"To become the roots that support the Hidden Leaf, one must possess sufficiently powerful strength."
Following Danzo Shimura's instructions, Tatsuma Aburame immediately began training the two new arrivals.
Even Simu couldn't help but sigh inwardly. As expected of Root; they've just arrived and don't even know where their rooms are, yet training starts immediately.
Tatsuma Aburame looked at the youthful pair and shouted sternly, "My name is Tatsuma Aburame. I will be responsible for your upcoming training. You may refer to me as Commander from now on."
"If there are no issues, we shall begin the training now."
As he finished speaking, Simu raised his arm.
"Hmm? What is your problem, Yi?"
Simu scratched his head and asked, "Commander Oil-Ma Dragon-Woman, Lord Danzo just said that we in Root do not need names. Why do you have one?"
Tatsuma Aburame's expression instantly darkened. Although Simu's point was logical, being questioned like this by a newcomer as the second-in-command of Root made him quite unhappy.
"Brat, the affairs of your seniors are not for you to question. My ability to use my own name naturally comes from my own path."
He then added, gritting his teeth, "Furthermore, my name is Tatsuma Aburame, not Oil-Ma Dragon-Woman!"
Simu gave a faint smile. "Understood, Commander Oil-Dragon-Ma-Woman."
Looking at the grinning newcomer, Tatsuma said through clenched teeth, "Heh, rookie. You will soon witness the cruelty of Root. I hope you can still laugh like that when the time comes."
Simu squinted his eyes and laughed. "Understood."
"Hmph."
Tatsuma Aburame's face was like ice. He decided to give the boy a proper lesson.
Beside them, Jia lightly tugged at Simu's sleeve, looking worried. "Yi, you should know that in Root, provoking a superior is never a good thing."
Having been raised in Root since he was a child, Jia understood its cruelty perfectly.
Things like emotions and human rights did not exist here.
Root ninjas were cold tools; if a tool was disobedient or not sharp enough, they would use every method of torture until it complied.
Facing Jia's friendly warning, Simu spoke cheerfully, "Don't worry, Jia. We are not who we used to be."
"Who we used to be?"
Jia froze for a moment.
The only difference between their past and present seemed to be...
Wood Style.
"You two, get over here now!"
Tatsuma Aburame was currently suppressing his anger as he herded Simu and Jia into the center of the training ground.
"The training task you must complete today is..."
"Kunai Evasion."
As Tatsuma Aburame made a hand gesture, the Root colleagues hidden in the darkness immediately activated the mechanism.
Four walls rose from the ground, enclosing Simu and Jia. Countless black holes appeared on the walls, and kunai began to emerge from the openings, pointing at the pair with a chilling glint.
"These are real kunai. If a vital point is pierced, you will die on the spot."
Tatsuma Aburame's voice sounded like a demon from hell.
Simu scanned the surrounding walls. This dense array of machinery could fire hundreds of kunai in a single instant.
In such a cramped environment, evasion would be difficult...
Unless the two cooperated, standing back-to-back to block attacks for each other.
Jia also realized this: "Yi, we need to cooperate—"
Simu shook his head with a smile. "That Commander probably won't let us."
Sure enough, Tatsuma Aburame saw through Jia's plan.
"Root has never had a tradition of mutual cooperation. Only by fighting alone can you be forged into a truly independent and qualified ninja."
Tatsuma Aburame's gaze landed on the two, a flicker of playfulness appearing at the corners of his mouth.
"So, who goes first?"
"I—"
Jia was about to step forward when Simu pressed him down.
"I'll do it!"
"Fine. You go first."
Tatsuma Aburame agreed without hesitation.
Seeing this, Jia could only obediently leave the "room" enclosed by the kunai.
In Root, disobeying a superior only resulted in more severe punishment.
It might even drag Yi down...
For some reason, Jia felt a strange emotion toward this companion who had been a test subject with him, obtained Wood Style with him, and returned to the Hidden Leaf with him.
He couldn't put a name to it.
The moment Jia left the training area, without any warning, the training began!
On the battlefield, an enemy wouldn't wait for you to be ready before attacking...
Countless sharp kunai were instantly and ruthlessly fired from the black holes in the walls.
Simu had anticipated this. With his current spiritual power, he could control every tissue of this body and precisely predict the trajectory of every incoming kunai.
As long as Tatsuma Aburame didn't fire enough kunai to saturate the entire space at once, Simu could dodge so long as there was even a tiny bit of room.
While Tatsuma Aburame wanted to teach this arrogant newcomer a lesson, he also knew these two possessed Wood Style and were the focus of Lord Danzo's high expectations.
If he actually killed them, he probably wouldn't live much longer himself.
Therefore, he held back somewhat. He left a time gap between the firing of each kunai rather than releasing a saturated strike all at once.
However, he found that he had still been too conservative.
Inside the training ground, Simu was like a butterfly fluttering gracefully through a storm of kunai.
The kunai flying from different directions couldn't even graze the hem of his clothes.
Every kunai that could have potentially hit him missed by a hair's breadth.
"How is this possible..."
Tatsuma Aburame's face was filled with disbelief. When these two were in Root, they were merely test subjects who had only received basic physical training. How could he possess such agile movements?
Could Orochimaru have given them special Taijutsu training during the experiments?
That was the only explanation.
"Then let me show you what it means to be a rookie."
Tatsuma Aburame immediately ordered an increase in the density of the kunai fire.
More kunai poured out. Jia's expression turned grim; at this density, evasion through movement alone was no longer possible.
Under Jia's worried gaze, Simu suddenly reached out, and a kunai landed perfectly in his hand.
He then used the strength of his waist to spin around, violently throwing the kunai in his hand.
Brilliant sparks continuously flashed as the thrown kunai collided multiple times in mid-air, perfectly deflecting every kunai that threatened Simu.
"If the test is only at this level, it won't be able to measure my talent."
As the final kunai fell, Simu remained standing in the center of the practice field, completely unscathed.