Chapter 17
"You need to work on your stamina."
Sakura lifted her head, gazing up at Shisui kneeling next to her. She immediately regretted it as the sun's harsh glare hit her eyes.
"I-... know." She finally managed to huff, dimly wondering if she was supposed to stand up now after 5 minutes of lying flat on her back. But she wasn't quite getting enough air in her lungs yet.
Shisui had made her run laps around the entire perimeter of the forest for hours as 'preparation for the real training'. Her body had, as Sakura had once concluded in dismay, shitty stamina. But with enough determination and discipline, she had managed to push through the first few rounds at a relatively survivable pace..
It was after the tenth lap that Shisui decided to make her life twenty times worse and have her put on weights around her ankles. With glee in his evil, evil eyes, he had explained that they were linked to his chakra and could only be taken off by him. To her great disappointment, the previously manageable weight doubled with a simple flare of his chakra in a show of his control over the damn things.
With those added weights, Sakura would run another six laps around the forest before collapsing onto the floor.
"Maybe you should've started doing that before attempting tree-walking. Maybe you would've been in better shape by now." Shisui suggested helpfully, freeing her from ankle weights with a snap of his fingers. Sakura glared at him, feeling irritated and exhausted.
Yeah, right.
As if she'd had the chance to get in shape.
He seemed to believe Sakura had been training for a while by now, which was, to be fair, very reasonable. Even she herself wouldn't expect that to have been her first ever try at using chakra and tree-walking. Well, that was without knowing the important small-big detail that she was mentally twenty years older than physically, had been Jōnin for nine years, and Shinobi for half her life.
"Stop... mentioning that at every corner." She glared at Shisui for being an irritating punk that, on second glance, wasn't all that different from his cold-mannered clansmen—
"So you have the energy left to glare daggers at me but can't manage to run another lap? Come on, Sakura-chan, we won't ever get to the cool part without setting the foundation first. Didn't you say you wanted to learn the Shunshin from me?"
—and for looking clean and refreshed as ever, wearing that stupid grin, while she was lying on the dirt and struggling to pant out each word—
"Shut up. I shouldn't have mentioned... that to you. You're never going to teach it to me... are you?"
—and for being way too aware of all those risks Sakura was taking, because of course he has to be the nosy type of guy that knows all the rules by heart—
"Do you not trust me, Sakura-chan? We will get there, I promise. You are simply not old enough, and I haven't even taught you the basics yet. You know what my uncle always said to me? 'Only by striving to master the basics can one fully grasp the potential of advancedtechniques', and I think you should also live by that principle."
—and for acting like it was his responsibility to protect her from herself when he probably hadn't been all that different at her age either.
"Your uncle... is the fucking Clan Head." Sakura wanted to throw a punch at him. "He knows the kind of techniques... that are advanced enough to live by such a troublesome rule. The Shunshin isn't one of those. Stop acting like you didn't learn it at five."
Shisui's mouth curled into a smile. "Aw. You already know so much about me. I'm honored."
"Why are you feeling honored?"
He completely ignored her continuous glare and the question. "By the way, we've known each other for quite a while already, and you know things about me, yet I don't know anything about you."
"What do you mean 'quite a while'? This is our second time meeting." Sakura sat up, purely out of spite, to get to eye level with him. "And also, no."
"You should tell me about yourself."
"I already said—"
"But you're my apprentice, aren't you? What am I supposed to tell people when they ask me?"
"Then don't tell people about me."
"Why not? Are you that embarrassed to have me as your teacher? Is that it, Sakura-chan?"
"Stop calling me that! And what even is your deal? Telling people you are training me is just unnecessary and bound to get us in trouble! And, don't associate everything I do with some kind of deeply rooted hatred I have for you!"
Shisui, who had been grinning the whole time, stilled at those words.
"'Trouble'?" A suspecting glint appeared in eyes that held humor and amusement just a moment ago.
All at once, she was reminded that Shisui couldn't be trusted yet and that his motives were still unclear.
Shit.
Sakura wasn't supposed to know about the wedge that was forming between the Village and the Uchiha and that his clan wouldn't be too happy about one of their most skilled members training an outsider instead of his clan members. She wasn't supposed to know about the tensions that would eventually lead to the downfall of one of the strongest clans in the Elemental Nations.
She was supposed to be acting like a normal civilian girl, not a seasoned Shinobi that had been fighting alongside an Uchiha for seven years and heard a fair share of clan politics and history.
Think, Sakura!
"You are always trouble, Sensei," she tried provoking him.
"You are a lot of trouble yourself, Sakura-chan,"
Yes! Now change the topic! Ease suspicion!
"—but what does that have to do with me telling people about you?"
Shut up, Shisui! Why can't you just go with the damn flow?!
"I didn't mean anything else by that. What will we do now? I don't have all day, you know."
"Now you want to train again?"
"Yes. Right now."
"Why? You are avoiding my question." Shisui pointed out. She cursed internally.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
"No? Why would I avoid your question? I'm the type to face uncomfortable stuff head-on. As if I'd avoid things." That was true for most cases. Just not when her cover was about to get blown.
"I know. That's why I'm wondering why you're changing the topic. You talked about trouble. Why'd you want to keep this hidden?"
"No reason. I'm a private person."
Why are you interrogating me, damn it?!
"Sakura-chan, I'm not stupid. I know you are coming up with an excuse at this very moment. What is your deal? Is this about the Academy again? About your peers? The stuff you said last—"
Shisui's increasingly fast-paced questions were abruptly cut off by a shout from the edge of the forest, where the road was. "Shisui! Are you joining us for lunch?"
Sakura stretched her head to look past Shisui. A woman with beautiful long, black hair, wearing a simple yet graceful dark blue dress, was waving in their direction from where she stood at the side of the road. The road that led to the Uchiha Compound.
Who wasthat?
Shisui, on the other hand, was still kneeling next to her and fully turned his head. "Obasan! How did you know where I was?" He brightly exclaimed, his face lighting up.
The Uchiha matriarch? Fuck, no.
The woman, Mikoto Uchiha, smiled. "Itachi told me. We're about to eat. Do you want to eat with us before going on that mission? It's your favorite."
"Really? That's great. Wait a second, I'll need to wrap this up first."
"Maybe you should hurry. The food will get cold, and you know your uncle. He won't permit anyone to eat before all people are present and seated. What are you doing there, dear?"
She didn't seem to have noticed Sakura yet; her figure was completely concealed behind Shisui.
"Oh, I'm just—" The younger Uchiha turned his head to look at Sakura, who started shaking her head aggressively. "What?" he questioned quietly.
"Don't tell her about me." Sakura said, green eyes glowering at him in warning.
He couldn't be intimidated, of course. Shisui grinned. "Whelp, I already did."
"You did what?" Her voice became low for a completely different reason this time.
"Tell her about you. Asking a woman for advice seemed the most plausible."
"Advice? Why do you-"
"Can't be changed now! I guess it doesn't matter if I tell her, then?"
Shisui didn't wait for an answer, because he never does, turning his head around once again. "I'm training my apprentice! You know, the girl we talked about? Oh, right!" A quick glance sent her way, along with a mischievous smirk, was all the warning she got before Shisui moved to the side, exposing her to being seen by the woman.
"How about she joins us for lunch? Can I invite her? It's our first training session."
Lunch? With the Clan Head?
"Shut up." Sakura angrily muttered.
Mikoto clasped her hands together. "That's a great idea! There were some things I was curious about. We can sort those questions out over some food."
"Thanks, Obasan! What do you say, Saku—?" Shisui turned his head to ask probably another ridiculous thing.
"I hate you." She frowned. With that, she jumped to her feet, ignoring Shisui's excited exclamation.
"Oh, have you decided to join us? Wonderful," said the Uchiha Matriarch.
Sakura bowed her head. "Thank you for the invitation, Uchiha-sama. I must humbly decline, however. There is a family emergency."
Before Shisui could grab her by the arm or something, she swapped places with a leaf in the distance, hidden from the sight of both Mikoto and Shisui. In quick succession, she swapped herself with several more leaves since there were plenty of them on the ground, all the way until she was at the other edge of the forest, where a road led to the main street.
Her chakra reserves were two-thirds empty by the end of her impromptu escape. She sighed.
Two-thirds empty. From six Jutsu. Six E-Rank Jutsu.
And that's why I wanted to learn the Shunshin...
She should've known getting training from Shisui would only result in annoying situations. The Uchiha were too keen, especially the Head of the Clan. There was no telling what they could find out with all the otherworldly abilities the Sharingan granted them. Her Byakugō seal was also only freshly prepared. Residue chakra was bound to be suspicious if they happened to notice it.
Sakura knew she would inevitably have to meet the Uchiha in order to achieve her goals.
But not yet. Not when she was unprepared. Not when she was sweaty and exhausted after running laps around the forest. Not when she had no allies in the clan, besides maybe Shisui, which was a stretch to say.
Just—
Not fucking yet.