Pre-Chapter A/N:First of all, Happy Holidays to all who celebrate. Gift yourself some good cheer with 10% off all plans on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) page (discount ends by 11pm GMT tonight). If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio
THE AGENT
There were five of them for the exercise today, and the chosen simulation was an assassination. Swan knew that the Hokage was watching. He had watched every other test of the complex. What were the odds that he would not watch this one? Especially with one of his precious students set to take part. Five Anbu versus four Chunin and a Jounin. The odds should have been squarely in their favor. But she had heard rumors about the single Jounin on the other side. One would have to bury their heads in the sand not to hear the rumors.
The Hokage took a three-man squad. He had his cousin, a Jinchuriki to the second most powerful tailed beast, and then the Uchiha cousin to the woman everyone knew he was dating, and yet his favorite student was neither of them. His prized pupil was a blonde brat with civilian ancestry. An orphan with little going for him other than good looks and good grades from the academy. Someone like him would have fizzled out in every single other version of the world. Except that in this one, he caught the Hokage's eyes, and the rest, as they say, was history. She wanted to see what he was made of. What made him so special.
"Are you ready to begin?" she heard the voice project over the space. She closed her eyes and let out a breath before taking it back in. She did that twice before holding onto the last breath and nodding. She planted her hands against the ground and felt the layout of the field.
Assassination and protection. Those were the competing objectives of the 'game' they were set to play. Capture the Flag. Each team would be given a mansion to protect. Somewhere within their mansion would be a flag. Their job was to steal the enemy's flag—a goal that represented an assassination—while preventing the enemy from stealing theirs: protection. Of course, the only part of the exercise that concerned her was the former.
Swan was many things. A protector was not one of them.
With her seismic sense, she could feel the opponent's flag in their building. They were moving it to the basement floor. And then they used Earth Release to create another floor beneath before burying the flag. Three of them remained on the basement floor. One moved into the building to set traps and lay a false trail. The last stood right in front of it.
The horn blew to signify the beginning of the exercise, and the instant it did, the one in front of the building just disappeared to her senses. She had to double-take and check again to be sure, but true as death, he was gone. Swan took a breath. Worry not, she thought. We've just got to get their flag first. Easy.
She signed at her squad, and they moved out. The three of them would move to secure the flag while the last two—Rat and Peahen—were in charge of protecting their own flag. Those two would give whoever made it into their building an experience they would not be forgetting soon. She dove forward, heading in through a window on the first floor.
Squirrel was the first in. She smashed through the glass to make their entry. They would worry about silence if the enemy didn't already know they were coming. Mongoose contorted himself to pass through the hole Squirrel had created. Covering her face with her arms by habit more than anything else, Swan herself broke through even more glass to make her entrance.
She landed on the ground, forming a single snake seal to activate her seismic sense again. Everything was just as it should have been. She gestured to the left, so she and her teammates naturally went to the right. They shot down the hallway. There was an automatic kunai launcher at the end of the hall. Before it even activated, she was already weaving seals. Her Earth Style wall formed right in time. She twisted her fingers, and then, with control that most users of the Earth Release did not have, she forced her wall to move forward.
It led their charge through the trapped hallway, its thick form taking the brunt of the weapons fired their way. She felt her vision covered by a strange gas. She blinked, allowing the seals on her mask to activate and switch her vision to infrared. There was no need to activate the seals for filtering out the air—that one was always active, always drawing a small amount of chakra from her reserves.
When they reached the end of the hallway, she gestured right, and they sprang down the next hall to the right. The hallway to the left would have led to the stairs that directly led to the basement. That would have been efficient, but the stairway itself was a trap. They were Anbu, though. They were no strangers to making their own entrances. She came to a stop right above their chosen entry point.
Squirrel nodded and began to weave seals. Swan did not fight it as she felt her body begin to shift and morph.
She returned to consciousness with her body on the floor. She took a breath, a slow one, and then another before she opened her eyes. She would never get used to it. But at least they were in now. She could hear the sounds of Squirrel engaging the Chunin—their opposition—and took a second to weave a seal before planting her hands on the ground.
Spikes rose from the ground, threatening to skewer the second one and forcing the first to disengage from his position. Mongoose moved the second her jutsu went off. The third one, the one who kept Squirrel's hands busy, found himself being double-teamed. Swan moved with none of the grace the animal her mask portrayed had and pushed herself off the ground. Number One tried to block her punch.
She let him. The punch hit his hand, and then the vibrations traveled from her fist into his body. He flinched backward, and she moved closer, kneeing him in the face as he bent forward, sending him reeling. Seeing her teammate in trouble, Number Two came in. She held a kunai in each hand and attempted to poke holes straight into Swan's chest.
She bent backward at the waist to avoid the attack, and Mongoose was there in the middle. He grabbed hold of the woman's hand and forced it upwards, making the blade miss him by some margin. She tried to bring her other blade to bear, but he caught that second hand in motion as well, forcing it to a stop before it could make contact. His opponent tried to pull backward, but Mongoose was an immovable object when he put his mind to it. Finally, her struggles began to weaken until she fell to the ground, slumped.
"I really hope that was non-lethal," Squirrel said.
Mongoose shrugged.
"I can see her chest rising and falling," Swan said, looking at the woman.
"I hope," she added, when she noticed said chest had stopped moving altogether.
"If Dragon kills me for killing a stupid Chunin, I'm going to come back and kill you," Squirrel groused.
Swan moved deeper to the left, already beginning to weave seals to unearth the flag from where she had sensed them bury it. She ended on the snake seal and slammed her hands into the ground. Nothing happened.
"Sorry, not really feeling like losing today," a bright voice chirped from their midst.
She turned in a flash and came face to face with the Hokage's student. Her first thought was blue. Really blue. His eyes were bluer than the sky on a clear day.
"How—" Squirrel began.
Mongoose was already moving. He sprung into a spinning kick that Namikaze ducked underneath. Swan shifted through two seals and spat a sludge of earth straight at his chest—except nothing of the sort happened. She weaved her seals, and nothing happened.
"Ninjutsu isn't working!" she heard Squirrel scream. What? That was impossible. Was it a poison of some sort? When could he have poisoned them?
"Technically, only Nature Release is barred," Namikaze's voice rang from somewhere. She never even saw him before his foot smashed her into the ground. Both her teammates were dispatched just as quickly. With her vision spinning, she was barely able to see him unearth his own flag before tapping theirs against it and bringing an end to the challenge.
—
"So, how was it?" she heard the Hokage ask. All ten of them that had participated in the challenge were lined up in front of him, somewhat like a group of unruly children—an imagery she found difficult to get rid of considering the Chunin were struggling to stay still in their fully celebratory mood. If she didn't know better, she might have thought they did something to contribute to the victory.
"The fidelity, the realism. It did actually feel like we were in a grove with two mansions next to each other," the Hokage's student said.
"Oh, because for all intents and purposes, you were. This training chamber is the work of dozens of some of the best Fuinjutsu experts that the world has ever seen. Maybe after this, I can show you a few things, but I generally meant, how did you find the matchup?" her village's leader replied.
"Namikaze-san is strong," she said, stepping forward.
"Oh?" he asked.
"Yes. He did something that prevented us from using ninjutsu, and then he dispatched all of us in a matter of seconds with his taijutsu. He'd done it to me, and I couldn't even tell you what exactly it was that he did to disable me," she said.
The Hokage nodded. "And Minato? What did you find about your opponents and teammates?"
"Well, my opponents, the Anbu-san, were strong. They made it to the hiding spot far faster than I expected them to be able to. If I hadn't set seals to warn me if combat broke out in the basement, I fear I might not have made it in time," the blonde said, and Swan found herself preening at the compliment against her will. There was just something about the way his eyes turned to her. When he looked at her, she felt like the only one in the world.
"And as for my teammates, I think they were able to form a good plan for defending the flag. Their traps were quite inventive. I struggled to make it back as quickly as I could have mostly because I had to stop and disable the traps for the most part. However, the fact that they did not last so long in combat means that it is somewhat clear what their strengths and weaknesses are," he said.
"Hmm. Good," the Hokage said, and then there was silence.
"I am sure the ten of you are wondering just why I directed this exercise. This training facility is one that the Anbu have been making use of for about three months now, testing and improving. It is almost completely finished, and that is where the ten of you come in. Minato, you are in charge of this squad. These nine shinobi with you are what I would call gems of unrivaled value. Unpolished, but valuable. Your job is to do the refining, so to speak, and take them to the next level. You have six months. By the time you are done, all nine of your students should be ready for promotion to Jounin, and if you succeed, you yourself will receive the next promotion," he said.
"Hokage-sama," Peahen said, drawing attention to himself.
"Yes, Peacock," the Hokage said.
"Peahen, sir," he corrected.
"Peahen?"
"Yes, sir."
"Oh. I see. Alright then." Swan, if she were a betting woman, would be willing to bet that the Hokage did not actually see anything.
"Hokage-sama, the Anbu charter forbids the Anbu from submitting to the authority of any shinobi not also in the Anbu, or not granted with the rank of Hokage," he said, stickler for the rules that he was.
"Good thing I am Hokage then. And surely you do not question my power to delegate my power as I see fit. While you are in here, Minato will be your Kage for all intents and purposes. Now if that will be all?" he asked.
"Hokage-sama. You mentioned something about a promotion for Minato-san. It was my understanding that he is already a Jounin. Does this mean that a new rank is being created? Above Jounin?" one of the Chunin asked. She hadn't faced them before. There was no way she would have forgotten such an interesting appearance. He wore a full visor that covered near half his face from view, and his bright pink hair was styled to a spiky mess at the top of his head. He was probably the one that had been sent to plant decoy traps and create a false trail for them. He was probably also the one that had set the traps they had run into as well. So, a good trapmaker then.
"Well, it's going to be a surprise for the rest of the village, but I guess I can tell you guys if you promise not to tell anyone," he said. The Chunin scrambled to say they wouldn't. Swan, like the rest of her squad, remained silent. Anbu were already sworn to absolute secrecy by virtue of their positions, so any other promises would be superfluous at best.
"Okay, okay, I'll tell you. We are creating the rank of Special Jounin," he said.
"Like they have in Kumo?" the pink-haired boy asked again. She noticed once again that he was the youngest of the lot. Younger even than Namikaze-san, which was saying something. She didn't know if it was a sign of skill or not, well aware that several Chunin promotions had been rushed during the war, and this could just easily be one of them.
"No. Kumo's Special Jounin rank is for shinobi who have the skill of a Jounin in only one field and are not ready to be full Jounin. Konoha does not celebrate mediocrity like that. Any who feel they are Jounin in one skill should put in the time and effort to train and become full Jounin. For us, Special Jounin will be the rank right above Jounin. Special Jounin will be those who command our forces when war breaks out. They will be the creme of the crop, so to speak. And if you all succeed here, then Minato will get the chance to be part of the second set of promotions. So no pressure, I guess." The Hokage's smirk went to show he'd said something he felt was funny.
Special Jounin, she tested the phrase in her mind. Another rank to aim for. Another goal.
XXXXXX- SHORIRAMA SENJU
"So, how's it hanging?" I asked from my position literally hanging from the rafters of the ceiling of Shibi's home.
"Hokage-sama," he greeted, dropping to his knee the second he heard my voice. I flipped, landing on the ground silently while still not placing enough weight to trigger the trap I knew I had stepped on. I saw Shibi's body language shift as his trap failed to trigger. Was he moving to defend me or to attack, I wondered. Hopefully the former. The latter would be awkward.
"You could have summoned me, Hokage-sama. I would have been happy to attend you at your convenience," he said.
"I much prefer this. Give me the chance to stretch my legs," I said, and the part I did not add was that it ensured he was always kept on his toes. I wanted him on his best behavior at all times. Hiruzen's mistake was not the creation of Root. Something like Root was necessary. His mistake had been giving charge of Root to someone he could not kill, and to someone he would not oversee. I had made neither of those.
"I assume you are here to inspect the graduating class, Hokage-sama."
"I guess I am," I replied with a shrug.
"Then please follow my lead, Hokage-sama." He directed, and I nodded as he rose and began to walk straight out of the room. One thing I liked about Shibi was that he was a man of few words. I could safely retreat into my own head when I was with him without fear of causing offense because I didn't hear something he said. For one, he almost never said anything, so there was little to be missing.
For another, the chances were that if he did even say anything, then he was fine with repeating himself and did not seem to care that his initial attempt to speak had been ignored. It made it easy for us to spend time with each other. I could just think, and he could do whatever it was he did when he was not speaking—talking to his bugs perhaps. I knew the Aburame were working on something new with their insects. Uraume had placed a report about it on my table, but the most she and her operatives had been able to find out was that they were doing something. Just not what it was. Aburame were a tight-lipped lot, after all.
We walked into the section of the forests within Konoha set aside from the clan as he led me to the entrance of the Root. I said nothing as he weaved several genjutsus to hide our presence and movements from any prying eyes. I had left my Anbu tail behind for this precise reason. Those on the council knew that Root existed and that Shibi was the head, but beyond that, he, I, and few others were the only ones in the know. Their training, numbers, headquarters, and missions were classified so tightly that Shika and Uraume were the only others who knew. And even they would have been shocked at the true scale of Root as things stood now. Shibi was shockingly efficient, and I had given him both a long leash and a bigger budget than even the hospital got.
We passed several steel doors that each required a different passcode as well as a different chakra signature that Shibi's insects were capable of simulating until we reached the entrance hall. An entrance hall filled with hundreds of children between the ages of seven and nine who waited while standing at attention.
I turned my gaze to Shibi.
"That's a good trick," I said. He had managed to send a message to one of his lieutenants of our approach without me even noticing.
"This is the Root graduating class, Hokage-sama," he said, gesturing to them.
A/N: I genuinely don't think Root is as bad an idea as most people in the fandom make it out to be. The issue is that Danzo was insane and more than a little self-sabotaging. Root had its fingers in a lot of pies. If they had been working for Konoha's good and not just Danzo's, then half of canon would never have gotten to happen. Next five up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.