29 Mission

(Aizen POV)

It's been about a year since I was kidnapped and brought into the Root program.

My perception of time had distorted a long time ago since every day consists of the same routine.

Wake up, eat, train, eat, and sleep. It was quite a boring life, but not one that didn't come with its benefits.

After I was 'brainwashed' about eight months ago, I had the naive idea that my training would become a bit easier since I was now a 'fellow' Root member.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

The Root member in charge of training me, Kyo, was taking it easy on me because I wasn't an official member yet.

After I became one, however, he intensified my training efforts so that I 'could be of more use to Danzo'

Spars now included Ninjutsu and Genjutsu uses, and I couldn't even call them spars anymore.

I fought to the brink of exhaustion every day and returned to my room filled with injuries of all degrees. Occasionally, I would incur serious injuries that would have bedridden me for weeks if it wasn't for a medic ninja speeding up the healing process.

However, through this hill, I was able to polish my skills.

My martial art, the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist, or Water-Rock Fist for short, was the skill in which I made the most progress.

Since I wasn't under the tutelage of Bang, who created the martial art, my training with the Water-Rock Fist was based on memory and experience.

Essentially, I was exploring in the dark for this martial art.

The only time I made significant progress with the technique was when I battled against Kyo. Battles allowed my body to adjust to the form, and I formed my understanding of the Water-Rock Fist.

Reacting and responding. That was the core of the Water-Rock Fist I developed.

Reacting to the enemy's attack, whether current or future and performing the best response to that attack. This was essentially the perfect balance between defense and attack because reacting would allow me to put up a defense while responding would allow me to counterattack.

I wasn't masterful in the martial art yet, since that would consist of my body unconsciously reacting and responding. For now, I needed to consciously react to every attack and respond with the best counterattack, which slowed my reaction speed quite a bit.

When the day came that my body unconsciously reacted and responded to attacks, I could say I grasped the technique.

The other skill in which I made the most progress was Genjutsu.

Since introducing Genjutsu into my fights with Kyo, I have found many more applications for Genjutsu in battle.

Most ninjas didn't utilize Genjutsu because it was too troublesome.

To even consider becoming a Genjutsu specialist, a person had to have three things: fine chakra control, great intelligence, and talent in Yin release.

They needed talent in Yin release to learn Genjutsus easier and create powerful Genjutsu, great intelligence to make believable Genjutsu constructs, and fine chakra control to be able to form and maintain those Genjutsu constructs.

For the average shinobi, even for Kage-level shinobi, it was challenging to possess all three qualities.

For an Uchiha on the other hand, it was all too simple.

All they had to do was unlock their Sharingan.

The Uchiha inherited the Yin energy of the Sage of Six Paths, which meant their talent in Yin Release was high. They also had the Sharingan, which provided them with analytical skills so great they could improve upon their Genjutsu constructs, bypassing the need for great intelligence.

The Sharingan also allowed the user to see chakra, which allowed them to indirectly develop greater chakra control because they could more accurately sense chakra.

If a person has attained the three requirements, they must go through another obstacle, hand signs.

For a non-Uchiha ninja to cast Genjutsu, they needed to use hand signs. The more powerful the Genjutsu, the more chakra necessary, and thus the more hand signs needed to move that chakra.

This meant stronger Genjutsu needed time to be cast, and in the middle of a battle, this time was essential and too important to be lost. That was the main reason that ninjas didn't spend time and effort into becoming proficient in Genjutsu, just breaking it.

Once again, the Sharingan bypassed the need for hand signs. Simply by achieving eye contact, a Sharingan can trap opponents in powerful Genjutsu constructs.

I fell into the disadvantage I just mentioned as well.

I achieved intelligence with my twenty-plus years of learning in an advanced society, fine chakra control from my chakra control exercises, and a talent in Yin Release because I had the souls of two instead of one.

I still needed to use hand signs, which brought upon my new application of Genjutsu in battles.

Most Genjutsu involved creating an imaginary world, which needed a lot of chakra.

The Genjutsu I used was different. My Genjutsu operated in the real world, meaning I didn't need to create an imaginary world. I also only used Genjutsu to affect a single sense, which used relatively little chakra and thus needed very few hand signs.

The best example of this is in Sasuke's fight with Danzo. Sasuke cast a Genjutsu on Danzo, which made him see his last Sharingan eye was open when it was closed.

Although it was a simple technique, it was crucial in his victory.

These were the types of Genjutsu I specialized in and created. Small and subtle Genjutsu went largely unnoticed but would allow me to obtain a crucial advantage in battle.

I used them to obtain a few victories in battle with Kyo, even though he was a Jonin and I had just entered the rank of high Chunin.

The final skill of mine that I made considerable improvements in was my mindscape.

I made sure to meditate every day, and the effects on my mindscape were apparent.

While before, my mindscape only had forest and shrubbery, rivers and streams had recently formed.

The river and streams crossed through the entire forest, and it added to the peaceful tranquility of the

I thought of inserting my memories into the river rather than the forest and shrubbery since doing so would make the memories much harder to find and read.

It sounded great in theory, however, doing it in the application was much more difficult. To put my memories in these water droplets, I first have to compress the memory itself to be able to fit in that water droplet.

A normal memory occupied space in the mindscape. The more important the memory, the more space the representation of the memory occupied in the mindscape.

The mindscape was a representation of the mind, after all. By attaching greater significance to memory, it will take greater significance in a mindscape.

Now, I had to compress these important memories to the size of water droplets, when before I had only compressed them to the size of twigs.

The difficulty was overwhelming, especially since I had to do so for every individual memory.

However, by meditating every day, I would one day be able to make my memories and mind an impenetrable fortress-like I had dreamed.

I wasn't successful yet, as I only formed the river and streams about a week ago, however, I also couldn't see this being a short-term goal.

It would probably require decades to be able to turn even half of my memories into water droplets since I would be forming new significant memories as time passed.

The more complicated my mindscape got, the more fortified I felt my mind becoming and the better my thought process became.

It wasn't that I was becoming smarter; my mind was simply becoming more efficient: my thoughts became clearer, my memory became better, and my processing powers became stronger.

I also made sure to keep training my Ninjutsu and Kenjutsu, however, the progress they were making paled in comparison to my Taijutsu and Genjutsu.

The day started as usual. I woke up, ate breakfast, and headed to the training ground.

Instead of finding Kyo, however, I found Danzo and one of his attendants waiting for me at the training ground instead.

I took a knee and exclaimed,

"Lord Danzo!"

Since I separated all the thoughts and memories of Aizen and John, I could switch between the two quite fluidly.

John was the dominant personality, though when I interacted with Danzo, I allowed Aizen's personality to take over.

"At ease, Kira. Kyo has informed me that you have reached the strength necessary to participate in missions. As such, from this day forward, you will begin going on missions with other Root members. Some missions will be on your own, while some will be with other members. The number of people will differ based on every mission."

"Yes, Lord Danzo. I was allowed to achieve my current strength because of your compassion! I won't disappoint you!"

"Yes, I don't believe you will, Kira. I have high hopes for you after all."

He then nodded at his attendant, who came forward with a Root outfit and a mask.

"You will wear your mask and Root outfit always from now on. You have to maintain absolute secrecy, as every Root member does."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

"Your first mission begins today. Report to the mission hall and the rest of your team will receive you. Don't disappoint me, Kira."

"I will not, Lord Danzo! Thank you for your trust!"

After that, Danzo and his attendant left me alone in the training ground. I went back to my room to change into my Root outfit before going to the mission hall.

My outfit consisted of a black jacket with red stripes on the side, covered by an all-black cloak that encompassed the entirety of my body. My mask resembled a cat, with four red lines on the side symbolizing whiskers and red ears symbolizing a cat's.

The eyes were similar to that of a cat's as well, consisting of two red almond-shaped slits.

I quickly went to the mission hall and saw a person standing there, waiting for me.

"I'm presuming you are Kira. My name is Ike. Lord Danzo has told me that this is your first mission, and as such, I will be taking charge."

"Ok."

"Our mission is as follows; Track a missing ninja from Iwagakure and report his location to Lord Danzo. The ninja named Deidara is currently 14 years old and defected from Iwagakure about two months ago. He has the Explosion Release Kekkai Genkai, and we are to avoid contact by all means possible."

After nodding to show my understanding, I was internally shocked by the contents. Deidara had already defected, it seems.

Not only that, but he was already an S-rank at the age of 14. What an underrated genius.

He became a Kage-level shinobi about the same time as Itachi Uchiha, one of the most prodigious ninjas in history.

"When do we leave?"

"Right now."

After saying that, he began walking toward the exit of the Root headquarters. As the Root needed total concealment, the exit is outside of the Village and not inside, so we didn't need to worry about going through the gate.

After making our way to the exit, I took the opportunity to embrace the sunlight shining upon me and the breeze which drifted by me.

At this moment, I was free. I was outside the Village, outside of Danzo's grasp, outside of everything.

My fantasies soon were quenched, however, and I returned to reality.

"Let's go."

After saying that, Ike performed the Body Flicker Technique and started going. I followed behind, and we began our journey to Ishigakure.

The land of Ishigakure lies between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind. Many S-rank shinobi have hailed from there and thus are allowed to keep its land even though it's between two major shinobi lands.

After about two days of travel, we made it to the entrance to Ishigakure.

The area was very mountainous and rocky, like the Land of Earth, however, it also had waterfalls all around. It was a beautiful sight.

"Cast a Transformation Jutsu on yourself. We can't be high profile."

After saying that, he cast the Jutsu and took the appearance of a somewhat unruly-looking man.

I also cast the Jutsu and transformed more into what Aizen Sosuke from the Bleach anime looked like.

I had drawn parallels between my name and his, but the connection was only in name. And our interest in Genjutsu. And some of our philosophies about the strong.

But that was it.

After we transformed, we made our way inside the land and went to the Village. After arriving, we simply entered with no need for a background check or scroll.

"I'll go to a bar and search for information. You go to a restaurant."

"All right."

After saying that, he walked in a separate direction from me and left me free to roam around.

On the first day of our investigations, nothing popped up.

I visited multiple restaurants around the Village, fishing for information as well as enjoying the delicacies. The fish in Ishigakure was fresh and tasteful since the village had some waterfalls near it.

They seasoned it just right with a multitude of herbs and seasonings.

We rented a night at a random inn as Ike and I both had no results from our investigations.

The next day, Ike assigned me the same task, to collect information from restaurants about Deidara. Since I was hungry and I wanted to try something new, I went to a dango shop and ordered some dango to eat.

I ordered a side of green tea and enjoyed my food.

The dango was pretty good. It was sweet rice dumplings, and the texture and warmth were very comforting.

After some time in this atmosphere, the bell to the shop rang, and I heard someone say,

"Excuse me, can I have seven Dangos."

"Of course."

I kept enjoying my dango, only turning around to look at the person when the dango was delivered.

Seven dango were a lot. I was curious about what type of person would make such a large purchase.

After briefly glancing, I looked back at my plate as the man exited the shop.

"Phew."

Only after he left did I release the breath I was unconsciously holding.

To be safe, I stayed in the shop for a couple of more minutes before paying the woman and leaving the store.

After surveying my surroundings, I was relieved to find the person had left, and I started racing toward Ike to inform him of the new development.

I found him after running for a couple of minutes, and as soon as I saw him, I blurted

"Ike, something has happened! I was collecting information at a dango shop, and Itachi Uchiha entered the shop, purchasing seven dango, before leaving."

"Did you just say Itachi Uchiha?"

"Yes. Itachi Uchiha."

"Clan Killer Itachi?"

"Yes. Clan Killer Itachi of the Sharingan."

"Are you certain the person you saw was Itachi?"

Although I wanted to release a Gunshot Jutsu on his head, I calmed myself instead and said,

"Yes, sir. I have seen and interacted with him before and as such, I can confirm that I just saw Itachi Uchiha."

"We need to report this to Lord Danzo. This information is too paramount."

"But what about the mission?"

I didn't want to fail my first mission after all.

"As I was collecting information, I heard that a ninja named Deidara does mercenary missions in this Village. People visit him at the top of Yudono mountain. After we confirm his location, we can head back to the Leaf Village as swiftly as possible."

"Then we should head to confirm the information now."

After saying that, Ike and I headed to Yudono mountain and began climbing. I knew that, in the show, Itachi came with Kisame and Sasori, meaning they were in Ishigakure with him.

I had the intention of living though, and thus I hoped we wouldn't see them today.

It took us an hour to get to the top of the mountain, and on the top, we found an abandoned temple. Before we could enter, however, the temple began rumbling and we heard a burst.

Ike and I stayed outside for a bit before entering, only to see Deidara on the ground screeching while Sasori and Kisame stood on the side, watching.

Itachi was standing in the hole, with the sun shining only upon him. And nowhere else?

I think it was a Genjutsu he cast. I stifled a nervous chuckle and reigned myself back in.

The point was, this was bad.

All three of them were currently looking at us after we'd been sensed, and Kisame was the first to speak.

"Hehe, it seems like you weren't discreet enough this time, Itachi."

"I'll take care of the rats." (Sasori)

"No, let me take care of them. They are Leaf shinobi, after all." (Itachi)

Ike and I immediately did the Body Flicker Jutsu and ran away. We thought our efforts were successful until we saw Itachi standing in front of us.

He was wearing an all-black cloak that was coated with red clouds. The formal Akatsuki coat.

His three-tomoe Sharingan peered at us, stopping at me for a bit before going back to Ike.

"We have no conflict with you, Itachi of the Sharingan."

Itachi simply stared.

The standstill continued until Ike suddenly began breathing heavily.

I looked over at him, only to see his eyes glazed and his body wavering.

He was already caught in Itachi's Genjutsu.

I looked back toward Itachi, but I only saw his body dissipating into multiple crows.

The entire world began dissolving into crows.

Oh shit.

I was caught in a Genjutsu too.

Soon, I saw nothing but crows, the sky, the earth, and everything in between.

The crows enveloped me.

I howled in pain as the crows bit into my flesh, but my voice was drowned by the staggering amount of crows flapping their wings and screeching, enjoying the feast.

I tried to dissipate the Genjutsu by stopping my chakra flow and flooding my system, but it didn't work.

The crows continued their feast, eating me alive.

No matter how much I screamed and resisted, the world itself had turned into crows. I had no way to resist.

Nowhere to run or hide.

My skin was already all pecked, but the crows didn't stop.

They kept pecking at my muscles, my tendons, and my bones.

They never stopped until I was nothing.

Nothing at all...

I woke up to the sun shining down on me.

I sat up with a gasp as the feeling of crows consuming me remained fresh in my mind.

Looking around, I saw Ike on the ground, his status unknown.

I surveyed the surroundings and saw nothing. Everything was peaceful.

There were no crows. The world was back.

I was never so grateful to know that I was standing on earth and dirt rather than something else.

I think my favorability for Earth Release even increased.

I went to stand up, however, a massive headache assaulted my mind.

I decided to rest until I could stand back up.

Itachi had left me alive, but I couldn't say the same about Ike.

His chest wasn't rising: a sign that he wasn't breathing anymore.

After about half an hour, I could stand up and walk over to Ike.

Putting my ear on his chest, I confirmed that his heart wasn't beating anymore.

I flipped him over and saw a shuriken impaled on the back of his head.

I decided to bury Ike on the spot because it would be too troublesome to carry his body back to the Leaf Village.

Itachi knew who I was.

I had gone in with my disguise, but the Sharingan could see chakra and recognize chakra signatures. There was no way Itachi didn't know who I was.

The fact that I survived his Genjutsu and was able to come out of it with my brain intact could be explained by my greater mind-power and robust soul, but it still wouldn't explain why Itachi didn't choose to finish the job with a simple kunai to the head while I was unconscious.

Maybe it was because he wanted someone to spread the word to Danzo about his status, or maybe he recognized me as Sasuke's childhood friend.

Only Itachi himself knew.

After arriving back in the Village, I remained there for a bit, eating some food and recuperating, before finally heading back to Konoha.

It took me about two and a half days to make it back to Konoha.

I needed to rest a lot on the way back since I wasn't at my peak, but I eventually made it.

After arriving at the tunnel, I looked at the sun and trees once more before returning to my prison.

It wasn't the time to escape. At least, not yet.

I still had much more room to grow in the Root program. I might as well take advantage of the situation to raise my strength before cutting off all connections with Danzo.

I already paid the price of Danzo's loyalty, after all. I might as well enjoy the opportunity that came from that.

After getting back to the Root headquarters, I went to Danzo's office to report what happened.

I came in front of him, and he immediately said,

"Report your mission."

"Yes, Lord Danzo. When we first arrived--"

After giving him a quick description of all the events, I also added at the end,

"--I don't believe that Deidara is still there, however. I visited the temple after I woke up, but there was no sign of Deidara, nor Itachi and his two accomplices."

Danzo stayed silent for a while before saying,

"Tch, how useless. Perishing due to a 15-year-old boy. You did well in surviving, Kira. I've invested too much in you. You still have so much use, after all."

"Thank you for your compliments, Lord Danzo!"

"You may retreat to your dwelling now."

"Yes, Lord Danzo!"

After I said that, I proceeded to walk to my room

On the way out, I was able to hear Danzo say one more thing,

"Bastard Uchiha."

I stifled a snort and walked to my room.

After I got there, I immediately went to sleep.

My mind was still in shambles after that entire event.

The memory of crows eating me alive still haunted me.

I was awake for the entire process, even when I became nothing but food in all of the crows' stomachs.

I could still feel the phantom feeling of crows constantly devouring my flesh.

I woke up the next day, at five AM, even though I had gone to sleep yesterday afternoon.

My mind was feeling much better after getting some rest.

It could also be my Senju healing factor at work, healing my mind from the physical damage it had gone through.

Shinobi could be physically hurt by illusions, especially potent ones like the one Itachi cast on me.

The mind was a powerful force. It could manifest physical consequences even if everything only occurred inside of itself.

The mind and body were indivisible, after all. If the mind decays, so does the body, and vice versa.

Genjutsu had the power to cause permanent injuries.

Kakashi had even gone into a long coma to recuperate from his time in the Tsukuyomi, and if it wasn't for Tsunade, it might have lasted for months or years.

After eating and stretching, I went to the training grounds and began training. Since Kyo wasn't assigned to be my teacher anymore, the training ground was empty.

Since he was gone, I did something I couldn't do in his presence.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A replica of myself appeared, and he said what was on my mind.

"Woah."

"I know"

"How long should I be kept active?"

"Might as well stay as long as you can. Just go to the side and do my usual routine, and I'll do body conditioning."

"Sounds good to me."

After saying that, clone-me went a bit far from me and started performing the Water-Rock Fist while I went to a tree and began conditioning my body.

A shadow clone's experiences would all transfer back to me, so practicing a martial art would still reap benefits, but a shadow clone couldn't perform body conditioning, thus I did that.

The shadow clone had about 40% of my entire chakra reserves, which meant he could go training for a long time.

After the day of training finished, the shadow clone had almost no chakra left, just enough to keep him active.

"I'm going to disappear now. Get ready."

He disappeared into a puff of smoke, while an influx of memories and experiences rushed into my brain.

I clutched my head, but after a couple of minutes, the aftereffects of the rush disappeared.

My healing factor healed my mind as well, and though it wasn't as strong as Naruto's, who had the Kyuubi's healing as well, I could handle a single Shadow Clone.

The feeling of receiving memories directly was just foreign to me.

I went to a tree and meditated to view my mindscape.

It had the same appearance as before, yet a new tree was sprouting in the middle of the forest. I looked at the memories there and saw that they belonged to the shadow clone.

Did my mind hurt because the tree was too young to handle all the memories, or will my mind always suffer?

I couldn't decide on an answer until the tree storing the clone's memories became bigger and sturdier.

I stretched for a bit before returning to my room and sleeping.

The next began, and I fell into a routine once again.

The shadow clone would perform my training, while I trained body conditioning the entire day.

Now and then, Danzo would summon me and give me a mission.

Before Hiruzen 'disbanded' the Root, Danzo assigned missions constantly, but since he needed to keep a small operation now, missions were only assigned weekly or monthly.

Most of my missions were simple, such as reconnaissance or stealing something, while some involved assassinations.

My strength increased steadily this was since I had a semblance of balance between training and fighting.

Time passed in such a manner, and soon it would have been two years since I was taken into the Root.