The Darkness Within...

{Training ground 21, Konohagakure}

{7:45 AM, 25 March 78 Yrs}

Training Ground 21 was one of the abandoned training grounds, there were several reasons for this, it was a little too far from Konoha's center, there were no large water bodies present in the training ground, and since most of the Konoha shinobis had Fire natured chakra this training ground became naturally unpopular.

Sai stared at Hiroshi going through hand seals for the Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, he started sinking slowly underground as he vanished from Sai's senses for a whole minute before he came back up.

'Possible Earth Release chakra natured...' Sai concluded, He was tasked with following the genin since he arrived back in Konoha from a mission, it was a simple mission seeing he was just observing a reserve genin, but some things stuck out as odd to Sai.

The first was his chakra weights, after watching him for a few hours it was obvious he was undergoing weight training, but not knowing just how much weight he was dragging around, his basic physical strength and speed became a question mark. Secondly, he learned 3 Earth Release techniques in the past couple of days with one of them being a B-rank defensive jutsu. It wasn't anything prodigious but looking at the ease at which he mastered the jutsu, Sai concluded that his chakra nature has a high chance of being Earth-attuned.

'Has High-Chunin level chakra reserves and intermediate chakra control...' Hiroshi sped through the hand signs required to perform the Earth Release: Earth Wall. As the wall blocked him from Sai's vision, Hiroshi panted from exertion as he fell back on the grass and closed his eyes.

It wasn't clear to Sai why Hiroshi was in the Genin Reserves, he looked competent and hardworking, but then again these thoughts and questions just swept past his mind as he wrote more remarks in his notes.

'''...Taijutsu: 2/5{Further Evaluation needed}'''

'''...Ninjutsu: 3/5{Proficient in the Basic 3}'''

'''...Genjutsu: ?/5{Further Evaluation needed}'''

'''...Chakra Reserves: Mid/High-chunin'''

'''...Chakra Control: Intermediate'''

'''...Sensor: x {100m ping}

'''...Taijutsu Style: Unkown'''

'''...using weights for training... unknown speed... unknown strength... unknown chakra nature... 3-star comprehension...'''

Sai's attention focused on Hiroshi as he stood up, Sai knew Hiroshi's schedule, he would now go for a meal now before he would huddle in the Library all day until he comes to the training ground again at 4. As Hiroshi traveled towards Konoha, Sai silently slipped deeper into the forest, it took him 10 minutes to reach his destination, the bunker behind the Hokage's mountain served as the base for the ANBU, below it is the Hokage's tower which is surrounded by various buildings before the official buildings mix up with shops from the commercial district.

Between the commercial market and the Hokage Tower stood the Dragon Fire Hotel. One of the most prestigious hotels in Konoha where most of the important visiting diplomats reside. Sai slipped into the entrance before he walked in towards Room 003, a false wall was pushed aside before he started walking deeper underground. Root was one of the oldest divisions of ANBU, first headed by Lord Second, it was currently under Danzō Shimura, one of the students of Lord Second.

Root was responsible for doing all the missions that Konoha couldn't legally accept, it was the sword hidden in darkness that protected Konohagakure from threats all around the elemental nations. Sai walked to the mission room and put the scroll he wrote on the desk, the agent quickly labeled the scroll according to the mission before pushing it along.

Sai walked to his room, Danzo-sama had marked him for the elite training track, he had a lot of training to do but before his next mission, he was itching to draw something.

'...'

'...'

A few peaceful strokes later Sai could envision the softest eyes he had known, the strokes kept coming as the scenery of two birds flying through the skies appeared started forming.

'...'

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{Root Base 001, Konohagakure}

{3:15 PM, 25 March 78 Yrs}

Sai could count on one hand the number of times he had met Danzo-sama, today wasn't a day he was expecting to meet him. Currently, he was standing with two others while two people stood behind Danzo-sama, Sai had only heard rumors about the ruthless Hyuga and Yamanaka that took the responsibilities of guarding Danzo.

"Sai..." he stood at attention instantly, Danzo-sama was reading the scroll he had submitted earlier today his eyes scanned the scroll a few more times before he asked, "Submit all the reports relating to your surveillance mission."

The scroll he had submitted today was the preliminary assessment, he pulled out a scroll from his bag and placed it on the table. The Yamanaka moved as he picked up the scroll, and opened it before passing it along to Danzo-sama.

A few minutes passed by before he waved Sai away, Danzo looked at the young boy who silently walked out of the room, this was something he wasn't expecting, the report that Sai gave earlier today was unexpectedly marked as an asset by the division 1 leader.

'...what is Hamuro doing, is he really blinded by his anger.'

Danzo looked at the attributes marked by Sai again, it wasn't foolproof, it was just his 3rd surveillance mission after all but Danzo knew Sai's mind was sharp, he won't make such a blunder, which means that something weird is going on here.

Danzo pulled out a scroll from his desk, it was a request to assassinate Hiroshi by using Torune's ability. Since Torune was a high-class asset under his jurisdiction, he gave a routine instruction to monitor Hiroshi to make sure nothing went wrong.

'This needs to be reassessed...'

The file of genin named Hiroshi clearly told the story of how he was suppressed by Hamuro, and now Hiroshi was clearly hiding his progress while keeping everyone in the dark, even his own teammates.

'''...low genin level taijutsu, no ninjutsu learned, low genin level Bukijutsu...'''

Danzo read Hiroshi's standing evaluation given by his squad leader Tora, it was clear that Hiroshi was a little resentful and closed off because of what happened, but Danzo looked at the potential rating that Sai gave him. A hint of steel flashed in his eyes as he decided.

"Koi... take over Sai's shift from now on, I need a preliminary evaluation in 3 days..." the Hyuga standing behind him flashed as he body flickered out of the room.

Hiroshi Aburame was hiding his strength, whatever the real reason may be, Danzo marked him as an asset before he closed the scroll. He would sever any threats against Konoha before they could rise, even if he had to break him down before rebuilding him.

'''...Asset marked for Division 1 induction... APPROVED'''

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P.S- Opps! Forgot to schedule the chapter!!

P.S.- For advanced chapters check out my P.atreon - p.atreon.com/DesMark.

Currently 6 chapters ahead of Webnovel.