The afternoon sun filtered softly through the paper windows of the small training hall. Kiyomi stood in front of Izumi, her chest rising and falling from the effort of practice. They had spent the past hour going over the basics of Genjutsu, chakra flow, and the special advantages the Sharingan gave them.
"You've got the fundamentals," Izumi said at last, lowering her hands. "But you still need to refine your control. Genjutsu isn't just about what you see—it's about what you make the other person believe they see."
Kiyomi nodded. "I'll keep practicing."
Izumi gave her a faint smile. "Good. That's enough for today."
Kiyomi bowed lightly, her eyes still carrying the quiet pride of someone who had just learned something important. "Thank you, Izumi-san. I'll see you later."
With that, she turned and left the training hall, her footsteps fading into the courtyard outside.
Izumi watched her go, exhaling softly. She was about to pack up and head home when she felt it—a ripple of chakra in the air. Controlled. Measured. Too deliberate to be an accident.
"Ah, seems like I have a classmate and she's a cute girl. Cool."
Her Sharingan spun into life instantly as she turned toward the doorway.
A masked figure stood there.
He was dressed in dark clothes, his mask smooth and featureless except for the narrow slits that did an excellent job even hiding his eyes. Even with her Sharingan, Izumi could barely see his eyes through those almost impractically small pea-sized holes.
Izumi's voice was calm, though her guard was up. "You waited until she left."
"Yes," Sukuna replied simply. His tone was even, but there was a weight behind it. Sukuna always made sure to change his voice while talking with others when he was concealing his identity.
"Didn't want to disturb my cute little classmate. But that's a little unfair, you know—giving her special lessons while you forget about me. Sensei..." Sukuna teased.
"Who told you I'm gonna teach you? I never agreed to anything." Izumi huffed.
After the last interaction with this boy behind the mask, she had understood one thing—he wasn't hostile and had no ulterior motive toward them. So, she eased up a little bit around him—not to the point of letting her guard down, but at least enough to relax slightly.
"Ah, you break my heart, sensei. And here I thought I'd be taking your favourite student spot…"
"Huh… in your dreams." Izumi rolled her eyes.
Izumi took a step closer. "Why are you here?"
"I came to speak with you as I promised. Did you decide about my offer? You remember, right…?"
"Genjutsu training. I know." Izumi nodded her head, still having no idea why someone like him would even need her to train him.
Izumi raised a brow. "That's all you want, really?"
"That's all," he said. "I'm not here to cause trouble. Just wish to learn."
She considered him for a moment, weighing his words. Before she could respond, the sound of approaching footsteps reached them.
Inabi stepped into the hall, followed by Tekka. Both men glanced between Izumi and the masked stranger.
"Uchiha hospitality?" Sukuna asked, still completely unhinged but a little annoyed, as he didn't wish to be seen by more people.
"Inabi," Izumi greeted cautiously. "How come…?"
"Since you told us about him entering inside the compound, we have been keeping an eye on suspicious people," Inabi said bluntly. "Anything he needs to say, he'll say in front of us."
Sukuna's gaze shifted to them, calm but unreadable. "If you're here to ask my name, don't bother. You won't get it."
"Then why are you here?" Tekka asked sharply.
"I told her already," Sukuna said, nodding toward Izumi. "I want to learn Genjutsu. Nothing more."
Inabi's eyes narrowed. "That's a strange request from someone who sneaks into our compound."
"Would you have let me in with this mask on?" he asked back.
Inabi didn't even bother acknowledging that question and instead asked another.
"Why save us back in the forest?" Of course, Inabi had been there as well.
"Same reason—I want to learn Genjutsu." Sukuna shrugged.
"What if I say I don't believe you?"
"Then I can only say that you have serious trust issues. Not that I'm complaining—it's a good thing when you're a ninja." He shrugged again.
Before Inabi could throw another one of his questions, Sukuna, already feeling a little irritated by this interrogation, spoke first.
"Look, I'm not your enemy. If I was, there'd have been no reason for me to save you back then. All I want is to learn Genjutsu, that's all. If I was your enemy, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
Inabi folded his arms. "You can say that, but we need more than words. At least remove the mask."
"No," Sukuna said flatly. "My identity stays mine. If that's a problem, I'll walk out right now."
The room went quiet. Izumi stepped in before things could escalate. "He's helped us before. I trust him enough to listen. If you don't, then I'll take responsibility."
Tekka frowned. "You're willing to vouch for him?"
"He's the reason we're alive. He could clearly come and go in the clan as he pleased, and he did nothing," Izumi said.
'Well, I was stealing food from the clan but they don't need to know that right... its not like I only targeted them after all. Entire Konoha was my kitchen at this point.' Sukuna mused.
Inabi exhaled slowly, clearly not convinced but unwilling to push further. "Fine."
"Good, so let's talk about Itachi." Izumi was far too eager to end this pointless nonsense. Who cared about some worthless Genjutsu? She'd teach him a thousand times over—and if that wasn't enough, even giving away some Uchiha clan secret techniques wasn't out of the question in her mind—if it meant finding Itachi's whereabouts.
At that name, almost everyone tensed up, even Sukuna. He had bad blood with Itachi; while he was mostly easygoing, he would still kill Itachi if he got the chance.
"Where is Itachi?" the others asked as well.
"You don't expect me to disclose that information before you teach me Genjutsu, do you?" Sukuna asked with a snarl in his tone.
"How can we believe you're telling the truth? What if you're lying about knowing anything about Itachi just to learn Genjutsu?" Inabi spoke again.
"Well, the feeling is mutual, grandpa. What if you went back to your hairy ass after I told you what you wanted to know?" Sukuna tried hard to keep a straight tone, but this old guy was too much.
'Old people of this world are just shameless old crooks.' He was sure of this now.
Inabi had a tick mark on his forehead. 'Who're you calling old, you brat? I'm still in my mid-thirties.' He wanted to rage.
"Okay, okay, don't fight with each other. Inabi-san, at least you should be more mature when dealing with your juniors," the third person, who had just been listening until now, finally spoke. Sukuna didn't know who this person was.
He had no idea.
Inabi was practically huffing to himself. But that other Uchiha didn't care—he turned toward Sukuna and first introduced himself.
"I'm Tekka Uchiha. How may we refer to you, guest?" He asked in a polite enough tone. For a second, Sukuna didn't even believe the man was an Uchiha. The haughty tone of the Uchiha clan was missing from him. He looked younger than that stuck-up Inabi—perhaps in his twenties.
"Hmm… you can call me meh... just call me masked man, masked boy. I'm not good with names. Anything will do." Sukuna had two thoughts about declaring himself as the Honored One or Ryomen, but Kiyomi might find the link if she later learned about it.
Another reason why he hadn't shown himself earlier was because he wasn't completely sure he could hide his CE from her.
"Hmm, so, how about a compromise on both our sides? You give us some information about Itachi, and we start your training in Genjutsu. Upon completion, you can provide the complete intel." Izumi saw that there was a pause—no one spoke—and ultimately, she had to intervene.
"Yup, I knew sensei here is smart—better than some stuck-up old men who refuse to accept their twilight years." Sukuna yapped at the man, who now had another tick mark forming on his head.
However, none of them there were really that childish. This entire conversation just showed that both sides were indeed not hostile.
The Uchiha learned that the masked man was indeed a child, seeing how he reacted, while Sukuna intentionally acted like this to at least make them lower some of their guard.
"Hmm… let's see what I should say about Itachi." Sukuna pondered to himself.
Itachi joining Akatsuki was his trump card—that would give away Itachi's location—so he definitely couldn't tell them that now.
"Let's start with Itachi's Mangekyo powers."
"Huh? How do you even know something like that?" The others were taken aback.
This boy even knew Itachi's specific powers. Forget even about the fact that he knew what Mangekyo was.
"Haha… of course, after all, I have fought him." Sukuna grinned.
xxx
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