26 Chapter 26- An offer to Shisui
Ren Uchiha POV
He washed the blood off his hands and stared at his grim countenance reflected in the washroom mirror.
This was the second time he'd killed people. However, unlike the first time when he'd done it in self- defence, this time, he purposefully went after his target and slaughtered everyone who stood in his path.
He felt tired. Not physically, no. His high Vit stat made it so that he could fight continuously for an entire week without suffering physical exhaustion. No, this was a mental exhaustion.
He had just ended the lives people who were nothing but slaves to Danzo. Mere orphans who were raised by that monster to become the perfect killing machine for the village.
They hadn't wronged him in any way, and there was a slim possibility that Danzo and his Root had no connection to Itachi's ambush. But, he was pretty sure that the ambush was Danzo's doing. And he was determined not to allow that guy to jeopardize the safety of anyone close to him, ever again.
A part of him wondered why he was even feeling any guilt in this regard. Danzo posed a threat to the Uchiha clan, to his family. He had to go sooner or later. This was necessary.
'For the greater good of Ren Uchiha.' He thought sarcastically before he wiped his hands and left the bathroom before going to the room where Itachi was admitted.
He cast a genjutsu in the room and then swiftly switched his position with the Shadow Clone he'd used to keep her company while he went out to kill Danzo.
Itachi was currently sitting on a hospital bed, a medical gown covering her modesty while she stared out the window with an upset expression.
He had used his medical expertise to heal all her wounds but she was still suffering from blood loss. And blood transfusion was a bit more tricky in the shinobi world, since along with the Blood group, you also have to make sure that the chakra type matches as well, otherwise there's a risk of chakra poisoning during the blood transfer.
To counter this problem, Tsunade developed the Blood Regenerating pills during the 3rd Shinobi war. Just another reason why she was seen as the Jesus of the medical world.
But while the Blood Renerating pills were effective, they worked slowly and left the patient lethargic and weak for the next few days until all the lost blood was replenished.
Hence why he'd forced Itachi to stay in the bed despite her eagerness to resume her mission. Stubborn girl that she was.
It wasn't until he'd sent a Shadow Clone in her place to complete that mission in her place that she finally calmed down. But she was still upset due to the whole situation.
It was her first solo C-rank mission after all. And she'd failed miserably at it.
This meant that she wasn't in the mood to talk. And thus, he was receiving the silent treatment, despite being her saviour.
Women… *sip*
At that moment, the door of the hospital room swung open and Mikoto rushed into the room with a worried look on her face.
Her eyes fell upon Itachi and the worry in her eyes diminished a bit as she rushed forward and pulled her daughter in a comforting hug.
After making sure that Itachi was safe and mostly healed, she turned around and pulled him into the hug as well, squishing him with Itachi.
"Thank you. Thank you so much Ren-kun." Mikoto said, her eyes glistening with tears.
He gave an uncomfortable glance to Itachi, who looked rather amused at his predicament (the bitch) and awkwardly patted Mikoto's back. "Ah… it was nothing."
He thought about making a joke about saving his 'minion' but decided against it due to the current mood.
"Without you, my daughter might be dead. That's not nothing, Ren-kun." Mikoto said in a chastising voice. "Come to our house this evening. I'll prepare a feast for you."
"Of course." He said and threw a quick glare at Itachi, who still looked amused, before extracting himself from Mikoto's hug. "I'll give you two some space to talk." He told Mikoto before he quickly ran out of the room.
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Returning home, he was greeted by the sound of the rhythmic clash of swords. Following the noise to the backyard, where his second personal training ground resided, he discovered Ringo engaged in a spar with Shisui.
A Shisui who he hadn't realised was a girl until their 4th meeting.
Seriously, what was it with Uchiha girls looking it boys. Can't they have longer hair and wear some sort of makeup to make it clear that they were girls.
Then again, Shisui was only 10 years old right now, so it's not like he could really blame her for looking like a boy. She hadn't even reached her puberty yet.
"Yo." He said as soon as their spar ended and Shisui swivelled around, a genuine smile blossoming in her face as she caught sight of him.
"Ren-kun! When did you get back?" She asked as she moved toward him and pulled him into a hug.
"Just now." He said as he discreetly used his medical jutsu to examine her body. No wounds. Good. "When did you return from your mission?"
"Yesterday evening. But I was too tired then to come and meet you." She said with a sheepish expression before she sniffed him and frowned. "Where were you, Ren-kun?" She asked, looking more serious this time.
Did she smell the blood he'd just washed off? What the hell was she, a bloodhound?
"Itachi got into some trouble so I went to help her."
Shisui's eyes widened at his words. "Itachi-chan? Is she safe now?"
"Yeah. She is." He said, not explaining anymore but that seemed to be enough for Shisui.
Shinobi have their secrets after all. And she knew better than to push him in such a topic.
"Would you like to come inside, I'll cook for you." He said, glancing at Ringo as well.
His cooking skill was not as high as he'd preferred it to be. Meaning that it was not in the master chef category. But it was getting close. Using his Sharingan eyes to copy the work of other chefs definitely helped accelerate its growth.
"Sure. But I need to teach the girl a few more things before that." Ringo told him.
"Hm… you two can continue training then. I'll cook something in the meanwhile."
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"Ohh… this is so good." Shisui moaned as she went through the spread of dishes he'd prepared for her.
"Not bad." Ringo announced her own verdict. She was a Tsundere through and through.
"Thank you." He said before he remembered something that he'd been thinking about a while now. "Say Shisui-san."
"Yes?" She asked, still too engrossed in her food.
"You live alone, right?" He asked, knowing well enough that she did ever since her parents died near the end of the 3rd shinobi war.
"Yeah…" She said, not even looking at him as she devoured yet another bowl of food.
"Then how about you come and live with us?"
Shisui immediately proceeded to choke on her food and sputtered for a bit as Ringo patted her on the back and he handed her a cup of water.
Shisui finished the glass of water and wiped her mouth before giving him a confused look. "What's with the sudden offer Ren-kun?"
"Well, you spend a lot of your time here, training with Ringo, me, or Itachi. And my house is very big, with a lot of empty rooms. So I thought that I might as well give you this offer." He said.
Shisui gave a contemplative look to his home before she glanced at him. A teasing smile slowly formed on her face and she fluttered her eyelashes. "Are you proposing to me, Ren-kun?"
"No." He replied immediately. "You're nowhere close to being strong enough for me to propose to you."
Well, not right now anyway. However, he was sure that she would reach Tier 6 in the future. And he would be a fool if he didn't try to rope her in right now.
"Oh, is that so, Ren-chan?" Shisui asked, and his eyes twitched, knowing that she was calling him 'Ren-chan' to annoy him.
"Don't make me spank you." He said, making both her and Ringo burst out into laughter.
Once they'd calmed down a bit, Shisui gave him a somber look and said. "I appreciate the offer, Ren-kun. I truly do. But... I don't want to impose on you."
And then Ringo bonked her in the head. "Don't say stupid things girl. You're not imposing on anyone here." She said.
Well, it appeared Ringo had developed a fondness for Shisui. He couldn't blame her, though. Shisui was a cheerful and optimistic girl, capable of eliciting smiles from anyone she interacted with. It would be hard for someone to not like her.
He thought about how she'd died in canon timeline and took some vindication in knowing that he'd killed Danzo.
"Of course not. But you really feel like you're imposing on me, then you can pay for the rent and food." He told her, knowing well enough that some people didn't like being in other people's debt.
Plus, despite Shisui's young age, she was already an accomplished Chunin of Konoha. So paying a bit of rent wouldn't even put a dent on her budget.
"Hm… this is still too sudden. Do you mind if I think on it for a bit?" Shisui asked.
"Take your time." He said with a shrug before he thought of something. "When will you go out on your next mission, Shisui-san?"
"I don't know." Shisui said thoughtfully "But it should be a while before my team gets another C or B-rank mission."
"Hmm… in that case. Here." He said as he handed her one of his special kunai. And by special kunai, he meant that it was just a simple kunai with a Hiraishin seal on it.
"What is this?" Shisui asked, giving a curious glance to the seal on its handle.
"Well… what do you know about our Hokage's favourite jutsu?" He asked.
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AN: Sorry for another small chapter. But the next one has 10K words so it should make up for this one. I'll upload it tomorrow.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter.
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