Chapter 7: Uchiha Madara
At the corner of the ritual's location, a head encased within two Venus fly traps emerged from a tree branch, observing the entire sealing process with interest. The head, one-half white and the other half black with short green hair and yellow eyes, remained undetected despite being right next to an ANBU.
Watching everything unfold for the next six hours and confirming the smooth transfer process, he smirked and silently left—submerging himself into the ground.
****
Across the ocean, on the general mainland. Somewhere in the Land of Grass, underground.
The amalgamation of black and white emerged from the ground, right beside a very old and weak-looking man whose back was hunched, and his face worn out. His back was attached to what looked like dried wooden branches. With thin and white hair adorning his scalp, and no teeth attached to his gums, he looked especially vulnerable. However, the red eye attached to his left eye socket and the stone throne his body was laid upon told an entirely different story.
The old man, silently looking at the Zetsu emerging from the ground, baldly asked in his coarse voice, "Any complications?"
The Zetsu smiled at his lord and replied, seemingly excited, "Yes, my lord. With the tailed beast transferred and the old jinchuriki dead, we have decreased the Mizukage's opposition in Kiri's council. As long as he uses a bit of force, we can immediately make Kiri participate in the ongoing shinobi war. This is your chance to find a worthy successor."
Without any change in his expression, Madara slowly turned his head ahead and muttered silently, as if talking to himself, "Well, the Hokage will be forced to send out the Ucchias if Kiri attacked them as well. But…" Sighing and shaking his head, he continued, "We first need to ensure that the holder of my Rinnegan survives and becomes strong enough to protect himself. If my successor is much stronger than that red-head kid then the strength disparity can lead to dispute…" Squinting his eyes, he said, "And I don't want my eyes being played around with."
But the Zetsu immediately countered, "But they are getting too powerful. Although their academy's policy cuts out some of their village's potential, that's mostly the lower rugs like genins or weak chunins. Their Jonins are already equal to Konoha's and with few heavy hitters like the clan heads and the Mizukage and the Seven Swordsmen, they are already ahead of Kumo by now. Without any loss in this war, they may just beat Konoha next time."
Not unaware of such a possibility, Madara just nodded and silently asked, "Aren't they going for another rebellion?"
Slightly confused, the Zetsu just nodded, "Yes, almost every clan is planning that out. They already suspect that the Mizukage and a couple of other elders are under genjutsu. But since they can't confirm it, they just decided to go with the rebellion route. And it's overwhelmingly one-sided, so the village won't lose much, except their Mizukage and a couple of other elders."
On hearing the Zetsu's words, Madara smirked, showing his toothless gum, and assured, "They wouldn't just be losing just the Mizukage…"
****
Across the ocean, on the other side of the world, Ryota with many other children were blankly staring at the piece of paper in their hands.
Today would be the first day of their school, any four-year-old would be excited about the prospect. But the children who were forcibly woken up, just to be shoved a piece of paper by the chunin before them didn't know what to feel.
A redhead girl, whose bed was on the opposite side of Ryota's managed to utter, "S-sir, what do these w-words mean?"
The chunin, who still had his eyes half closed, slowly turned his head back and looked at the girl. Moving his head around, he scrutinized every kid in the room before opening his eyes wide open.
"Fuck, are you guys from the slums?"
Hearing his words, more than half of the kids nodded their heads. Others were from the orphanage, not any better than those living in the slums.
"Sigh, no wonder those guys were laughing their asses off." Sighing he continued. "So, I need to explain everything huh?"
Shaking his head, he first finished distributing the thin piece of paper to the remaining kids before moving at the very front of the room and facing everyone.
The entire room was divided into two sections. One half was occupied by the boys, while the other half by the girls. Looking at everyone once more, the instructor started speaking.
"Well, since you can't really read anything by yourselves, I will be explaining what's on that paper for you." Pausing for a bit, he unceremoniously snatched the paper from the kid nearest to him before shaking it in front of the entire group. The kid who just lost his paper looked confused. Unbothered, the chunin continued.
"Well, this paper dictates what you will be doing this entire year. The classes and everything. This year would be the easiest of the five you guys would be spending 'together'." He smirked upon saying the last word.
"The classes are pretty simple. You can see the paper and try making out some words, I will be reading in the same order as written there." Bringing the paper before his face, he began reciting.
"For the first six months, you will only be having six subjects: Reading/Writing I, Mathematics I, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu I, Surikenjutsu, and Torture Resistance I." A sadistic smile appeared on his face as the kids around him began trembling.
"For the next six months, we will be expanding on that, Reading/Writing II, Mathematics II, Kenjutsu, Surikenjutsu, Ninjutsu I, and Torture Resistance II." After completing the short-list, he looked up to the kids, a stoic face replacing his dirty smirk, "Your homeroom teacher must have already visited you individually on the training ground last time, right?"
The children nodded upon hearing that.
"That doesn't change. Now make your bed and follow me, I will give you 5 minutes to meet me downstairs. Anyone late will not be getting any meals tonight." Unwilling to hear any protests, he immediately jumped off the nearest window, disappearing before everyone.
This immediately prompted the kids to get the task done. But there was one big problem. Nobody knew how to properly fold the big piece of cloth, especially if the said cloth is almost triple their size.
With each second passing, most of the kids, not knowing what to do just 'neatly' pushed the clump of blanked at the edge of their bed. Some, more clever than others, tried fitting it under their bed for a 'cleaner' touch.
Ryota, being a 'full-fledged adult' of course knew how to fold his blanket. Fiddling with it a bit, he did manage to fold it, somehow. However, it eerily resembled the clump of cloths 'neatly' arranged in some other beds.
Nodding to himself at his ingenuity, he looked around only to find a guy who was trying to copy his 'technique'. Feeling a bit generous and wanting to help out a 'friend', he approached the guy but was interrupted by a loud shout coming from downstairs.
"TWO MINUTES!"
This immediately sent the kids into panic mode as most of them began moving around a bit faster while a few just clumped the blanket at the edge of their bed and ran through the door, a few drops of tear further staining their already worn-out clothes. They were on the fifth floor, so getting down with their small stature was gonna take some time.
Ryota was among the ones running through the door. Right out of the dorm room, the first thing he could see was dozens of kids rapidly moving down the stairs, from the floors below as well as the ones above his.
Hmm… more kids? They must be from the business district or the clans.
He silently mused as he could see that although not tip-top, most of their clothes were in good shape and suited them quite well. However, looking at the number of kids he frowned.
Fuck, there are a lot of kids here. Thank god the stairs are big otherwise we would be having another massacre here.
He trembled as the memory of the graduation hall and the hanged boy came haunting him once again. But he quickly pushed it down.
I wonder what will they do when they see a missing kid from our dorm. I don't think anybody has reported that yet…
****
Finally reaching the training ground, he could already see a lot of kids at least a hundred, gathered around. He looked around for a bit and upon seeing all the kids just randomly spread around, he too began aimlessly walking around the area.
He could see about eight chunin instructors looking at the barrack's door as the kids poured out of it. After a few seconds, one of them shouted.
"TIME'S OVER!"
This immediately caused everyone in the arena to stop moving, including Ryota. He could feel his eyes beginning to heat up, trying to activate the Ketsuryugan, but he managed somehow to suppress it.
Shit, I almost lost my control there. I need to work on these eyes of mine ASAP.
Finally managing to get control of his body, he looked back at the door to see about ten kids still inside. But none were from his dormitory so he didn't bother anymore.
But the same couldn't be said for the instructors, the one shouting previously spoke once again, addressing those still frozen inside the door.
"I have remembered your face. I don't want to see the ten of you at the food station today, is it clear."
The kids still not in full control of their bodies could only gulp down in fear.
As if angered by their incompetence, the man shouted once again.
"IS IT CLEAR??"
The replay was immediate this time.
"YES SIR!!"
****
A group of around two hundred or so children were rounded up and led by eight chunin instructors.
For the children, it was the third day of the academy, and this was going to be their first day of the class. Amongst the two hundred children, almost everyone seemed mildly excited with a few of them already forming their groups. But there was a substantial number of children isolated from all this. They neither tried to make any friends nor did they accept anybody's advances, they were of course the ones from Ryota's dorm room.
Wow, isn't this just genius? Now not more than half of these kids would be dead by the end of their schooling. Even the ones surviving won't be trusted by their teammates—only decreasing their already slim chance of survival. And if they became missing-nin, then there is the hunter-nin's squad to hunt them down, if not then the village would give them increasingly difficult missions until they kill themselves.
Despite all this, if someone somehow survived for long enough and remained loyal to the village then they would have effectively gained themselves a 'tool'.
Lost in his thoughts he slowly turned his head behind him, looking at the bulky kid who always had his mouth and head bandaged for some reason, the same kid who accidentally killed the original Royta; Zabuza Momochi.
A tool who can't think for himself, only meant to follow orders. A shinobi who has lost his humanity. Sigh… No wonder this guy's mentality was so fucked up in the series.
This realization only worked to reinforce his idea of 'PEACE' even further.
****
The winter had just begun for the village, but unlike what Royta was used to back home, the cold here was humid and not dry. With mist perpetually covering the entirety of the village, it wasn't really a surprise. But a new experience nevertheless.
After walking at a normal pace for about three minutes, they had finally exited the training ground and were moving towards the academy. The road was familiar to Royta who had gone down the Mizhuchi River to wash himself down just the day before.
The road was paved with stone tiles, that looked old and cracked, and along with the abundant red maple tree surrounding the area, and the mist partially covering a person's visibility, the entire path ahead looked haunting.
Following the herd of children, Ryota subconsciously began humming a tune, a habit formed in his previous life, as he moved forward with a bit of anticipation and unease.
====>Chapter 7: Making a Bed<====< p>
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A/N: I hate making my bed.