The Strength of the Weak {A Naruto Fanfiction}

The Strength of the Weak - Chapter 4

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Three years pass by in somewhat of a blur for Satomi. She had continued her training with Shisui, even when she began school at the academy. Fugaku had held her back, so that she joined when she was 7 instead of the standard 6.

"Good afternoon, Shisui-sensei! What's on the schedule for today?" Satomi, now eight years old, asks her sensei. Shisui seemed troubled and was watching the tree line with narrowed eyes. As of lately, both Itachi and Shisui seemed to be on guard and more distant from the clan, which confused Satomi greatly.

"Actually, Satomi-chan, there is something Itachi-kun and I need to do, so I'll have to take a rain check. Tomorrow I expect you to have mastered the Kanashibari no Jutsu," he instructs, walking off towards the woods rather than the path back, something that Satomi notices.

"No problem, Shisui-sensei! I'll see you tomorrow!" Satomi calls after him, waving her hand enthusiastically. Shisui offers a small smile back to her, before bounding off through the forest. In his absence, Satomi frowns to herself. There was definitely something up.

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"Shisui-sensei! Where are you?!" Satomi calls, dashing through the woods. There was a sinking feeling in her gut, as if something awful was about to happen. The sun was beginning to set, and a clearing was just up ahead. There were two figures standing by the edge... two familiar figures.

It was as if time had stopped. Satomi bursts through the clearing, just in time to watch her sensei fall to his death. Satomi's heart practically stops, her eyes flooding with tears.

"Shisui-sensei!" an anguished scream tears through her throat as she dashes to her older brother's side and collapses next to the edge. No one was in sight. Satomi chokes back a sob, her onyx eyes shifting into a pair of gleaming crimson orbs, a tomoe in each one.

"W-We gotta go after him! He could still be alive, onii-chan!" Satomi stutters, preparing to jump down after Shisui. Itachi grabs her shoulder with surprising force, enough for her to raise her tear-filled eyes to his. Although, instead of the standard sharingan she expected to see... she finds a pin-wheel shape, spiraling dangerously.

"We can't, Satomi-chan. He sacrificed himself for the clan... and we need to honor him," Itachi states firmly, his voice betraying his stoic face. Satomi collapses to her knees, sobbing pitifully into her hands as the sun goes down. Her sensei- no... her brother is gone and isn't coming back.

"Why onii-chan?! Why did he do it?" Satomi whispers out painfully, tears cascading down her cheeks. Itachi bends down and cradles Satomi to his chest, letting her cry for as long as she needs to.

"He did it to save the clan. I'll tell you when you're older, Satomi-chan. Before he jumped... he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry, and that he loved you like a little sister. He wished he could've stayed to help train you and watch as you grow into a beautiful kunoichi," Itachi rambles, hardly keeping himself from breaking down in front of Satomi.

Satomi clenches her fist to her heart as they bound through the trees... Shisui's will coursing through their souls.

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"Itachi... we need to talk," a man, a part of a group of three clansmen, states. Itachi stops in his tracks and turns around, peering at the men calculatingly.

"There were two people who didn't show up to the clan meeting yesterday. You were one of them," he starts, "the other was Shisui Uchiha who committed suicide last night in the Nako River. We found his suicide note, and we would like you to take it to ANBU, regarding the investigation being launched."

"You suspect me of killing him," Itachi declares, activating his sharingan. The three other clansmen activate their sharingans as well, standing up to Itachi.

"Of course we do! He was Shisui of the Body Flicker, who would take up any mission for the sake of the clan. He isn't someone to just kill himself," one of the men challenges. With this, Itachi has enough, attacking the three men with enraged vigor.

"You assume that I did this, despite the fact that Shisui was my best friend," Itachi spits out, preparing to attack the men once again. Suddenly, Fugaku comes up beside the three men challenging Itachi.

"That's enough, Itachi! What has gotten into you?" Fugaku demands. Itachi scowls and pulls out a kunai.

"Just give us the word, and we will place him under arrest," one of the clansmen states, preparing to launch an attack. Right before Itachi moves again, a voice rings out through the clearing.

"Stop it, onii-chan!" Sasuke shouts from the doorway, fear apparent in his innocent eyes. Itachi glances over at his little brother, spotting Satomi beside him with a miserable expression cloaking her face, before deactivating his sharingan. He instead resorts to throwing a kunai at the Uchiha fan printed on the walls of the compound, striking the dead center with trained accuracy.

"This clan is too ignorant to realize its faults. I don't fight for ignorance like this," Itachi warns, walking off to wherever he needed to go. Satomi's face crumples, a tear escaping the corner of her eye. She could see it now, the thing Shisui lived for, and unfortunately, what he died for as well.

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