Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Who knew... ❯ 13. TRAINING FOR THE MIND ( Chapter 13 )

13. TRAINING FOR THE MIND

 

It was almost evening when the two teams stopped at an inn, not far from the borderline with the country of Sound. They were tired, very tired; they had travelled the whole day without breaks, and the summer sun made walking even worse. The five young jounin didn't wear the Anbu uniform, in order to let their identity hidden as long as they could. The armour and masks were replaced by simple, black trousers and tank-tops, which looked a little too big on them. Asuka's father wore the traditional jounin clothing, with the yellow hitai-ate tied around his forehead, as Konoha's ambassadors did. Asuka was proud of her father, he was very young and the women of Konoha thought that he was handsome, too. He had the same tanned skin as his children, and the same dark brown hair. Asuka and Shin had it wavy, legacy of their mother, while Shinji's was straight and messy, like the Yondaime's.

Before they entered the small village where the inn was, Shinji and Kakashi had given pills to the four boys.

“You are too young to be an ambassador's escort; and you, Itachi, are well known. These pills should make your bodies… grow up temporarily. Sit and drink them. And beware” Shinji explained “That it will hurt a bit. But you are shinobi, right?” he smiled.

“Hurt?” asked Asuka. since her mother had died of a disease, she hated all sorts of medicines and pills, and refused to take the soldier and food pills, too. “Your bones will grow, Asuka-chan. It will be rather annoying.” Told her Ren, before swallowing the pill, followed by Itachi and Shisui.

Asuka was still staring at her pill, when her father took it and placed into her mouth. “Swallow, Asuka-chan. We have no time to waste.”

A couple of seconds later, a sharp pain pierced her skull, forcing the girl to close her eyes, as her vision went blurry. The pain in the head was followed by her arms, and legs, and her back. She gritted her teeth, trying not to scream or make any sound. She didn't want to look weak, even if she felt as though someone was cracking each and every bone of her body.

She weakly opened her eyes, and saw Ren leaning on a tree, his face red and sweaty, eyes shut and teeth gritted. The same went for Shisui and Itachi.

 

Suddenly, the pain stopped as it had begun.

 

She felt dizzy, and leaned on the first thing she found with her hand, which happened to be her father. She didn't need to raise her face to look at him in the eyes; he handed her an handkerchief to take of the sweat from her face, but she wasn't able to control properly her arm, and it fell. The girl looked down…and suddenly “down” meant really “down”.

 

She looked at her father, who had kneeled to take the piece of fabric, and was standing back beside her. “My, Asuka-chan! It's not everyday that a father watches his baby girl all grown up in preview!” Shinji hugged her, and Asuka felt strange, as if that body didn't belong to her. “D…dad! I'm almost as tall as Kakashi-sempai!” she exclaimed astonished. “Eh, you really are something, Asuka-chan” Ren said. Asuka was disappointed, and let herself fall sitting on the grass. “But this! This is too much! Look, I'm taller than Shisui! This can't be true, I don't want to get this tall…it is just a fake, isn't it…” Kakashi smiled and helped her up. “Oh, don't complain, Asuka. You really are a stunning beauty. Am I right, boys?” Asuka got up, and looked at the two Uchiha and at her cousin. Shisui wasn't very different. Ren…Ren really had changed. His hair was not dark brown anymore, but of a softer shade, and the way they fell on his “adult” features made him look…elegant. But the eyes, those were the same eyes she had known for ages, those deep, brown eyes, which looked like hers. She looked at Itachi. And she was breathless.

He was taller, and his features were more mature, and…and…handsome. She couldn't find precise words to describe him. The raven black hair fell casually on his forehead and on his eyes, and his skin was smoother, and paler. The black clothes revealed lean and strong muscles, and the badass pose that was his trademark looked sexy on him. She shook her head.

Asuka looked at her hand, where an half-erased writing was.

 

“LAW 25”

 

Law 25 law 25 law 25….

 

The girl had wrote it before leaving, that very moment. She was a kunoichi, and an Anbu, and she was on a mission, and dammit, she wouldn't commit the same mistake twice. She wouldn't let her personal thoughts interfere with the mission.

 

`Focus' she hissed mentally.

 

She moved back her dark hair, which had grown longer, and grabbing her bag she began walking toward the village gates.

“I'm hungry, boys. Taichou?” she said. Ren smiled and trotted beside her. The girl smiled him, and he whispered “Ne, Asuka-chan, Uchiha-kun can't seem to take his eyes off of you”. Asuka punched him with strength.

 

She was on a mission, dammit.

 

* * *

None of the young shinobis seemed to have gotten used to the new dimension of their bodies. For the first ten minutes, they kept on tripping and falling, as well as hitting tree branches that normally wouldn't have been dangerous for them. Asuka pointed at a problem that they hadn't considered. Her clothes…her usual clothes…were small. She had grown at least twenty centimetres, and all of her trousers and shirts were too short. The same went for their shoes, the shinobi sandals. Shisui had no problems, but Itachi and Ren seemed to have bathed clothed into a washing-machine.

Ren opened the door of the bathroom of the room the two cousins shared.

“What?” he asked the girl, who was sitting on the ground with black robes in her hands.

She shook her head.

“Still thinking about the clothes? C'mon Asuka-chan! Ok, they're your father and mine's, but even if they are a bit…baggy…they don't look bad on you…” he said, trying to cheer her up.

Asuka shot him a death glare.

“Oh, they don't look bad on me, uh? I look ridiculous! Just because I'm tall that doesn't automatically make me as huge as you are! Look at the shoulders” she said angrily, placing her cousin and her in front of a mirror. “see? your shoulders are *twice* as large as mine! It is ridiculous!” she sighed. Ren looked strangely amused by her torments.

“Awww, poor baby” Ren said hugging her. “Resist, it will be only for a few days. And it's not like we'll meet again the people we'll see in Oto.” He said petting her long hair.

“But! Itachi and Kakashi *will* see me again! And did you see the way people was staring at me during dinner? It was so embarrassing!” Asuka didn't really seem willing to stop complaining.

Ren looked at her. “I don't think they were staring because of your clothes” he said without thinking. Asuka looked at him questioningly, and the taller boy sweat-dropped. “My, Asuka-chan, you are so slow.” He commented, falling on his bed. He turned the TV on, and Asuka lied beside him.

 

* * *

A shirtless Shisui was brushing his teeth in the bathroom, while Itachi was sitting in his brooding mode, leaning his elbows on the window and apparently looking at the inn's garden. The older Uchiha closed the water, and tensed his ears to listen better.

“Seems like Asuka-chan and Ren-kun are having a good time” he commented, listening to the laughter coming from the two Yoshizumi's room.

“Hn.” Itachi nodded.

“Well, I am going to join them” Shisui announced grabbing his shirt and heading to the door.

“Wait”

Shisui turned and looked at his friend, who was walking to the door, too.

“Coming too” Itachi said, and they began walking down the corridor.

 

Shisui knocked on the door, saying “Hey guys, it's me!”

Ren's voice replied, almost choked by an erupted laughter. “Come, come! Oh Asuka did you see that?! Come Shisui it's open!”

Shisui and Itachi entered the room, and both blushed like mad. Well, Itachi didn't really blush, but that's because he's Itachi.

The laughter died, and Asuka looked shocked. “Ren! You idiot!” she exclaimed angrily.

Shisui quickly looked away, trying to forget the image that was burned in his retina.

Ren was lying on the bed with nothing but his pyjama boxers on, munching popcorns.

Asuka…and here Shisui cursed the Sharingan eyes. If he had to forget her, dammit, he couldn't have the image of Asuka in her underwear replaying endlessly in his mind! The girl was wearing a light grey small vest, luckily; but her pink panties were the only thing covering her legs.

The girl, blushing and embarrassed to death, dashed towards the bathroom, screaming something like “Ren! Moron! Baka! Idiot!”.

“I swear that I didn't do it on purpose, Asuka-chan” Ren said laughing, because he had just understood the situation. Then, he looked at the two Uchiha, who were kinda shocked.

“Hope you don't mind, boys. Come, have a seat” he said making room on the bed and collecting a t-shirt.

“What…what happened?” asked Shisui trying to regain his usual pale complexion.

“Oh, nothing, we were just watching this idiotic show on TV, and I forgot that we weren't…well, properly dressed.” The young Yoshizumi said scratching the back of his head.

“Oh. And…why were you both wearing…underwear?” Shisui asked in a low voice, shyly.

Ren's eyes widened. “Oh my god! No! no just no! we are cousins!” screamed Asuka coming out wearing a pair of shorts.

She came close to Ren, and violently punched him in the head.

“Asuka-chan…it's not like we minded your previous…outfit…” Itachi said maliciously, an amused look on his face.

The girl felt her cheeks burning. “Forget it! Forget everything you saw! Or you want me to erase that from your mind…” and she snapped threateningly her fingers “…forcefully?”

Ren tackled her and filled her mouth with a handful of popcorns. “Calm down little cousin” he said.

Asuka chewed, and sat with arms and legs crossed, a furious expression on her face.

Shisui was chewing a few popcorns, and just stared.

“Asuka-chan, why did you wear pants? I thought that you were cuter before” the long haired Uchiha said maliciously.

“…” Asuka was speechless. She fought back both the blush and the will to kick Itachi's butt, even if it was rather difficult.

Itachi was still looking at her, amused.

 

After a few minutes of staring contest, Asuka refused to dignify the Uchiha's attempts to tick her off, and focused on the TV program. Itachi only smirked, and relaxed. He was sitting beside Asuka, no, beside GROWN UP Asuka, who was actually hotter than cute thirteen-years old Asuka. He chose to enjoy the closeness to the girl, justified by the narrowness of the bed they were sitting on.

Itachi and Shisui leaned on the pillows and began eating popcorns mindlessly, too, and eventually laughing (Shisui) at the jokes of the program characters.

 

Itachi was now leaning on Asuka's naked shoulder, and breathing slowly and deeply her perfume. She smelled…like…like…he couldn't recall the word at the moment, but it was the most pleasurable smell he had ever willingly basked in.

And she was warm.

And…

 

`Oh my god, I'm losing it' Itachi thought, contemplating his own mature body and then Asuka's.

 

He wanted to get closer. What if he lightly leaned on her? He studied the situation; it was dark in the room, and the only light came from the TV. But if she screamed or whatever? Itachi smirked. He had the reason to suspect that his interest o the long haired kunoichi was…mutual.

He moved, nonchalantly; and Itachi was a master at pretending he didn't care about what he was doing.

 

There was a knock on the door. “Kuso” hissed the long haired Uchiha almost inaudibly.

 

Ren got up, and let in both Kakashi and Asuka's father.

 

“Oh, you are all there?” the Yoshizumi exclaimed. Then he noticed the closeness between Itachi and Asuka, and also noticed that the girl seemingly hadn't realized it yet. He studied the young Uchiha, being stared back as insistently. `Mmm. Little brat, staying too close to my Asuka-chan. I guess the elder were right, maybe…maybe they won't complain too much. Wonder if he knows already. No, I don't think so.' Yoshizumi Shinji thought.

“Ok, boys. It's time to start your Dokushinjutsu lesson!” he exclaimed cheerfully, trying to break his train of thoughts.

 

“Ren, pair with Shisui, Asuka…Itachi. And tell us everything you know about the dokushin.” Her father ordered.

Asuka sighed; she hated moments like that, it was like being back to the academy. Just awful.

 

Ren sat in front of Shisui, while Asuka didn't move.

“The Dokushinjutsu, uh?” she began. “Ok, first of all it means Mind reading jutsu, even if the members of the Yoshizumi clan prefer saying `mind listening' than `mind reading', because the sensation is more similar to listening to someone' inner voice.”

“Very good, Asuka.” her father nodded. “Go on.”

“Unlike the Ishigan, or the Uchiha's Sharingan, it doesn't take time to activate. Yoshizumi this…gift, since the day they are born. At first it is painful, because you are like…bombarded by every thought and every sound of every mind in the two-kilometres surrounding you, unwillingly and without having the chance to block it. Then…then is the silence. Until the newborn is old enough, and this is usually around 6 years of age, the dokushin sleeps in the conscience. By this time, the child is already thought not to invade a people's privacy, and not to use this technique for fun.” She explained.

Her father nodded again. “And now the four steps.”

Asuka was beginning to get annoyed, she hated to play the teacher. “The first thing the child re-learns, is to look.”

“Look?” Shisui asked. “Yup, to look through the eyes of the people. I mean, if now I use my Dokushinjutsu on you now, I can see what you see, and how you see it. That's rather basic, for the dokushin users.” Ren explained. “Wanna try?” he asked. Shisui shook his head violently.

“Ok, Ren, cut it out; well, step two is to listen. Yoshizumi members learn to listen to the person's thoughts. I think you noticed that it is pretty similar to the Yamanaka's technique, even if the Dokushinjutsu doesn't involve the mind of the user to be compromised, or switched with the one of the other person. It is just particularly hard for the user, because it requires a total focus on the jutsu, without the possibility to use other techniques at the same time.” Shinji said. Asuka looked at her father. Was it really necessary to reveal also the weak spots of the dokushin?

“Asuka, go on.”

“Well…yeah. Step three is to foresee.” She said.

“But you cant foresee! Even the Sharingan can't! and it's not a real prediction, but more of a study of the person's movements!” Kakashi exclaimed, breaking the silent mode he had activated since he entered the room and saw Itachi so close to his Asuka-chan.

“That's right, Kakashi. Just like the Sharingan, this is not a real prediction. Telling you how we do it is rather complicated, and I don't think that the head of our clan would be very happy if we really told you *everything* about the Dokushinjutsu. Well, we simply…predict, foresee, understand , guess, as you want to say, what the person is going to think, and so to do, next.” The kunoichi said, standing up and making her back snap.

“Then, the other “step” is something that not every member of the clan can achieve. Usually, those who have this gift, become head of the clan. The Kyousei no jutsu, or the obligation jutsu. It is not something you can learn, like the ability to foresee. There are now 6 living persons who are known to have it.” She said.

Itachi was interested in that. “In your clan?” he asked.

Asuka shook her head. “In the whole world.”

“Asuka-chan, you often threaten to use it on me while sparring…but what is it, exactly?” Kakashi inquired.

“It is bad. It is one of the most evil jutsu ever created, or of the kekkai genkai ever known. Through the mind, we can control…and force the victim to do…whatever we want. Even to commit uicide, or to kill his most precious ones. They are present, their mind is not numbed by the control we have over them. They witness everything. They don't know what they are going to do, or to be forced to do, and yet there's nothing…they can…do. Anything at all.” Asuka lowered her eyes.

“Who are…these six persons?” Itachi asked. Asuka found strange the sudden interest he was showing for the Kyousei.

Her father spoke. “The head of our clan, Yoshizumi Shinichi; me; Ren; Asuka-chan and Shin-chan.”

“You, Asuka-chan? And Shin?!” Shisui was dazzled; he shook, and began counting on his fingers. “But, Taichou, you told us just…five.”

“I know I did, Shisui-kun.” The man answered. Shisui looked at Itachi, and both understood that it was better not to ask questions.

“Now, boys. When your mind is being…intruded, you can feel it. The feeling can't be described, and if you don't know it you may just think that you are feeling dizzy. Now, Asuka, Ren, touch your friends' minds. Itachi, Shisui, don't worry; they won't be listening for real, this time.”.

The four shinobi nodded.

“M…may I?” Asuka asked shyly to Itachi. She was worried and embarrassed beyond belief; for the Yoshizumi clan members, using it was a very, very intimate.

Itachi nodded and gave her a light, reassuring smile, making sure that only the kunoichi could see it.

Asuka sat in front of him, and Ren sat in front of Shisui. Both Yoshizumi closed their eyes. Shisui gasped, and Itachi shuddered.

“It…it was like…a cold chill…or…or a hand squeezing my brain…” the older Uchiha stuttered.

Itachi just looked at Asuka.

“Now, what I want you to do is to block it.” Shinji said.

“It is possible to block it?” Itachi asked.

The man nodded. “But it is very, very difficult. And you have not a long time to learn. I want you to master it…before tomorrow evening, when we will be arriving in Oto.”

 

Itachi and Shisui were bewildered. Was Taichou mad?! Less than 24 hours to learn how to block a jutsu that was feared by all shinobi!

 

“It is…just imagine…a wall.” Asuka said, thinking.

“A wall?” both Uchiha asked.

“Mm” the girl nodded. “A big, huge brick wall. And whenever you feel that chill, or the sensation that us touching your mind gave you, focus on that wall. It's like meditating, you know. when they tell you `think about nothing'. It seems impossible, but I know you both can meditate.”

“A wall.” Itachi was perplexed.

Asuka smiled and nodded again.

 

“Now I want you to focus with all your strength on this image. You too, Kakashi-kun. This time we will read your minds for real, otherwise you would never learn how to.” Shinji said, sitting on the couch with Kakashi in front of him.

Ren and Shisui were still on Ren's bed, while Asuka and Itachi sat on hers, Itachi leaning on the wall.

The three “victims” breathed deeply, and closed their eyes.

 

“Now!” Shinji said.

 

Asuka and Ren shut their eyes.

 

`No, no, no, don't, don't read my mind…' Itachi tried to resist. Asuka began to wander deeper into the boy's mind. She had visions of him, training, reading, staring…watching someone…a shadow. The night of the festival. Sasuke asking him to train. The shadow again.

 

Itachi didn't seem to be capable of blocking her, so Asuka withdrew.

 

Both opened their eyes, panting.

“Daijobu, Itachi?” the girl asked him.

Itachi nodded.

“You…” and she stretched her hand out to him “…try to take my hand. I'll progressively tighten the grip, so that you will still have a link to the real world.” She said looking away.

Itachi grabbed her hand, and said “Again.”

 

Eyes closed, Asuka was in his mind again. Red. Red. She tightened the grip. A shadow…the shadow of a girl. Itachi was behind her. then…a Sharingan eye? But that was different from the Sharingan she knew. She tightened the grip again. Red. Red drops falling. A sword. Screams. Indecision. She squeezed his hand…then all she could see was a wall.

 

“Yeah!” Asuka said when she opened her eyes. “Itachi you are great! You did it!” she exclaimed.

The boy smiled.

But his smile soon faded.

“What…what did you see?” he asked, worry in his voice.

Asuka shook her head, and then poked the Uchiha smiling maliciously. “Nothing compromising, don't worry.”

He grabbed her finger, and said “Again”.

 

The more they tried, the faster Itachi blocked Asuka's intrusions.

 

They were about to start again, when Shinji touched his daughter's shoulder.

“Enough for tonight, Asuka-chan. We are all tired, and it's better if we sleep.” The girl nodded.

 

“Goodnight, Asuka-chan, Ren-kun.” Kakashi said.

“Night Kakashi-sempai! Sleep well!” Asuka replied happily.

Kakashi and Shinji walked out of the door, the white haired ninja smiling.

 

“Sweet dreams Asuka-chan!” Shisui told the girl, who replied warmly.

“Night.” Itachi said flatly. Asuka couldn't resist. She jut couldn't help it. She dashed in front of Itachi and ruffled his hair jokingly yet sweetly. “Awww, I'm so proud of you Itachi-kun!”.

Itachi smirked. “Sweet dreams Asuka-chan.” And the two Uchiha headed to their room.

 

Asuka and Ren went to bed.

“Ren?” the girl called him a few minutes after they had turned off the light.

“Yeah?” came a sleepy reply.

Silence.

“Something's wrong. Asuka?”

“In Itachi's mind…I saw…things.”

 

 

 

- - -

I know I am late!!! But I had like 10000 exams this week :-/ awful

 

mmm…whats going on in Itachi's mind?!

 

Thanks to nejiten4ever and to my sporks-girl ^_^