42

~~1 Month later~~

In the canyon on the edge of Konoha, a clear stream flows quite forcefully.

With bursts of crisp metal collisions, five blurs fought with everything they got, a female Anbu ninja with purple hair was lying down on the ground at the shore.

"You both are Konoha Shinobis why do you wish to kill her so badly?", Shisui asked while holding his dagger

"Yeah sure. Just because you asked so politely, I will give you an answer. Ahem. Listen carefully alright? None. of. your. business"

Hearing Shisui's questioning the masked Anbu couldn't help but give back the sarcastic answer, Shisui Uchiha, Ghost's sole disciple (self-declared) and a member of his elite assassination squad. They know about his strength, but what shocked them more is that the other Uchiha guy with Shisui, the pre-teen Itachi Uchiha who has just entered Anbu is fighting them head-on and still winning by a slight margin.

Itachi Uchiha is just 11 years old. To the rest, Itachi should be the weakest present here but no... this guy is just slippery as a loach.

"Companion is not just a word, those who turn their hands against their comrades are sure to die a terrible death", Itachi's pair of scarlet three tomoe Sharingan rotated.

Shisui grin and raised his Kunai as his very own Sharingan rotates vividly.

"Companion? She is f**ing traitor. We have been trying to hunt her down for a week now. So shut the hell up and let us do our job"

Confused Itachi and Shisui looked at each other before Shisui stared at them, "Then we will take her to Hokage sama, he will make a fair judgment"

"Uchiha Shisui, don't intervene in matters you should not", The Anbu said

"She must have a fair trial, and a fair verdict", Itachi said calmly

"A fair verdict? Heh, you really are too naive… Itachi"

Hearing the words of Itachi, the Anbu sneered, "Those who betray the village only end up being dead!!"

"You could very well be lying. Why should we believe you over her?", Itachi asked

The Anbu glare at Itachi releasing his killing intent.

"It looks like that one hit home", Shisui said with his lips curled up

The Anbu fought Uchiha Itachi using the poisoned steel wires and shurikens.

"If it's a real battle then you are already dead", Itachi said as his body turned into a mass of murderous crows, as he disappeared right before his enemy's eyes.

"I am already in Genjutsu? How...?! Damn it. Sharingan...", The Anbu felt a Kunai blade on his neck from behind.

"It looks like the playing time is over. Since Itachi has finished it, then I won't drag it any longer either", Shisui's scarlet eyes widened a bit, and his body suddenly turned into dozens of identical figures on the surface of the water, moving slowly yet gracefully, and in a blink of an eye, the Anbu had a kunai on his neck as well.

"What the hell..!!?", The Anbu grit his teeth, this Shisui was moving so slowly yet he came in so suddenly. It was extremely hard to defend against.

Shisui chuckled, "We are letting you go on the consideration that we hail from the same village, be grateful", Shisui said as he glance at Itachi and nodded at him before both of them jumped back.

"It's useless even if you managed to defeat us"

Seeing that both of them were defeated by the two Uchiha boys in front of them, the Anbu cracked his neck, "Our mission was solely to kill her and just so that I can look at the despair on both of your faces. I will tell you that my weapon is poisoned, and this traitor is impossible to live"

"What?!"

Hearing that, Shisui and Itachi's eyes fell on the wound of the nearby Anbu Kunoichi at the same time, and the young Itachi clenched his fists unwillingly, "Damn it..."

"Enough", A deep voice suddenly resounded in the canyon, making everyone stunned.

"Sensei?!"

"What the hell?!", The Anbu muttered with a frown and anger.

Shisui and Itachi looked to see an unknown man standing beside the poisoned Anbu Kunoichi.

"Where the hell did he come from?", The second Anbu asked.

Ignoring the different reactions on the faces of everyone present, Ghost simply sighed before bending and picking up the Anbu kunoichi by her waist before directly and forcefully kissing her lips.

His lips immediately turned purple as he suck the poison out of her body in an instant. Uzuki Yugao opened her eyes in shock as she tried pushing him but found herself too weak. Ghost kept kissing her for a minute or two before pushing her away with an intense jerk.

She grits her teeth with a red blush on her face, "Y-You bastard..!! How dare you"

Ghost calmly looked at her, "Stop overreacting, It's just a kiss that was required to save your life, don't tell me as an Anbu you never got a seduction mission"

"..."

"You… Who are you?", she asked with a mix of anger and embarrassment.

"None of your concern", He said without any emotion in his voice

She frowned

"Are you a traitor?", He asked

"Huh? what are you talking-

Ghost choked her and lifted her by her neck. She struggled fiercely and kicked her legs as furiously as possible. He stares at her eyes as she struggles to death before throwing her off on the wet surface.

"Leave", Ghost suddenly said as he turn towards the fighting force in the canyon

"How dare you; I-"

She gulped when she sensed his mighty killing intent.

"Not a word more. Get lost", He said in a cold voice.

Yugao wanted to say more but she was suddenly afraid of the man in front of her. As she immediately blurred and disappeared.

"Damn it... we can't let her go!!", The Anbu shinobi said and was about to use the body flicker to catch her up.

"Don't move", His partner said in a whisper..!!

"But Danzo sama said-

"I said don't move. Don't you understand such simple words!!?", The Anbu grit his teeth at his partner as everyone stayed rooted in their position.

Ghost didn't care about them and just glance at Shisui, "Break time over. Report back to the training ground", He said watching Shisui falling to his knees once realization struck him that his precious break time is over already.

"Sensei. I didn't get to take a break, I was saving a comrade, please have mercy on me", He cried

Ghost didn't listen as his standing figure just disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Sensei. That's not fair. It was Itachi who followed me. Punish him too", Sensei yelled but to no avail.

Itachi: "..."

"Screw that jerk, Retreat", The Anbu said as he and his partner was gone as well.

Shisui sniffed and took a tear back

"Are you alright?", Itachi asked his friend

Shisui turned towards him and hugged Itachi's waist while crying, "Itachi. Sensei is too much"

"There. There", Itachi caressed Shisui's head.

After calming down a bit, Shisui decided to go back.

"Shisui", Itachi called from behind

"Hm?", He turned back to look at the pre-teenager.

"Is this alright? What if she was really a traitor!!?" Itachi asked Shisui.

Confused Shisui looked at his friend, "He asked her, didn't he?"

"She could always lie, besides, she did not say anything at all", Itachi shrugged

Shisui shook his head, "You don't understand Itachi. His ability to sense is beyond anyone's understanding. There is no one in this world who can ever hide stuff from him, even if they don't say anything"

"..."

"He is strong Itachi. Really strong. It's to the point where it's almost suffocating. Even our entire squad which is considered an elite unit won't stand a chance against him"

Itachi smiled, "Don't sell yourself short. I hear a lot about you guys. You guys are practically the legends in this field"

Shisui sighed before he look at where Ghost disappeared, "Yet, despite that, he makes us go through so much training. And if there is a mistake, even a little one, we have to go through hell for an entire week. It's so hard following him"

Itachi thought a bit, "Is it really that hard?"

Shisui tiredly nodded, "It's very hard. Like really really hard. You should see him in our training, he is not just a jerk, or a psychopath, he is a demon and-

Itachi smiles, "You should leave before you get punished again", He said stopping Shisui from talking any further...

"Then I will go back. Bye Bye", Shisui blurred and disappeared as well

Itachi sighed, "At this rate, I will never catch up to him, Maybe I should add a harsher training regime to my schedule as well", He looked towards the market area, "Let's buy some Dangos for Sasuke before going home"

...

"Why are we scouting? He can sense us", Said the root(s) Anbu as they watch the broken and degraded building in the middle of the street.

This degraded building has a secret underground section that stretches far and is the headquarters of the assassination squad. Civilians could not see these trained shinobis moving and entering the building and as for other Shinobis, some tried following the members inside, but none came out.

After all, an entire unit of monsters lives here. The Assassination squad.

The Anbu shook his head, "It doesn't matter, Root(s) are the eyes of the village, we are spread everywhere so he won't suspect us, even if he senses our emotions it won't matter, he hardly deals with people stalking his base, as long as we don't go inside, he won't find trouble with us"

His partner nodded, "I hope so, By the way, why does everyone call him Ghost, is it his name?"

The Anbu looked at his partner like an idiot, "Think before opening your mouth. Who names their child Ghost?"

"That-

"It's the Anbu codename"

His partner nods, "Oh I see, so Hokage sama gave him-

"It was Danzo sama"

"Huh?!?"

The Anbu sighed, "That was the first and the last time Danzo sama ever gave a name to someone. It was before I joined; I heard that Danzo sama invested a lot in him, he personally selected the trainers for the kid he brought up, Sakumo Hatake, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and some were even approached through trickery like Tsunade Senju and Uzumaki Kushina. I even heard that he hired Dai to teach Ghost taijutsu..."

"..."

"His training at Root(s) was harsher than the rest too. Danzo sama hired the best courtesan from the brothel just to teach the boy how to pleasure women and seduce them at his fingertips. That courtesan was the one he lost his virginity to. He was 10 at that time"

"Oh!!!"

"I heard countless things from that time. The mad lad went through tortures, starvation, and poison toxication before he was even 7 years old. He drank the most toxic alcohol despite being underage. And yet, he didn't even make a single sound. God knows how he lived through that period"

Seeing his partner nodding, the Anbu sighed, "You can't even count the number of PTSD therapies he had gone through in his career. Ever since I joined Root(s) the most I have ever heard are these insane stories about a kid that they went crazy on..."

"..."

"Truth be told, sometimes even I feel pity for this guy. I heard that he was the first and the last kid to survive that kind of training. No one was able to produce the same result even with the same procedure. They all just died and the process was stopped..."

"That's harsher than I imagined"

"That's the price you pay for being the best and most lethal man in the world. You know sometimes this thought crosses my mind every so often, if things were just a bit different, he could have been a great ally of our foundation and an even greater successor for Root(s) after Danzo sama"

His partner nodded, "I agree, such a person leading Root(s) in the future would usher the foundation to a greater height. But... why are we against him then?"

"You are new here, right? That's why you don't know. He has grown too strong and too independent for Danzo sama's liking", The Anbu closed his eyes and opened them again, "If such a powerhouse can not be controlled, then it could only be cut off. This was the result of his teacher Sakumo Hatake back then, and this shall be the result of Ghost today"

His partner nods again. The Anbu looked at the rookie beside him

"This teacher and student pair shall become the lesson for those in the future who don't know their limits. Shinobis are tools to be used by elders and Kages, if they can't be used, they are to be discarded. No matter their status"

The two talked not noticing Ghost leisurely sitting behind them while leaning on the tree listening to these two gossiping about him like teenage girls.

...

~~The next day~~Kage tower~~

"Are you sure he left Konoha?", Staring at the ninja reporting in front of him, Danzo was holding a cane in one hand, and the gaze in his left eye made people shudder.

"Yes, Danzo sama!"