Early Recruitment[himura]

Today was the day, the Foundation or Root program was gonna be put into action. They were to be the darkness of the village, the people who made the decisions and missions that would eliminate any immediate threats to their village. It would start with young shinobi with talents that were ready to completely surrender their emotions and become cold killers for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Cloud was on his way to the training ground to see if there was any talent on the verge of arising.

Cloud landed in a tree above the training ground and began to look through the genin that were below him. Some moved with talent, other's not so much. There was a specific type of genin that he wanted to see. One with an intent to kill.

Raiden walked towards the training ground, she was ready to train some more. She had just an hour earlier completed a D-ranked mission. It was a waste of her talents, but she had to do D-ranked missions due to her being only a genin. A teamless and sensei-less genin, she hated the fact that her two teammates quit after only one D-ranked mission claiming that such chores were beneath them. Her sensei dissolved the team, and put her in the reserves. Sure she liked it, she could train as much as she liked, and could choose when to go on missions.

But it was holding her back on her goals, she could not enter the Chuunin exams without a team, especially without a sensei to help train her. Clenching her fist tightly, it soon started to slightly bleed. Making an annoyed sound with her teeth, she ignored the pain and the blood that seeped through her fingers onto the ground.

She slowly started to leak a black energy from her body. The civilians around her, started to sway away from her. She was unconsciously unleashing killing intent from her thoughts on the matter. The young genin, continued to walk towards the training grounds unaware that someone was on the lookout for genin with talent, that had killing intent.

There it was, it called out to Cloud before he could even see the genin. The strong sense of someone who wasn't afraid to draw blood. There was a smirk that crossed his face for a second. The red head genin was on the move, it seemed that she had something strong willed on her mind. What could that be? Cloud jumped down and landed softly behind the girl. He watched as she continued to move.

"Hey you, what's your name?" The blonde stood there strong in his ANBU gear, the only difference was the plain gray was black on his and his large blade that sat on his back. This was it, he felt the bloodlust from her and knew that she would be the first one to become a Root..

The girl turned around and saw the captain of the Anbu forces there, looking straight at her. She felt nothing at all, all of the killing intent that she was leaking was slowly dissipating at the site of him. Was he there to arrest her for nearly making the civilians pass out from the raw bloodlust she was emitting? Maybe he was there to recruit her into a secret training program to turn her into a Anbu while skipping Chuunin Rank? Nah, it couldn't be the second thing. I mean, right? 'The chances of that were astronomical,' she thought while continuing to wonder why the man was there.

"My name is Himura Raiden sir," She replied to his question as politely as she could. Her mind raced trying to figure out what he was doing there. He couldn't be there to recruit her, maybe he was there to arrest her for almost causing harm to the civilians. She still was clueless to what she had been doing, but she felt rage and the need to kill something or someone. The redhead did not know that her intent was sending a beacon out to the ninja and civilians, the civilians were avoiding her.

The Ninja however were weary of her due to her emitting such killing intent, and she hadn't ever shed the blood of anyone outside of sparring. She hadn't even completed a single C-ranked mission. She was weighing her options of either kicking him in the fork of his legs, and running for it. Or, let him arrest her and let her sentence be reduced. The genin did not know that the second thought she had earlier was the correct one. The robed genin was slowly bringing her right leg back, while staring him in the eye.

The genin froze as his hand fell on her head, and she felt herself getting squeezed by a red light. She could not breathe from the jutsu he was using. She was right! He was arresting her, this was a jutsu that would force her unconscious from being unable to breathe! When they appeared in an underground cave, she assumed that this was some sort of prison designed to keep criminal ninja locked up. She slowly started to sweat, wondering what kinds of monsters were down there in the cave.

As she looked around at her surroundings, the man started to speak. She stopped looking around and listened to the man, wondering why he didn't simply leave her there if he had just arrested her and was dropping her off in the cave to live out the rest of her life in the inky blackness of the cave. "Before I accept, I have a question if you do not mind me asking sir," the redhead said while waiting for him to acknowledge her question. This was a lot to think about, surrendering her rank to become a nameless and emotionless shinobi? She didn't want that, she liked her emotions and name.

Even if it were the name of a boy, she liked it. It made her, her. If she were to accept this proposal, she would lose everything that made her, her. She did not want to become a emotionless killing machine that didn't want anything other than killing for a master. She was going to refuse the offer, but she wanted to know if she could undergo the program and not lose her emotions so she could be a better ninja for the village.

Nodding, he had gotten her concern. It seemed as though he was earning the big bucks for a reason. Her only concern was brushed away. She could keep her name, and her emotions. She knew if she had to, she could push her emotions down in order to do her duty to her village. And learning under the Anbu Captain was too much to pass up. He was offering her an apprenticeship under him! She had to accept, it was just the thing she was waiting for in order to improve herself in order to keep her home safe!

"Sir, that answered my question perfectly. I accept to become your apprentice," the redhead said with a small smile on her face. She had just gotten what she wanted above anything else! She would show the bastard that abandoned her just because her teammates gave up on the life of being a ninja. She would show her two stupid teammates that abandoned being ninja just because they thought being a Ninja was all fame and glory from rescuing princesses and taking down fortresses.

They were the weakest of the weak within the military, of course they'd get the dullest jobs until they proved themselves through either trial by fire, or gaining enough strength to not be a burden on missions. She couldn't believe that she was going to be able to be the apprentice of one of the strongest ninja within the village! 'YES! FINALLY! SOMEONE TO TRAIN ME SERIOUSLY!!!' The redhead exclaimed in her mind while keeping a nearly straight face on, on the outside of her body. She was still slightly smiling.

"Cloud-sensei, when can we begin training? I know it's your decision to decide on the times for training. But, I'm excited to get started," She boldly asked and explained why she asked the elder ninja. She knew he might take the impudent question that she asked as an insult, so she quickly explained her reasoning behind it, she was indeed excited to start. But the excitement was not evident on her face.

The redhead nodded before pulling her own katana from it's sheath. She breathed in before jumping back away from the man. Settling in a stance with the katana held in both hands in front of her body, the genin was ready to spar. The stance she was in would or should allow the girl to protect herself better from attacks, as well as allow her to strike faster and harder. She was still a novice with the blade and that is evident with the holes in her stance.

All the girl had were a few E-ranked jutsu and a couple of D-ranked Bukijutsu that weren't that powerful. Nodding towards the man, she was ready. She was ready to lose to the Anbu Captain, but that did not mean she wasn't going to do her hardest to at least get a hit on the man. "I'm ready Cloud-sensei," the redhead said while waiting for the man to come for her.

The girl's legs were like jelly after the teleportation. She was going to start screaming at him to warn her before he did it, until he said his bit and offered her a mask. Staring at it, she knew that once she put it on she was going to do anything she had to do in order to protect Konoha from her enemies. Breathing deeply, she took the mask from him and turned it around. Slowly, the girl raised the mask to her face. It was time for her to do her part for the protection of Konoha. It was time for her to put this mask on and become the most feared operative of the Anbu that she could.

The mask attached itself to her face. Her voice distorted, she replied, "I am now the Chi no Usagi. I will bathe in the blood of Konoha's enemies, and let none escape my blade…" She ended while keeping her katana in hand. She pushed it into her sheathe while waiting for the man to lead the way since she had no tracking skills. Tonight would be the night that she took her first life for the protection of her home.

Listening to the man, she thought about what she'd do if she were to betray Konoha and was going to sell Konoha secrets to the enemy. She thought about it swiftly before coming to a conclusion, she thought that she would not take either the trees nor the forest floor because it'd make herself too easy to track. She looked while listening to the silent forest until she heard a river.

"He more than likely have taken the river, and instead of walking on it, he swim in it," she said while looking at him while waiting to see if her assessment of the situation was correct. The girl didn't know what she was doing, she could not do much with her highly limited knowledge of tracking. "And he might've trapped both the treetops and the forest floor," She added quickly, before walking towards the river to see if there were any signs of human travel towards it; she had found a branch with a ripped piece of cloth on it.

Placing her hand on the cloth, she focused her senses onto it while attempting to sense where the man went. The girl could feel a faint chakra signature coming from the cloth and nothing else about the signature. She could not tell where it was going nor how far it went. Following Cloud, she kept the cloth on her and could feel that it was getting stronger meaning they were going in the right direction.

When the two stopped, she saw there were three men below them. One of them was wearing civilian clothing, and the other two were an Iwa Ninja and a Kumo Ninja. The three did not know they were there due to them drinking extensively from gourds of sake, and were smoking some funny looking thing that made the redhead's head dizzy. Shaking her head slightly, the girl drew her katana slowly so it did not make any noise. Breathing in deeply, she tried to prepare herself but couldn't.

Not wanting to make it last any longer the girl dropped out of the tree on top of the Missing Ninja from Konoha. She drove the katana into the back of the man's neck and down his spinal cord severing the spinal cord and killing the man. Slicing out of him she entered a defensive position while waiting for the men to come at her. The girl felt sick about killing for the first time, but knew it was a necessity to do so. The teenager had a duty to do, she could cry about taking the life of another human being some other time.

The girl nodded, and kept her blade out in preparation for anything that may happen. Looking around the girl looked at the body of the traitor before removing the head with a quick slice of the blade. They'd seal the head away, and bring it back for both the bounty on the man's head and evidence that he was gone. The redhead did not know how to dispose of the body, but she knew by bringing back the head they'd be able to get the credit and the bounty for bringing the man down. The teenager kept her blood stained blade out, and ignored the blood dripping down her body.

"Captain, how do we dispose of the body?" She had asked while looking at him. Her voice was barely audible, but she was doing her best to be professional due to her current standing. She briefly wondered if she'd be doing more Anbu related work as a genin, but she pushed those thoughts down. Only the Hokage could assign Anbu, she did not know that however. She also did not know Cloud's plans for her nor why he tried to recruit her into the Root program.

The girl popped a creak in her back from the fall, while waiting for the elder and more experienced ninja to demonstrate on how to reduce the body to nothing so their village's secrets would remain just that, secret. The girl briefly wondered what kinds of jutsu the traitor knew and what she could possibly learn from the body regarding them, and other secrets the former jounin might of knew.

The redhead simply stared at the pyre that rose to the sky from the body and the head. She looked at her reflection in her katana, and saw that she was covered in blood from the particularly gorey death of the man that she had ended with her own hands. Sheathing the blade, it did not matter if she was bathed in her enemy's blood, she was a true kunoichi now and would wear his blood with pride. That did not mean she was not going to go home and relax in the hot springs in the village. She may start to enjoy the bloodshed that she caused, but she would only shed the blood of others when the redhead had to do so.

Breathing in, she stared at the campsite that the three had built for themselves. It was a simple one, she took one of the gourds that the man took. She poured the contents on the pyre making it rise even higher before turning and starting to walk away from it. She could hold in her emotions until after they got back to Konoha. "Captain, can we report the success of this mission?" She had asked while keeping her back turned on the flames.

Her eyes were leaking silent tears, hidden by the mask that she had donned. Even if she knew that it was for the good of the village, Raiden still did not like that she had to do this. The teenager, would soon get use to the bloodshed, but she did not know this. She would soon take lives without giving a damn, and she would bathe in the blood of countless enemies. The redheaded girl was keeping her emotions in check, barely. She could barely trust her voice at the moment, and hoped that he would respect her wishes and let them leave the scene.

Raiden nodded along to his words, and shivered when he did his teleportation jutsu that took them back to Konoha. She listened as he told her that training would begin tomorrow and that she was going to gain a couple of teammates after they look for them. It was perfect, she briefly wondered who they may be, and took the mask off of her face. Bowing to him she said, "I will not disappoint you, Master." The teenager used Master due to her being his apprentice like he had said she was going to be. The girl bowed once more and said, "I will see you tomorrow, Master. Have a nice day, and goodbye." She had spoken with a cheerful tone in her voice, and turned before skipping off. The rabbit mask was securely hidden within her obi. The girl felt like she was going to henge into an adult, and buy liquor in order to drink it and forget about the man that she had just killed.