Rage

The 'Root,' known as the Anbu training camp, was no hollow reputation. As a place for training Anbu members, its facilities far exceeded Ye Zi's expectations. Highly professional and demanding training grounds and programs filled dozens of rooms, along with scrolls containing guides to taijutsu, ninjutsu, swordsmanship, and the use of rare ninja tools. Upon first encountering scrolls that ordinary people might spend their entire lives failing to master completely, Ye Zi's heart was swept by a colossal wave. He stood in the largest room, facing the murky yellow lamplight, silently gazing at the scrolls on the shelves, their heavy scent of ink filling the air.

He had once entertained an idea. It had occurred to him when he saw Orochimaru summon Manda with Summoning Jutsu. He had buried that thought deep in his heart, where it had continued to stir restlessly, yet he had always kept it firmly under control.

How did Summoning Jutsu instantly summon a massive life-form from another space?

What mysteries were contained within that seemingly complicated technique?

Just how could one pass through time and space?

If he comprehended every detail within that technique, would it be possible to open a door?

Looking at the countless scrolls in the room, the light in Ye Zi's eyes was like the rising sun, brimming with vitality at the moment of dawn.

"Ninjutsu." Ye Zi's brows slowly rose, and his eyes shone brightly. With the sections clearly organized, his gaze focused solely on the shelves holding the ninjutsu scrolls. Perhaps he could find the answers to his many questions among these numerous scrolls. At the thought that he might find a way home within them, his heart burned with excitement.

Once the thought arose beyond all restraint, he was unwilling to wait even a moment. He cast aside the training assignment given by his superiors and plunged straight into the scrolls, like a sponge trying to absorb the entire ocean.

In the eyes of outsiders, such an attempt to bite off more than one could chew was utterly laughable. Yet, considering Ye Zi's circumstances, it was also reasonable. Still, no one knew the desire buried deep within Ye Zi's heart.

On the first day of training after joining the Root, Ye Zi was absent.

After searching for some time while suppressing his rage, Jiang Ye learned that Ye Zi was in the room where the scrolls were stored. He immediately rushed there at top speed. Then he saw Ye Zi with his head buried among the scrolls, flames seemingly about to shoot from his eyes.

This was the first time anyone had ever missed training since the Root was founded—and it was that person's very first training session. No instructor could tolerate such a thing, much less here in the Root.

Jiang Ye strode up to Ye Zi. Even the deliberately heavy footsteps he made failed to pull Ye Zi back from the scrolls, so, burning with rage, he shouted coldly at him, "Raiya!"

At the furious shout, Ye Zi's body suddenly stiffened. He slowly raised his head and looked at the enraged Jiang Ye. His thoughts, immersed in ninjutsu, cleared in that instant. He silently looked at Jiang Ye's furious face, realizing that he seemed to have committed an exceedingly serious blunder. All he could do was silently endure the anger obvious to even a fool.

Jiang Ye's furious gaze moved away from Ye Zi's silent face and swept over the numerous scrolls piled on the table. Then he asked, "You'd better give me an acceptable reason."

Though he had tried hard to control his emotions, anger still leaked into his voice.

Facing that cold, stern gaze, Ye Zi lowered his eyelids slightly. After a long pause, he said, "There is no reason."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Ye laughed instead of becoming angry, but the fury in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. Looking at Ye Zi, he said coldly, "You should be grateful you didn't make up an excuse. Otherwise, I would break both your legs. Don't think this is merely a verbal threat. I do what I say." He was extremely serious when he spoke the final sentence, despite his harsh tone.

Ye Zi wanted very much to say he was sorry at that moment, but he did not. Just as he had refused to make excuses, he did not apologize, because neither an apology nor an excuse would have any meaning. From the first day he entered the Root, he had learned what kind of organization it was, and what sort of discipline and harsh standards it possessed.

He had indeed been wrong, and within the Root, that mistake appeared especially foolish. Yet he felt not the slightest regret over it.

He met Jiang Ye's furious gaze without saying another word. He simply remained silent, prepared to accept whatever punishment Jiang Ye decided to impose.

Such silence, still as dead water, usually made the person wanting to vent their anger feel stifled and uncomfortable. But to Jiang Ye, this silence was precisely the best way to dispel his anger. Even if the anger vanished, however, it would not affect the decision he made afterward.

"Today's training volume is tripled. There are six hours left until midnight. If you can't finish it, then remove your codename."

Jiang Ye coldly tossed out those words before turning and leaving. He had arrived with a bellyful of rage, yet he had said only a few brief sentences. Aside from his slightly obvious tone and somewhat heavier breathing, he had made no particularly extreme move.

But he was truly furious. The first thing he planned to do after leaving was report the matter to Danzo. He believed that no matter how great Ye Zi's talent was, he could never become the kind of person the Root needed. Ye Zi's sense of discipline was simply too poor, and within the Root, which had extremely strict requirements for its members, that was the one thing it could least tolerate.

After Jiang Ye left, Ye Zi looked at the scrolls piled across the table. After thinking it over, he still returned them to their original places one by one. Compared with the training volume he had far too little time to complete, he placed greater importance on putting the scrolls back where they belonged. He needed to remember which sections of the shelves he had read. He wanted to go through every ninjutsu scroll here and commit all the knowledge he absorbed to memory, without leaving out the slightest detail. He needed to understand every stroke and line of the Summoning Jutsu formula, and to do that, he needed an extensive knowledge of ninjutsu.

If Jiang Ye knew that Ye Zi was still seriously returning the scrolls to their places with barely any time remaining, he would have no idea what to think.

After returning all the scrolls to their places, Ye Zi headed toward the professional training room.

The originally assigned training volume was already extremely heavy, normally requiring at least six hours to complete. Now, with less than six hours remaining, Ye Zi had to finish three times that amount of training.

The training established by the Root differed greatly from ordinary training—a difference like that between an adult and a child. Generally speaking, the members selected for the Root were young and highly talented. Everyone found their first training session unbearably difficult, yet not a single person had ever been defeated by such a training volume.

The reason was simple: the instructors responsible for the training formulated their plans according to each member's limits.

The Root's greatest advantage in continually supplying Anbu members to Konoha was its teaching strength, something the Ninja Academy could not match.

Jiang Ye knew Ye Zi's statistics in every respect. Since he had set the training volume at six hours, Ye Zi could only spend six hours completing it.

The reason Jiang Ye demanded that Ye Zi complete three times the training volume within six hours was that he had already decided to drive Ye Zi out of the Root.

However, was Ye Zi really incapable of completing it?