ninja near me and breathe out thrice once more- *slip!* I steal his ninja wire and push him into the other two ninja- they brandish there tanto and the third one gets up by the time I close in on them.
*Step*
We all hear a footstep on the roof above us and we all freeze- if any of us are caught here in this situation, it could be bad.
"(Distant) I've got a lit match!" I hear Naruto scream out and the footsteps flicker off the roof in a hurry.
I quickly swish the ninja wire and it thrums and crackles as the two ninja duck and the middle one jumps up and kicks me in the chin- I push past that and as he falls I unleash my [Dragons Breath].
Orange lightning sizzles beneath my skin, my chest heats up and my throat shines through flesh as I release my jaw and a destructive bst of orange lightning arcs from me into the ninja.
I use it at full power so it reaches a longer distance and the common root ninja has no special techniques or ability to dodge- he underestimated me. This trio has beaten me bck and blue on multiple occasions and I have memorised there styles- they haven't even taken a sample of my lighting style.
The ninja falls as a hole burns through his chest and I breathe out thrice before jumping back- I have enough lightning mana for twenty seconds of wire usage now or maybe one swing that actually does something, that dragons breath is dangerous but taxing.
One root ninja flickers to the door and I death stare him- he only flinches but loses focus on his flicker technique, which loses him precious seconds to flee.
*Sp*
I catch the wrist of the other root ninja and *Zzzip!* my ninja wire uses up all my lightning chakra to stab his heart with a quick retort.
I turn to the one climbing out the window and I *Snap!~* my fingers.
a genjutsu is at its best when a person is not expecting it. I have unleashed three other abilities in this fight and he would be convinced by just another, the root agent on the window sits still as he is caught in it.
The ninja I just impaled kicks me in the chest and wrestles me to the floor trying to get a hold of his wrist again.
I kick him in the stomach twice with a quick flurry of my feet as I breathe out thrice.
*Sm* *Roll*
He uses his free hand to sm my chest into the floor and then I use my hand to grip his side and roll him over- I dodge his next swipe at me and headbutt him.
He reaches for his kunai pouch and I kick it off his belt and away from him before death staring him in the eyes and headbutting him again.
*Sm!*
And again.
*Sm!*
And again.
*Sm!*
And again.
...
He stops moving, coughing up blood is his st moment of life... the wire stab wound wasn't an instant kill- I need to remember that, the zombies were rotting corpses that crumbled under me instantly... these are not corpses anymore.
I let go of the wrist I am holding and use my [Burst Breathing] to run up behind the window guy and grab his ankle as he dispels my genjutsu.
Just in time, I attempt to reach his other ankle but he turns around and flings a kunai at me- I turn my head and the kunai scratches my cheek.
I pull on his ankle and he jumps up and twists his body to try and kick me with his other free foot.
*Sm!*
I use my stare to make him flinch and I pull to sm him back into the cssroom from over my head- his kick doesn't reach and he ys on his back, grovelling in the pain.
The strength statistic is always a surprise to witness in battle- I let go of him and stare through my blindfold as he looks around cautiously.
"Truth. Why does Danzo want me?" I command and I stare into his eyes.
"He- I don't know" The ninja resists as he crawls backwards and reaches for his dead teammates tanto.
"Truth. You do know, I am a talker and Danzo would grant that basic information to convince me. Truth" I command and death stare him.
"He- He wanted you to become a true Root agent, work for him on your genin missions- smaller tasks as you travel the many nds" The ninja procims and grips the tanto.
"Truth... do you ever want to bring back those you loved?" I ask with a warm smile.
But my stare screams pity.
"I- I- I- I-" He breaks completely.
My stares and word are very effective against the mentally broken and built up- when Arata told me the process to becoming a root ninja I found my key question to quicken there breaking point.
They all killed someone for 'loyalty', someone they all cared about- my stare and my forcing of the truth merely opens old wounds.
I walk up to the root ninja and grab his tanto before making him grip it tighter, and aiming it at his own chest.
"Do you want to see them again?" My pitiful stare makes them shake there head violently, they instinctively want to live, but Danzo conditioned them to be a broken human- someone who would sacrifice themselves for Danzo easily.
"Ill help you" I whisper to them and apply pressure to the tanto.
...
I stand up and look at the corpses- Danzo should send more in five minutes when he realises they aren't coming back.
They can clean up for me, lucky I didn't spill much blood.
I hop out the window and roll onto the dirt, I dust myself off as I get up and start running to Ino who waits outside the gate.
I smile at her and rex my muscles... it feels great to unleash all my power, though I need to get stronger, st longer in a fight and win even in unfavourable conditions- tonight they could only use taijutsu realistically without exposing Danzo's mischief and I had many moves to use against them.
Statistic scrolls are necessary, I need to improve my genjutsu affinity and lightning mana significantly- my affinity should max out at nine or ten though, I don't know if it is possible to use genjutsu with one hundred percent less used chakra, or if it can be better at higher numbers.
"This is going to be hirious! I cant wait to see everyone trying to find the st clue tomorrow!" Ino whisper squeals to me.
"Hahaha! They are so slow!" Naruto pops up next to me and actually yells.
"Shh! And you guys better tell me their reaction tomorrow" I pat both their backs as we run.
"Hehehe- hey O? You scratched yourself?" Naruto points to my cheek and I turn my head and whistle.
"I may- or may not have failed some parkour" I say in a joking tone.
"Psh-hahaha- aren't you meant to be a genin now?" Ino ughs at me as we all slow down.
"I'm not your typical genin" I retort with mock pride in my voice.
"Wanna do another prank?" Naruto asks as we stop near an alleyway.
"Nah- Ino has to get going, I am sure her father is staying up te... and her mother holding him down" I reply.
"Yep~ congratutions once more Kenzo, enjoy your graduation!" Ino hugs me and takes off.
"Thanks for the food" I wave as she leaves.
"I guess we better get to bed early too, I need all the sleep I can get to beat Sasuke tomorrow" Naruto nods his head sagely.
"Since when did you start caring about school?" I ask as we start walking home.
"What- I mean, you know- Sasuke just needs to be humbled" Naruto blushes and looks away.
...
"Are you... embarrassed about doing well in school?" I ask.
"No- I just- I never expected you would graduate ahead of me, I have to catch up and become hokage before you steal my hat" Naruto pumps himself up.
"Right... you expected me to fail my exam?" I say in a hurt tone.
"No- No- I uhhh- you know... wanted to... be on a team with you" Naruto mumbles.
"What? Say that louder I cant hear you?" I cup my ear with my hand and lean in.
"Arrgghhh- never mind, goodnight!" Naruto rushes home ahead of me.
I slow down and stop.
The stare on the roof next to me flickers to in front of me, it lingers for a moment before turning away.
"Kenzo" Danzo says.
"Danzo" I reply.
"What secrets do you think you can hide from Konoha? Assisted suicide... a hole in the chest the size of a golf ball, seared and clean- and another the size of a pin, so many secrets, techniques that vary so much its impossible to figure out how many you have... so I ask again, what secrets do you think you can hide from Konoha" He spits out.
"My own. Same as you" I reply calmly.
"Hiruzen will not like those corpses" Danzo responds.
"Nor will he like your 'kidnapping' attempt, choosing to hang yourself are you?" I mock.
"You could be so much more, a better shinobi for Konoha- if only you wouldn't hide secrets from it- if only you weren't tipping the line into traitor" He draws a bde and holds it to my chin.
It is cold and I take a breath, ensuring that no sweat or panic shows on my face- the worst thing I can do is show Danzo fear.
"Tipping... not walking into, I am only traitor if Konoha makes me one, I am only ally if Konoha deems me one, that means the Hokage Danzo. Not you. Not me" I reply as calm as I can manage.
"And if I were to have you removed without a second thought? Missions can go so wrong... so quickly" He chuckles.
...
Kanata, Katsuko and Kurenai.
I endanger those three just by being on the same team, I endanger them by pissing off Danzo and not joining his root- but I also endanger them by joining root.
A tough choice.
"Kill me. Or don't, I have a brother to care for" I respond and he sheathes his bde and walks past me.
"The hard road it is then" Danzo whispers as his shoes cck against the concrete.
I start walking home to Naruto.
------
Complete: Choose Naruto!
Reward: B rank scroll.
------
Thanks for reading :)
