Chapter 56: Shameless
When I first read the scroll…
I was scared that I would be captured and interrogated…
This wasn't just some bloodline or uncommon chakra nature.
This was Senju.
The clan of Hashirama—the First Hokage.
A name that shook the foundation of the entire shinobi world
But instead… the Hokage just sighed.
"In normal circumstances," he began, pulling his pipe away from his lips, "the village would hold a parade."
I blinked.
"You would be introduced as a Prince of Konoha. We would assign you elite bodyguards. Lady Tsunade would be summoned to meet you. Your name would be etched into the archives."
He paused, letting the weight of what could've been settled.
"But these are not normal circumstances."
The room grew quiet.
"Orochimaru is still alive," the Hokage said. "And if he finds out someone like you exists… it would be a matter of weeks before he hunted you down."
Yes…this is precisely why I didn't want this information known…also if high ranking players who apparently could manipulate the daimyo could have this information I would be beyond cooked…
"You are to tell no one about your lineage," he continued, voice steady. "Not even your closest friends. Not until the war ends. And perhaps… not even then."
For a moment I thought I could use this to meet Tsunade to learn her Sealing technique…guess not.
Still, I nodded.
"This information will be buried, as far as the records are concerned."
He stood, walking slowly toward the window.
"But it doesn't mean we'll leave you completely in the dark."
That's when he turned to Naido-sensei.
"We'll be vetting his potential for Wood Release. If he shows the aptitude, we'll assign him a new Jonin-level mentor who specializes in elemental balance. That will be his only hint at what he truly is."
Naido sensei nodded in reply, as always.
"And one more thing," the Hokage said, walking back to his desk.
He opened another drawer and pulled out a mask.
It was sleek, plain white, with minimal carvings—except for the faint silhouette of feline eyes on the upper cheeks.
"Your ANBU codename will be Cat."
I stared at it for a second before slowly accepting it.
"Also," the Hokage added as if it was an afterthought, "you've been promoted to Chunin. Effective immediately. A field promotion."
Naido smirked.
I didn't say anything, a promotion to Chunin meant nothing to me in the long run. My strength was already far beyond that after all.
Senju bloodline.
ANBU recruit.
A name buried from the world.
A life lived in shadow.
My hands clenched slightly in excitement…the game was becoming more and more interesting for sure.
This was my path now.
A ghost in the Leaf.
A prince with no crown.
Just the name Shikomu.
And the mask of Cat.
…
After everything was said and done, Naido-sensei didn't even give me a second to breathe.
"Come." He ordered, already walking ahead.
I silently followed behind him, still holding the ANBU mask in my hand—my mask.
As we made our way through winding paths only high-ranking shinobi would know, we arrived at an old shrine at the edge of the village.
It looked abandoned on the outside, but as Naido placed his palm on one of the carved stones, the ground beneath us shook ever so slightly.
A staircase opened up.
Figures.
We descended in silence, and the deeper we went, the heavier the air got. Until finally, we reached a long hallway filled with masked individuals walking back and forth, all moving with precision.
The ANBU Headquarters.
Naido finally stopped in front of a sealed door.
"This is where you'll be trained. But for now—"
He reached out and took the mask from my hand, placing it directly over my face.
It fit… perfectly.
Just enough to erase the person I was.
He looked at me, and for the first time in a while, there was a strange… emotion on his face.
Pride?
Regret?
I couldn't tell.
"Let's go meet your next teacher."
He turned, and I followed.
Inside the room we entered, someone was already waiting.
A man with short brown hair and sharp black eyes…Yamato.
The same Yamato from the anime.
"Is this the kid?" he asked Naido without looking at me.
Naido nodded. "Senju."
Yamato finally turned his gaze toward me, until it turned a little soft.
"I am so very glad that the Hokage has decided to keep this under wraps…however."
I didn't say anything.
I simply bowed.
He walked up to me, studied me for a second, and then said—
"If you're going to be wearing that mask, then forget everything you were. From now on, you move like a shadow. Understood?"
I nodded again.
"Good," he muttered. "Let's get to work."
…
Naido-sensei gave me a single nod before he turned and walked away, his presence vanishing as smoothly as it had arrived.
And just like that, I was left alone—with Tenz.
That was Yamato's ANBU name.
The first few hours under him were actually pretty normal. Tenz, just like in the anime, was generally a nice, kind and understanding person.
Tenz showed me the basics of Wood Style again, this time through combat.
One technique after another. One sparring session after the next. If I didn't replicate it, I got hit. If I used too much chakra, I would collapse.
I didn't find this particularly harsh considering I was in the anbu..
That first night, I was assigned my quarters—a small underground cell-like room with nothing but a floor mat, water jug, and a bento box.
Welcome to the ANBU.
The rules were simple. No removing your mask. No speaking unless instructed. No breaking formation. And above all else: No names.
My new squad had 10 members, and I didn't know a single one of them. Not their names. Not their ranks. Not even their chakra signatures.
They called this a Black Squad. A team so classified that even ANBU command didn't keep personal files on the members.
We were ghosts.
If we died, no one would even know who to mourn.
In any other squad, you'd at least form some camaraderie over time. You'd eventually figure out your allies.
But not here.
Here, the only thing that mattered was the mission.
I was perfectly okay with that...
There was no one to pretend in front of.
Just me… and the wood growing from my hands.
Pause.
By the end of the week, I could already feel it.
I was becoming more attuned to my nature transformation.
Wood Release was slowly growing more responsive.
I could summon basic pillars without hand signs.
I could bind targets with root chains.
I could even reinforce my body with a layer of armor.
This was definitely good, at this rate, it wouldn't take that long for my wood style offense to reach the level of my other elemental ninjutsu.
Now I just needed to find a way to mix all of my jutsu.
My strength right now was the 8 Inner gates.
Following this was my bloodline, which gave me my wood style.
I had yet to touch my Uzamaki bloodline which further buffed my innate jutsu which I had yet to unlock…
I need to find a way to combine all these things, and my way of approaching this was fairly simple actually.
I am sure everyone could agree with it.
Mhm.
Definitely.
The way to approach this was to…do the complete opposite!
I was going to use Fuinjutsu, to merge all of my strengths together. How? I didn't particularly know.
But I know the potential of Fuinjutsu was simply too high for something like this to not work.
I had faith in my idea.
And after about a week of training, my cat came back to me with a triumphant look on its face.
"Jobs done!" Yoru said proudly, saluting at me.
"It took you a week."
"Mhm, so you have to pay me six days of overtime!" Yoru declared proudly, puffing up her little chest as she stood tall on my desk. Or well… as tall as a small black kitten could stand.
I stared at her blankly. "You don't even know what overtime means."
"I know it means more fish!" she chirped back with a smug grin.
This damned cat.
…
Yoru trotted along the dirt road with a little bounce in her step, her tail flicking behind her with purpose. The sun was shining, the wind was gentle, and she had a Very Important Mission.
Shikomu had asked her to go find his two friends, Yuki and Ayumi, and let them know he wasn't actually dead.
Which was weird, because apparently the whole village thought he was. Yoru didn't really understand why people were shouting his name lately or crying, but it seemed serious.
First up on her route was Yuki.
As she made her way toward the training fields, she stopped, her tiny paw raised mid-step.
"Huh? What's that noise?" she murmured, twitching her ears forward.
There, in the middle of the field, was a boy with extremely bushy eyebrows and green spandex, kneeling dramatically on the ground as tears poured from his eyes.
"OH SHIKOMUUUUUUU!" the boy cried.
Standing beside him, a tall, heavily built man with similar eyebrows and the same questionable sense of fashion was giving him a passionate pep talk.
"YOUNG LEE! SHIKOMU WOULD NOT WANT YOU TO LOSE YOUR SPIRIT! THIS IS NOT THE FLAME OF YOUTH HE REPRESENTED!" the bigger man shouted, with a clenched fist and glistening eyes.
Yoru blinked.
"People really like him, huh?" she muttered, a little perplexed. "I mean, I like him too... but this seems a little over the top."
She walked past them, dodging a stray leaf that Lee had accidentally kicked into the air with a dramatic flail, and padded toward Yuki, who stood at the edge of the field, quietly watching the display.
"Yuki!" Yoru chirped.
Yuki turned, startled, then blinked at the small black cat.
"...You're Shikomu's summon, right? The one who smacked Ino?"
"Yep!" Yoru said proudly, puffing out her tiny chest. "I have something super important to tell you!"
Yuki crouched down, looking confused.
"Shikomu's alive," Yoru whispered with a big, secretive grin.
Yuki's eyes widened. "What?"
"Yep! He told me to come tell you and the other one that he's fine. Just doing super sneaky ninja stuff. Very mysterious. He said to not tell anyone at all." She nodded sagely.
Yuki looked completely stunned, but relief washed over his face.
"Thank you, Yoru," he said quietly. "That means more than you know."
"Hehe, you're welcome!"
Her job half done, Yoru twirled around and skipped off toward Ayumi's usual training spot.
As she turned the corner of a village street, loud shouting hit her ears.
"I REFUSE TO BELIEVE YOU, KAKASHI SENSEI! SHIKOMU WOULDN'T DIE JUST LIKE THAT!"
Yoru froze in place.
A few meters ahead, a boy in an orange outfit was standing, fists clenched, glaring up at a man with a mask and silver hair. His forehead protector covered one eye.
"Naruto, calm down," the man, Kakashi, said in a tired voice.
"NO!" Naruto shouted. "You didn't see him the way I did! He was strong! He was one of us! He wouldn't just... die like that..."
Kakashi looked at the ground, saying nothing more.
Yoru tilted her head.
"Why is everyone shouting Shikomu's name today? Did he win something? Did he punch a really big bad guy? I mean, I know he's cool and all, but geez," she mumbled to herself.
She scampered past the heated conversation and finally found Ayumi sitting on a bench near a pond, staring into the water, silent.
"Ayuuuumiii!" Yoru called, hopping up beside her.
Ayumi turned slowly. She blinked at the sight of the cat.
"...What do you want?"
"Don't be sad! Shikomu's fine!"
Ayumi stared.
"What?"
"Yep! He told me to come tell you and Yuki that he's alive. Just off doing super secret sneaky things. Probably wearing a cloak and hiding in the shadows like a dramatic catarama character."
Ayumi sighed a little and seemed less pressured from all the stress she was facing.
Yoru saw this and decided to pat her back a little to support her...which was a mistake since Ayumi took this as an invitation to hug her.
"Ow! Fur! You're squishing the cat!"
"Sorry," Ayumi said, releasing her. "But... thank you."
"Hehe, all in a day's work."
With her mission complete, Yoru strutted proudly through the village.
She was a shadow, a whisper, a creature of the night.
...Okay, mostly a very fluffy little black kitten.
She looked up at the sky, smiling to herself.
"Whew, being a messenger is hard work," she meowed. "I deserve a break."
And then, with a sudden mischievous glint in her eyes, she added: "I think I'll wait a week before telling Shikomu I finished the job... That way, I can ask for extra fish! Hehehe!"
She trotted off, giggling to herself, her mission accomplished and her belly already dreaming of tuna.
Shameless.
...
Authors note:
You can read some chapters ahead if you want to on my p#treon.com/Fat_Cultivator