A Shinobi's First Lesson

Heyo!

Sorry about the lateness, I had to rush this chapter a bit.

Hope you enjoy the chap :)

[2007 words]

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Chapter 14

A Shinobi's First Lesson

{Arata's POV}

{A Week Later}

After his death, I numbed my emotions and quickly took his eyes before anyone saw them, after that I just sat beside his body the whole day. After he died, crying wasn't an option anymore, he was the only one I could be defenceless with without worry, now he wasn't with me anymore, I could no longer act like a child.

The days after that went by quickly, as Ryuuji arranged his funeral the next day and a large number quickly arrived to attend it. Whether it be for formality sake or not, Masahiro had affected a large amount of people without knowing, he always carried a large amount of guilt for actions, however, his actions had helped many people without his knowledge. I could see it, most were genuinely sad for his passing. Apparently, he was always known as the weird uchiha, it looked like the facade he always tried his best to uphold was easily seen through by many people.

It made me happy to see that so many people saw what I saw in him. But what really surprised me was the hokage coming to the funeral, though, it did make some sense as Masa-jii was the strongest Uchiha that was living after Madara had defected, so attending his funeral would be quite important. They offered me their regards and all the formalities required at a funeral, I just accepted them and smiled weakly to reassure them.

The funeral to me wasn't something I cried at, my last moments with him were more than enough to sort out my emotions and let out all my feelings. All I felt during the funeral was melancholy as I remembered all the memories with him, making me smile sadly at them. Right after the funeral, I went to talk to Sakaki to ask what he was going to do, not wanting to delay the issue any further.

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{Flashback}

I was currently sitting beside Sakaki as we both drank tea together. I had asked him to arrange a meeting between us as I wanted to ask what his future plans were. He had as much right as anyone else to leave after Masa-jii's death as the person he was serving had passed, though it would be disheartening to leave him as I long considered him to be a part of my family.

''Sakaki, may I ask what you plan to do after this?'' I ask with an amiable smile on my face to keep him at ease.

''I would like to continue serving your family, Arata-sama'' he said without skipping a beat.

''Sakaki, I hope you understand that me and Masa-jii have long considered you to be family, it's no longer my family, it's also yours, it always has been yours as well...'' I respond with a calming voice.

''Do not undermine yourself Sakaki, the only reason Masa-jii even allowed you to act like a servant in the first place was because he understood you needed something to do whittle away time after your shinobi career'' I continue.

''You have no obligation to us, Sakaki. If you are forcing yourself to continue on this path, please reconsider your thinking'' I said as I continued to sip on my tea.

''Arata-sama, you misunderstand. I am not forcing myself to continue such a path. I considered you and Masahiro-sama as family just as much as you considered me as family…'' he said reminiscently.

''Living with your family has brought me all sorts of enjoyment, your daily antics, the teasing, the joyful laughs and the warm feelings you two gave off. Your family has given me things I thought I would never have as a shinobi. I would like to continue to experience such emotions and what better way to do that than continue doing what I did before…''

''Also, if it's about obligation Arata-sama, I have racked up a rather large debt with Masahiro-sama. I doubt Masahiro-sama has told you but he was the one who took us in at our lowest times…''

''Before serving your house, as you knew I was a shinobi, a tokubetsu jonin for Konoha, however, one day me and my father were assigned to infiltrate Iwa on a decade long mission and to continue to relay them information. They assigned us as the Uchiha's were already in a bad position due to Madara's defection, we were essentially scapegoats to display the Uchiha's loyalty and we had no choice about it and if we somehow abandoned the mission, we would cause the Uchiha's reputation to further plummet and any Uchiha member that had blood ties to us would be executed…''

''Of course, this was an order from the former head and elders, as you can see, the Uchiha's have mellowed out and such ruthless actions have died down. But, during that time, we relented and we infiltrated the stronghold of Iwa. Iwa was known to be suspicious of any outsiders and their devotions were near fanatical to their village. We had to place a genjutsu on ourselves that would be released on a certain day each month where we would send our monthly information. However, this meant we had to seal our sharingans to avoid suspicion, and so we lived out ten years of our life in Iwa, never forming any strong relations with anyone. We climbed the shinobi ranks once again in Iwa and both of us eventually reached elite jonins…''

''We were forces that had bounties for and we were considerably important to Iwa, however somehow suspicion of us rose highly before the war and they began to keep an eye on us, eventually on the day we were supposed to return from Iwa, we were ambushed and we were ordered to be assassinated by the tsuchikage. We eventually understood that Konoha was the one who sold us out as they saw no more value in us and the risk we posed was too high. Me and my father were determined to spite the higher-ups and survive and return where they would have no choice to accept us as any further major assination attempts would alert the other shinobi in the village…''

''And we did. Both of us, by some miracle, had survived and returned right before the first world war, and spite them we did, the face on the elders and the second hokage on the day we returned was priceless. They were so frustrated, they had no moves to play against us as after decade long infiltrations, all shinobi had to retire just in case. If they made any moves against 'civilians', they would be breaking many rules and many shinobi would notice the fight we would have. If they wanted to kill us swiftly the only one who could do that in the village would be someone on level of the hokage…''

''However, after our return, word got out about our mission and many started to suspect us, causing most services in the village to be denied from us. We were jobless for the duration of the war until Masahiro-sama gave us jobs as his butlers disregarding our standings with the village and the village didn't have enough power to go against someone as powerful as Masahiro-sama who was a highly sought after S-rank shinobi'' He recounted.

''The rest is history Arata-sama, as you can see the debt we owe Masahiro-sama for giving us a job when we were rejected by the rest of the village is something we can never hope to pay and I also want to continue to watch how you live your life. So continuing to serve you is the best option.'' He stated.

''Oya, to think my hunch was right, I knew you had an interesting history…'' I replied playfully.

''Hahaha, you really are similar to Masahiro-sama'' Sakaki said as he burst into laughter at my reaction, his previous polite and elegant demeanour gone.

''What do you mean?'' I asked, confused.

''Masahiro-sama said the same thing when we told him our backstory in detail, to be exact he said 'Such interesting people can't be let go! WORK FOR ME!' He had us baffled as he dragged us to his house to start our work. He didn't even take no as an answer'' He smiled melancholically.

''I see...I'm happy I'm similar to him in some regards'' I said as I smiled happily at the comparison.

''Arata-sama, you may not notice, but you are much more similar to him than you think'' Sasaki said, his conduct back to normal.

'' I doubt I'm that similar, but I'll take your word for it...'' I responded doubtfully.

''Anyways, the next time we have tea together, be prepared as I'm going to pry out many more secrets from you to entertain myself'' I slyly said as my smile stretched across my face emulating a Cheshire cat.

''Arata-sama, if it was as easy as that to reveal my secrets, me and my father would already be in our graves resting in Iwa'' He responds politely.

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After that discussion with Sakaki, Ryuuji had given me some time to recover my bearings before he asked me to come to his office for me to speak to him, which is why I was standing in front of him right now waiting for him to finish his paperwork.

''Good morning, Ryuuji-sama'' I greeted politely, my usual smile plastered on my face.

''Good morning'' he said as he kept his head down and plowed through paperwork like a seasoned veteran. After ten minutes, the man finally was able to look up and gave me a nod.

''I apologize for my rudeness, Arata. As you can see, my work has risen exponentially with Masahiro gone'' He apologized with a straight face.

''No apologies are needed, ryuuji-sama''

''I see...then if that is done then let us move onto the reason why you are here...'' he said.

''First and foremost, you will be moving into my residence as having my successor unguarded would be prove to be inefficient even with Sasaki's prowess, I hope you have no problems with this arrangement?'' he asked.

''I have none, sir'' I responded, already knowing that I could return to the house at anytime in the future.

''Next, now that Masahiro has passed, you have no one to teach you anymore, meaning that I will take up the mantle of your sensei, understand?''

''Hai''

''I will not coddle you like Masahiro has, I must leave a competent successor for the Uchiha's to survive, meaning I will teach you everything a patriarch and a shinobi requires. You've lived your life as a swordsman with Masahiro and he has taught everything about swordsmanship, now you must learn the way of the shinobi'' He said as he stood up and exited his office.

''Follow me'' he ordered as he followed the path to the Uchiha's jail site.

''The way of the shinobi is a world of cruelty and I will not play it down just because of your age, you will take in the cruelty in full. I do not care if you despise me or not after learning from me, however, the one thing you must remember as a shinobi, NEVER revel in the joy of death'' He warned menacingly as he took me down the stairs of the jail site, steadily taking me to the prisoners which brought me some confusion as to why he was taking me here.

''I hope you have a weapon with you'' He asked as we got closer to the cells.

''Yes, I have brought my katana with me in a storage scroll'' I responded politely.

''Good, then we can begin with a shinobi's first lesson'' He said as we arrived in front of a tortured prisoner, clearly a captured shinobi. He then looked me in the eyes with a domineering aura around him and ordered me.

''Kill Him''