Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine.
Chapter 10: To Become the Best
All right, where are you?
The young shinobi named Ronin Kobayashi crouched upon a tree branch, his clever blue eyes scanning the nearby foliage for any sign of his sensei. By now, he had learned that it was her habit to hide among the trees and ambush him to begin their lessons. She was testing his ability to sense chakra, a skill he had always lacked despite his bloodline limit. Even if he had been proficient at it, Masako would still have been difficult to detect. As a highly specialized elite assassination ninja, Masako was swift and silent, a veritable master of concealment. Her lessons were rigorous, her teaching style brutal, but Ronin knew that he had already improved substantially after only a week's worth of lessons.
Jolting his thoughts back to the present moment, Ronin quickly and quietly made the handsigns to activate his haishougan.
Ronin gritted his teeth against the sudden pain in his temples as the quiet forest transformed into a raucous deluge of sound. The soft rustling of leaves in the trees became a dull roar, the noises of various forest animals intermingling into a symphony of chirps, growls, and sqawks. Ronin gradually sifted through all these sounds until he managed to isolate the tap of a wooden sandal to his right. In one fluid motion, Ronin ducked and swung his sandal around to trip the intruder. Masako fell from the tree, flipping through the air gracefully, and sending chakra to her feet to land softly upon the ground.
Staring steadily at the spot where Ronin was hiding, Masako leaned against a tree and began clapping sardonically. The edges of her mouth crept upward in reluctant amusement. "Well done, my student. If you'll come down from that tree, we can begin the next phase of your training."
Ronin lept from his perch, landing softly upon the ground.
"What will you have me do?" he asked.
Rather than replying, Masako bent down and ripped a piece of fabric from her left pant leg.
She used a jutsu to quickly appear behind Ronin. Then, she fastened the piece of fabric behind his head, tying it over his eyes like a blindfold.
"Sensei?" Ronin asked.
"Right now you're good, but you're hardly the best. In order to become the best, you must maximize your potential. And in order to become the best ninja you can be, you must first master your bloodline limit," Masako said.
Ronin remained silent, waiting for Masako to explain herself further.
"I am now going to train you to master your bloodline by forcing you to fight me blindfolded, relying only on your keen sense of hearing," Masako continued. "However, this exercise is not meant to teach you to rely on your bloodline at all times- one trick ninjas die in their first battle. Am I understood?"
Ronin nodded.
"Excellent. Then let's get started." Masako said, smirking evilly.
She suddenly appeared behind Ronin, aiming a roundhouse kick at his head. Ronin heard her approaching, but was not able to get out of the way in time. He was thrown back against a tree so hard that he felt his bones crack.
"Tsk, tsk. You can do better than that."
Even with the blindfold on, Ronin knew that Masako was shaking her head in disappointment.
"You must listen ahead of time for the first hint as to my direction of attack- if you wait to hear my attack itself, you are too late," she berated him.
Ronin nodded, and gingerly got to his feet to prepare for her next attack.
Three hours later, a bruised and battered Ronin slumped against a tree in exhaustion. Masako knelt beside him to remove his blindfold.
"You did well for the first time," she said quietly.
Ronin's eyes widened at the hint of sincere praise in her voice.
Suddenly, his body stiffened as he heard the sound of a twig breaking nearby. He exchanged a significant glance with Masako, who strangely did not seem overly concerned about the presence of an intruder.
"What do you want, Koname?" Masako asked tired.
Ronin could hear the young woman gasp in surprise. She was no doubt shocked that Masako knew her identity without seeing her face.
"I – I wanted to become your pupil once again, Masako-sensei," Koname said, emerging from the nearby bushes.
Masako said nothing. Koname hurriedly blundered on, unsure of what to say but earnest in her conviction.
"I know that I'm not very good, but I promise that I will try very hard to catch up. I will train nonstop if you wish it."
Masako walked over to Koname and stared straight into her eyes.
Koname looked down, unnerved by Masako's steady gaze. Instantly, she looked back up again, afraid she had failed some sort of test. But it was too late.
"Go home Koname. You can never be a ninja," Masako said, walking away.
"You're wrong!" Koname shouted. "None of you think I can do it, but you're wrong. I will be a ninja if it is the last thing I do!"
Masako turned back and looked at Koname for a long while. Finally she said, "If you are serious about this, you must scale that tree and hang upside down from a branch all night. If I come back in the morning and you are still there, I will allow you to be my student. But be warned, if you cheat I will know it."
"Yes sensei," Koname said faintly. Inwardly, she was despairing. I couldn't even hang from a branch for two hours before, she thought. How I am supposed to make it through an entire night?
Masako smirked and left the glade, dropping Ronin's blindfold on the forest floor as she left.