The day after my last culture class was finished, the Hokage called me in to show me my new schedule.
"You will no longer have lectures at the academy, instead, due to Iruka's recommendation, you will be meeting with a senior shinobi for private ninjutsu lessons. I believe it will help you gain a better understanding of our jutsus." He explained. I wasn't exactly excited for these new private lessons, but if it'll make me better at ninjutsu then I'm all in.
He then told me that my training in Iruka-sensei's class would be ending as well, since the class was a short-term improvement course for academy graduates that would not be taking place again for another year. I was hoping for some other sort of training class because, as much as I hate to admit it, I was going to miss learning among shinobi. Plus it was always fun to spar against the better ones. Unfortunately, it seems that wouldn't be happening anymore.
"In place of your training class, you will be taking stealth and endurance lessons. I would like to see how you do with that, though I don't doubt that you've had prior training." He smiled wryly and took a long puff of his pipe. "Afterwards you will be free to do what you please. I'm sure you'll enjoy more free time." And while that was true, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this new routine.
"Yes sir, thank you." I forced a small smile. He seemed pleased and nodded to the silent anbu behind me.
"Good, then you should be on your way. Your lessons await." He waved for me to go. I stood and bowed lightly before shuffling out of the office, my masked friend following close behind.
"Any idea who my ninjutsu teacher is?" I questioned glumly as we headed towards my first private lesson.
"No." He replied with a shrug. But I knew better.
"Of course you do." I pouted, crossing my arms. "You just won't tell me. Like always." I saw him shake his head from the corner of my eye.
"You're about to meet them anyways, no need to be so moody." He chided. I huffed indignantly and turned my attention back to the road, fervently sulking the rest of the way.
We arrived at the field where we were told to go and quickly noticed someone was already there. It was a woman: tall and thin. As we got closer, I could make out the pale skin black hair held high in a tight bun. She wore a standard green vest and narrow-necked black shirt underneath. She definitely looked like a high ranking shinobi of some sort.
"Shiromori-san, very nice to meet you." The woman approached us with a slight smile on her face. She was really pretty. "My name is Uchiha Otoha, I'll be your ninjutsu instructor."
"Nice to meet you, Uchiha-sensei." I bowed respectfully, suddenly very tense.
"If you're ready, we'll get started right away. I'm keen to see what you can do." Otoha-sensei motioned for me to follow as she walked further into the large field. I waved goodbye to my anbu friend before hurriedly shuffling to catch up.
"Alright, since it's our first day together, let's go over the basics quickly. Show me your clone jutsu." She instructed. I frowned inwardly: she wasn't going to be impressed.
I brought my hands up and, vaguely recalling the hand seal Iruka-sensei showed me, tried to direct chakra through them.
Just like when I'd first learned it, it didn't work. I couldn't even manage to make a floppy 2-D version of myself like Naruto had.
"Try the body flicker." Surprisingly, Otoha-sensei, didn't seem too disappointed. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't do that either.
A couple hours later and my self-esteem had been chipped down to exactly nothing. I now sat near the top of the Hokage stone heads, slumped and sulking, contemplating why I was so unfortunate as to fail at quite literally every single jutsu there was.
"Odd seeing you here." I jumped at the voice and whipped around to see Itachi standing just behind me.
"Thanks for the heart attack..." I muttered. "Try not to sneak up on me next time. I could've died."
"My apologies." He responded, unreadable as ever.
"So what are you doing up here?" I asked, turning back around to look over the village.
"I was looking for someone. He tends to hide here." He stated.
"I didn't see anyone on my way up." Itachi hummed at my words but didn't turn to leave.
A minute of silence fell between us.
"If you're not in a hurry, might as well take a seat." I motioned to the ground next to me. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before settling down about a foot away.
A gentle breeze blew past, bringing a warm hint to the increasingly cold night.
"We never see sunsets like this back home. The mountains block it out." I smiled at the glowing orange sky. "And the snow usually blocks the light for most of the year. I wish everyone there could see it too... Oh, sorry, I'm getting all sappy, huh?" I grinned apologetically.
"Not at all." Itachi spoke up for the first time in a while. "It must be difficult to be away from your home."
"A little. I just worry about them sometimes. Especially my brother, I'm sure you know how that feels." I grinned.
"Your brother is a samurai as well, yes?" He asked.
"Yea, and he's a real hard worker too. He started his apprenticeship later than most so he's always trying to prove himself. I'm worried he'll push too hard one of these days..." I sighed loudly. I was always the one to nag him away from training when I thought he was going to exhaust himself. My parents never seemed to share my concern though. They encouraged him to train as much as possible, probably because they had pushed all their hopes of success onto him.
Unfortunately, as dedicated as my dear brother is, he isn't very gifted. He has to work twice as hard to keep up with his friends, some of whom aren't very talented themselves.
Fate is a cruel thing, isn't it?
"All we can do is hope they know their limits." Itachi stated sympathetically.
"I'll bet you worry about Sasuke all the time, huh?" I turned to him. "I can tell you two are close."
"I do what I can." He stated simply. "And I'm sure your brother is doing what he can. Trust that he can take care of himself."
"Tch, that's the type of thing he would say." I snickered.
He's always insisted that he knew what he was doing and that, as the older brother, he was the one who should be worrying about me.
My smile faded as a wave of nostalgia washed over me.
I've been in Konoha for three months, I haven't seen my home in four.
I'm starting to miss everyone.
"Say, Itachi-san, you know the Hokage pretty well, right?" I asked quietly, eyes locked on the warm horizon.
"I suppose." He answered, clearly unsure as to why I'd asked.
"Has he ever mentioned when I might be going home?"
He was silent for a moment before responding.
"I don't believe so." I smiled bitterly.
"Ah. Well that's ok, I'm glad I get to live here a while longer!" I grinned cheerfully, but when I looked at him, he didn't seem to believe me. I quickly adverted my eyes. "Anyways, I think I'm going to get going, I'm a little tired." I stood from my spot and stretched my arms as high as I could. "Thanks for talking with me, Itachi-san. I'll see you later." I waved with a smile. He nodded a goodbye and I turned to head down the cliff.
Itachi quietly stared at the setting sun, solemnly contemplating his own thoughts.
"Hokage-sama said you were sent to get me, though I see you'd rather keep Mutsuko-chan company." An amused voice spoke from behind him.
"I sensed you nearby." He shrugged lightly. "I suppose you haven't gone to see the Hokage yet?"
"Nope. I thought I'd see what you were up to first." Shisui sat down next to the younger Uchiha. "So what were you two talking about?" Itachi glanced at him incredulously.
"As if you weren't eavesdropping." He scoffed. Shisui laughed at the accusation, raising his hands in mock defeat.
"Guilty as charged." They both chuckled before turning towards the flaming sky.
"So what is it?" Itachi could tell that his friend wanted to say something.
Shisui sighed, his smile fading into a troubled frown.
"She's homesick, huh?" He grimaced heavy-heartedly. "It's not right for these leaders to be using her as a trading card." He sighed once again.
"I agree. But this conflict originated with her, only her being here can solve it." Itachi reminded.
"It's not as if she had any control over it. I feel sorry for her, not even her own leader would tell her the truth." He shook his head sorrowfully.
"You've only known the girl for a few months, why do you care so much?" Shisui frowned at this.
"Tch, don't act like you don't care for her too. I've only ever seen you act like this towards Sasuke and Izumi." He paused suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head. "Speaking of Izumi, I think something odd is going on with her." His frown deepened.
"Odd?" Itachi questioned.
"She seems to have something against Mutsuko-chan. She's harassed her multiple times now, all with meaningless accusations." The first time, he thought perhaps Izumi was just having a bad day. He remembered how odd he'd found it when he heard about the girls' second confrontation. By the time the third conflict arose he was thoroughly mystified.
Shisui was on his way to meet Mutsuko after one of her classes. He spotted her and was about to call out when he noticed that another brunette was quickly closing in on her. Even from his position, he could see the hatred on the newcomer's face. The clan symbol on the girl's back confirmed his suspicion: Izumi.
He decided to stay back and watch what would happen. He knew Mutsuko was in no real danger, after all they were in full view of dozens of people.
They were speaking now, their words just out of earshot. Izumi's back faced him yet he could tell she was angry, more so than he had ever seen her before. Mutsuko, on the other hand, looked more irritated than anything else.
The Uchiha seemed to be doing most of the talking as Mutsuko's hard expression hardly changed. By the time five minutes had passed, he was sure that both girls were one insult away from strangling each other, and so he was beyond relief when Izumi turned and stalked away.
He had yet to bring up anything about that confrontation.
"Are you sure? That doesn't sound like Izumi." Itachi questioned.
"I've seen it with my own eyes. I don't know what she's thinking but this isn't a situation that can be handled carelessly. She may not fully know how important this deal is, but I cannot allow her behavior to continue. I came here to ask you to talk to her, she must not cause any further problems for us."
Itachi hesitated, trying to process the seemingly impossible information he'd just been told. Izumi? It couldn't be. She was anything but confrontational. There's no way.
"I will try to find out what's going on." He agreed. Regardless, he trusted Shisui more than he trusted his own doubts.
"Alright." The older Uchiha nodded, pushing himself off the ground. "I better report to Hokage-sama before he sends someone else to catch me. I'm off!" He gave him a pat on the back before flickering away.
Mutsuko tapped the desk with the end of her pen, staring distastefully at the paper in front of her. She had yet to reply to Mifune's latest letter and it certainly wasn't because she'd forgotten, it was because she couldn't come up with anything to say. Clearly, her brain was on permanent strike.
She sighed loudly and stood from her chair, resolving to deal with it later. As for right now, she would go train for a bit. No good being inside all day, right?
It didn't take long for Mutsuko to arrive at the familiar pond, though much to her surprise, someone had beaten her there.
Right by the edge of the water was a tall figure dressed in dark clothing. She wasn't close enough to make out exactly who it was. They stood facing the pond and seemed to be slightly hunched over, breathing heavily. The person brought their hands together and took a deep breath before spitting out a stream of fire that seemed to set the water ablaze.
Mutsuko watched in silent awe. It was a spectacular sight, one that very much reminded her of her spar with Itachi a few weeks ago, after which he had stunned her with the same jutsu. She wondered if this was another Uchiha.
However, before she could consider any further, the figure froze for just a second before suddenly disappearing.
Mutsuko tentatively approached the spot where the stranger stood, glancing around in confusion. Why did they leave so quickly? Perhaps they sensed her nearby? Admittedly, she wasn't very good at hiding her chakra, plus she'd been told that it was a very recognizable signature. Maybe they just didn't want her to see their training.
She sighed in disappointment. Usually, she wouldn't have given it too much thought but lately the public distrust towards her has become stronger. Shinobi and civilian alike were increasingly opposed to both her presence in the city and Konoha's alliance with the Land of Iron. Of course, it didn't help that the news of samurai conflicts with their shinobi neighbors spread like a wildfire that refused to burn out.
She had suddenly lost interest in training.
Solemnly starting back towards her apartment, her mind began to wander to her friends back home. Were they well? Had they finished their apprenticeships? How much stronger have they gotten? Before she left, she had promised to spar with them when she got back, just to see how much they had improved, but now she no longer felt able to keep that promise. She had been spending all her time and energy trying to get a grip on ninjutsu that her other skills had deteriorated, yet it was all to no avail. She certainly wasn't looking forward to hearing what Mifune had to say about it.
"Ow!" Mutsuko suddenly found herself knocked to the ground with a sore forehead. She heard a light thump next to her.
"Look what you did, Pervy Sage!" A shout sounded from above her. She looked up to see a familiar blonde jumping down from the roof of a building. "Oh, Mutsuko-chan! I didn't recognize you for a second there!" He greeted energetically.
"Ah, I'm so sorry about that!" A tall man with spikey white hair landed next to him. "Naruto must have accidentally thrown my notebook at you. Please forgive him!"
"What?! I threw it? You were the one that lost your grip on it, old man!" Naruto retorted.
"Because you were trying to steal it!"
"You promised to help me train today!"
"I was busy gathering information for my new book!"
Mutsuko looked down at the notebook that had fallen to her left: Research Notes. She pushed herself up and dusted off her shirt.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." She smiled, handing the book back to the man.
"Oh, Mutsuko-chan! This is Jiraya-sensei. Pervy sage, this is Mutsuko-chan, she's my friend!" He introduced.
"Nice to meet you!" Jiraya grinned with an outstretched thumbs-up.
"Nice to meet you too, Jiraya-san." Mutsuko nodded respectfully. "Naruto, sorry but I've got to run. See you around!" She waved before hastily dashing down the street.
"Your friend's in a hurry, isn't she?" Jiraya hummed.
"Nah, she just doesn't like you."
"It was an accident!"