Ennozo Shimura
In a restaurant inside Konoha:
"Ennozo, are you graduating this year?" Danzo asked.
Ennozo looked at Danzo and shook his head. Ennozo, a 5-year-old, is in the same batch as Kakashi and others. He has dark hair with dark red eyes and carries a short sword like Kakashi did when he was younger.
"No, I'm only 5 years old, but there's this kid in my class named Kakashi, and he's taking early enrollment," answered Ennozo.
While Danzo was deep in thought, the food arrived at their table. Danzo pondered on how to obtain Kakashi, as Hiruzen probably has an eye on the kid.
"Say, Ennozo, would you like to train under me? I can help you graduate early like Kakashi."
"Really?"
Ennozo's calm demeanor was shortly broken when he heard those words. Ennozo wasn't the top of the class, nor the bottom. He was in the middle with little to no friends in the class. Like everyone in his class, he was jealous of Kakashi, as he wanted to be a great ninja.
Danzo gave Ennozo a smile and said, "Really."
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Uchiha compound:
"Patriarch!" A ninja wearing the Uchiha crest on his clothing suddenly appeared in a meeting room with the Uchiha patriarch and the elders.
"What is it? We are in an important meeting," said one of the elders while frowning.
The ninja directly bowed at the current clan patriarch and said, "Lord Third has sent a letter to our clan."
The patriarch, Fugaku Uchiha, ordered subordinate to hand him the letter. After receiving the letter, Fugaku's face became angry.
Seeing their patriarchs face, the elders quickly asked, "What is it patriarch?"
"Lord Third has asked us to send our young ones."
"Preposterous! Hiruzen has gone crazy! He must want the Sharingan!" yelled one of the elders.
"Silence! Lord Third has asked us to hand over some children so that one of the elders can personally teach them," said Fugaku.
"What are they trying to say?! That we can't raise our children correctly?!"
"This is ridiculous! We must ask the Hokage-"
With the protest of the elders, Fugaku closed his eyes and opened them. Upon opening, three magatamas could be seen in his blood-red eyes. The room quickly became silent upon seeing the patriarch's eyes.
"That is enough from you. The Hokage has mentioned that the current manpower isn't sufficient and requested that we send them our children. Although there is a war looming, rest assured that I will not be sending any of our Uchiha members. However, we shall send them money instead; our clan is already being suppressed, we cannot have a bad relationship with the higher-ups of the village."
Similar things are happening around the village. Many of the clans are frustrated with the sudden recruitment but had no choice but to hand over the children, as they are not as powerful as the Uchiha. Out of the eight clans that were listed by Danzo, only six sent their children, and they are: The Nara, Sarutobi, Yamanaka, Aburame, Hatake, and the Hoki clan. Around 10 children out of the 6 clans were harvested by Hiruzen.
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Danzo's POV:
In truth, I don't have much expectation for this kid Ennozo. He's a character I have never heard of, but I can still make use of him as my test subject. However, if he did succeed in graduating early by the time Kakashi submits his early graduation, I will take him seriously.
After finishing our food, I made a plan with Ennozo that I will pick him up tomorrow to practice. Though his face was calm, I could see that he was happy.
Walking towards my residence, a ninja wearing a mask suddenly appeared next to me. Without hesitation, he gave me an envelope and left. I decided to quickly go to my house and open it inside my office. The envelope was the list of the children that will be given to me. The list also contained 1 jonin, 3 chunins, and 4 genin ninjas. Unlike the clan list, the 7 other ninjas were adults and were from Hiruzen's Anbu.
"So he's trying to monitor me, huh?" I snorted.
I ignored the 7 ninjas and read the clan list, and not seeing the Uchiha and Hyuga irritated me. I was looking forward to having an Uchiha and a Hyuga in Root.
'I guess I'll have to bother them for a bit,' I thought with a growing smirk on my face.
The list of children was kids that I have never heard of from the anime, so I instantly thought they won't be too useful. The Sarutobi and the Hoki clan had the most kids that they sent. Hiruzen sent 2 kids from his clan; I'm guessing it's to either monitor me, or it's just a fake hospitality. And the Hoki clan must want to gain favors, typical from small clans. Just 10 kids won't be enough; I will go to the academy and recruit promising ninjas.
Next morning in Hokage's office:
"Hiruzen, I don't need those 7 ninjas," I said.
"They are capable ninjas, Danzo. They can be your foundation. Teaching more than 5 kids will be tiring and will hinder some of the children's potential."
"I have all the time I need to train these kids; I can do it on my own. Tell those pests to not come to Root once the base is built."
As soon as I said those words, I left without hearing Hiruzen's plead. The base will be done in about 2 months, so I won't be getting the kids till then. In 2 months, Kakashi will also be graduating from the academy, and just as I predicted, Hiruzen doesn't want me to obtain him. I'll be training Ennozo so he can also graduate early. Speaking of him, I am heading towards the Shimura clan's compound to meet him.
"Really?! He's so cool!!"
When I was nearing the compound, I heard an obnoxious voice on the other side of the wall, and I was sure it wasn't coming from Ennozo. When I took a turn and looked at who it was, I saw a kid. He had black spiky hair and had dark eyes. He was wearing goggles on his forehead and had an Uchiha crest on the back of his clothing.
"Obito?"