He couldn’t think since he was trained and raised to not think under the tutelage of the roots from the noble tree of Konoha that will nurture it and help it grow.

A blank mind for years.

Until one day he had dreams, many and incomprehensible dreams.

But all had one thing in common, a very young blonde kid.

Reason he found himself on a roof under the night sky watching a specific apartment so he could report anything out of the ordinary, he had orders to follow despite how mundane they were since nothing happened. He could occasionally catch a glimpse of the supposed blonde boy with spiky hair passing his field of view as the only available window was small, however when the boy passed, he quickly noticed the hair was different compared to his dreams.

Causing a minor lapse within him.

For a moment he averted his gaze and looked at his surroundings. Even if it was nightfall some buildings still held their lights on giving him a better view of the empty streets and the dark alleys, unlike the roofs that were clear to the eye.

HIs gaze went up and lucked at the starry sky, stopping at the half moon, locking his attention on the celestial object for a long while with nothing on his mind. There was a spark of something in his mind but remained blank,extinguishing that spark so he returned to watch the spiky blonde kid apartment.

“What is my little rootling doing here?”

An unfamiliar voice spoke next to his ear and his body acted according to the drilled training, his right hand clenching into a fist and hoping to land its mark, but was quickly intercepted. The rogue agent used the chance to jump away, to create as much distance as possible from the newcomer.

It was then he could take a better look at the man who startled him, or at least what he was allowed to see as the man wasn’t an ordinary person or shinobi but a member of the Anbu corps of Konoha, wearing the grey flak jacket above the black clothing and the dog mask.

“Do not proceed with hostile action or I will retaliate.” The junior agent pulled out his tanto and pointed at the Anbu operative, who only tilted his head to the side.

He let out a dry chuckle and rolled his neck in circles as releasing some tension on his shoulders and arms.

“I think I will.”

As soon as words left his mouth, his right hand struck against the left shoulder of the young agent causing him to stagger a couple of steps but that didn’t stop as the Anbu followed his other hand clenching into a fist and land a direct hit on his face, thankfully his porcelain mask took the brunt of the attack at the cost of its integrity as it shattered and the shards that was between the end of the fist and his face remained in place causing a severe cut across his right cheek and mouth.

Without his mask, it instantly exposed his features to the other party, who didn’t waste the opportunity to identify the rogue agent. With the lunar light he could see the relative fair skin complexion, and the long black hair tied in a ponytail.

The force in the punch sent him down, gasping for air, trying to recover some strength and orientation, grasping for his consciousness as he couldn’t stay down in front of an enemy, using his weapon as a support point to push himself up.

But the Anbu with the dog mask didn’t let him as he was atop of him and delivered a kick to the now exposed face, for his luck the impact zone was right under his eyes but didn’t make it less painful, his hand released his grip on his weapon letting it fall off the building.

Yet his suffering didn’t end as he soon realized that his head was the least of his worries as he soon found a kunai deeply buried below his ribs, he never saw when or the sharp object came to be and found its mark but there was no time for reflections.

His hand yanked the intrusive object from his stomach and threw it at the owner who simply sidestepped the attack and used the speed to increase the strength of his reverse spin kick, finding its mark once again on the root agent head, sending him flying and crashing down on the street below.

His body bounced from the ground, rolling like a rag doll until a mountain of accumulated trash bags stopped it.

The agent was barely grasping consciousness as he lay defeated between the ripped open trash bags, but there was nothing to do as he was defeated. It was time for him to rest for once, and probably forever.

The back door of one house was thrown open revealing a kid with relative long blonde hair wearing an oversized cap along with a unisex white nightshirt, carrying a rather large book between her arms which didn’t hesitate to throw with all the strength her little arms could muster at the mountain of trash.

THe book bounced off one of the bags but it caused a loud impact noise which was exactly what she wanted.

“Stupid cats! I will…” Stopping mid sentence, the little girl realized no cats came out running from the trash or hissed in anger. There was only silence, causing the curious side of her to come out and led her to investigate the alley.

But she soon found out what caused the noise after a couple of steps. Despite it being night, she could see an unmoving person laying between the trash bags.

Her instinct kicked in and immediately rushed towards the stranger, her mind focused on helping so that she didn’t register the terrible smell emanating from the open bags. “Hey are you alright?!” 

However, she got no response from the unconscious person, forcing her to act and drag the body away from the bags.

Grabbing the left leg, she steadily dragged the body away, exposing the futures to her.

She quickly realized that the stranger was a boy older than her, but not by much, but what caught her attention was the large gash on his face and the bloodstained spot in his stomach that kept growing as the seconds passed.

Her mind raced, trying to understand or decide what to do as she never faced such a situation before in her short life, only heard stories and tales. She needed an adult to handle the situation and only a few came to mind, so she was ready to look for them.

That was her plan until somebody landed very close to them, quickly spun around and saw the dog shaped porcelain mask. It was as if they lifted an enormous weight from her shoulders as somebody more capable had come and would handle the situation in her stead.

“Oh, thank Kami, you are here! Please, he…” Her heart stopped along with her breath when she noticed the Anbu wielding his tanto was exuding a very strong murderous aura, her mind screamed her to run away but her feet remained planted on the ground as she couldn’t abandon the injured boy.

The dog Anbu was quick to realize his mistake and calmed himself.

“Oh my apologies, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He quickly put his tanto back to its sheath and showed both hands to the sacred kid to prove no harm would come.

The blonde girl let out a long sigh of relief and quickly pointed at the unconscious boy behind her. “Can you help him?”

The man recognized the root agent and pulled out his tanto once again. “Please step aside.”

She remained still. “But he is hurt! He needs help!.”

The man didn’t move forward, his mind occupied with how to deal with her as fast as possible without harming her as she was very important too many and he couldn’t push her into a corner or the results might be dire. 

That alone left him in a tight spot on how to proceed with the situation at hand. 

However, those thoughts died down as more Anbu agents landed at the scene.

“We heard the commotion, report.” The leader, a man with a large physique and long hair, demanded a quick summary.

“ROOT.” The younger Anbu said out loud.

The rest of the Anbu squad tensed and locked their sight on the unconscious body of the member of that rogue organization, with their hand slowly reaching for their weapon.

“Very well, prepare disposal.” The leader gave the order.

“HE NEEDS HELP!” The blonde kid stepped between the Anbu operatives and the root operative with wide open arms, hoping that the other party wouldn’t try to kill a person in need.

“Step aside, you don’t understand what you are dealing with.”

“I won’t!” She stomped her right foot on the ground. “Jiji always told me to help those in need and I never go back on my word!”

All the operatives shared a look with each other until one nodded his head and another operative stepped forward with a rope.

The determination of the little girls almost vanished and gave one step back in fear as they would do something to her, the heart beating loudly inside her chest as her eyes frantically looked at the surroundings, hoping to find anything. Her stomach gave strong goosebumps, weakening her legs but not enough to lose her balance.

“Everyone, return to your stations. I will handle it from here.” A newcomer landed between the two parties, preventing the situation from taking a turn for the worse. However, everyone could only see the long spiky hair and a large scroll, but that quickly changed as the old man stood up to full height revealing all his features.

“As you wish, Jiraiya-sama.” The Anbu leader said and jumped towards the roof with the rest of his squad following close.

The scared girl ran towards the sanin and latched onto his legs, not letting it go.

“Oji-san, please help him.” She pointed once again at the unconscious teenager.

The toad sannin grimaced the second he recognized the gear the unconscious boy was wearing. “You are asking for a lot, Naru.”  

She only tightened her grip around his leg, her heart losing hope.

“But let your amazing uncle handle this!” His declaration brought new life and admiration from the girl. Realising his leg and watching him with a bright smile along with her blue eyes shining with new life.

“Thank you!” She ran back towards her house and closed the door since her job was finally complete and she could rest easy that she kept her word.

Jiraiya watched his goddaughter leave the scene before he kneeled on one knee to check on the injured boy who had a difficult time breathing, as the open wound allowed more blood to spread and stain his clothes. He quickly pulled out a kunai and cut a section of the robe which he immediately used to dress the wound as fast as he could so the injury had pressure to slow down the bleeding to a degree as the hospital was a considerable distance away from the apartment.

From a relatively safe distance, a frail old man was watching the scene unfold, using his cane to support his aging body. He wore a white shirt, with a black or dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet to just over his right shoulder.

“Shame.” The old man scowled as the grip on his cane tightened.

Seconds later, two individuals landed on his sides wearing a black robe that covered their entire bodies, but their faces, since a very simple porcelain mask with no design, protected those.

“Danzo-sama, your orders.” The man from the left immediately spoke up.

His only remaining good eye hardened as he looked at the scene again, watching how the legendary toad sannin carried his unconscious agent back to the hospital, or at least a place where they would heal him. “Return to base, agent KH037 was a valuable asset but not essential.”

“Prepare for elimination?” One agent asked.

The grip on his cane tightened for a second as he considered the possibilities, but dismissed the idea. “Not yet, there is still some information we need to extract from him.” 

“As you wish, Danzo-sama.” His agents nodded and jumped to the rooftops, disappearing from his sight.

The war hawk turned around and slowly made his way towards his home, as there was nothing else he could do but wait.

However, he was already preparing an excuse for his old friend who, without a doubt, would inquire about the happenings and demand a proper explanation, as his orders could be borderline hostile.

But it always has been like that.

Nothing changes but their age.