I slept early that night, exhausted after packing, cleaning, and arranging my flat until everything looked halfway decent. When I woke up, the sky was still a pale, sleepy blue. The sun hadn't bothered to show its face yet. I opened my window and took a deep breath of the cold morning air, watching the crooked neighborhood below. I could see shady figures slipping in and out of alleys, shadows trading secrets in the half-light. Typical Konoha side street life, dirty deals just waking up for the day.
I didn't mind it. I even smiled a little. The chill woke me up properly as I made my way down to my usual meditation spot in the small park. The walk was quiet, each step soft on the damp ground. When I reached the park, the early fog was thick, coiling around the trees like some ancient beast waiting to reveal itself and swallow the world whole.
I took off my sandals as I stepped off the stone path and felt the cold grass against my bare legs, the dew soaking into my skin. It was a sharp, clear feeling that pulled me right into the moment. I lowered myself slowly, folding my legs into position. The ground pressed cool and solid beneath me, an anchor to keep my mind from drifting too far.
I let my thoughts settle like leaves sinking to the bottom of a pond. My chakra steadied with them, pulsing quiet and deep. In this state, the buzzing lightning inside me felt less chaotic, easier to guide. I focused on the flow of it, tracing the slow cycle I'd been practicing. My lightning chakra circulation had been crawling forward bit by bit, stubborn but loyal. It still felt like taming a wild dog with a short fuse, but at least now it didn't bite me every time I called it. Stormdrive would last a bit longer next time, I was sure of that.
My chakra reserves had grown huge too, thanks to good food, decent sleep, training, meditation, and even more training on top of that. Constant use and constant depletion kept forcing them to grow. My growth had slowed from its explosive start, but it felt steadier now, like bedrock under my feet. With taijutsu, kenjutsu, and the lightning ninjutsu Hiruzen promised, I was building my fortress stone by stone. By the time I graduated, I'd be strong enough to handle any surprises, hopefully.
The breeze shifted against my face, then stopped. It felt like the air itself froze. My skin prickled as if I'd stepped inside the eye of a storm. I opened my eyes slowly. The fog had cleared in a perfect circle around me, thick and motionless at the edges. A hush settled over the park, pressing down on my ears. I felt faint traces of chakra in the air, swirling where they shouldn't be. Someone was here. Someone was shaping this silence like it was a weapon, holding the fog back with a steady pull of wind chakra that brushed against my senses like cold breath on my neck.
A voice drifted in behind me, soft and flat. "Do not panic, Noa. I am not here to harm you."
I turned too fast, my foot sliding in the wet grass. My heart stuttered once before slamming into overdrive. The fog shifted, peeling away like an old curtain, and a figure sat on a bench not far from me. He looked like he'd been there for centuries.
Danzo Shimura. Both of his eyes sharp and alive. No bandages, no dead man's arm stitched together with secrets. Just an elder draped in a dark cloak that hid wiry muscle and old scars beneath, each mark a quiet reminder of the battles he'd outlasted. But up close, I could see the truth. The lines in his face weren't weak or brittle. They were cut deep by wars and the secrets he buried in other people's graves. His presence felt like old blood dried on steel, stubborn and cold and ready to cut again.
Every cell in my body screamed. This was the vulture I'd always known would circle back someday. Head of ROOT. The man who poked holes in the village's skin to see how much poison it could handle before it rotted from the inside.
But no Academy orphan should know that. So I clamped my teeth shut and forced my face blank. I tilted my head like a curious child. "Um… sorry, sir. Who are you?"
His eyebrow twitched. Just a flicker. "The Academy no longer bothers to teach its students who their elders on the Council truly are. Hmph. Such weakness." His voice stayed dry and even, like he was just commenting on the weather. He stood, the fog peeling back around him. He moved like a man who could wait all day for you to make the wrong choice. His hands vanished into his sleeves, leaving only the slight swell of hidden muscle under the loose cloth.
He studied me the way a butcher studies a new piece of meat. His eyes were so dark they looked hollow. Then he dipped his chin a fraction, deciding something about me that I wasn't sure I wanted him to decide. "I am Danzo Shimura. An elder of the village council."
I nodded, forcing a polite grin I didn't feel. "Oh. A council member. Didn't know the council did park visits before dawn."
Something moved behind his eyes that might have been a smile, but it died so fast I almost doubted it had ever lived. "I like to see the future of this village with my own eyes. And you, Noa… you show promise. I have heard about your discipline. Your progress."
My hands curled in my lap, my fingers aching from how tightly I held them together. Inside, my lightning chakra coiled and hissed like a nest of snakes ready to bite. "I see. Well. Thank you, I guess."
He didn't blink. He didn't move. The fog pressed closer around the circle, like it was watching with us. His eyes narrowed a sliver. "Tell me, Noa. Would you like to know the truth?"
I tilted my head, keeping my tone blank. "The truth about what?"
Danzo's eyes closed. He took a slow breath that made the silence stretch so thin I thought it would snap. When he opened them again, they were colder than a winter pond. "About Daiken's death."
My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it almost broke them. Sadness and anger churned in my gut like oil set on fire. The memory of Daiken's death still felt raw in my chest, lodged there like a thorn I couldn't pull out. Whoever did it deserve to drown in their own blood. I forced my voice to come out level. "You know who did it?"
Danzo's head dipped once, slow and heavy, like an executioner's blade. "If you join my organization, I will tell you. Not only that, I will ensure you grow strong enough, fast enough, to repay them for what they did."
His words slid under my skin and sank their claws in. He felt it too, because his eyes glinted with a cruel understanding.
"ROOT is your only real chance for this. Hiruzen is weak. He hesitates. He will drag his feet until the trail goes cold. And if he does find them…" Danzo's mouth twitched in something that might have been a laugh, but the sound never came. "He will let them go to protect his precious peace. That is his way."
Although I knew how much of a monster Danzo is, his words made absolute sense. Hiruzen is notoriously incompetent and too lax when it comes to those who harm the village, especially in his old age. Danzo, though, he is the type to hit Konoha's enemies hard and right where it hurts the most.
He kept going. "I know that the advanced class planned for you was cancelled because of Daiken's death. But I can offer you something far more powerful, far more effective. I can tell by your nature you're the kind who takes action. So, step away from Hiruzen's side, the side that is always too careful, the side that doesn't act until it's too late. The side that let this village grow weak. The side that, because of his incompetence, let one of the last Senju die. One of the most powerful shinobi in Konoha, gone. Join my side instead. The side that strikes in the dark. The side that returns every drop of blood from our people with an ocean of blood from the enemy. The side that never forgets and never forgives."
I felt my blood boiling at his words. They sounded so logical, wrapped in that cold anger and a promise to do whatever it took. I knew I wouldn't tolerate something as big as killing a shinobi like Daiken and then just move on. I'd make the enemy pay tenfold. He matched my anger and that raw, hungry desire for vengeance almost perfectly.
My foot shifted in the wet grass, toes digging into the cold ground to keep me anchored. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, a steady drum that drowned out the distant sounds of the waking village.
He stood up, moving closer while stretching out his hand, holding it steady in front of me, palm open in that old handshake pose. His voice came out like stone scraping steel. "Join me, Noa. Join me, and avenge your sensei."