sunshineverse | [Closed] Continued Lessons

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[Closed] Continued Lessons

Who: Sakura and her troublesome teacher.
Where: One of the training grounds
When: The 29th, I think.
Notes: Not all of Shisui's special brand of jounin prep training is completely horrible. Probably.

The past few months had been tiring for various reasons, but since returning from the rather terrible mission that month, sleep and relaxation felt even more scarce than it had been on the road. She was fairly certain that wasn't actually the case, but it felt that way. Still, there wasn't much she could say about it. The Hokage and her teacher were both insistent she was at a point that she should take the jounin test. (Shirakumo himself seemed to concur under the circumstances)

If the prep were this difficult, then she couldn't argue the necessity of it, either. After all, as she understood it, a jounin exam was a one time thing, unlike chuunin exams. If she allowed herself to take it before she was fully prepared, she'd only be wasting her chance and disappointing the people who (for reasons she didn't fully understand) had faith in her abilities.

It was still with some apprehension that she approached their meeting point, one of the training fields not currently in use by groups of genin today. It was the sort of apprehension reserved for the certain knowledge that she was going to be sore and beaten (in one form or another) by the time the meeting was done. She wondered if there was ever a time when that sort of certainty allowed for the possibility of just not going to the place it would happen.

It seemed very unlikely.

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She wasn't the only one lacking sleep. Ever since Obito had given him full access to all those papers, Shisui had put his eidetic memory to good use, memorizing every single report and written record while he covered his walls with information and the pages with conspiracy theories. Sometimes the lack of sleep had produced ridiculous theories, but he was still sorting out which ones he was going to put forth to Obito.

...Or if he was going to be putting anything forth at all.

Sometimes he felt like it could be a test to laugh at him.

But Sakura. Sakura was someone he was pleased to see, and it was evident in the way he was beaming down at her from up an old maple tree. He wanted her to pass this test, and he wanted her to pass it with flying colors. Sure, he might have bragged about her abilities, but in all honesty, he didn't think it was unwarranted; in his opinion, she could most definitely be the next Toka Senju.

Having jumped down from the tree, Shisui padded over to her, still grinning. "Yo!" Ha-- such a formal greeting for a teacher. "How've you been?" It's been a while. You doin' okay? The unspoken words were more or less conveyed through the look in his eyes and the softening smile.

It was probably for the best that she'd dropped by for a visit before he'd papered his walls with his new wallpaper, because she'd probably be a bit concerned for him if she'd seen something like that. It was expected for her to be strained and stressed, but it was no good if he was.

Still. Tired as she was, apprehensive as she was, it was good to see him again. Last time she'd seen him had been less than ideal, and since then she'd been on that long and difficult mission. He wasn't the first friendly and familiar face she'd seen since getting back, but he was an important one all the same.

Smiling before training if it was too open would indicate she didn't take him seriously, so she refrained. Instead, she gave him a small, restrained smile. After all, she was happy to be back to training with the familiar,no matter how grueling it would be. "Shisui...the mission was long and tiring. I guess it's normal for that rank.." Somehow she doubted that was entirely true.

Shisui was often strained and stressed; he just did a good job of not showing it.

He was glad to see her. He wasn't exactly going to go out on a limb and say he missed her, but it came close. With Itachi away, she was probably the only other person he could sit down and enjoy conversation with. Of course, there was Sasuke; but the two of them haven't really had one long uninterrupted conversation in years.

Shisui almost laughed at her attempt to restrain that smile, though, knowing full well what was going through her head. "Sure it is. If it wasn't long and tiring, I'd be eyeing you suspiciously. I trust it went smoothly, regardless? And-- you've provided a 'detailed' report, yes?" His eyes twinkled at 'detailed report', the smile widening. "You better have, because I have something neat to show you today. Wouldn't want you detained for interrogation."

That was the mark of a good shinobi, right?

Don't laugh at her, Shishou. It's not fair to embarrass and fluster her right before serious training, that's like getting an advantage before it's even started. It wouldn't be true training then, right?

"It went terribly." Said flatly. It wasn't as if the mission wasn't a success, but it was far from what she would call 'smooth'. She pursed her lips slightly at his sparkly-eyed statement. Did he really think she'd do something like that right after almost getting in trouble for doing it? She only...huffed at that though, and latched on to his other statement. "Something neat?"

Well, he hoped it was! He wasn't exactly in the good books of a certain few.

And come now, if you couldn't laugh at yourself, how would you expect to grow? Although the smile fades when she tells him the mission 'went terribly'. Now was not the time for her to be doing terrible on missions. "Did it? But it was successful, nevertheless, I hope?"

He doesn't tease her any further on the issue of the evasive reports, though. And seeing how she immediately focused on the training bit, Shisui nodded. "Come with me."

With that he turned, grinning over his shoulder as he took off in a sprint into the deeper part of the forest.

Those certain few were definitely wrong.

'Terrible' in the sense that they were constantly attacked most of the places they stopped, not so much that they failed the mission or came close to...but it was not one of her most pleasant ones. And there were other factors as well. She gave a small nod. "It was successful. But...not smooth."

She wasn't even surprised when he started sprinting off somewhere, rather than just leading her normally. For him, she felt, it was normal enough just that he was sprinting there instead of flickering there. Which would be a little more difficult to keep up with. "I don't get a hint?" She called after him...still somewhat more cheerful than she'd been before seeing him.

Better not say it out loud, though. Those certain few were literally everywhere.

"That is all that matters, then. You can't afford to fail missions at this point, Sakura." He was pretty sure she knew what he meant by that.

"That would ruin the surprise!" It was something not very many shinobi had witnessed before, and he wanted to keep it a secret for as long as he possibly could. There were other reasons for secrecy, too. --Which she would find out soon enough. "Whatever you do, don't try and change anything around you. Just follow me." An odd request, but...

Somewhere in the denser part of the forest, Shisui completely disappeared, chakra signature and all. It was almost as if he'd stepped into a void and erased his existence int he blink of an eye. The fact that the forest became much darker and somewhat ominous probably didn't help one bit: shadows moving in all the wrong ways, and little scuttling noises rummaging through bushes and grass, twigs breaking all around you-- A little unsettling.

...Especially when there were tiny beady eyes watching your every move.

Whatever it was seemed to follow her, running parallel on her left until the shadows leaped forward. A thin stream of moonlight filtering through the canopy of leaves above them shone straight on a single hare, cotton tail wiggling and nose quivering as it looked over its shoulder at her.

There were certain few in the village? That seemed...somewhat disturbing.

She understood why he urged her about it (though if she failed missions, then it only stood to prove she wasn't ready to advance yet), but then she never thought she could afford to fail a mission. A shinobi like her, if she started failing missions, what else would she have to offer the village? And if she was no use to the village or the teams she went on, of what use was she?

It was an odd request, and it sounded like he had some sort of advanced genjutsu practice planned for her, which must have relied on her not first being able to resist it. Or, and this was much less likely, he planned to use it on some frivolous thing to welcome her back. Or something like that. Still, she didn't question him (if he was going on about surprise, questioning him was pointless), and she didn't disobey him, either.

At first, when Shisui vanished, she assumed it was some sort of test of her perception, and continued after him in the same direction he'd been. When she didn't see him reappear though...this must have been as he'd implied: a genjutsu of some sort. The urge (and something like dread) that grew in her to immediately attempt to dispel it and escape was strong, but she held to his demand. Whatever he wanted her to experience, she wouldn't so easily let down his expectations as that.

She kept moving because the danger of remaining still exceeded the danger of continuing to move in the unnatural darkness of the forest. Whatever attacked, if she was meant not to dispel it immediately, would be something she could defend herself against better if she kept moving.

She finally did stumble to a stop in confusion once she spotted what had leapt in front of her.

A...rabbit...? She frowned down at it in confused, wary silence, waiting to see what it would do next. (And indeed what Shisui was trying to show her.)

She was of so much more use to the village than for just completing missions, honestly. He could stand there and argue for it, but today was not that day.

The creature, however, once it was certain that it had her full attention, hopped a few feet into the distance. Stopped. Then looked over its shoulder at her once more. It wanted her to follow. And for now it seemed to be taking things slow, hopping forward a few steps, then pausing to look over its shoulder to ensure she was still with it.

Soon, there would be another one of them, and the two would take off at a ridiculous speed. Ribbons of moonlight dashing down the path.

Did he really want to spend his time attempting to convince her of that on any day, though? There were probably better things to do on any day than spend it convincing her of things.

She followed once it indicated it wanted her to, albeit with some hesitation. There wasn't really anything else she could do but follow it or attempt to break the genjutsu, so the choice was simple. If...stranger than what she was used to from his genjutsus.

Once they shot off, she was obligated to continue following. She wasn't completely sure if it was a test, but if he was testing how quickly she could move with the secondary technique he (and her captain) taught her, she wouldn't disappoint him by not even attempting to keep up with the two speedy rabbits ahead of her. They were ribbons of light, and she was brief flashes and flickers of color. If anyone happened to be watching to see it, anyway.

His approach with her on such topics was never usually direct.

As for the rabbits-- the ribbons of light continued all the way until they paused right on top of what looked to be a mound of leaves and dirt hidden behind a thicket. In they went, however, disappearing into the ground.

Of course, it was a giant rabbit hole...

...You're supposed to follow, Sakura~

If so, it was clearly because he must have learned it was a waste.

...Jumping into a giant rabbit hole was just about the opposite of good sense, but...if this was Shisui's genjutsu, there really wasn't much choice. She could try to escape the genjutsu or follow after them and figure out what the point of it was.

If the point of it was to go against his instructions, then it was his fault. She did hesitate briefly before she jumped down into the hole at least, arm held up to lock on to one of the walls if it turned out to be too far of a fall...or a death trap at the bottom.

If she was so set on it all being a waste, she probably ought to rethink everything. But no, he didn't consider it a waste.

And thankfully, it wasn't a death trap down there. It might have been a long, winding way down, but she would have emerged in an entirely different part of the forest. Not underground, somehow.

Shisui happened to be there, surrounded by bunnies, and carrying one of them on his shoulder.

"I see you made it!" Grinning.

She would have no idea what he expected her to rethink.

She wasn't entirely disoriented ending up in another part of the forest rather than underground, as she was operating under the assumption that this was some sort of genjutsu and such rules didn't apply to those. It was a surprise to see her sensei standing there, though.

Surrounded...by bunnies.

She blinked, and glanced around the small area of forest a moment before she spoke. "What...is this?" Because that seemed the most direct route of determining what the genjutsu (as she was still certain it was) happened to be about.

"A technique I've been meaning to teach you. Meet my friends. Some of them-- mentors." A rabbit on his shoulder, Shisui stood to walk towards her. "I figured you might be ready to be taught the summoning jutsu."

Yeah that's right, they were summons. Just uhm-- just don't laugh.

Oh...well. She didn't know the summoning jutsu (it was pointless and she'd heard dangerous without a contract to use it on), but she at least knew what it was.

Bunnies were...an interesting choice, though. They didn't seem particularly useful for offense or defense. But--if it was Shisui's, then there was more to it than cute woodland creatures.

She took a step toward him with some hesitation, unsure if she should move or not, glancing between he and the rabbit on his shoulder. "...A mentor?" Well, some summons at least spoke, she was sure of that. So being a mentor wasn't unbelievable other than the fact that the normal lifespan of a rabbit made that impossible...

"But the summoning jutsu requires a summoning contract to perform, right?"

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[Closed] Continued Lessons

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did DW change their default font or something

Possibly? Does it look weird?