Finally the story continues and we will continue with Itachi's and Sayur's training!
I've written this chapter in March and have already written the next one as well, but somehow didn't got to post this ...
But here it is! The next chapter will follow soon as well.
Special Training
Itachi didn't sleep a wink that night. He just couldn't stop thinking about what the following day would reveal.
How many hours had he already spent thinking about this all? About Danzo, their weird missions … Now there had come a new factor … special training for each one of them in their 'special qualities'. What could these possibly be?
Maybe Itachi's Sharingan, Seishi's Byakugan and Sayuri's … demonic powers? No, that didn't make any sense.
But what else could it be? And what plans could the village pursue with that? Usually the training was up to every Shinobi himself. Weren't the Hokage and his people a bit too involved in their business? Or was it just his Uchiha-blood that made him suspicious?
He couldn't dare to tell his father about any of that because he'd certainly snap. His relationship to the village elders seemed to grow worse by the day.
Well, there wasn't any meaning in overthinking it before he would see what the training was about with his very own eyes, but even though he knew that, he just couldn't sleep.
Even during breakfast Itachi couldn't force himself to some appetite. The whole thing was really getting to him.
"So how was your last mission?", his father suddenly addressed him.
He tried to fake some half-witted, small-talk interest, but it was obvious that it was more than that.
"Easy ...", Itachi answered evasive. But of course his father wouldn't be content with just that.
"Did you do anything … interesting?", he asked further, already out of patience. It sounded a bit like he would crave for some gossip, some dirt on somebody, preferably the village elders.
"Not really ...", Itachi mumbled without looking him in the eyes.
"Itachi … I know you don't want to talk about your secret missions, but …", he looked around as though he feared someone would eavesdrop. Who would? They were in the center of the Uchiha district.
"Listen, today there is going to be a special meeting for ..."
"I can't", Itachi quickly interrupted him before he could become any more specific. He didn't want to know about that.
"I'm sorry, but … I wanted to do some training today."
"Training, what training?", his father got louder, "This is more important than some training! This is about our Clan!"
Itachi didn't know what to say. He didn't want his father to know about that special training the Hokage had forced upon them. And he didn't want to be involved in the matters of his Clan.
"Leave him be!", his mother hissed with a quick glance at Sasuke, who was obliviously munching his breakfast. "He's still too young for this anyway!"
"He's already a Jonin! It's time he'd ..."
"He's present!", Itachi told them slightly pissed, "But now he will leave!"
He stood up and went for the door, ruffling through Sasuke's hair as he walked past him. Sasuke squealed a little complaining, a sound that brought a short smile back on Itachi's face, despite the angry yelling of his father.
Have the trees always been that huge here? Itachi couldn't recall. He wasn't really often in this part of the village, but still he was pretty convinced, that the huge flora here wasn't normal.
The training area where they had the Chuunin exam was a giant forest, but this was another one, right? Itachi didn't feel quite right when he stepped into the forest. Something was off.
Even though he was perfectly on time, his teacher wasn't anywhere to be seen. And not knowing who he was actually looking for didn't make it any easier.
He decided to stop first and find out about the reason why he felt so uneasy in here, when the situation became even weirder. Suddenly, the trees' color turned brighter and brighter, until it was already almost yellow … no, it was sand. The trees turned into sand and just collapsed.
Itachi was speechless as he watched the whole forest turning into sand that trickled into the ground. What was going on? It took him a while until he noticed that even the earth under his feet had turned into quicksand and he was already stuck up to the knees. He tried to raise his feet, but the more he struggled, the deeper he sunk. Knowing very well that it would only make it worse, he moved even more and when the sand had almost reached his breast and the pressure made it hard to breath, the scenery changed once again.
Itachi didn't even blink when the sand turned into water right in front of his eyes and he found himself amidst the sea. He was expecting something like that. He also wasn't surprised, when a huge fountain of water showed up right in front of him and took the form of a woman, several yards high. She looked down on him with eyes as cold as ice.
Itachi grinned slightly when he recognized her. He had understood what was going on already a while ago and now the parts of the puzzle were finally assembled and fell into place.
The identity of his trainer and the nature of this training revealed a faint idea of the Hokage's plans. What a joke. Itachi shook his head and stepped on the water that wasn't actually there.
Challenging an Uchiha in Genjutsu was either brave or stupid, maybe both, but in the end it was nothing more. It took Itachi only the blink of his eyes to change their color from black to red and the water to solid stone.
The woman, too, has turned to stone and only her reddish eyes were still able to move. They looked at Itachi without any change of expression, even when he drew his sword and held it high with eyes clearly depicting that his sword would go through stone like through butter.
Just as he jumped up to free the stone giant from the heavy head on his shoulders, the woman closed her eyes and Itachi's sight went black.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a clearance in a forest, a perfectly normal sized forest with normal sized trees, and in front of him stood a normal sized woman with a body made of flesh instead of stone.
"Not bad. You didn't only see through my Genjutsu, you were even able to throw it back at me. As expected from an Uchiha who mastered Sharingan", she nodded approving.
"And you were still able to regain control and dissolve it. As expected from the rumored Genjutsu genius Kurenai Yuuhi", Itachi answered. She smiled with a hissing sound.
"I wouldn't have thought that I'd ever be complimented by an Uchiha. The rumors about you seem to be true as well ..."
"What rumors …?", Itachi rose an eyebrow and looked at her confused. That was the first time he ever heard there were rumors about him. Except for the usual 'genius' rumors. Kurenai just shook her head.
"That's not important. I'm sure you know what I'm here for, right?", she elegantly changed the subject.
"I take it that you're here to train me. In Genjutsu, I would wager the guess."
"Indeed. You're as smart as you look", she nodded.
"So you believe there is still something you could teach me?", he asked, unable to hide the fact that he didn't.
"And there it fades …", she just sighed, "my hope you wouldn't be as arrogant as the rest of your family."
"Hey!", Itachi hissed. He didn't like it when someone talked bad about his family, even if he was just stating the blunt truth.
"What if you just try to decide that for yourself?", she ignored him and quickly formed some finger-signs. And there the Genjutsu battle started over again.
She was good. She was seriously good. Even without the Sharingan, she was easily able to escape Itachi's Genjutsu and throw them back at him. It was an amazing technique. Their battle went on for an hour, until they were both so exhausted that they could barely stand, even though they hadn't moved from the spot.
"Let's make a break", Kurenai-sensei dissolved the Genjutsu and sat down in a meditating pose. "Our Chakra flows are disturbed. We need to concentrate and order it again."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Itachi watched her and decided to copy her.
"Try to feel the Chakra flowing in you and try to consciously let it circulate", she instructed him without opening her eyes.
Itachi started to inhale and exhale heavily, trying hard to feel his Chakra, but he just couldn't. He knew that Seishi was perfectly capable of feeling the Chakra flowing in him and his control of it was almost close to perfection. Sayuri, too, of course. But he had never managed to pull something like that off.
The more he concentrated, the more he heard and felt. He heard the blood rushing through his veins and the beating of his heart. And there it was, something glimmering blue in front of his eyes, it was almost in reach. But when he put forth his hand to touch it, it was suddenly gone and all he saw was the face of his father.
A strict glare in his eyes and his words were ringing in Itachi's ears. He could even feel his hatred and bitterness. Itachi panted for air and opened his eyes again. His whole body was shaking.
"What's wrong? You're Chakra is even more disturbed than before. Did something happen?", Kurenai looked at him confused and stood up.
"No, it's …", Itachi started, but suddenly his lips were moving on their own. "Why are you teaching me all these things. Aren't you afraid that the day might come where I will use all of this against you?"
Kurenai was even more confused. She squinted her eyes and made a few steps towards him.
"What are you talking about? Why would you do such a thing? We're both Konoha Shinobi. This is just training, but in a real fight, we'd fight together."
Itachi didn't answer nor look at her. He realized that he was behaving weirdly, but he couldn't help it. Not with all the thoughts that suddenly came to his mind.
"And isn't that one of the best parts of Genjutsu?", she added and regained Itachi's attention. He looked up to her.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, in contrast to Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, Genjutsu will not hurt your opponent. It's practically harmless – at least physically – and thus, it's a perfect technique to use when you have to face opponents that you do not want to harm. And this would also include when you're forced to stand up against your allies."
Itachi didn't show any reaction on what she just said. He continued staring at her, but in his head the words she had said were repeating themselves over and over as they sank in. He had never seen it like that. This possibility had never occurred to him.
And why would it? Who would think about fighting his own friends, even if it was just hypothetically. But lately this thought had started creeping into his mind … And not only this thought alone.
"Kurenai-sensei", he addressed her formally and got up. His eyes were burning with determination. "If Genjutsu is manipulating the Chakra flow and the things the brain conceives … is there a Genjutsu that can erase or alter memories?"
Itachi's teacher seemed to be pretty surprised by this sudden question. She looked at Itachi confused and with a slight ounce of suspicion.
"Why are you interested in such things?", she countered his question.
"No particular reason ...", he avoided her piercing glare. "I was just curious."
Kurenai's eyes got even more suspicious, but she answered him anyway.
"Well, yes, there is", she nodded, "but this Technique has been long forbidden and got sealed away. Only the Hokage and the village elders have access to it."
So with other words, it was quite likely that Itachi had held its scroll in his hands once before. Back then when they had broken in into the Hokage's place to steal scrolls of forbidden Jutsu. Thinking about it, that's been six years ago. (A/N: WHOA! It was actually REALLY six years ago!)
He had still been in the Ninja Academy. When he had somehow managed to pull it off back then, then by now …
"So there is no way for you to get your hands on it", Kurenai added, "but that doesn't matter, since you were just curious, right?"
Itachi nodded quickly. "I just wondered if something like this was possible. Just out of interest."
He closed his eyes again and continued his meditation. No matter how long it would take, he wanted to get a grasp of his own Chakra flow in order to get a better understanding of how he could use Genjutsu most efficiently. And this time, when his tie to the reality slowly got severed and he went deeper inside his heart, the only face that popped up in front of his eyes was Sasuke's.
Meanwhile, on the second training ground at 10am in the morning:
"Hey there, have you been waiting for a long time?", a voice broke the almost vibrating tension lingering in the atmosphere.
"5 hours! 5 GODDAMN HOURS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!", with one loud flash the tension snapped and released a glaring lightning. "ONII-SAN!"
Sayuri screamed in fury and launched at her rather unimpressed elder brother. She went right for his throat, but he managed to dodge her and brought some distance between them.
"Whoa, calm down. I'm sorry, but there was this cat that couldn't get down from a tree, and this grandma, that ..."
"Cut this nonsense! AS IF!", Sayuri wasn't to be calmed down. She took a deep breath and spit some fire balls at him. "How can you do this to your own little sister?! Now I'll show you what happens when you steal my precious sleep from me FOR NOTHING!"
"Oh you showed me that quite a few times already ...", Kakashi mumbled and continued dodging Sayuri's raging attacks. And she wasn't about to calm down.
"You don't seem to be surprised seeing me here", he noticed.
"Pah!", Sayuri snorted while she threw a couple of burning Shuriken at him, "I suspected it already after 5 minutes, but after an hour I was convinced!"
Her eyes darkened even more and with them the sky. Lightnings seemed to focus on Kakashi as he was still dodging everything she threw at him swiftly.
"What do YOU even want to teach me? How I can control my Tengu Powers?! Don't make me laugh!", she hissed and threw a slightly derisive grin at him. My my, she was really pissed.
"Hey … now you're getting personal!", Kakashi sighed and stopped moving.
Right at that moment the clouds vanished again and the fireball Sayuri had wanted to throw at him came out as nothing but a pathetic gasp of smoke. She gritted her teeth and growled at him, her eyes slowly changing their color.
"See … and there you go again!", Kakashi showed up behind her and placed his hand on her forehead. The transformation stopped immediately. "Using up all your Chakra in a flash and then relying on your Demon form. Classic. And you think that's a good way to fight?"
Sayuri flinched and drew back, she hadn't been prepared for that. Her eyes gaped when she saw the way her brother was looking at her.
"The form was triggered once and I will now use it as I please. There is nothing you can do about it!", she hissed, but not that angry anymore. She almost sounded like a scared animal driven in a corner.
"I know that", Kakashi shook his head resigning, "but I will still try to show you a way to fight differently. To fight like a human."
Sayuri immediately stopped her fighting stance and raised her head, straightening her back. Still she glared at her brother.
"I never chose to be a human. You and father chose this life for me."
"Sayuri ...", Kakashi sighed. It was this old topic they had discussed over and over again, for years. They were both tired of it by now, so all of a sudden all the anger and the will to fight was gone.
"You know, we just wanted ..."
"It's okay ...", Sayuri shrugged and sat down on the ground, "By now, I almost think it's better like this. If I had gone with mother, I would have never come to know Itachi. Or Seishi. And after all I even managed to break the seal and free myself from these humane chains. In the end, it isn't that bad."
Kakashi looked at his sister confused. It was the first time he had heard something like that. Usually she would snap whenever this topic was only about to be mentioned. She had really grown up.
"I know you won't listen to me anyway, but I still wished you'd just stay human. And let these powers sealed away", Kakashi approached her and bowed down to her, but she wouldn't look in his eye nor answer. "You know fully well that this is exactly what they want. You know that they're turning you into their weapon. Through him. Why are you doing this, when you hate this village so much? Why are you so obsessed with this guy? And don't tell me it's because of immortal love or some bullshit like that."
Sayuri finally looked up to him. Her eyes were cold. It was a look on her face she would only ever show to him, a side no one else knew. Her true demonic form.
"It is true I despise this village with everything I've got. They took my mother and my father from me and left a huge hole in my heart. But I managed to fill this whole with him. Believe it or not, but I really love him. Even though my motives are just plainly selfish ...", she sighed.
"Your motives?", Kakashi asked and also sat down. He hadn't really expected this 'training session' to turn out to a discussion, sorting out family matters that were almost an entire decade old.
"Well, I have decided. I actually already knew it the first time I had seen him. I will make him Hokage, no matter what it takes", Sayuri's eyes burned with determination.
"Hokage? An Uchiha?!", Kakashi gasped and looked at Sayuri like she had become mad, "You know, this is just ..."
"He's not like the others and you know that! In fact, I'm convinced he'd be the best Hokage this village has ever seen. He is a man who loves this village from the bottom of his heart and hates war like nothing else. He even accepted me despite what I am. I believe that he can change this village to a place even I can love. A place mother could return to."
Kakashi snuffled unbelieving and shook his head. "You know, no matter what happens, mother will never return."
"So what?", Sayuri quickly talked back, "I told you, I'm just being selfish. I don't care about mother anymore. I want a place where I can live in without having to hide my wings and my claws. A place where I can leave my house without a mask. Wouldn't you like it, too? Breathing fresh air?"
Kakashi let his fingers run over the mask hiding the majority of his face. He had become so used to it, it felt like a part of his body. The thought of not needing it anymore almost seemed scary.
"I have chosen my path and I won't turn back on it. I will live as a human and die as a human. In this village", Kakashi answered straight-faced.
"You're a fool, just like father", Sayuri sighed and shrugged.
"And you're just as destructively proud as mother."
It was so weird talking like that. In all these years they had never really talked much about them after their mother had left them and their father had taken his own life. Not in such a calm and mature way. And yet, there were still so many things that had to be said. But not now.
"You know, this is not the reason we're here for. I will teach you how you can control your Chakra better and use it efficiently. Plus a few new Jutsu I just learned myself. Are you in? Training together as in old times?", Kakashi changed the topic.
Sayuri was obviously grateful that he had done so. She hated thinking about her parents, it just made her heart ache to the point she'd think it could kill her. Her anger also was gone by now and she even managed to put a faint smile on her lips.
"Fine with me. But your Jutsus should better be awesome!", she winked.
Itachi was the first who arrived at the arranged place. It was still early in the evening, but he hadn't wanted to go home, so he had grabbed something to eat on the way and immediately came here.
The little hut deep in the forbidden training area had always proven to be a place where he could return to when he needed some distance and time for himself.
Even though the others were about to be here soon, too, he still had some time to think about the day. He hated admitting it, but he had really learned a lot. And quiet useful things.
Still he couldn't get rid of the feeling that everything had a deeper meaning behind it, that wasn't really about the well-being and proper training of him and the others. Slowly the puzzle put itself together and Itachi couldn't say that he liked the picture it was about to reveal.
Seishi was the next one to show up. He could barely move, it seemed that he had dragged himself all the way out here with the very last ounce of strength.
With a pained groan he broke down over a bale of hay and stopped moving.
"Uhnnngghhh ...", he moaned. "My body … can't move … so horrible."
"What's wrong? Was the training that hard?", Itachi couldn't deny himself teasing him a bit, "I can't complain. I didn't move an inch the entire day."
"What the?!", Seishi yelled without moving or even looking up. He really was to worn out to do even that. "Are you kidding me? You bastard!"
Itachi snorted. Obviously he had been right with his assumption, that Seishi had been trained in Taijutsu that day, just like Itachi had been trained in Genjutsu. Which also made it pretty obvious what had been left for Sayuri.
"Hey Seishi. Look at me."
"Huh?", Seishi made a confused sound and tried to raise his head. He had a really hard time doing so, but then their eyes locked.
It was only a moment, but it felt like the time just froze for several seconds and then, all of a sudden …
"What the...?", Seishi raised his body and stood up, staring disbelieving at his hands and arms and then at his whole body. "The pain … it's gone. I can move again. How did you do that?!"
Seishi walked a few steps, even jumping slightly and turned around. He had never felt so light and flexible before, even though he had been lying around like a wet sac only seconds ago.
"Did you learn some medical Jutsu or what? Shouldn't that be my part?", he almost got mad.
But he was wrong. This had nothing to do with medical Jutsu, it was just Genjutsu that fooled Seishi's brain with believing the pain was gone. This way of using his Sharingan seemed to open up endless new opportunities.
Before Itachi was able to tell Seishi the truth and suggest him to get back to rest before straining his body even more, the door opened once again and Sayuri stepped inside.
Seishi and Itachi both felt glad at first, because they had been quite surprised that she was the last one to show up even though she had been the first to start the training, but this feeling quickly changed.
Something was wrong. Usually Sayuri would show up with a bright smile on her face, immediately talking about her day and asking about theirs. Instead she had a worried look on her face, not even looking at them, and she took her place in the corner of the room.
"Hey guys ...", she started with a weird tone in her voice, "I … there is something I need to tell you."
Seishi and Itachi both gulped and focused her. "What is it? Is everything alright?"
Neither of them knew what exactly was going on in her head, what kind of training she had had today and with whom.
"Yes, it's just … I know it might sound weird, but I think I've figured out what all of this is about. These weird, staged missions and the training today ...", she mumbled.
"Sayuri ...", Itachi's mouth went dry as he watched her cramp her fists.
"I think it's … all my fault. It's because I awoke my demon form and started transforming in battles. They want to find a way to use me as a weapon. And you've been dragged in by that ...", she shivered a bit saying that and stared at the ground. Not once since she had entered the hut, she had thrown a glance at them. She almost seemed to be ashamed.
Seishi and Itachi sighed and exchanged a quick look.
"We know that already ...", Itachi told her.
Sayuri flinched and finally looked up, her eyes gaping in surprise.
"You … knew that?"
Seishi nodded. "Well, it was kind of obvious, wasn't it? Why would the three of us get this kind of attention? Why would they bother putting up some fake missions for us, sacrificing people for that and forcing us to take special training sessions? Neither I nor Itachi would be worth that effort, no matter how awesome we are. We are still human. So with other words … it only could be you."
Sayuri just stared at them as her eyes went wet.
"You were aware of this the whole time … and still you ..."
"Sayuri", Itachi interrupted her harshly, yet with a kind tone, "it doesn't matter. We're a team, remember? We're in this together, no matter what happens."
He nodded at her and reached his hand out for her. It all made perfect sense. These missions where Sayuri had transformed into her demon form had only served the purpose to observe and research her. How she transformed, how she reacted after that.
And then Seishi and Itachi would receive some special training to be able to deal with her if she lost control. Itachi with Genjutsu, Seishi with superhuman and destructive Taijutsu. Even though it had seemed like Itachi was the center of this group it was actually Sayuri. They were put up to become an invincible fighting unit with demonic powers.
"Itachi ...", Sayuri stood up and took his hand. She was almost crying. Was she still thinking Itachi could hate her or reject her because of something as stupid as that?
He drew her towards him and put his arms around her, pressing her to his chests. In moments like these, where she was so confused and vulnerable, she was just a human. The human he had fallen in love with.
"Well, now that that's clarified ...", Seishi started and sighed, "but there's still one thing I don't quite get."
Itachi shot him a silencing death glare, but it didn't work. Seishi had already decided to ask this question now and he wouldn't turn back.
"Why is it that you are the first Tengu the village is trying this on? I had never once heard about demons in our village, there had never been even rumors like that. But your family is living here for generations right? Your brother and your father … why is it that … they never had become a target for the village elders? And what about … the rest of your family? Your mother for example?"
Seishi had obviously been reluctant about asking all these questions. He, himself, hated it to be asked about his family. The first memories that came to his mind when he heard words like 'mother and father' or 'brother' weren't exactly fond ones. Even though they didn't deserve this association, the only thing coming to his mind was a sea of blood and suffering. Maybe it wasn't any different for Sayuri.
"You don't need to answer if you don't want to ...", Itachi tried to rescue Sayuri from Seishi's bold question, "if you're not comfortable with it, then ..."
"No, it's okay", Sayuri shook her head, but still buried her face in his chest, "I wanted to tell you about this sooner or later anyway, so why not now."
She took a deep breath and drew back, mentally preparing herself for what was to come now.
"The whole story … about my family."
