Consciousness slowly returned.
The black disappeared, yet the surrounding were still dark and not remotely saturated. Ryuma blinked tiredly, a grown leaving his mouth. He felt an ache on his neck, as if he was hit. He was still sore from it.
It was an uncomfortable feeling that he hated. He felt soreness and equal amounts of drowsiness. It was as if he was sleeping for a long time, deep and uninterrupted, and accidentally slept wrong and hurt his neck.
Of course, that wasn't the reason for the soreness. Hie memories flashed and he remembered exactly why it hurts.
Danzo Shimura.
'He actually made a move this early!' Ryuma grimaced. He was ready for Danzo's shenanigans and expecting him to act, but not this early.
Targetting and kidnapping an infant not even past a single year seems a bit shallow, even for Danzo.
Ryuma looked down and noticed the chains attached to his feet. The chains were big enough to allow him to still walk, but they were still restrictive.
Ryuma craned his neck around, looking all around him.
His was in a dark, damp room. There were no windows here and only a single door in front of him. There was only one light source. A table with a bunch of scrolls and books, and a pen, on it. One mirror. One tiny bathroom, if it could even be called that. And that's it.
The room itself wasn't all that spacious either. It was claustrophobic, dark and lonely. A reminder of his fate as a person that got kidnapped. Although, he could here sounds from outside. It seems that despite the isolation, the room itself was not soundproof. At least, not on the inside.
But Ryuma figured it may not be that simple.
'I know sound-sealing techniques exist here. Perhaps a Fuinjutsu technique to block sounds in a specific enclosed area. It may even be one-way, as I can hear beyond the room but they may not be able to hear me. Even though I'm unfamiliar with my situation, it was still Danzo that kidnapped me. He won't be that sloppy about it.'
Danzo was an asshole, but he wasn't that stupid.
The idea that he kidnapped the infant son of two Legendary Sannin is already crazy to begin with. A single misstep could spell his doom.
'He probably made them believe I died. Or got kidnapped by rouge ninjas...'
Still, despite the frustrating situation, Ryuma was clearly irritated and equally anxious. He didn't want to think what Danzo wanted from him. As far as he can tell, there were no seals on his body, so that's good enough. And he didn't have a seal on his tongue like any of the Root ANBU, which was also a great thing.
He was angry at Danzo was ripping him away from his parents. He was already an orphan in his last life. He loved and cherished his new parents, enjoying every moment with them. And now, even that was ripped away from him.
'Danzo you piece of shit...! I'll kill you myself for this!' He mentally cursed Danzo for orphaning him once more.
He knew better than anyone the agony of being alone. Growing up in an orphanage was only decent because he had others like him. He understood that there were others in bad situations like him and people in much worse situations than him. So he never complained. He never took life for granted. He made the most of things and tried to keep moving forward.
He managed to somehow get educated and grow up. He managed to earn money, managing multiple jobs at one point. It was a hectic life, but he wouldn't call it a horrible one. The biggest problem was that he was all alone in his past life. He didn't want to repeat that again in this life.
He wanted to grow up with two loving parents and become strong enough to protect them.
He wanted to get many friends and people that cherish him, and are equally cherished by him.
He wanted to become strong enough to never lose anyone ever again.
He wanted to die surrounded by loved ones; friends, family, people he cared about.
Danzo may have very well just taken that future away from him, and it really pissed Ryuma off.
The door slammed open and three people — two men and one woman — walked in. The guy at the front was rugged and tough. He was tall, rough and had weapons on him. A shinobi ? No. He had no identifiable headband. A rouge ninja ? A mercenary ? He clearly was one of his captors. And he was smirking while staring down at the standing infant.
His eyes widened when he saw Ryuma standing.
"Holy shit! The brat that actually stand! Lord Danzo wasn't lying! I heard you can talk too. Tell me the names of your parents, why don't ya ?" He bent down and glared at Ryuma condescendingly. He was smirking, but Ryuma didn't react.
Ryuma realised that he had or talk.
"If you cannot do anything to make your situation better, at least try not to make it worse."
It was a saying that he's always followed. He had to adapt and improvise, just as he always did. So for now, he had to listen to his captives and pretend to be a baby.
"Tsunade... And Jiraiya..." He said, with some struggle. Of course, he wasn't actually struggling to speak, but he pretended like he was.
The rouge nin's smirk widened. "Oh, he can talk! This kid really is a genius!"
"Isn't this such a great deal?!" He asked the other two behind him, who nodded their heads robotically.
"It's wonderful, Boss."
Their tone was monotonous, robotic and emotionless. Their eyes were dead and their expression was indifferent. It made Ryuma stare at them, completely surprised by their behaviour.
"Well, listen here kid." The 'boss' turned back to him.
"Lord Danzo has given you over to us. From now on, you belong to us! And we'll turn you into the ultimate weapon. We'll make you strong and dependant on us, so you will be our puppet!" He explained while laughing.
The boss clearly assumed he was some kind of big shit mastermind. Ryuma did not hold it against him. This mercenary managed to obtain a "slave" from Danzo. An infant child with extraordinary talent — the son of the Slug Princess and the Toad Sage.
And since Ryuma was an infant, it would be extremely easy to indoctrinate him and raise him as a tool. They would raise him to be loyal, perfect and emotionless. He would only obey them and do what they want. He would be an emotionless dog, and they held the leash.
On hindsight, it wasn't a bad plan.
People don't even remember their infant days and if raised in a certain way from birth, moulding a child into a tool would be extremely simple.
"The name's Urahoshi Mahito. Don't you dare forget it!" He introduced himself.
"The two schmucks behind me ? They're Inori and Oushi. They'll be your primary "caretakers". Don't worry, we'll whip you to shape in no time!"
Ryuma stared at the two of them emotionlessly. They were both dead inside, male and female.
'I doubt that's their actual name. They're probably codenames that literally just mean "boar" and "bull". I don't understand why they seem to dead but they give off a familiar vibe.'
Mahito left the room, leaving Ryuma with Inori and Oushi.
"Will you make me strong?" He asked out of the blue, tilting his head curiously.
"Yes. We will make you strong."
"You will become a true shinobi of the leaf."
This made Ryuma stare at them blankly. Shinobi of the leaf ? Aren't they supposed to be rouge ninjas ? Don't they want him to become a weapon/slave that is completely obedient to them ? Why would they care about the leaf ?
'Wait a second... Are they Danzo's men ?'
Did Danzo send people to "look after" him ? And even instruct them to train him ? Why ? To be a "true shinobi of the leaf" ? Why even bother with abduction then ? He was already planning on becoming a shinobi anyway.
'Danzo believes that true shinobi must be efficient, emotionless killers with zero attachments to others and even themselves. To him, them are puppets that only exist to complete whatever job they're given. Unfeeling slaves, essentially. Does he want to turn me into one of them too ? But then why would he even bother selling me off ?'
The more he pondered, the more clear things became to Ryuma. He understood one thing: there's no way for Danzo to "hide" Ryuma within the Hidden Leaf Village.
'He likely sold me and stationed his men to "train" me in a way that makes me loyal to Danzo, like a dog. Due to my parents and the Third Hokage, he wouldn't have been able to kidnap me and train my like he did with his other Root ANBU. He's going to come back to get me eventually and he'll blame this group on rouges for abducting me, while showing himself off as a saviour.'
That was his primary hypothesis.
If Ryuma was right in his assumption, then he must hand it to Danzo. It's a smart play. As a matter of fact, Danzo's plan would absolutely work wonders for him normally. He Ryuma were a normal child, no matter how much of a genius he was, Danzo would have his way.
Top bad for Danzo, the infant in question had the mental maturity and memories of a young adult, who is fully aware of Danzo and his actions.
If he weren't a reincarnation with all his memories, Danzo would succeed.
But he wouldn't succeed here, not in this situation. Ryuma has basically received confirmation that they won't hurt him. They want to turn him into a weapon, not kill him. They will make him strong.
So he has to play the long game here.
Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.
That is all he can do.
That is all he should do.
•••
Months passed by swiftly.
Ryuma was approaching his second birthday and his captors couldn't be more overjoyed.
The boy was a genuine prodigy.
He learned how to fully read and right already and can speak fluently, even more so than them!
He exercised a lot. And the ANBU caretakers encouraged his behaviour, even ordering exercise from him in the form of running and cardio to build endurance for his chakra training, which would happen soon.
Whenever he wasn't being watched, he meditated. Ryuma was trying to feel the chakra within him and around him. He already knew that chakra was a combination of physical energy and spiritual energy working in tandem. He was trying to distinguish between these two energies and manually mix them. He wanted to see if he could control them independently.
He could not. It was extremely difficult.
He didn't have that much chakra. His reserves were massive for a child, but nothing too absurd, yet.
Somehow, within the past year, he learnt how to detect the chakra around him and even pull that chakra within him. It was an extremely difficult process that required precision and it was painful too, but he managed to do it eventually.
Ryuma focused on chakra control, rather than power, since his power wasn't all that great. One of these methods included placing his hand on the wall and trying to hold onto it.
He didn't dare try walking on the wall. His fragile body wouldn't be able to withstand such a fall. So, he opted his focus on his finger tips first. Then his palm and, gradually, his entire hand. She spent several hours trying to find the perfect quantity of chakra required to adhere to the wall.
After a lot of failed attempts, since he has no guidance at all, he managed to find the perfect amount.
The next day, he tried to scale the wall using his hands. The wall was flat and had nothing to hold onto. Sticking to the wall was one thing, but scaling it was entirely different.
He managed to get two steps in before falling and landing on his feet.
Each attempt made him reach higher and control his chakra better. He has to learn how to properly apply the perfect amount of chakra and release it, on both his hands and feet, in order to climb the wall.
He failed. Numerous times.
And before long, he blacked out from exhaustion and just fell asleep.
...
When he came too, he saw Inori standing over him and staring down at him, completely expressionless.
"What are you doing ?" She questioned.
"I want to climb the wall!" He said, raising his voice a little as he did.
"You're too young." She blinked.
Ryuma growled and immediately got up, putting his hands on the wall and trying to climb up it once more.
Inori noticed him climb up, which came as a surprise. Ryuma managed to climb three metres, before losing balance and falling down.
Inori caught him.
She stared at him silently.
"Why don't we try again, outside ?"