Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own this.
Ch. 13
Sasuke would admit that upon first meeting Shisui-sensei at the udon noodles he'd thought the man a nut. Even after his whole speech on deception he'd found it hard to believe that the man was a good ninja. He'd been crying, for kami's sake, about looking like a girl.
Yet in his quest to be in the elite he'd researched all of konoha's top ninja. He knew for a fact that Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi were some of the best. Uchiha Itachi was rumored to be next in line to be Hokage. So why were they bothering with the three of them? It'd make sense for one of them to be assigned the volatile team, but why both?
Sasuke had briefly thought they might be wanna bes like the fake Tsunade given the way they acted, but he doubted that even Konoha would let that occur for more than one ninja. After dismissing that theory he could only be left with the horrible truth. They were Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi and the three of them had been played. Maybe Shisui-sensei had been trying to teach them a lesson about underestimating their opponents or maybe he just enjoyed messing with them. Sasuke couldn't be sure, but the not knowing was killing him.
After Shisui-sensei's dramatic speech, he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. Instead he'd tested their skill level by setting up spars and drills. They'd been made to perform pushups, situps, pull-ups, and the other academy tests like a timed run. He'd seemed impressed with their results, but after all they had spent two weeks being drilled to the breaking point by Kanden.
He'd also had them perform their jutsus and gave out tactical tests. In these they had to work as a team to form a solution. Sometimes it was purely theoretical whereas other times Shisui-sensei had them perform the mock mission. Shisui-sensei would take their carefully planned solutions and rip it to shreds. Their failure, he said, always ended with the death of one of their teammates. Sasuke had died seven times, Fuki five, and Kota nine just in the first week of training with their new sensei.
Yet, he hadn't mentioned anything about deception again. He seemed merely content to train them in their tactical thinking and get their bodies in shape. It was this waiting that was driving Sasuke mad. He wanted to know what Shisui-sensei was planning. He knew the smirk Shisui-sensei was always wearing bothered Fuki and Kota as well. They were just waiting for their jounin sensei to snap out of control and do something bizarre.
However, it wasn't Shisui-sensei that truly frightened Sasuke. Rather it was Itachi-sensei. He showed up to all their team meetings and even supervised some of their D-ranks, but he never said a word. Instead, he spent the time staring at Sasuke. The constant attention was unbearable. Sasuke found himself missing targets and being nicked by kunai he easily could have avoided. The constant watching was causing him to make elementary mistakes. And with each mistake he could feel Itachi's dark eyes burning holes into him. What exactly was the Uchiha looking for?
It also made Sasuke question why the Uchiha was here. He never paid any attention to Fuki or Kota. Instead he'd flick his hand for Sasuke and Sasuke would be forced to go over to see what he wanted. The silent Uchiha would point at a target or perhaps a tree and do a motion. Sasuke would then have to copy it. They were tests and Sasuke found himself failing more and more of them as he went along. It was maddening. The more he failed the more the Uchiha tested him giving him dark disappointed looks whenever he failed.
It made Sasuke even more irritable. One day after practice, after failing to learn the fire release: phoenix sage fire technique which was apparently the next jutsu to learn after the fireball, Sasuke had finally had enough.
"I don't know what he expects! Why won't he help me?" he questioned irritably. He and his teammates were heading out of the training grounds to go get dinner. Fuki was in the lead and she spun around to stare at Sasuke.
"Don't know why you're complaining. He's giving you one on one training," she told him just as irritably. The waiting for Shisui-sensei to snap was driving her up the wall as well. Kota glanced nervously between the two of them. He could sense a fight brewing.
Running his fingerless gloves through his brown hair he attempted to diffuse the situation by asking, "So where are we going to dinner?"
He only received a glare for his efforts from Fuki and an irritable Sasuke chose to walk away. For a moment they stared at Sasuke's back confused. He was walking in the wrong direction.
"Where are you going?" Fuki yelled at his retreating back. Sasuke didn't turn around. Instead, he continued walking away.
Kota stared at him before yelling, "Hey Sasuke!"
Sasuke whirled around in annoyance.
"I'm going home. I'm sick and tired of dealing with this crap. I'm sick of Itachi's stupid tests and I'm sick of Shisui's stupid smirk. And I'm sick of you guys, too!" Sasuke told them before walking away. Fuki and Kota stared after him in shock before anger contorted Fuki's face as well.
"Well. I'm sick of you, too!"she yelled after him before leaving in a huff. Kota was left standing in the deserted alleyway by himself. For a moment he wondered what he should do when a cough interrupted him. Shisui-sensei jumped down from a neighboring building. Kota blinked in surprise at their sensei. As a chakra sensor he was used to knowing where people were at all times. The fact that his sensei got the jump on him constantly and seemed to enjoy doing it was beyond annoying.
"Eight days," Shisui sensei said with the same demented grin he'd worn all week. Kota stared at him for a moment.
"Sorry," he asked, "But what's eight days?
Shisui grinned down at him before saying, "How long it took them to snap, of course. It probably would have taken longer, but Itachi was quite insistent on testing Sasuke. I had nothing to do with that."
The grin on Shisui's face that seemed likely to split his face in two abruptly disappeared and he looked down at Kota with a slight smile. For the first time since the deception speech their sensei looked normal.
"Another test?" Kota asked calmly. Shisui smiled at him lightly.
He offered to Kota, "Let's go out for dinner. And yes. It was another test. How long team unity can last when you're under extreme stress and just waiting for everything to go to hell. Itachi helped with that quite a bit although I didn't ask him to."
Their sensei began to walk away and Kota stared after him in awe for a moment before asking, "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you guys are at the level where you need to be. Tomorrow the real training starts. Will you be able to get your team together in time?" Shisui asked casually. Kota bit his lip lightly and shrugged. He continued to follow Shisui towards dinner which seemed to surprise the other man.
"You're not going to go after your teammates?" he asked Kota in a surprised tone.
Kota shrugged and looked up at their sensei before telling him, "I still have questions I want answered. And anyways my teammates need a little time to cool off. I know where they live and I have all night to convince them, but if I lose you I might not be able to find you again."
Shisui blinked for a moment. His short unkempt black hair rustled in the breeze before he grinned.
"You're a lot smarter than most people give you credit for, aren't you?" he questioned. Kota's eyes were hard as he looked at his sensei.
He ignored the question and instead said, "My first question— Why is Itachi obsessed with Sasuke?"
Shisui seemed amused.
"You're an interesting little kid, you know that? I think I'll answer your questions," Shisui told him.
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It was weird, Kota thought, that it was easier to convince Fuki to apologize than it had been to convince Sasuke. Sasuke, who was usually so ready to accept blame, had refused to see his own mistakes in the past week. He'd just insisted that he didn't understand why Itachi was holding him to impossible standards he clearly couldn't obtain. For a while Kota debated back and forth if he should reveal what he knew to Sasuke about Itachi. He wasn't sure how the other boy would take it. It was obvious he didn't know, though.
When the team was assembled Kota began by explaining how it had just been another test.
"Which Sasuke failed for us," Fuki irritably snarked. Sasuke glowered at her and Kota rubbed his temples in annoyance. It was late and this was taking too long.
"It might not be a bad thing," he interjected, "Shisui-sensei said that the real training starts tomorrow. But we have to show up as a united team or we fail. Personally I don't want to fail."
The normal cheery boy's eyes were lacking their usual gleam. He seemed tired and put upon. Perhaps it was his lack of normal energy that caused Sasuke and even Fuki to listen to him.
"I… right. I'm sorry Sasuke," Fuki finally groused. Sasuke nodded and with a little urging offered a similar apology.
"We're a team," Kota told them tiredly, "If we let small things like this destroy us then there is no way we'll survive in the field. At least that's what Shisui sensei said."
Fuki groaned before muttering, "I'm really starting to hate his little head games."
"Itachi's too," Sasuke added. Kota glanced at Sasuke awkwardly when he said that. Should he tell him? Sasuke had said he just wanted to know what Itachi wanted. Would it be such a bad thing to tell him?
"Uhhh," Kota began. Sasuke turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.
"What?" he questioned.
Speaking quickly so as not to lose his courage Kota began, "Well… I'm not really sure if Itachi was meaning to mess with your head. Well… what I mean to say is… what I'm trying to say is. Well… your name's Sasuke like Itachi's brother except well Itachi's brother Sasuke died during the Kyuubi attack, but I mean… well… his brother would be our age now… you know?"
Sasuke stared at him for a moment.
"No I don't think I know," he said after a moment.
Fuki, however, with a furrowed brow asked, "Itachi thinks Sasuke is his brother?"
"Well not really. But Sasuke… our Sasuke… was born on the night of the fox attack when Itachi's Sasuke died. So our Sasuke was apparently named after his Sasuke as a tribute to the Uchiha's help in defeating the fox. I'm not really sure how it all worked," Kota told them.
Fuki frowned before saying, "I'm not really sure I'm following. How does that have anything to do with Itachi testing Sasuke?"
"Well… he just wants to make sure our Sasuke isn't shaming his Sasuke's name or something," Kota said while shrugging helplessly. Fuki stared at him for a moment thinking deeply.
"I guess in a twisted sort of way that kind of makes sense," she offered. She turned to Sasuke. He noticeably hadn't said anything. Instead he was staring at the ground deep in thought. His hands had clenched into fists and for a moment Fuki could have sworn she saw a flash of red chakra around the boy before it disappeared.
"Sasuke?" she asked hesitantly. He glanced up at her slowly. His dark eyes reflected the night and for a moment he looked truly dangerous before his shoulders sagged and he got up.
"I… I always thought that my parents had named me… or something. I thought they named me Sasuke because they wanted me to be a great ninja. It… It was the only thing I truly had left of them," he told them sadly staring into the distance. It was, he had thought, the only good thing he had to remember them by. Everything else they had left him was tainted. But Sasuke had been the one thing he had truly thought they had given him. To learn that even his name wasn't truly his own was disgusting. Had his parents even bothered to name him? Had his name been stolen from him and replaced with Itachi's brother's name? He needed to be alone. He needed to think. Where were Ami and Naruto when you needed them?
"I have to go," he finally said before he fled the scene. Fuki and Kota stared after him with worry.
Kota nervously played with his fingerless gloves as he watched Sasuke escape and Fuki called after him, "You'll be at practice tomorrow, won't you?"
If Sasuke heard he didn't respond.
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"I am known as Shunshin no Shisui, but I'm actually more famous for something else," Shisui told his students seriously the next day at their meeting. Kota and Fuki leaned in to hear more, but Sasuke's moody black eyes were staring straight at Itachi. He didn't even appear to be listening. Shisui stared at Sasuke for a moment before coughing loudly. Sasuke swung to attention.
With a slight smile Shisui continued, "Much better. It's not really talked about, but I have the ability to control others with my sharingan."
All three genin blinked at him in shock before Fuki asked in a panic, "Have you been controlling us?"
"No, no. Most people don't really understand what that means. They know I can do it, so they think I can and am doing it constantly. But actually I can use it only very very rarely. However, I foster the idea that I can control people constantly. Why?" Shisui asked.
It was Kota who answered, "So… When people face you in battle they begin to think they're being controlled even when they're not. It's just another mind game— another deception."
"Exactly," Shisui answered, "Some of you might be wondering what the point of these deceptions are. Why bother when I can just take my opponent down with sheer force, right?"
All three genin stared at him in confusion. Kota scratched his head thinking. Fuki stared at the grass and Sasuke turned back to staring at Itachi.
"C'mon why do you think I wanted you guys as my genin team? I wanted a genin team who would take after their jounin sensei and I think you guys take after me pretty well. Think about how you defeated Kanden," he urged them.
The three genin frowned in thought and Fuki finally said what they were all thinking, "We didn't defeat him, not really. We just sicked Namikaze-san on him."
"Exactly. And how exactly did you convince Namikaze-san to attack Kenden?" Shisui asked.
Sasuke smirked slightly and said simply, "We lied."
Shisui grinned at them and casually leaned up against a tree. The three genin shared a confused look before looking up at him.
"I think we're missing something," Kota told Shisui.
"And I think you're not. My whole battle style relies around messing with my opponent's head and then teleporting all around them confusing them. When they're completely lost I swoop in for the kill. The whole time I'm not in any danger. Look at how effective it is. Imagine if you could mess with your opponents head so badly you pretty much can defeat them without ever even touching them. You did that to Kanden, didn't you? Imagine if you could do that to everyone. That is the art of deception. That is what I'm going to teach you. With the sharingan I naturally have an advantage that you guys don't. However, there are three of you. I'm sure the three of you working together can be taught to be even more effective than I am by myself. However, this has to be something you want to learn," Shisui told them seriously.
Fuki's eyebrows rose before she asked, "Why wouldn't this be something we want to learn?"
Surprisingly it was Itachi who answered, "A lot of genin especially elite genin want to be the front line assault team. They want flashy moves and they want all the credit. What Shisui is suggesting would be a team that operates in the dark. A nameless faceless group that will most likely never receive credit for their work."
Sasuke stared at them for a moment in confusion.
"I don't think I understand. What exactly would we be doing?" he asked in confusion.
Shisui gave them a lopsided grin, "Well… the goal is that you can take down people, armies, and countries with no one even realizing it was you. Nameless Shinobi who protect peace from the shadows. That's the team I've always wanted to train."
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