Konoha's Tag-System Ninja

Chapter 206: The New Root, Devil Training! [Bonus Chapter]

These four were all former members of Root, reflecting Danzo\'s reach in Konoha.

Minato was about to ask if that would be too few but then smiled thoughtfully. "Alright, let\'s go with them for now. If you need more, we\'ll add later."

"So, for the team leads who\'ll be handling the hands-on training missions, do you have any recommendations?" Minato asked.

Shūichi thought for a moment. "They should come from Anbu, be familiar with its operations, and have enough field experience to manage independently. I think Shinnosuke-senpai would be a great fit for the role."

Minato nodded; Shinnosuke was also his choice for this position. From every angle, he was a solid pick.

"Then let\'s appoint Shinnosuke as the leader of Root\'s field training division," Minato concluded. Then he smiled. "Your first training group will consist of the ones marked in red."

Shūichi grinned. "Sensei\'s personal guard squad, right?"

He\'d already noticed the names: Genma Shiranui, Iwashi Tatami, and Raidō Namiashi. All were currently chunin, a couple of years older than him.

Minato nodded. "Yes, I\'ve been too busy to mentor them much myself, so I\'ll have to rely on you."

"Also, go ahead and teach them Flying Raijin—see if they can manage it."

Shūichi nodded eagerly. "Don\'t worry, Sensei. I\'ll give it my best."

Minato considered for a moment, then added, "Yamato, Shisui, and Asuka should also join you in Root."

"And regarding the jutsu in the Scroll of Seals..." Minato stood up, pulling out a thick scroll and handing it to Shūichi. "Aside from the more dangerous forbidden jutsu, I\'ve made copies of the other techniques. You\'re in charge of these—teach them as you see fit to the Root trainees."

"Just draft some guidelines later when you have time," he added.

As Shūichi accepted the scroll, he couldn\'t help but sigh, "It\'s really starting to feel like a lot of responsibility..."

Minato chuckled. "You could always make Asuka your secretary!"

"And didn\'t you say, \'With great power comes great responsibility?\'" Another well-aimed boomerang of wisdom, thrown right back at him.

Taking Minato\'s advice to heart, Shūichi smiled and said, "Sensei, I\'d like to request one more person for my team."

Minato raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Who?"

"Tenka!"

Shūichi mentioned a name Minato hadn\'t expected, looking slightly bemused.

Quickly, Shūichi added, "Sensei, I\'m only doing this for work-related reasons."

Minato laughed. "If she\'s willing, I have no objections."

...

Upon leaving the Hokage\'s office, Shūichi immediately sent out a few clones to gather the team while he went ahead to the original Root base to handle the transition.

This place held a lot of secrets. Although many records had been moved, there were still valuable items here, guarded by a few remaining Root members. After the transition, these guards left.

"Things have really changed..." Shūichi thought as he looked around at the familiar surroundings.

Starting today, half of this place belonged to him.

After taking a full tour to reacquaint himself with the base, he placed the scroll of jutsu in a secluded chamber within the innermost part of the Root base, securing it with a seal.

When he came back out, Uchiha Shisui, Yamato, and Asuka had already arrived.

"Yamato, take Shisui and Asuka around to get familiar with the place," Shūichi said with a smile. "From today on, this is our workplace."

Asuka was surprised. "Shūichi, is Root being reestablished?"

Shūichi nodded, "Yes, but I\'m only handling the special training. You could say I\'m acting as an instructor."

Shisui added, "Root\'s original purpose was to train elite operatives for Anbu."

Just then, four figures appeared: Ryōma Aburame, Aki Nara, Rui Akimichi, and Yano Yamanaka—all former Root members, habitually wearing masks. They gathered in front of Shūichi and bowed in unison. "Lord Shūichi!"

Shūichi nodded slightly. "Take off your masks. We\'re not operating under mission cover right now, so there\'s no need to conceal our identities."

"Yes, Lord Shūichi," they responded, removing their masks.

After sending Yamato off with Shisui and Asuka to explore the area, Shūichi turned to Ryōma and the others. "You four know this place best. Where would be a good area for conducting classes?"

After a brief pause, Aki Nara responded, "Do you need space for practical training, my lord?"

Shūichi replied, "We\'ll be covering both theory and practicals, including jutsu demonstrations."

Aki quickly answered, "There\'s no suitable indoor area for live demonstrations, but there are several training grounds around the base that we could use. For theory classes, rooms 11, 13, and 17 can each hold around 30 to 40 people, which should be sufficient."

With a plan forming, Shūichi asked about Root\'s original training methods. Previously, his Root training only covered Anbu-style mission execution. There had been no enhancement training for personal abilities.

"Root training is split into two categories," Ryōma explained. "The first is pure mission-based training, which you experienced before. The second is skill-based specialization, which Danzo personally supervised for talents in certain jutsu types, often dealing with secret or forbidden techniques."

"There\'s also routine jutsu instruction and combat training, more of a standard regimen," Ryōma continued.

Specialization in secret or forbidden techniques was notoriously brutal. Thinking of Sai\'s experiences, Shūichi understood the harshness involved.

Ryōma added, "Aside from training, everyone also had to adapt to Anbu combat styles by taking on missions, with Danzo\'s ultimate goal being the suppression of emotion, making operatives into weapons for Konoha\'s shadows."

Shūichi shook his head, remarking, "Suppressing emotions? Humans can\'t be truly emotionless; it\'s just a temporary repression."

"Chakra is a combination of mental and physical energy, and emotions are part of that mental strength. In fact, a person\'s spiritual will significantly influences chakra strength," he explained. "The human body has limits, but the spirit has limitless potential."

Looking at the four, Shūichi continued, "Since you each have clan jutsu, your training in Root was tailored by Danzo, correct?"

The four nodded in unison—Root had forged them into emotionless, mission-focused operatives.

Shūichi decided not to change their outlooks abruptly, as habits formed over years were not easily reshaped. He instructed Yano Yamanaka, "Go to the Hokage\'s office and bring over Genma Shiranui, Raidō Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami. They\'re the Fourth Hokage\'s guard and the first group for our training."

"Understood, Lord Shūichi!" Yano bowed before swiftly leaving.

Turning back to the others, Shūichi led the remaining three into the depths of the Root base to room 11, where they regrouped with Shisui and the others. Shortly after, Yano returned with Genma and the other guards.

As the three addressed him as "Lord Shūichi," he acknowledged them with a nod. Friendships aside, roles were roles.

Turning to Raidō, Shūichi conjured the Executioner\'s Blade, handing it to him. "If you\'re using a sword, give this a try."

"This is one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist—the Executioner\'s Blade. It has the ability to absorb blood to regenerate itself and is an unbreakable chakra weapon."

Raidō\'s hand sank as he accepted the sword, surprised. "It\'s... so heavy!" Shūichi smirked, "Take your time getting used to it."

"Now, the three of you, choose a specialization: any nature transformation, genjutsu, kenjutsu, or even medical ninjutsu, though I doubt anyone will pick that," Shūichi said with a teasing grin.

Genma chuckled in admiration, "As expected of Shūichi, the Blue Flash of Konoha!"

Raidō was the first to decide. "I choose kenjutsu!"

Genma followed. "Wind Style!"

Iwashi chose last. "Genjutsu!"

Shūichi nodded. "Shisui, you\'ll be responsible for Iwashi\'s training."

"Train him starting with Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death, and gradually work up to Temple of Nirvana Technique. Mastering the Temple of Nirvana Technique will be the target."

The Temple of Nirvana was an A-rank genjutsu that could hypnotize a group. Although easily resisted by stronger chunin, mastering it required a solid grasp of genjutsu, which would allow Shūichi to teach Iwashi the Bringer-of-Darkness Genjutsu, another powerful A-rank illusion.

"Got it!" Shisui responded.

Shūichi set a time frame. "You have three months."

"What?!" Everyone was stunned, and Iwashi began to sweat.

Even Shisui questioned, "Shūichi, isn\'t that too short?"

Shūichi smiled. "No need for mastery; just learn the techniques. Besides, I\'ll make additional arrangements. The main goal is a foundational understanding of genjutsu."

Even learning the basics within three months would be challenging, but that was the reality of Root\'s intense training.

"This training is what I call \'devil training,\' so prepare yourselves," Shūichi added with a smile.

"Besides, you\'re all chunin now. If you can\'t reach at least special jonin level after this, you won\'t qualify as the Hokage\'s guard."

"Opportunities like this are rare. Push yourselves to the limit and unleash every bit of potential you have."

Feeling the weight of his words, Genma, Raidō, and Iwashi replied in unison, "Understood!"

Pleased, Shūichi gave the signal, "Shisui, you may begin."

Shisui nodded and led Iwashi to a separate room where genjutsu could be trained indoors.

After they left, Shūichi looked to Raidō, who had chosen kenjutsu. He turned to Rui Akimichi and instructed, "Train Raidō in technique and reflex speed, Rui."

Rui nodded, "Yes, Lord Shūichi!" and promptly led Raidō to the training ground—an area where he could also apply his expertise in kenjutsu.

...

Finally, Shūichi turned to Genma. "You should already have a basic grasp of wind release chakra manipulation, right?"

Genma nodded. "I do, though it\'s pretty basic. I\'m not exactly skilled at it yet."

Shūichi chuckled. "No worries—that\'s where I come in."

He turned to Asuka and the others, "You can all go now."

With that, Asuka and Yamato left the room.

After they departed, Shūichi used the genjutsu technique Demon Realm: Palace of Memories, pulling Genma into an illusion. Suddenly, they found themselves in a forest.

"This... is this Flying Thunder God?"

Genma looked around in awe.

Shūichi smiled, "No, this is genjutsu."

"This is an illusion."

Genma was stunned. "What? It feels so real..."

He could feel the breeze, smell the flowers and trees...

Shūichi asked, "Genma, you\'ve had dreams before, right?"

Genma nodded. "Of course."

Shūichi continued, "During sleep, the mind operates much faster than when awake."

"That\'s why dreams can seem to last a long time, even though they\'re only a few minutes."

Genma understood immediately. "So, this genjutsu works similarly."

"Got it."

Shūichi nodded, "Just as you think."

"But dreams can leave you tired the next day."

"So, dreaming does drain mental energy."

"However, here, training in this illusion is like training with shadow clones—it won\'t leave you exhausted."

"Given enough chakra, shadow clone training would be an ideal way to accumulate experience quickly."

"But for now, genjutsu will have to do."

Of course, only genjutsu like the Demon Realm: Palace of Memories could simulate the effects of shadow clones in training.

Especially since Shūichi possessed Nine-Tails chakra, which Genma\'s spirit was now infused with, blending seamlessly with his own chakra.

"Alright, training begins now. Genma, use your wind release to attack me. Let\'s test its strength."

"Understood!"

Genma nodded, forming hand signs and taking a deep breath. He exhaled, cheeks puffed, and a gale surged toward Shūichi.

Shūichi simply waved his hand, and the approaching whirlwind was torn apart, scattering.

Genma\'s eyes twitched. "That strength is outrageous..."

Shūichi evaluated, "Your wind release is... well, pretty basic."

"Looks like we\'ll start from the fundamentals."

He caught a falling leaf and explained, "The power of a jutsu mainly depends on its nature transformation and chakra output."

"With a set amount of chakra, increasing jutsu power requires improving both nature transformation and form transformation."

"We\'ll skip form transformation for now. For nature transformation..."

As he spoke, Genma saw the leaf in Shūichi\'s fingers split in two.

"This is your first task."

"For wind release, the nature transformation focuses on flow, thinness, and sharpness."

"Your goal is to use wind release chakra to cut through this leaf."

Genma nodded, but then his expression changed. "My chakra..."

He felt his chakra levels had increased significantly.

Shūichi smiled. "Feel it?"

"You know the shadow clone technique, right?"

"Start with five clones and train together."

"Oh, do you need me to teach you the shadow clone technique?"

Genma quickly replied, "I already know it."

Shūichi nodded, "Good. Let\'s begin!"

The extra chakra was, of course, from Shūichi.

(End of Chapter)

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