Participant/Level/Rank: Uchiha Misaru/11/Chuunin
Rewards: ANBU Acceptance and Kanashibari no Jutsu (Body Paralysis Technique)
The sun was just now rising, but Misaru had been awake for several hours already. The youth had been unable to sleep last night, a result of receiving a very exciting request yesterday. So, earlier in the morning he had walked over to a small prairie that was close to the Uchiha residence. Sometimes the young man came to this area to do a bit of early morning training, but for now he was content with only doing a few basic warm up exercises. He was confident that he would want to have all the strength he could for the trials that he would face later that day. Taking a glance at the amazing sun that was rising; the boy began to reflect on the events that had occurred during the previous day.
***
Sweat fell down from under Misaru's forehead protector as he forced his body to complete another back flip. He had been training for several hours now in the indoor Uchiha training grounds, and he was just about completely out of stamina. But, he was not yet ready to quit. With his new chuunin rank came new responsibilities, and these responsibilities required him to be more powerful than he was. The only way to do that was to force his body to the next level.
Landing gently on the ground, the young man dropped low and withdrew several kunai from the equipment pouch at his side. Not even bothering to aim at the targets behind him, he whirled around and launched the projectiles in the blink of an eye. Every single one of the weapons hit the center of their target with deadly precision. Completely ignoring this impressive accomplishment, Misaru closed his eyes and began to focus his chakra. Guiding the energy through his tenketsu, he soon brought it to a halt at his eyes. In the next instant a new power improved his visual capabilities far beyond that of a normal warrior. Not only that, but the ability also allowed him to easily understand any technique that was being employed against him.
Opening his eyes, Misaru looked out at the world around him with his clan's bloodline ability. The sharingan took in everything and analyzed it perfectly. Even though his ability had yet to fully manifest itself, the child was still amazed by its powers. He could hardly imagine how much more powerful the next levels of the ability were. For an instant, he found himself craving this higher level of power. Sensing this desire, the youth quickly stifled it. He could not allow himself to think that way. It was what had led his parents down the wicked path they had chosen. It was why he had gone through hell as a child, and why he still had trouble fitting in with the real world. It was why...
“Excuse me, are you Uchiha Misaru?” The voice originated from behind the child. Surprised that he had not been able to sense the person's presence until the very last moment, Misaru whirled around to face the newcomer. He was shocked at what his eyes revealed to him. He was now in the presence of one of Konoha's elite ninja: an ANBU. Finding himself completely forgetting all of his previous thoughts, the boy inclined his head forward to show that he was indeed Uchiha Misaru.
“I have been requested to inform you that you have been selected for a very special opportunity. Due to your impressive display during your chuunin examination, some members of my organization have decided that you could be a very valuable addition to us. I have other information for you to receive, but first I need to know if your are interested.” Misaru could not believe what he was hearing. The ANBU thought that he might be skilled enough to become one of them. Ever since he had first seen them bring down his parent's wicked faction of the Uchiha, he had been interested in becoming one of them. Now he finally had his opportunity. There was no way he was going to let this chance pass him by.
“I'm humbled by the offer, and would be interested in hearing more of it.” The ANBU simply nodded his head, showing no emotion through the mask that he wore. For the first time, Misaru noticed something strange about the warrior. He refused to look into the child's eyes. It was then that the young man remembered that he still had the Sharingan activated. This man must know about the bloodline's capabilities, and was intelligent enough to be wary of it. Deciding their discussion would go smoother if the ANBU was not so cautious of him; the Uchiha unactivated his bloodline ability. Looking forward and seeing that the older ninja was walking toward a corner of the room, Misaru followed him. After they had both taken up positions with their backs to the wall, the ANBU withdrew a small scroll from within his pack and then slammed it down onto the ground. Instantly a barrier of chakra surrounded them.
“This field will not allow any sounds, smells, or images to pass beyond it. It will appear as if this wall is completely empty. Do not pass beyond the edges of it though, because that will deactivate it.” Misaru nodded at the warrior, but secretly wondered why there was a need for all this secrecy. No one appeared to be in the immediate vicinity, and if they were good enough to avoid the detection of both the Sharingan eyes and that of an ANBU, they were probably skilled enough to find a way around the barrier.
“Okay, now you need to listen very carefully, because I am only allowed to tell you this information a single time. The first thing I want you to understand, is that not a word of what I am about to speak can leave this area. If it does, it could potentially endanger some ANBU lives.” Nodding in silence, Misaru waited as the ANBU studdied him for a second. Finally convinced that the boy was not about to go out and proclaim what he was about to hear to everybody he could find, the ANBU resumed his speech. “Next, you need to understand that from here on out you will be living two lives. One life where you will be your normal self, and another life where you will be an ANBU operative. These two lives can never cross path, otherwise it will bring harm to both yourself and our organization.” The older warrior paused once again, but this time it was not to see whether or not Misaru agreed with what he was hearing. It was to see if Misaru fully understood what this meant. Seeing the child's expression remain unchanged, the fighter resumed once again, this time not intending to stop until he had imparted all the information to the young recruit.
“Now, tomorrow an exam will be held for potential ANBU recruits to display their abilities and knowledge, and for us to guage whether or not you are ready to take the real test to become an ANBU. If you show up to this meeting, you will have to understand that you will not be able to back out of any of this. If you do not show up to the exam tomorrow, all we expect you to do is keep the location and date of the initial ANBU exam a secret. If you do show up, however, you will have no other opportunity to walk away. After you take the initial portion of the exam, you will either pass or fail. If you pass, you go on a real ANBU mission to prove that you are ready to join us. If you fail, you will be subject to a very painful process that could permanently damage you.” Turning from the young warrior, the ANBU walked past the barrier that he had erected and it instantly scattered into a burst of chakra. Walking to the center of the room, he stopped and spoke to the boy, but did not turn around.
“One final thing: If you do not accept this offer now, you will never be given it again.” Finishing his journey across the room, the powerful ninja excited the training grounds. This left Misaru alone in silence, to contemplate all that he had been told. Even though he found himself curious as to what was going to happen, he was not even considering the idea of not accepting the offer. He would become an ANBU at all costs.
***
A light sweat began to cover the child’s body, and he could tell that he was starting to get to the point where he was exerting himself. If he kept ‘warming’ up much longer, he knew that his body would begin to tire out. Finishing up one last one hundred meter sprint, the youth came to a halt and found that he was starting to feel his blood begin to pump. A small smile crept upon his face. The thrill of working his body was one of the few things that could bring him such joy.
In his younger days, Misaru had hated training. It had meant torture to him, and because of this he had done his best to avoid it. Now, however, the boy’s opinion had changed completely. He found that the training he did relaxed his mind. It allowed him to focus completely on one goal, and avoid all other distractions. The harmony that his training gave him allowed him a small relief in his life. It was almost ironic that his parent’s way of hurting him had transformed into one of his few salvations.
Returning his mind to the events that were occurring in the present, the Uchiha looked over to the sun to find that it was nearing the time for the exam. If he left now, he would probably be earlier, but, he figured being punctual was a quality that was highly necessary for an ANBU. Starting off for the location at a pace that was a light jog, the young man was soon traveling across Konoha Village.
***
The journey to the examination area was fairly quick, and Misaru had to deal with little traffic in his journey. The path that he chose to travel had few people at even its busiest hours, and since it was morning it currently had only a handful. Getting to an outer edge of Konoha, the chuunin soon found that he had left behind the Village and was now in the outskirts which were covered in various plants. Pushing up high into the air and landing gently on a tree branch, the young man felt that hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
Having learned to trust his senses long ago, the shinobi wasted no time in jumping to his left. A split second after he moved from the location three kunai buried themselves right where he had been standing. Cursing himself for not sensing a stalker earlier, the child redirected his senses to the area around him. Moving quickly and quietly among the trees, the boy analytically searched for his attacker by examining the area closest to him first, and then spreading his search out.
Before the child had managed to move twenty yards from his original location, another volley of kunai were flying in his direction. Realizing that he did not have enough time to attempt to dodge the attack, Misaru activated his Sharingan and withdrew a kunai from his equipment pouch. Using his enhanced vision and lightning quick reflexes, the Uchiha managed to deflect the five kunai that had been aimed for various vital points on his body. Deciding that he was facing a very precise and skilled opponent, the chuunin quickly made the decision to end the battle quickly. He could not afford to draw this out, because sooner or later his enemy would land a critical blow on him.
Using his Sharingan’s abilities, the boy calculated the trajectory of the Kunai and identified the general area that they had been launched at him from. Pushing off to his left, the young man avoided another kunai that was thrown at him, and then used that kunai’s flight path to pinpoint the area that he was being attacked from. Predicting that his foe would soon change his location in an attempt to keep himself concealed from his opponent, Misaru performed a quick series of hand seals and then launched a kunai forward. The weapon flew through the air, and then passed into a gathering of leaves on a tree branch thirty yards away from the Uchiha.
Not wanting to be hit by the attack, the concealed warrior jumped out of the leaves and avoided the projectile. Taking a careful look at his enemy, Misaru soon identified him as a hunter ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist. Wondering what to make of this new information, the boy suddenly appeared directly behind the foreign shinobi. Surprised by his opponent’s quick movements, the hunter ninja lashed out with a kunai and attempted to slash the boy across the face. The weapon hit its intended target with perfect accuracy. Expecting to see an explosion of blood from a wound that would erupt on the young man’s face, the hunter ninja saw the illusion of the boy’s body begin to fade and disrupt. Realizing that he had been duped to late, he whirled around to come eye to eye with Misaru’s sharingan eyes.
Before he had a chance to react he was instantly enveloped in an illusion created by the Sharingan’s spinning tomoe. The boy in front of him faded out of existence, and in his place was a gigantic beast that had an incredibly evil chakra flowing around it. Before he knew what was going on, the beast flung the evil chakra off of its body and the power enveloped the foreign warrior’s own body. Feeling as if he was being crushed under the wicked power he was experiencing, he crumpled to the ground, struggling to get his panic back under control.
A moment later the chakra around him was gone, and the beast had reverted back to the form of Misaru. However, the young man now had a kunai plant very firmly against his neck. The hunter ninja was at the child’s complete mercy now. It would take but a flick of the boy’s wrist to end the warrior’s life.
“How about we end this charade and you tell me what has been going on here? I was unaware that the exam would begin before I even got to the correct location.” The boy’s face remained calm and neutral as he spoke. After a few moments of hearing nothing but silence, the child rolled his eyes. “Do not bother trying to convince me you are really a hunter ninja from Hidden Mist Village. For one, you would not be traveling alone into a foreign country. The hunter nins always travel in groups of three if they are moving outside of their own territory. Two, you would not risk whatever mission you had in this village by attacking a lone chuunin who was unaware of your presence. Third, the hunter ninja of Hidden Mist use senbon for their projectile weapons. This allows them to be very precise and deadly, while also giving them a bit more stealth. On top of that, the kunai that you did use against me were the style that Konoha shinobi use. Now, once again, what is going on here?” After speaking, the young man withdrew his kunai from the ‘hunter ninja’s’ neck and placed it back inside of his equipment pouch. While he moved the young man never stopped looking into the warrior’s eyes with his Sharingan. After a moment more of silence, the older ninja clapped his hands and reached his hands to the sides of his mask. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pulled the protective gear off and revealed the face of a beautiful young woman with short red hair.
“I must say that I am impressed with your performance Uchiha Misaru. Few are able to defeat the opponent in this trial. Even fewer are able to identify a single reason as to why I would not be a Hunter Ninja. You managed to discover three. I am slightly disappointed that you did not discover that I was a female though.” Smiling widely, the lady then pulled off all of her outfit besides the spandex that she wore beneath. Without sleek protective equipment hiding her figure, it became very obvious that she had a female figure. Caught completely off guard by the knowledge that he had just battled a woman so mercilessly, the young man found himself slightly embarrassed. Careful to keep this emotion hidden, however, Misaru managed to keep the woman from noticing it.
It took the female ANBU less than half a minute to replace her ‘hunter ninja’ outfit with the traditional garb of an ANBU. Pleased with her new look, she turned her attention back to the young man standing in front of her.
“Anyway, this is the second test in your examination. The first was to see if you had the guts to come and join us. This one was supposed to determine your analytical skills, and your ability to defeat an opponent with precision. Now we are going to move onto the third and final test of the initial examination. You are going to be taken to a training facility near this location, where you will receive basic training in the skills of an ANBU. On top of that, we want to gauge both your strengths and weaknesses during your training, so we can get a feel for your abilities. Now that I have gotten that basic information out of the way, I would like for you to follow me to the training facility so we can begin the final test as quickly as possible.” Giving the child one final smile, the woman turned and began to move with an incredible amount of speed. Not wanting to be left behind, Misaru pushed off the ground with his legs and chased after her.
Taking a bit to get used to the pace they were moving at and to adjust his breathing to a pattern that fit well, the Uchiha was soon able to let his mind wander once again. This woman had a fairly cheery manner based on her constant smiling, and this did not seem to fit the basic description of the ANBU that Misaru had formed inside of his mind. Wondering whether or not what her current personality was nothing more than a ploy to get him to lower his guard, the chuunin decided that it would be best if he kept his defenses up at all times. There was no telling what he was a bout to face, and he was fairly certain he did not want to get caught unexpectedly.
“You never did tell me what your name was.” Misaru’s words came out with the typical monotone that he spoke with. The woman looked back at the boy and gave him a small smirk that seemed surprisingly devious. For a moment, the child wondered if he was going to regret asking that question.
“A name is a very vital piece of information about a person. It allows you to easily identify them, and at the same time gives you the ability to partially manipulate their identity. This can be a very useful tool in skillful tools, and because of this should be protected by all people with much vigilance. I tell only people I have confidence in what my name is. At the moment, you have not yet earned that. In the future, I would also recommend that you learn to not be so curious. The pursuit of answers is a noble one, but it could harm you in your journey to become an ANBU.” Misaru gave a small chuckle as he heard the words the woman spoke. So her true personality was at last starting to reveal itself. She was a philosopher, and believed almost completely in the policies of the ANBU. That meant that her cheery attitude earlier had been nothing more than a guise. Now he was left to wonder why she had attempted to deceive him like that.
“You act as if a person’s name is all that defines them. While I do agree it is vital, it is still only a small piece of who they are. I fail to understand why you place so much stock in its ability as a definition of a person, when the rest of the world uses it as a means to show respect. It symbolizes that you care about a person enough to address them by their proper name, and not by a simple term such as person.” This time the woman gave the child no smile. Instead she gave him a very disgruntled glare.
“You will quickly learn not to question the orders of an ANBU. Our organization can not afford to have members that do not fully believe in what they are taught. For now on your name is a secret that you will reveal to nobody. Your enemies can and will use it against you if they get the chance. That is all you need to know.” The woman might have intimidated most people with her harsh words, but they did little to upset the Uchiha. The hell that had been his life had hardened him to such displays, and she was wasting her time if she sought to scare him into submission.
“The ANBU might have the authority to guide many of my actions, but I refuse to allow them to tell me who I can tell my name to. That is something that belongs to me only, and I will tell it to whomever I wish…” Just as Misaru was finished speaking he saw the woman whirl around in an incredible burst of speed. Before he had a chance to defend himself, he was slammed violently against a tree. Able to keep himself from showing all but a small amount of surprise on his face, the child glared into the woman’s eyes. It took a great deal of self-control to prevent himself from activating the Sharingan and attempting to use it to force her to release him, or to at least intimidate her.
“Your attitude will not be tolerated from here on out. You will do what I say, and you will not question it. You will ask no questions, and all you will do is listen. If I hear you utter one word after this moment, I will punish you severely.” The woman’s eyes became a window to her soul as she spoke. She would do anything to protect what she held dear, and at this moment it meant making sure that the new ANBU recruit had no ‘flaws.’ A smile crossed Misaru’s face as he saw that her methods were ones that he had not witnessed in a long time. She was going to try and employ a form of torture on him, to force him to transform into what she wanted. The only thing separating her from the Uchiha’s parents was the fact that she held different beliefs. But that still did not cover up the fact that she was basically no better than them. It was almost a sad thing.
Releasing the child and allowing him to go back down onto his feet, the woman turned away from him. She had been forced to reveal part of herself to the boy in an effort to control him. In a way, she just gave him more than her name. He now knew why she had been cheery with him earlier. She had thought that would be the easiest method to control a child his age. Misaru now knew why she acted and did what she did, and from that point on he would always have an incredibly depth into her person.
Seeing that the woman had resumed her trip to the training location, the chuunin watched her for a few more moments. He would not become like her. While her intentions were noble, she was blinded to the cruelty of her actions. The intent did not always justify the means. That was one lesson the child had learned long ago. His desire to become an ANBU was great, but he would not sacrifice who he was to become one of them.
***
The duo arrived at the training location after fifteen more minutes of traveling. The journey had taken place in silence, but neither one of them minded this much. At the moment they had nothing to say to each other.
The building that they arrived at had the appearance of a very traditional dojo, with the exception that it was entirely closed in and had only one entrance to it. Not a single window was even placed so that the light from outside could travel in. Feeling slightly excited about what he was about to do, the boy held his tongue as he watched the female open up the door and walk inside. Not wanting to wait any longer, Misaru followed her inside a second later.
Once inside, the child was greeted by a very bland interior. It was very dim, and only lit by four torches placed at each of the four corners. In the center of the room lied a very large mat that was perhaps fifty yards on each side. The three edges of the mat that were closest to the Konoha chuunin were lined by about five yards of wooden floor until they finally touched the wall. The edge of the mat farther from Misaru had about ten yards of wooden floor before it touched the wall, and in the center of this section was a small chest that was closed but unlocked.
“We are going to start the training now. Normally I would spend at least a week on this process, but I am not interested in wasting any more time on this than is necessary. You have the eyes of the Uchiha, and that should allow you to train yourself in our techniques fairly quickly. The thing that is going to be difficult with you is instilling our ways in your mind. For the entire training progress, I want to spend no more than two days. To do this is going to require that we work exceptionally hard, and take not a single break. We will begin now.” The female strolled to the center of the dojo and face Misaru from across the mat. Looking out at the lady, the child was slightly discouraged by her manner. He had not expected the ANBU to allow their emotions influence their decisions, and this woman’s dislike for him was clearly causing her to want to be rid of him as quick as possible. Then again, this could be a good thing for both of them. The Uchiha did not feel like spending any more time with this lady than was absolutely necessary.
Taking a place directly across from the woman, the child watched as she dropped down into an offensive fighting position. It seemed that this portion of the training would involve a sequence of combat.
“We are now going to test your skills in hand to hand combat. I noticed earlier that you did not employ any of these abilities, and that you simply used your Sharingan to read and exploit weaknesses in your opponent’s style. When fighting against an opponent who uses taijutsu, your Sharingan can only help you so much. From what I have learned on it, it can still read the movements, but your body has to be able to keep up with them. If you are unable to do so, your bloodline ability becomes close to useless.” The woman’s words showed a great insight into the Sharingan’s capabilities, and told Misaru that she knew a surprising amount about something that was supposed to be kept hidden. Before the child had any more time to think, he was immediately assaulted by a punch to his chest. Having been completely unprepared for the attack, he was sent spiraling backwards onto the soft floor.
Putting his guard up immediately, the young man rolled back up to his feet and let his chakra course into his eyes. Activating his Sharingan as soon as he was back up to his feet, he watched the woman come at him with fury contorting her features. Seeing that she was moving at a speed that he could easily match, the boy did not bother to put up a very thorough defense. The style that he was going to try and employ was meant to falsely give his enemy confidence and cause them to expose an opening that could allow for the user to plant a devastating attack. This style worked exceptionally well with the assistance of the Sharingan.
Watching the woman’s movements carefully, the boy was astonished as her speed reached a higher level the moment she got within attacking range. Not prepared for such a tactic, the boy readjusted himself in time only because of his incredible reflexes. Keeping track of her carefully with his eyes, he searched for an opening as she came at him with a punch, but amazingly found none. Her style had been flawless. The punch came soaring through the air, and all the chuunin could do was put up a hand and try to defend against it. Instead the attack pushed past his weak defense and connected powerfully with his cheek. Feeling his body being lifted off of the ground by the force of the jab, the young man was once again sent crashing back down to the ground.
Managing to never take his eyes off of his enemy through the entire sequence, Misaru saw her as she ran at him and sent a kick flying down at him while he was on the ground. Putting his arms across his chest, he managed to take the brunt of the attack with little damage. The problem was that the moment after the kick landed the ANBU followed it up with a punch aimed for his face. Moving his arms as fast as he possibly could, he just barely managed to push the fist to the side of his face. Finally seeing the opening that he had been waiting for, the boy launched one of his hands forward and tried to land a two finger attack on her throat.
On most opponents’ this ploy would have worked, but on this woman it was ineffective. She quickly used the elbow of the arm that was extended forward to divert the attack, and then followed the move up by nailing Misaru directly in the stomach with her other arm. The force of the attack caused internal damage inside of the child’s body, and before he fully realized what had happened he was coughing up blood.
Backing away from the boy, the female ANBU looked down at him and shook her head in disgust. Unable to mutter a single comment, the youth simply coughed up more blood and struggled to get back up to his feet.
“Your Taijutsu style is horrible. You rely completely on your superior sight, and completely ignore your body’s natural abilities. We are basically evenly matched on speed and you even have the advantage on reflexes. You are being decimated in this fight; however, because your style is not even close to the level of mine. At the moment, we do not have the time to improve upon your poor taijutsu style. The only solution is to teach you the drive and focus that backs all Taijutsu styles. The next time you come at me, you must have every fiber in your being screaming to attack me. I want you to hold nothing back, and you must do everything in your power to destroy me. This will most likely not improve your style, but it will help you become more ferocious.” As soon as she finished speaking Misaru was charging at her. If she wanted him to fight her with every fiber in his being, then he had no problem doing so.
Using the Sharingan, he guessed at her initial movements and saw her preparing to launch a punch at him as soon as he came within her reach. She was then going to use the moments while he was stunned to follow it up with a series of blows. The boy gave a small smirk at this. She would not give him an opening, so he would have to ruin her strategy and force her to create one. Letting her fist fully catch him in the face, the young man ignored the pain that erupted in his being and let his mind do nothing but focus on his goal. Before he knew what he was doing he had sent a fist forward and was blasting his enemy in the stomach. Not expecting the Uchiha to sacrifice himself to land an attack of his own on her, the woman was unable to defend against his punch. The force of the attack managed to cause her to lose her breath, but she was not distracted by this. Her mind was also solely focused on her goal.
In the next ten minutes both fighters went at each other with a desire to crush the other’s body into the dirt. While the female ANBU managed to obviously outdo Misaru in this battle, the boy proved that he was a quick learner and inflicted several careful strikes on her as well. By the end of the short training session, both fighters were banged up and exhausted. When the lady had finally called the duel to a halt, they were struggling to keep themselves on their feet.
“You are a quick learner, I will give you that.” The woman’s compliment did not give the Uchiha any joy. His entire body was aching from what they had just done, and he was grateful that they were done with that portion of the training.
“We are making good time, and I don’t want to lose that pace now. We are going to move onto the genjutsu portion of your training now. Your Sharingan eye should be incredibly adept at this area of the ninja arts, and because of this I am not going to bore you by making this a drawn out challenge. All I want you to do is overcome my illusion, and then we can move on.” Nodding, Misaru sucked in a deep breath and focused his Sharingan eyes. He was dead beat, but he was way too stubborn to quit now.
Using only two hand seals, the woman suddenly disappeared from all sight. Analyzing what hand seals she had used and how she had formed her chakra, the Uchiha had no trouble at figuring out what her genjutsu had done to him. It had been a simple mind altering spell that was causing his eyes to ‘ignore’ her. Now came the tricky part, figuring out how to dispel the effects.
Letting the tomoe in his eyes spin around, he could feel his mind racing through the steps that would allow him to counteract the technique. Going almost completely on instinct, he smiled as he undid the webs of chakra that she had placed upon his mind. Instantly she reappeared before him, looking down at a stop watch. Apparently she had been timing him and seeing how long it had taken him to break free of her spell.
“Not too bad. It took you two seconds to break the technique. I had been expecting you to do it a bit quicker, but you definitely pass the basic three point five second requirement of the ANBU. Well we’ll just move onto the ninjutsu portion of the exam now then. For this stage, you must prove that you have sufficient skill in defending against and employing ninjutsu techniques. We begin now.” Forming seals before she had even spoke; the woman finished the jutsu with an astonishing quickness. Memorizing the pattern of the hand seals and chakra, the boy discovered the effects of the technique too late. In the next moment his body was paralyzed and he was unable to make a move to defend himself.
Forming several more hand seals the female ANBU used the time that Misaru was bound to disappear from his sight with the Body Flicker Technique. Cursing when he gained the ability to control his actions again, the child turned around just in time to see a blast of poison gas erupt into his face. Breathing in the toxic fumes, he found that they were burning his throat and making it hard for him to breath. Forcing his legs to shove himself backward, the Uchiha looked forward to see the woman smiling at him.
“The poison I just gave you will render you unconscious in ten seconds. As soon as that happens, you will fail this test.” Her words ignited a rage inside of the boy that fueled his drive. The rules had just changed, and he now had a total of ten seconds to defeat her. Before he knew what he was doing, his body began to form a series of hand seals and he was performing a jutsu that he had just watched her use a moment before. Realizing what he was doing at the at the last moment, the woman could do nothing to protect herself as her own body was bound by the paralysis jutsu.
Wasting no time, the child hurled kunai attached with ninja wire at her which immediately bound her body at the same time the jutsu wore off. Giving her one of her own smiles, the young man created another series of hand seals, and then blew out a stream of powerful flames as he performed the great fireball technique. Seeing a burst of fear in her eyes, the child ended the technique a moment before it would have killed her.
“Guess I win…” Falling forward, the child was rendered unconscious by the poison that was inside of his body.
***
Thoughts were beginning to groggily come back into Misaru’s mind. He was having trouble understanding what was around him, and the only clear thing he noticed was the remarkable amount of pain that he was in. For some reason, his entire body was aching, and his head was pounding worst of all. Trying to remember back to what had been happening, the boy began to wonder if he had been tortured. After finally managing to open his eyes, he looked forward to see that he was inside some sort of dojo. This broke the dam that was blocking his memories, and he immediately recalled what was going on. Taking in a quick, deep breath, the youthful chuunin put his hands on the ground and tried to shove himself back up to his feet. He stumbled on his first couple of attempts, but on his fourth he finally managed to rise up to his full height.
“You are unlike most warriors I have seen Uchiha Misaru. Most simply accept what they are told by their superiors, but you question it. The ANBU does not encourage this type of behavior, and you will find it will only hold you back in your quest to join us.” Taking a slight breath of air, the boy prepared to talk, but was suddenly hit very hard in the stomach. Having completely lowered his defenses since he had risen from the ground, the child looked down to see that the ANBU woman had reappeared and had her fist buried in his gut. Coughing out blood, the young man slid off her hand and fell to the ground. Seeing spots in front of his eyes, Misaru desperately tried to get his wind back. He only managed to take in a few painful gulps of air before the older ninja began to relentlessly kick him with her legs. The blows that she rained down on him would stay on one spot just long enough to make it go numb from the pain before she would switch locations. By the time the boy had enough sense back in his mind to realize that he was no longer being attacked, he looked over to find the woman laying down on the ground and panting.
“You take pain pretty well. I would have expected you to cry out from those blows. Most of the students I’ve had in the past end up shedding tears because of it.” The boy wanted to come up with a small retort, but he found that every breath he took only brought pain into his body. She had most likely broken every rib in his chest, and probably had inflicted more serious injuries on him elsewhere. Trying to find someway to force his body to get out of the fetal position, he discovered that all his efforts were in vain. No part of his body would respond to his commands. She had been very thorough in making sure she hit every part of his anatomy.
“Oh, and that was your punishment for speaking to me earlier, and for trying to speak right after you woke up. I told you not to utter a single word, and yet you ignored my warning. I must teach you the consequences for disobedience. But, just so you know, we killed two birds with one stone there. Part of this training involves you being tortured anyway, so in a way we managed to help your problem with authority at the same time as getting part of the training out of the way.” Misaru’s mind was starting to push past the pain he felt, and now was grasping onto an emotion that was building up inside of him. He was starting to hate this woman. No, hate was not a powerful enough word. He was starting to despise her. This foul creature was the type of person he was joining the ANBU to stop, and yet she was in charge of such an organization. How could he be expected to take orders from her?!
Before he knew what he was doing, the chuunin was rolling over onto his front and using every ounce of power he had left to try and shove himself up to his feet. Finding that his body was incapable of such a feat in its present condition, he began to power his weakened muscles and bones with chakra. This added energy gave him the boost he needed to force himself up to his feet. Once standing, the young man ignored everything but the woman that he saw in front of him. She was the cause of the pain he was feeling now, and it was time to teach her a lesson. The ANBU had sought to destroy Uchiha Misaru and make him into an entirely new being, and that was not going to happen. Now, instead of desiring to become an ANBU at all costs, that determination mutated itself. He now was desperately trying to stay himself. No matter what happened now, he would not let her take anything else away from who he was.
“I will not let you break me!” He screamed out his words, and as soon as he did the woman began to run at him. Seeing that she was moving at full speed, he knew he was left with only one option. He would never be able to match her taijutsu skill now that he had been weakened, but he could do something else to her. Trying to once again perform the paralysis jutsu on her, he found it was no use. She had her defenses up this time, and would not be taken by the same move twice. That left him with only one option. He was going to have to attack her while she was moving. That would give her a better chance at avoiding his attack, but it was his only chance at damaging her before she could get to him.
Sucking in a deep breath of air and imbuing it with flammable chakra, Misaru then expelled the substance in the direction of the woman. As he spit the air forward, he used a seal to ignite it with a slight spark from his chakra. The result was an immensely powerful ball of fire that was heading directly for her.
Having not expected so much power to be left inside of her student, the female ANBU was only able to partially dodge the oncoming flames. By the time the fire had finally died down, she had a vicious burn on the top of her left arm, and on her left shoulder. A new type of rage began to ignite within her eyes, and it showed that she was ready to really inflict pain upon her charge now.
“Let’s see how well you do in the dark!” Using a burst of wind that was full of her chakra, the woman sent the gust to all the torches inside of the room. In the next instant the entire place was full of one thing: Darkness. The woman had just performed a very decisive maneuver. Even if Misaru had the strength to use the Sharingan now, it would do him no good. His enhanced vision required there to be some type of light in the room, and at the moment there was none. Unless she performed some type of move that would give her a chakra signature, the Uchiha bloodline had just become completely useless. Without his bloodline and with his chakra greatly reduced, the child was forced to resort to his weakest area of combat, hand to hand combat techniques. And, to add further handicaps, his body was next to demolished. A small smirk of disappointment arose on his face. Fate had decided to give him every handicap but the inability to survive. The desire to live was all that the child needed to survive the encounter.
Reaching into his pack, Misaru withdrew one handful of kunai, and placed a single kunai in his other hand. These were the last weapons that he had left, but he knew that he was only going to have one chance to succeed in his task. Closing his eyes and centering himself onto the area around him, he placed the hand with the single kunai at his side and then put the one with five kunai in an attacking position. Listening carefully, the chuunin discovered that the female ANBU was making no sound. The child’s smirk grew even wider as he realized she had mastered the art of assassination. She was a true ANBU.
Throwing four of the five kunai he held in his hand to all the corners of the room, the young man waited for the sound of them hitting their targets. Once this occurred, he stabbed the remaining kunai he held in his hand into the ground. Placing the tip of his foot through the hole on the top of the kunai, he brought his other hand of kunai up and then waited patiently.
It was a few seconds later that the first attack came. The woman hurled two shuriken at him, and each of the weapons collided into his two arms. Before he knew what had happened, both of his arms fell limply to his side. It took all the strength he had left to keep the projectile in his own hands from falling to the ground.
Now the woman was starting to gain confidence. The boy had been completely unable to defend against her last attack. She had him in the palm of her hand now. Charging forward almost obviously, she allowed him to hear her now.
“You are finished.” The moment that Misaru heard a slash from a kunai coming for his neck, he yanked the kunai up from the ground as hard as he could and then fell backwards onto the ground. The kunai he had kicked back out of the ground hurled up into the air, and a glint from the end of it revealed that it was attached by ninja wire to each of the kunai in the four corners of the room. The force of the suddenly kicked up weapon yanked the rest of the weapons out of the walls, and they each began to fly across the room, tangling up the female ANBU who was standing in the middle of them. Before she had fully realized what had happened, she was tied up and falling to the ground herself. Flicking the hand with the single kunai up, he waited until he heard the woman land on it. The fact that she did not scream when she hit the weapon only confirmed that the attack had been fatal.
It was done. His hopes to become an ANBU had been destroyed, but he had gained something much more important. He had discovered that he wanted to be himself, and that he would fight to prevent losing any part of his being. He might not be perfect, but he was exactly who he wanted to be.
Taking a deep breath, Misaru yanked his hand out from under the woman by rolling onto his side. Grunting from the effort, he looked over and stared at the door. Getting out of the dojo in his current state was going to be even more difficult than killing the ANBU. Deciding to jump right into the task instead of letting his desire dwindle, the youth began to roll over to the exit. The process was slow and painful, but there was no way he would have been able to get up and walk over to it. After several minutes of struggling, he finally arrived at his destination.
Pushing the door open by leaning his weight against it as he reached up and turned the handle, he managed to fall forward into the sunlight of a brilliant day. Feeling as if the energy from the sun was rejuvenating, he performed a very rare action. Uchiha Misaru began to give a real smile. The small feat was soon destroyed, however, when the shadow of four warriors blocked his vision of the sun. Instantly the chuunin was surrounded by four ANBU. Expecting to be instantly killed by the fighters, he was instead surprised when all four of them fell forward and began to use their chakra to heal his injuries. In less than a minute he was back to his normal self.
Jumping up to his feet, he was about to assume a defensive position when he heard a small bit of laughter coming from inside of the dojo. Turning to look, he was astonished to see the female ANBU stroll out of there with a wide smile on her face. The smile she was giving now was different from the ones she had given earlier, however. This grin was full of life and was completely genuine.
“You have passed your training Uchiha Misaru. You will now be assigned an ANBU mission to perform, and once this is complete you will be a fully qualified ANBU.” The cheery voice she spoke in was completely different from the barking of orders that Misaru had heard earlier. It was almost as if she had become a completely different person.
“Can you please tell me what just happened?” She rolled her eyes and then waved one of her hands to dismiss the four ANBU standing around them. The shinobi gave a slight bow before disappearing into the forest.
“You just underwent a very special version of the ANBU training. We had to make sure that one as young as yourself would have the necessary maturity and determination to become an ANBU, so we just put you through a series of very unique challenges. The first were basic ones to test your courage and skill. The next stage was inside of the training dojo. Hear we tested how well you submitted to orders, and then refined your skills slightly at the same time. At first, you were inclined to listen to what I told you, but slowly you started to use your own mind and decision making skills to see past what I was telling you and to make the right decisions. The whole goal of the ANBU is to protect Konoha, but we will not do so by sinking to the level of our opponents. We must act with some dignity; otherwise nothing separates us from them. Many ANBU never recognize this, and as a result they quickly become vile beings. We were afraid you would be especially liable to have this problem, but you proved us wrong. Anyway, if you will follow me I will take you back to our headquarters where you will be assigned your first mission.” Turning around, the ANBU woman prepared to launch off into the forest.
“You never did tell me your name.”
“Yukeita Harumi.” Not bothering to turn around, the woman launched off into the air and started up a fast pace back to Konoha.
Name: Kanashibari no Jutsu (Body Paralysis Technique)
Skill: Ninjutsu
Rank: D Rank
Progression: None
Effect: Opponent loses one action in the next turn (does not consume an action).
Cost: 24 Chakra
Description: Kanashibari no Jutsu is an advanced Ninjutsu technique used to temporarily bind an individual or animal. With the person frozen in place, the ninja can either take the opportunity to attack or to retreat.
Limits: Must be an ANBU member to learn; can only be used ONCE per battle.
