To draw, trace of define the outer edge or shape of something, that is an outline.

Before creating a piece of art, every artist needed an outline. Whether it be an outline of the background, a person's face, or perhaps even an outline of the small things, such as a falling leaf or the roots of a tree.

Outlines were the foundation to everything. The first step that every artist took in order to create a masterpiece. Danzo-sama didn't fancy himself an artist in the sense of drawing or any other practical art. No, he considered himself a master at what he did, enough for it to be considered as a form of art.

What did he do?

He made roots, members of the division he commanded, who followed his every order in order to support the tree known as Konoha. He shaped the unseen members who support the great tree of Konoha from the depths of the earth.

With every member Danzo-sama recruited, he started with the same outline. The same skill he thought was essential to every ninja's skillset.

Taijutsu.

In Root, the two essential skills every member learned was Taijutsu and Kenjutsu.

Then, only after Danzo-sama was satisfied, would a member move on to develop his or her own mastery over another art under Danzo-sama's hawk-like supervision. Whether the art be Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, poison, medicine and so on.

Aside from Taijutsu and Kenjutsu training, there was another mandatory practice every member had to go through, without exception. The practice of killing one's emotions and thus becoming essentially heartless.

Yet, pray tell Fu, why hadn't Shiro change after almost a year of going through Root's strict regime? They, he and his partner Torune, had tried every possible and Danzo-sama approved method.

From Genjutsu, to isolation, to torture, and even starvation! Nothing worked on the girl. The inability to change Shiro's personality left Fu uneasy. He was sure that trying to change Shiro was counterproductive, because instead of turning the girl emotionless, the self-proclaimed Kaguya had made him feel again. Negative feelings, but still feelings.

The former Yamanaka, because in Root there wasn't such a thing as a last name, couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the source of his...frustration. Currently, Shiro was hanging out with two "friends" she had made weeks after joining Root. Sai and Shin. The odd trio were sitting down at a table in the eating lounge, chattering about a book Shiro and Sai were writing and illustrating respectively.

Hobbies, as long as they didn't get in the way, was permitted in Root.

"You're staring."

Fu glanced at his partner, Torune, who was calmly eating some dumplings.

"She's annoying," Fu defended himself.

"Careful, your emotions are showing," Torune jested.

Fu's grip tightened on his fork.

Another reason why Shiro greatly frustrated him? The girl had somehow gotten Torune of all people to start showing more emotions! To joke around. To occasionally smile or even laugh. And she did it without even making an effort.

"She's changing Root."

Fu's attention was now one hundred percent on his partner.

"What?"

"She's changing Root and for some reason, Danzo-sama hasn't done anything about it."

Fu frowned at his partner, "When a root isn't beneficial, it gets cut off so it won't endanger the tree."

"Considering this particular root hasn't been cut off yet, I assume it is useful," Torune's tone held a knowing edge to it, which served to frustrate Fu more.

What was he missing?

"However, our speculation isn't needed."

Indeed.

Fu exhaled a breath. He wasn't sure if it was of relief or frustration or any other emotion he was no longer used to. After all, Shiro had been in Root for almost a year. Her Taijutsu and Kenjutsu only regiment was basically done.

When that one year mark arises? Well, Shiro would be assessed by Danzo-sama himself. She would be assigned a specialization.

"What do you think it's going to be? Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu?" Fu, despite his present annoyance with the girl, couldn't help the curiosity he was feeling.

Shiro was an anomaly. And even when someone didn't like an anomaly, they couldn't help but feel curious about the anomaly.

"Isn't it obvious already?"

"NO! PRINCESS JASMINE IS BROWN, NOT WHITE!" Shiro loudly wailed.

No one seemed perturbed by it. They all merely glanced at the girl before continuing with their own work. Of course, there were a few whose eyes would linger on the scene of the white haired girl lecturing Sai about character appearance.

"Tch, as long as she's finally out of our skin," Fu dismissively said, turning to his now cold dumplings.

.o0o.o0o.

Dear Shiro,

It's been almost a year since I've last seen you, sweetie. How are you? How is training going? Remember, if you ever want to quit, you're welcomed to. In fact, become a stripper! Yes. You've wanted to become, haven't you? I'll even train you. We could let you take some lessons. Or, if you'd like to be more professional, you could become an escort.

Oh, an escort gets paid more. Who knows? Maybe we could both become escorts.

Please write back.

I'm begging you.

Love,

Mom.

Hayate sighed as he folded the letter Akane had written, a small amused smile on his features as he placed it in an envelope. Although it had been almost a year without hearing a word from Shiro, Akane had never stopped writing letters to Shiro.

"Why are you smiling?" Akane asked, staring daggers at him.

"I've never heard of a mother who wants their daughter to become an escort," Hayate answered, "Yet, I'm not at all surprised. I suppose even you have a few screw loose, Akane."

Akane crossed her arms, "Better than my poor Shiro being under Danzo's mercy."

Yeah, Hayate couldn't argue with that.

"Think we should send a cake with the letter?" Hayate changed the topic, "Not home-baked of course, since we don't want Shiro to die of food poisoning," he easily avoided the punch Akane sent his way, "So we can order from the bakery! She likes strawberry shortcake the most, right?"

Akane's eyes softened.

She recalled when Shiro had turned three and she, Hayate and Shiro herself had celebrated with a simple strawberry shortcake. Which Shiro had ended up eating all by herself with a smile on her face.

"Mikoto-san has the cake part covered," Akane quietly said, "I have to get to work."

Hayate watched as the sullen woman left, inwardly giving himself a punch. He should have said yes. Should have told Shiro he'd train her. But, because of his personal feelings, he had allowed Shiro to slip away.

He glanced down at the envelope in his hand, using his free hand to muffle a cough.

As usual, he'd give it to the Hokage before seeing if he'd take a solo-mission or something. As of six months ago, his team had been disbanded. Ibiki was now working at the T&I, quickly making his way up the ranks and Shikaku-sensei was more focused on his family and his position as the Jounin commander.

In all honesty, Hayate had been contemplating joining the ANBU. But his lung issues would get in the way. So, the next best thing would probably be to take on a team or something, right?

But he wouldn't take on anyone if they weren't Shiro.

"I'm an emotional person. I can't control my emotions like Shikaku-san, Fugaku-san, Itachi-san or any other strong shinobi. It's because I'm an emotional person that my dream is to save a lot of lives and that's why I can't wait. One day, I hope to surpass Tsunade-sama herself. But if throwing away my emotions mean you'll teach me, I'll do it. I'll throw away my emotions, just please, train me."

He didn't want any other kid to turn out like Shiro had. He didn't want anyone to do what he did and push a kid towards Root. No, he didn't want to fail a kid again. He wanted to...

Redeem himself.

To earn Shiro's forgiveness one day.

Because, she wasn't just a mission to him. She was like the annoying little sister he'd never had. Her cheery attitude, her stubborn attitude, her fearlessness in expressing herself and her dreams. Everything about Shirona Miyamoto had rubbed off on him. Had softened him up the the point where he couldn't even lie that she was just a mission.

A mission which he had probably failed from the start.

Why?

He was human, that's why.

"I am too cut out to be a ninja! Just you wait, I'll become the strongest kunoichi ever, and one day I'll kick your ass!"

Frankly, Hayate had always thought that everyone was capable of becoming a ninja. Everyone had some kind of potential in them. From Kurenai who specialized in Genjutsu to Gai who favored Taijutsu, everyone was a genius or at least above average at something. It was just a question of what. They just needed someone to help them figure out what they were good at.

'What would Shiro be good at?'

Ninjutsu? Maybe.

Genjutsu? No way, she didn't have the patience for it.

Kenjutsu? Considering she thought Samurais were the coolest things after dragons, maybe.

Taijutsu? Hmm, no. Shiro preferred a flashier approach.

Fuinjutsu? Yeah, right. Shiro didn't have the patience for that either.

Smiling, Hayate decided, he would wait.

He'd wait for Shiro to come back and he'd help her discover what she was good at. Whether it be a skill that was useful for being a shinobi, or something mundane like pranks.

In the meantime, he'd help other kids.

He'd become an Academy instructor.

"Hayate-sensei," he tested out the form of address, liking the way it rolled off his tongue.

Hayate-sensei did have a nice ring to it, didn't it?

.o0o.o0o.

Shiro shook her head no.

"What about Fu-sempai's small dick?"

Shin did a spit take, coughing rather harshly.

Shiro couldn't help but laugh, despite the concern she felt for Shin. Because really, it was so like Sai to be a little anti-social shit even when he was friends with both her and Shin.

"R-rejected!" Shin finally exclaimed, ears red.

Shiro smiled, feeling accomplished for some reason. Maybe it was because six months ago, Shin barely laughed or got angry. But now? The boy expressed his emotions almost as freely as she did. And for some reason, Danzo still haven't done anything.

Shiro's smile dropped at the thought of Danzo.

It had been a year since she's seen Danzo in person. A year of brutal military-like training, focused on her then non-existent Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, under Fu-sempai and Torune-sempai. She'd like to think they warmed up to her, considering that they had stopped their methods of killing off her emotions. She considered that a win, because there was no way she'd give up her emotions.

What was the point of wanting to become strong if she wouldn't want to protect her precious people?

She bit the seal on her tongue, feeling a little uneasy. Surely, it couldn't be that easy to resist the kill-off-emotions-brainwashing, could it?

"What about Shiro doesn't have a-"

"No, nothing that has to do with..." Shin trailed off.

Honestly, it was hilarious how reluctant Root members were to say 'dick' or any other term that refers to one's private parts. Well, the only exceptions to the almost stereotype like behavior being her and Sai.

"Dicks?" Shiro and Sai chorused in unison, both adapting an innocent-like expression.

"Gah!" Shin finally groaned, bunking both of them on their heads.

Shiro and Sai shared a smile, albeit Sai's smile screamed fake and creepy, but still, it was a smile.

"What about Shin's tanto is compensating for-"

"Enough," Shin cut Shiro off, "I got a name."

He watched as both Shiro and Sai perked up and wondered how he could have went from being a big-brother figure to an emotionally stunted boy to the voice of reason of an his odd trio consisting of the emotionally stunted Sai and the walking insanity inducer known as Shiro. Oh, right he was the one who started the whole friendship thing they had going on.

What was he thinking back then?

"What's the name?" Shiro curiously asked.

"Konoha-"

"No." Sai cut off, "Nothing too personal, remember?"

Shin sighed, coming up with a pen-name to publish their book under was harder than he expected.

"You're both useless," Shiro dramatically sighed, "Even Fu-sempai would be better at this."

"Yeah, well I don't see you coming up with any brilliant ideas."

"She's dickless, that's why," Sai chimed in.

Shin was too tired to even try to lecture Sai.

"What about," Shiro clasped her hands together with a big grin, "S.S.S? It's our initials! Shiro, Sai, Shin!"

Shin blinked, sharing a look with Sai.

"Maybe she isn't so dickless."

Shin laughed.

.o0o.o0o.

"Dear Shiro," Shiro mumbled to herself, reading the first line of her mother's latest letter.

As usual, she skimmed over the words before returning the letter to its envelope and throwing it in the trash like the rest. A part of her wanted to write a reply, to tell her mother she was fine and to ask her mother to stop writing letters. After all, Shiro was now part of Root.

Despite how ballsy Shiro was being, there were things she wouldn't mess with in Root. Things she would rather avoid in Root. One of such things being drawing Danzo's interest in her mother. She didn't want Danzo to do anything with her mother, like force her to kill Akane or something. Call it paranoia, but Shiro was sure Danzo wasn't above ordering that in order to remove her emotions.

So, if she acted like she didn't care about the outside world, nothing would happen to Akane.

Torune-sempai and Fu-sempai's brainwash-into-killing-emotions methods were useful when it came to resisting the urge to contact her mother.

Shiro glanced at the cake she had received as well. For some reason, Danzo had given it to her. Had allowed and perhaps even given her permission to eat the cake. She wasn't sure if it was a trap or not, but...

Drool escaped her mouth as her stomach made a growling sound.

Maybe just one bite?

She grabbed the card attached to the cake.

It was signed by Mikoto, Fugaku, Itachi, Shisui and Sasuke.

She smiled to herself, ignoring the tears in the corner of her eyes.

They actually remembered that it was her birthday.

"Shiro?"

Automatically, Shiro discarded the card into the trash can and wiped at her eyes.

"Come in!"

The door to her room opened to reveal Sai, Shin, Torune and Fu.

She tilted her head to the side, "I thought the sleepover party was supposed to be next week?" she joked with a grin.

"You met up with Danzo-sama today, correct?" Fu was the first to ask.

Shiro nodded without hesitation, "Yep~!"

"And? What's going to be your specialization?" Shin curiously asked.

"Fuinjutsu!"

Fu and Shin were the only ones who looked surprised.

Sai and Torune? Well, they had figured it out considering Danzo allowed Shiro to indulge in writing. Writing had to do with calligraphy, which was arguably the most important part of Fuinjutsu.

"I see, congratulations," Torune nodded.

"So," Shiro started, seeing as the four were still awkwardly lingering at her door, "Want to join me for some cake?"

Chapter End.

Author's note: well, sorry for the late update. Currently, Shiro is six years old, just like Naruto and the others. Danzo's acting weird. Shiro's well, Shiro. Hayate's made a big decision. And well, apparently Shiro's going to be trained in Fuinjutsu. Who would have guessed?

Questions:

1. What's going on in Danzo's head?

2. What's Sai, Shin and Shiro's trio going to be like?