The Next Morning
I woke up early today. I made sure to make little to no noise, so that Naruto wouldn't wake. I completed my morning routine. With a small breakfast consisting of a banana and a nutritional shake, I grabbed my equipment and went to the gates to Konoha.
I approached the gates dressed in the same outfit as yesterday, but this time, I added a black cloak to my outfit. I was about to step out of the front gates as a man of medium stature, with a fair build, black hair that framed the sides of his face also stepped into the gates.
We both stood frozen, illuminated by the moonlight as the cloudless night sky loomed above us. As we stared into each other's eyes, we gradually looked at the other's outfit. I noticed that he wore a shirt that belonged to the Uchiha clan, that meant he had a high probability of belonging to the Uchiha clan. I noticed that he had faint spots of red all over his outfit, almost as if it was blood. I gave a subtle nod as I proceeded to walk out of the village. The man returned the nod as he too walked out of the village.
We walked down the path in silence. A form of unspoken comradeship. We eventually set up a camp after about a full day's travel, performed in complete silence. After we set up camp, the man spoke for the first time.
"My name is Itachi. What is yours?" The newly dubbed Itachi spoke.
"Shenlo. I noticed that you wear an Uchiha styled shirt, are you from the Uchiha clan?" I asked.
"Yes, I am. How perceptive. You sound young, how old are you if I may-" Itachi spoke, but was interrupted by voices that came from the road.
"Shut Marley, I could have sworn that I heard movement over here earlier. Besides the color of fire hitting the trees was obvious from the road. Think about all the wealth the people must have." A voice spoke.
"I understand that but what if they are shinobi?" another replied.
"Then we will kill them quickly." the first voice spoke.
Itachi and I maintained eye contact. I shook my head slightly, motioning for him to not move.
As the two voices made their way through the trees and into our campsite, we saw highwaymen.
"Well Marley it's our lucky day, two shinobi, we might get some wealth afterall."
The one known as Marley quickly ran toward me with a dagger that glinted in the light of the fire. He aimed the dagger at me, but was surprised to first be drenched in water, zapped by lightning, burned by fire, cut by wind, pulverized by earth, and then finally gripped by plants, as thorns carrying rare poisons dug into Marley's skin.
I turned to Marley and spoke. "Didn't your mama ever tell you to be wary of those who could manipulate the elements? No, how about being wary of those who didn't care to value human life? Well I will show you why you should." I spoke in a low voice.
I willed for multiple species of vines to trap the other highwayman. The vines grabbed him by the wrists and ankles. They held him in the air, as he struggled to be free. I grab the dagger that fell to the ground when Marley was assaulted by the elements. I picked up the dagger and walked toward Marley, with an evil glint in my eye. I raised the dagger and stabbed it through both arms twice. Receiving four screams back. I then proceeded to do the same with the legs, once again receiving four screams in return. Once I received eight screams, I stabbed him once in the stomach, receiving one more. Then I finally decapitated Marley in one swing. The sound of his skull hitting the ground echoing around the campsite within the sudden silence. I walked toward Itachi and handed him the dagger.
I then went back to my spot around the fire as the sound of everything became far off, my thoughts became deafening. The silence of the night drives me insane. My body began to shake terribly. Suddenly I found myself being shaken by Itachi. I heard my name being called, the sound around me coming back. Only then did I realize that I was sobbing.
"lo-She...Shenlo! It's okay, it's okay. You're okay. You're okay. It was necessary for you to experience. You're okay. You said that you didn't care for human life, but the fact that you broke down crying proves that you do." Itachi spoke to me slowly. I hugged him tightly for once feeling the warmth that I had wished to feel when I was younger.
That night faded to day, and we continued our journey. Itachi had agreed to teach me about the shinobi way for a single year and then we would go down our separate paths.
Time skip 1 year
I walked down the road toward a town, named Tanzaku Gai. I reminisced on the times that I had with Itachi Sensei.
Flashback eight months
I stood at the edge of the lake. Itachi Sensei on the other side of the lake. He spoke to me, "Okay Shenlo, I have already taught you water walking but today we are going to spare on top of the water, so that it becomes second nature."
Itachi Sensei and I stood at the edge of a town in the middle of Hi no Kuni. We had gone into town to restock on weapons. Itachi had bought me a chained Kusarigama with a kunai weight on the end of the chain, along with a Naginata.
Itachi had trained me in all forms of shinobi arts except fuinjutsu, and Kinjutsu(except for Shadow clone jutsu). My chakra control was jounin level, while my chakra reserves were low to mid jounin level. My skills in nin, tai, gen, and ken jutsu were low chunin level. My speed was high chunin level. For experience Itachi made me hunt down missing nin, and do bounties.
But, as all good things come to an end, so did my time with Itachi. Now I was wandering around figuring out who to learn with next. I walked into town and found the bounty office. When I walked in, all the adults inside had to grip something in order to keep themselves from falling over. I walked toward the available bounties, and what I had found was surprising. The seven ninja swordsmen of Kiri, who had gone rogue after the bloodline purge was started, was surprising. After receiving their last known location, I quickly ran toward Kiri, to find the group.
After a few hours of running, I had found the general area they were said to have been. Using tricks from Itachi when he was in the anbu, I looked for faint tracks or signs of quickly diffused fire. I had been crouching down on the ground inspecting a scorch mark in the mud, when I heard a slight crack of a branch snapping. I slowly reached for my kusarigama. I held it firmly as I prepared to launch the weight attached to it. I expanded my senses to try and detect anything. Suddenly, I let go of the kusarigama and stood up slowly, with my arms reaching up toward the sky. I turned around to find all seven members of the group I wanted to find, with their blades pointed at me. Fubuki Suikazan, Jinin Akebino, Mangetsu Hozuki, Zabuza Momochi, Jinpachi Munashi, Ameyuri Ringo, and Kushimare Kuriare.
I spoke slowly, "If it is no trouble I wish to say that I am not after your bounties, but am after a chance to train under you seven for two years."
"And what makes you think that we would train you brat?" Spoke Zabuza.
"Because if you don't, then the thorny vines around your allies throats are going to inject toxins into their jugular arteries." I spoke in a monotonous voice.
Zabuza quickly looked at the other six, and found my words to be true. "Okay brat, we will train you for two years." With that said, the vines released from their throats. They lowered their swords and we walked away making sure to stay in the trees.