Chapter 2

Turns out I was wrong. The meeting was like any other boring meeting. The elder was just standing there, observing. I had tuned out everything, bored eyes trailing to every single hidden anbu agent in the room.

I was just about half asleep when the Mizukage stood and dismissed everyone. I turned to leave, chakra already gathered for a shunshin, when he spoke.

"If I could have a word in private," his raspy voice echoed around the empty room and I involuntarily shivered. I didn't know why; there was just something about him that didn't sit right with me. I shook myself out of it. I was a shinobi; I wasn't scared some old fart from Konoha.

"Of course, Danzo," the Mizukage replied, signaling for all hidden anbu to leave. I frowned, flickering back to my apartment before collapsing on bed, grasping my chest tightly. Danzo, Danzo, Danzo, where had I heard that before? I closed my eyes and I saw a fire ablaze, a woman screaming, Konoha anbu flickering around, striking down anything that moved.

I jerked forward, breath leaving me in heavy gasps. What was that? Who was Danzo? My eyes narrowed, and I leapt for the rooftops, heading back to the war meeting. Only a short time had passed, and I hoped they were both still there.

I landed silently at the doorway, hiding my chakra, and letting the shadows envelop me. I lingered at the door like a ghost, chakra directed to my ear to enhance my hearing.

"Where is the boy?" Danzo's slimy voice was the first thing I heard, and I froze. What boy? Who was he talking about? Me? I didn't know him. I calmed my breathing and waited for the Mizukage's answer.

"Why should I answer that?" Yagura asked, a smirk playing on his lips, "You gave him to me, and he quite likes it here."

Danzo's eye narrowed, "I'd like to take him back to Konoha. I will train him up and return him stronger than ever. He'll be your top shinobi, with training from root of course."

My heart stopped and I flashed out immediately. My breath seemed unnaturally loud to my ears. My heart had started pounding loudly and adrenaline raced through my veins. It felt like I was being chased by an enemy shinobi, because I was. Danzo was the enemy, he was a nightmare made alive, the thing mothers told their children would grab them and take them to his lair if they left the house at night.

I sat heavily on my bed; my head cradled in my hands as I begged the Mizukage in my head to deny Danzo's wishes because I remembered. I knew, they were talking about me. I was the boy, the boy wanted in Konoha, or more precisely, root. And now I know how Danzo had known about me.

Vision

The root anbu agents swarmed the village, looking for the child. They cut down everything in their way as their leader walked leisurely behind them. He stopped by a cowering woman cradling an infant. He reached out a hand to take the infant, but he was stopped as the woman jerked away, "No! Stop! You can't take him! Leave us alone!" she yelled, rage coursing through her for just a second, before the man sneered, taking it all away.

"Why do you even care?"

She flinched at the cold, venomous tone, before speaking up, "He's my child! He-!"

She was cut off by a cold laugh from him, "Your child?" he spat, disgust coloring his words, "No, he's just an experiment, a successful experiment, but still just an experiment."

She reeled back in horror, "What?"

Danzo smirked, "Yes, the thing you're holding is just an abomination, not even remotely related to you. You see, we created him, using the DNA of one of our very own shinobi."

She gasped, face paling, "He's a clone?"

"Not exactly, but then again, I wouldn't expect a civilian to understand anyway," Danzo replied dismissively.

The woman glanced at the infant-no, the thing, in her arms, before dropping it and bolting.

Danzo smirked triumphantly, an anbu agent appearing and catching the experiment before it hit the ground.

"Come," he ordered, turning away, "We'll drop him off at the Bloody Mist. He'll learn to be strong, or he'll die trying. We can't risk bringing him to Konoha and being found out, not yet anyway."

He turned and walked away, anbu slinking into the shadows, and leaving fire to swarm over the village, turning everything to ash.

Vision End

But something had happened, something that made the old geezer drop me off at a different village, close to the Mist but not where he was aiming for. The question was, what, or more precisely, who, could've made Danzo drop off his precious package at a different destination?