Dragonfly

Chapter Eight: The Power Of Sweet Buns

So...you are gonna be a ninja, Rika-nee?" Sasuke asked skeptically from his perch on my shoulders, where I held onto his legs to keep him from toppling right off. Kid was hyperactive and fidgety-if I didn't watch him every single moment he'd probably fall into the river. The only problem with his current piggy-back ride was that he had a habitual tendency to tug on my hair-just like he did when he was a baby.

Kid had problems.

"I swear, if you pull my hair one more time, Sasuke..."

He let go of the strands he was messing with and folded his arms across the top of my head obediently. Still tapped his fingers against my hair, though.

"I dunno," I continued, answering his question. "I just said I'm training. Seems like I can't get away from it no matter what I do." Last he heard, I firmly denied ever taking part in the lifestyle. No wonder he was doubtful, being told one thing and then flip-flopping to another. Hope I didn't mess his head up.

"Are you gonna awaken your Sharingan? Itachi's already gotten reeeally good with his," the kid bragged, and I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. How endearing. And annoying.

"Who knows." Itachi had probably already mastered his, just like Shisui. Unlike them, I probably never would even if I did somehow manage to acquire mine.

But-the way Sasuke talked about it was so naïve. I wonder just what they told him about the dōjutsu. Surely not something like, 'hey, little guy, you'll get your very own Sharingan when you witness the murder of your entire clan! And then later on, when your teammate nearly dies, you'll get another tomoe!' Right on. Sounds like the life.

"Then, what are you learning now, Rika-nee? Itachi promised me he would help train me when I'm old enough to attend the Academy, but that's so far away..." he trailed off, but his intent was apparent.

"I'm not gonna teach you anything, so don't even ask."

"Eh, stingy."

"I don't know that much. I can do a couple katon jutsus. I'm not too bad with kunai, when the targets aren't moving. I suck with shuriken. And genjutsu? Haha, what's that?" Pretty sure I wasn't even at child Obito's level at this point and that wasn't exactly something to be proud of, aside from the Fireballs I could do really well when I put actual effort into it.

"What kinda hand seals do you know?"

"All of 'em. Well, sort of. I still have trouble with the bird and dragon seals, though. I forget what they look like 'cause they're kinda complicated." Couldn't just tell him I was too damn lazy to commit them to memory properly.

Satoshi was fair with his training (Kou was another story), but I was a difficult student. I wasn't even sure if I could become an official shinobi with a home-school ninja crash course-maybe he would send me up to the Academy when a genin exam took place after arranging something with the teachers? If kids like Itachi and Kakashi could graduate within one or two years-disregarding the fact that they were geniuses-the curriculum must have been pretty flexible. Not to mention, big-name clans tended to train their own in addition to sending them to Academy classes. There had to be some kind of workaround.

...But then I would have to be a part of a team. Ugh.

"Hey! It's Shisui!" Sasuke suddenly shouted out, and I saw his little arm reach out as he pointed down the street towards someone who, from behind, actually did look like Shisui. No idea how he recognized him so fast, though.

Wait-he wasn't alone. Any other time I probably would have overlooked it since he was a popular guy, but there was a cute girl standing pretty close to him-just one and not like, ten-and the two were chatting. They looked pretty happy.