Chapter 29

Until now Shikaru had merely seen the official leaf villages database about Kazuo.

'Twelve years of age with a medium to low amount of talent for the ninja arts, closed to himself and with almost no friends, nothing substantial that would show the amount of talent that he is currently displaying, nowhere near it fact. Not in intelligence and not in ninja arts. However, there should be something that the root managed to glimpse during his childhood.' Shikaru thought to himself as the anbu disappeared after a nod of his head.

Hours passed by and soon enough night fell upon the elemental nations, Shikaru ordered the shinobi forces under his command to stop and form their camp of the night.

They had already covered more than half the distance to their destination, they would be stopping here for the night, and then early tomorrow they would cover another stretch and meet up with the other camps.

The next battlefield would be much more harrowing than the one they had experienced until now.

They would be fighting with the main forces of the Cloud, there was even the possibility of the jinchuriki or the Raikage himself showing up, causing utter decimation in the Leaf's troops.

'Thankfully it seems like lord Orochimaru will soon be dispatched here to help us otherwise this would simply become a suicide mission.' Shikaru thought as he surveyed his troops.

His eyes landed on Kazuo once more.

The young boy was sitting by himself in front of the tent he had already set up.

'You're intriguing Kazuo, just how deep are you hiding? Is this all that you have to show or is there more?' Shikaru thought as his eyes gained a glint, his curiosity peaked at the mystery that was the young shinobi.

Kazuo meanwhile was catching his breath as he sat on a tree stump he had placed in front of his makeshift tent.

'I need to increase my physical attributes, even though I can use chakra to increase them to a certain degree, there is a limit to it, at least with the amount of chakra control that I currently possess.' Kazuo thought to himself.

At that moment a bell-like sound rang in his head.

[ Ding! ]

[ A Quest has been generated! ]

Looking at the pop-up in front of him, Kazuo felt his heart fall, quests usually meant rewards but they also meant that a large hurdle was coming toward him.

[ The Root has taken notice of the User. ]

[ Join the Root ]

[ Reward: 2 Minor Stat Upgrades ]

[ Decline the Root ]

[ Reward: 1 Minor Stat Upgrade, ??? ]

Reading the Quest that had been generated for him by the system.

Kazuo felt an incoming headache as he held his head.

'Fucking damn it, am I the fucking main character or something, can't I at least have one day to myself.' Kazuo thought as he stared at the first mission he had gained that had two paths he could choose.

'Joining the root is immediately disqualified.' Kazuo thought before his mind quickly skidded to a halt.

'Wait... why can't I just do them both?' Kazuo thought to himself as a smile started showing on his face, his lips curled upwards.

'I can just join them and then kill myself, gaining the reward however the question remains whether the quest will disappear or if it will remain and allow me to get both rewards.' Kazuo thought before deciding that he had nothing to lose.

'All right, it's decided then' Kazuo thought as he released a soft sigh and headed back into his tent.

It was likely that the root would come to him during the middle of the night or whenever he was alone so Kazuo decided to make their job easier by heading inside his tent.

Laying down on the ground, Kazuo closed his eyes and waited.

Hours passed by and soon midnight passed as well, most of the camp was already asleep besides the guards and patrols who were still awake and keeping a perimeter around the camp against any enemy attackers.

The job of these guards had been left to the Hyuga, though they didn't have many of the clansmen inside the camp, there was enough so that every guard team could at least have one with them, allowing for much better surveillance.

As Kazuo stood silent, his breath calm and his eyes closed. He noticed a slight change in the wind inside his tent.

Immediately Kazuo's eyes snapped open and his body released a puff as a log of wood took his place.

Appearing two meters away, Kazuo quickly saw what had changed.

There was an anbu inside his tent.

"Kazuo, I'm from the root division of the Anbu corps, our leader would like to extend an invitation to join our ranks so that you could be of better use to the leaf village." The anbu said, his mask was blank, not showing any kind of animal face painting.

'When did Shikaru inform them about me and your leader? Are you saying that Danzo already has his sights on me?' Kazuo thought as he furrowed his brows.

"I can't simply accept when I don't even know if you are the real person, if the root is really a thing then I'll have to ask my commander to confirm," Kazuo said as he looked at the anbu.

The anbu maintained silence for a few moments before nodding his head.

"You can accept now, and confirm it with your commander tomorrow. We won't be taking you anywhere tonight either way." The anbu responded.

'So Shikaru is a part of Root as well, isn't he? Otherwise considering how most of Root was against almost every shinobi in the original series then they wouldn't have allowed me to tell anyone else that I was joining the Root.' Kazuo thought quickly before nodding his head a moment later.

"If what you say is true and I can be of better help to the village then I accept," Kazuo said, at this moment he heard a ring sound inside his mind.

[ Ding ]

[ Quest has been accomplished. ]

As soon as Kazuo heard the notification, he saw the Anbu before him nod his head and disappear.

He placed two fingers on his wrist guard and injected a light amount of chakra.

Kazuo pulled out two explosion tags.

'It still hurts just as much as the first time.' Kazuo thought, before injecting his chakra into the paper tags.

*Booom*

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