The Strength of the Weak {A Naruto Fanfiction}

The Strength of the Weak - Chapter 28

"She'll have to pass a test, first. If she passes it, I'll train her. But only for the chunin exams," Ryouichi compromises. Lord Hokage nods with a smile, looking towards me and gesturing towards Ryouichi.

"There you go, Satomi. I have a feeling this will be a great opportunity for you. Go ahead and introduce yourselves," Lord Hokage instructs. I nod and turn to Ryouichi with a small smile.

"Hi, my name is Satomi Uchiha. Nice to meet you," I say, bowing. Ryouichi's visible eye narrows as I say my name, his jaw clenching.

"Hiruzen-sensei, I recede my offer. I refuse to train her," Ryouichi says. I'm taken aback, blinking in confusion. What did I do wrong?

"I understand how you feel about Uchihas... but I think you'll like Satomi. She's different," Lord Hokage claims. I'm completely confused by what he means... I'm different from other Uchihas?

"You know the only Uchiha I could stand was Shisui," Ryouichi maintains. My eyes widen and I whip my head towards the man beside me. He knew Shisui-sensei?! How did I not know this!

"You knew Shisui-sensei?!" I voice, watching as Ryouichi looks back at me in curiosity.

"Shisui... sensei? So you were the brat he was training?" Ryouichi hums. I bite my lip and nod, staring at this man with wide eyes. Ryouichi closes his eyes and sighs, turning back towards Lord Hokage.

"You say I will like Satomi... is she like Shisui?" Ryouichi questions. Lord Hokage grins, knowing he had caught Ryouichi's attention.

"Indeed. The only difference between them is that she is more soft-spoken, much like you. To my knowledge, she actually abides by his ideals," Lord Hokage muses. Knowing he is right, I nod my head and glance back up at Ryouichi. He hums, tilting his head to the side.

"Alright. I'll train her... but if you disappoint me I'll revoke my offer," Ryouichi threatens. I shake my head, a small smile gracing my lips.

"I'm not one to take training lightly."

"Good. Training will start tomorrow morning at dawn. With your permission, Hiruzen-sensei, I would like to take her out of the village for the month. I'll have her back a day before the exams," Ryouichi asks, already knowing that Lord Hokage would say yes.

"Also, I ask that you refer to me as Ryouichi-sensei, Satomi," Ryouichi-sensei asks, but there was obviously no room for argument. I give a quick nod, turning to leave the room.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage. I'll be off now. And I'll meet you at the gates tomorrow morning, Ryouichi-sensei," I say, exiting the room.

Ryouichi-sensei... he knew Shisui-sensei?

::

Leaning on the wall next to the main gates, I watch as the sun begins to rise. Today would start my training with Ryouichi-sensei for the chunin exams and I was actually pretty excited. Although, I would miss everyone while I was gone for the month...

Ryouichi-sensei suddenly appears in front of me, causing my eyes to snap up to him. He seemed the same as ever, the unimpressed look still on his face.

"Shall we get going?" he says, turning around and heading out of the village gates. I wordlessly follow after, walking next to him on the main road.

"Ne, Ryouichi-sensei, where are we going?" I ask quietly.

"The Land of Whirlpools."

I hum in acknowledgment, walking in sync with my new sensei.

"When we were in Hokage-sama's office, you called him Hiruzen-sensei. Does that mean you were his student?" I question. Ryouichi-sensei nods and looks down at me stonily.

"Yes. I was one of his four students... today we're called the Legendary Sannin, although I haven't seen the others in years, now," he muses.

"Who are the other sannin?" I ask curiously. Ryouichi-sensei seems to enjoy my questions, surprisingly enough. With the way he acted, I expected him to be annoyed with me by now.

"Jiraiya, Tsunade... and Orochimaru."

I stop in my tracks, my eyes widened drastically. Orochimaru was one of the sannin?!

"You seem surprised," Ryouichi-sensei notes, gazing over his shoulder at me. I raise my eyes to him, gulping.

"O-Orochimaru... I wasn't aware that he was a sannin..." I cover up, returning to my pace beside Ryouichi-sensei. He shifts his gaze to me, taking in my nervous posture.

"You've met him."

I nod wordlessly, not daring to look at Ryouichi-sensei. It was so soon after Orochimaru's attack on Sasuke and me, the memories were still raw in my mind.

"That strange bruise on your neck... it's very familiar," Ryouichi-sensei says suspiciously. I let out a breath and glance up at him wistfully.

"Like you said... I've met Orochimaru."

Ryouichi-sensei's jaw tightens as he realizes my implications, whipping his head back forward. I glare down at my feet, hatred for the snake-like man brewing.

"You also said that you knew Shisui-sensei... were you two good friends?" I continue on, trying to get past the topic of Orochimaru.

"I guess you could say that. You know what the Uchiha were like. They were arrogant and overconfident... it got on my nerves. However, I met Shisui. He was very humble and clever, nothing like the rest of the clan personality-wise," Ryouichi-sensei responds fondly.

"There was this other kid too... I think he was Shisui's best friend. He was quiet but wise. Far wiser than he should've been at his age. He's actually still alive today... Itachi Uchiha."

"He's my older brother," I confirm, causing Ryouichi-sensei to nod.

"I thought so."

::

"Here we are, welcome to your home for the rest of the month," Ryouichi-sensei introduces, holding an arm out. We were in a small clearing, a river running nearby. There were no buildings around, leading me to believe we were going to camp out every night.

Sighing, I place down my bag on the ground near a tree and turn towards the center of the clearing. Ryouichi-sensei was nowhere to be found, making me narrow my eyes. Where did he go?

A stray kunai is thrown from my right, causing me to duck down and pull out a kunai of my own in defense. Scowling, I body flicker to where the kunai was thrown silently, although there is nobody there.

What the hell?

Making my way back to the center of the clearing, I keep my eyes peeled for any weapons that may be thrown. Sure enough, another is kunai is thrown from behind me. Turning around, I decide to test out a theory of mine.

I hold my hand out, right in line of the kunai. As I thought, the kunai morphed straight through my hand, not causing any kind of injury.

"Genjutsu."

Activating my sharingan for the first time since the preliminaries, the genjutsu around me disperses and I find Ryouichi-sensei standing in front of me.

"Impressive. You figured it out faster than I expected," he concedes. I click my tongue in realization of why Lord Hokage assigned Ryouichi-sensei to train me.

"You're a genjutsu specialist."

"Indeed," Ryouichi-sensei replies stonily. Heaving a sigh, I deactivate my sharingan and face him completely.

"That was the test you referred to in the Hokage's office."

"Right again. I've got to admit, you're more clever than I expected. I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from Shisui's student..." he adds. I feel a twinge in my heart, the one on one training reminding me of Shisui-sensei. It's been so long since then...

"I'm ready to start training, sensei," I say confidently. Ryouichi-sensei smirks, much to my surprise. This was a new expression.

"Alright. First... show me what you can do."

::